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Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS)?

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Do you prefer, ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS)?

ALSA
73
65%
PulseAudio
29
26%
Open sound System (OSS)
10
9%
 
Total votes: 112

Message
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vbrummond
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#21 Post by vbrummond »

Yeah I have a VIA VT1708S. Aka: Crap. I will try to install oss4 from testing if its there or manually compile from source.
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vbrummond
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#22 Post by vbrummond »

Yeah, with oss4 from testing and linux 3.0 I get:

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oss_hdaudio: HDA codec 0x11060397 not known yet
oss_hdaudio: HDA codec 0x11060397 not known yet
:(
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kedaha
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#23 Post by kedaha »

Yes, I notice that the opensound download site only offers debs for 2.6. Linux oses.
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phenest
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#24 Post by phenest »

eric1959 wrote:Alsa, works. Speakers : 2.1

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lspci | grep -i audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)
. Onboard.
Webcam : Logitech Webcam C500, no issues.

Only problem : speakers not auto-muted when I plugin headphone....http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=57796
Same setup as I have on my Dell Precision M90: 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
I can't use PA because of the asynchronous way the volume increases across the available channels. I also get crackling, and can exceed 100% volume (what's that all about?!). But I don't have any issues with ALSA.

It seems to me the PA devs only work with a stereo setup and fail to understand those with an LFE channel. I think PA should only be an optional plugin for those that need/want it.
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#25 Post by kedaha »

For anyone who's interested in trying OSS4, here's how I installed it on Squeeze 2.6.32-5-amd64. There is a forum howto posted here but it needs updating. [Edit 26 Sept 2011: See also my HOWTO: OSS4 on Debian Squeeze from source.] No need to use module-assistant since oss4-dkms will take care of this. Please see alternative method at end of post too before proceeding.
First example:

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# aptitude install oss4-base oss4-dkms oss4-gtk
# aptitude install libasound2-plugins flashplugin-nonfree-extrasound
# nano /etc/asound.conf
Cut & paste the code below

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pcm.oss {
   type oss
    device /dev/dsp
}

pcm.!default {
    type oss
    device /dev/dsp
}

ctl.oss {
    type oss
    device /dev/mixer
}

ctl.!default {
    type oss
    device /dev/mixer
}
Now:

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# /etc/init.d/alsa-utils stop
# aptitude remove alsa-base alsa-utils
# dpkg-reconfigure linux-sound-base
You will be informed: Choosing the ALSA sound system is strongly recommended but I didn't let that put me off and selected OSS4 regardless. This completes it and now, when you reboot you'll have OSS4, although you may have to make a few minor adjustments.
There are a number of tests you can make such as typing osstest in a terminal but keep the volume low before trying it since it can be amazingly loud!
To revert to ALSA, reinstall alsa-base alsa-utils and execute the last command above to select the default and also remove /etc/asound.conf.

Alternative way:
To install the deb available from the Open Sound System Driver Download page all the following packages are necessary:

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# aptitude install binutils cpp-4.3 dkms gcc-4.3 gcc-4.3-base libglib2.0-0 libgtk2.0-0 linux-headers-2.6-amd64 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common linux-kbuild-2.6.32 make
Followed by:

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$ wget http://www.4front-tech.com/release/oss-linux-4.2-2005_amd64.deb
The deb can then installed by opening the deb with the gdebi package installer or with dpkg -i .
Well, I hope this post inclines the preferences a little towards OSS4!
* For flash support:

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# aptitude install flashplugin-nonfree-extrasound
* Edited 24 Oct 2011 for note about flash.
Last edited by kedaha on 2011-10-24 09:26, edited 3 times in total.
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ivanovnegro
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#26 Post by ivanovnegro »

For what stands this flashplugin-nonfree-extrasound, as I do not have it installed on my system and it seems I do not need it either?

Edit: I think, I got it.

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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#27 Post by kedaha »

ivanovnegro wrote:For what stands this flashplugin-nonfree-extrasound, as I do not have it installed on my system and it seems I do not need it either?

Edit: I think, I got it.
Yes, I couldn't find that package either and was pleased to find it isn't necessary anymore.
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milomak
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#28 Post by milomak »

i experienced pa in its earliest incarnation given i run sid. it wasn't up to the task then.

i would concede that today it is probably much better. but i ask myself the question - why change configurations when my current solution works perfectly?

so even if pa is now fully functional, why would i change from alsa? except for the shorter pa.
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#29 Post by kedaha »

milomak wrote:i experienced pa in its earliest incarnation given i run sid. it wasn't up to the task then.

i would concede that today it is probably much better. but i ask myself the question - why change configurations when my current solution works perfectly?

so even if pa is now fully functional, why would i change from alsa? except for the shorter pa.
I suppose PulseAudio will become the default, not in opposition to Alsa but in a complementary manner.Why change configurations when ones own solution works perfectly? Well, I thought that but - perhaps more out of curiosity than any dissatisfaction with the default ALSA - I decided to try both pa and OSS4: while I was able to achieve very good 5.1 surround sound with pa I've found that the gain in sound quality from using OSS4 is really quite extraordinary, much better than ALSA in fact on my hardware. I have set up OSS4 on both my laptop and desktop as posted above and consider that changing the configurations was well worth the time but if it doesn't work, it's easy to change back to the defaults.
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phenest
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#30 Post by phenest »

I've just installed OSS4 as per the above HowTo, but can anyone tell me how to enable my LFE channel. I have a sub-woofer on my Dell Precision M90 which works with ALSA. Am I missing something?

EDIT: And my laptop speakers don't mute when I plug in my headphones.
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#31 Post by kedaha »

phenest wrote:I've just installed OSS4 as per the above HowTo, but can anyone tell me how to enable my LFE channel. I have a sub-woofer on my Dell Precision M90 which works with ALSA. Am I missing something?

EDIT: And my laptop speakers don't mute when I plug in my headphones.
Thanks for trying the HowTo. There's certainly a lot of documentation and tests available, for example here which may help with getting the subwoofer to play. Is there no sound from it even when playing this test?

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$ osstest -lV
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milomak
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#32 Post by milomak »

kedaha wrote:
milomak wrote:i experienced pa in its earliest incarnation given i run sid. it wasn't up to the task then.

i would concede that today it is probably much better. but i ask myself the question - why change configurations when my current solution works perfectly?

so even if pa is now fully functional, why would i change from alsa? except for the shorter pa.
I suppose PulseAudio will become the default, not in opposition to Alsa but in a complementary manner.Why change configurations when ones own solution works perfectly? Well, I thought that but - perhaps more out of curiosity than any dissatisfaction with the default ALSA - I decided to try both pa and OSS4: while I was able to achieve very good 5.1 surround sound with pa I've found that the gain in sound quality from using OSS4 is really quite extraordinary, much better than ALSA in fact on my hardware. I have set up OSS4 on both my laptop and desktop as posted above and consider that changing the configurations was well worth the time but if it doesn't work, it's easy to change back to the defaults.
actually when i think about it, i think it was in fedora where i encountered pa. in debian, alsa remains the default even in sid.

i guess for me it's that i run a fairly standard setup. and it works as expected. so see no reason to move from alsa given it works out the box.
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#33 Post by vbrummond »

Alsa is the default in the kernel but pulseaudio will be required for Gnome 3. Sure you can optionally remove it but then you get no sound applet. :)
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#34 Post by milomak »

vbrummond wrote:Alsa is the default in the kernel but pulseaudio will be required for Gnome 3. Sure you can optionally remove it but then you get no sound applet. :)
good thing i don't use gnome ;)
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#35 Post by kedaha »

milomak wrote: actually when i think about it, i think it was in fedora where i encountered pa. in debian, alsa remains the default even in sid.

i guess for me it's that i run a fairly standard setup. and it works as expected. so see no reason to move from alsa given it works out the box.
No reason to move from alsa to pa but for me there's every reason to move from alsa or pa to OSS4 which has, at least on my equipment, much fuller, clearer sound, in a word - fidelity. Although I can obtain 5.1 sound with PulseAudio I've decided to make OSS4 my default system since I really like music. I've found many views on the 'net which share this view such as: The state of sound not so sorry in linux after all. But I suppose much depends on the equipment; perhaps the differences between ALSA, PA and OSS4 are less noticeable through laptop speakers and an onboard sound device than through a pci sound card and a decent set of speakers.
vbrummond wrote:I am unable to compile OSS4 on anything except 2.6.32. DKMS always fails. I am using Linux 3.0 (compiled myself from Debian sources). I tried to install OSS manually but it always fails to compile. The error was annoying, if I disable regparm in oss4 it says unable to find regparm and fails to compile. If is enable it it tells me to disable and fails at the make install step.

I had no luck when installing OSS4 in Testing from main and when I tried to compile it i also got the annoying regparm error. But the oss-linux-4.2-2005_amd64.deb trial deb package installs perfectly in testing 3.0.0-1 kernel using gdebi which takes care of the dependencies mentioned in the How-To above - or they'll get installed anyway from a previous installation of OSS4 from main. (In this case, the OSS4 packages only should be removed before installing the deb). I noticed that it uses regparms so looks like disabling regparm isn't OK. So maybe I'll have another go at compiling the gpl'd source to see if I can get OSS4 sound in Wheezy. Works fine in stable.
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#36 Post by milomak »

kedaha wrote: No reason to move from alsa to pa but for me there's every reason to move from alsa or pa to OSS4 which has, at least on my equipment, much fuller, clearer sound, in a word - fidelity. Although I can obtain 5.1 sound with PulseAudio I've decided to make OSS4 my default system since I really like music. I've found many views on the 'net which share this view such as: The state of sound not so sorry in linux after all. But I suppose much depends on the equipment; perhaps the differences between ALSA, PA and OSS4 are less noticeable through laptop speakers and an onboard sound device than through a pci sound card and a decent set of speakers.
le me state from the onset i am engage you in a discussion. i am not trying to change your stance. i feel sometimes it is necessary to state this on an internet forum.

that being said, what struck me in your post was fidelity. it leads me to suspect you may be an audiophile. and if you are, i fully endorse your choice to find the most optimal sound you can achieve.

for me, unless there is a vast variance from what i would expect, i am happy. i use the sound device on my mobo and splurged on what i regard today as an unnecessary mid range speaker system (i believe what might be termed 2.1).

so that's why i hold the view i do. the sound produced is more than satisfactory for me. so even though from a technical point of view i am interested in seeing how OSS4 works, i just lack the practical incentive.
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#37 Post by kedaha »

@milomak: I suppose am an audiophile insofar as I perceive variance in audio quality which many people may not be so sensitive to, so naturally, having tried OSS4, I'm very appreciative of it as well as the technical side. I
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#38 Post by kedaha »

phenest wrote:I've just installed OSS4 as per the above HowTo, but can anyone tell me how to enable my LFE channel. I have a sub-woofer on my Dell Precision M90 which works with ALSA. Am I missing something?
EDIT: And my laptop speakers don't mute when I plug in my headphones.
I don't know about the headphones* but I'll test mine some time. [*Edit: Please see Note 2 below] I was able to get sound from all speakers following the simple instructions in this guide from dracolinux.
A word of WARNING: If you set high volumes, be sure to turn down the manual control to low, specially when using headphones to avoid a deafening blast. Just to make it clear to everyone, here's how I enabled all my speakers.
For example, in a terminal I first type:

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$ ossmix
In order to display the current values of the default mixer. One sees that rear and center speakers have the volumes set to zero:

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Selected mixer 0/AudigyLS Mixer
Known controls are:
pcm [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 94:94)
rear [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 0:0)
center [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 0:0)
ext.spread ON|OFF (currently ON)
pcm is set very high so I can set it, e.g. to 80:80 with this command:

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$ ossmix pcm 80:80
Of course, for 5.1 surround sound one can set different values for the speakers depending on where these are positioned but for 2,1 sound just set the same values for both speakers.
Similarly I can set the rear and center left and right volumes thus:

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$ ossmix center 60:60
$ ossmix rear 60:60
The above settings will result in:

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$ ossmix pcm 60:60
Value of mixer control pcm set to 60.0:60.0
$ ossmix center 60:60
Value of mixer control center set to 60.0:60.0
$ ossmix rear 60:60
Value of mixer control rear set to 60.0:60.0
And I now get crystal-clear sound from all 5.1 speakers and can just use the manual control to turn the sound up or down.
Note 1: For 5.1 sound, it's also necessary to enable "spread." An easy way to do this is just to run the command ossxmix to open the GUI application and mark the box.
*Edit Note 2: I have a headphones set which is connected via the green and pink phono connectors. I'm able to mute the speakers after I plugging in the headphones using the ossxmixer (which I´ve now added to my Gnome Menu): All I have to do is to select int-speaker mode (just below the top right-hand corner of the GUI and select pcm2 instead of pcm1 reesulting in sound only through the headphones. I haven't figured out how to automatically mute the laptop speakers yet. I don´t have USB headphones so I can´t say if this works for them too.
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#39 Post by milomak »

kedaha wrote:@milomak: I suppose am an audiophile insofar as I perceive variance in audio quality which many people may not be so sensitive to, so naturally, having tried OSS4, I'm very appreciative of it as well as the technical side. I
well i always lie to try things, so i guess this will be my next project.
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Re: Do you prefer ALSA, PulseAudio or Open Sound System (OSS

#40 Post by Mr James »

For my setup, with ALSA I get the following issue:
Inability to have two sounds playing at once. If music or a movie is running, a system beep will disable the (any) media player's audio forcing me to restart the (any) media player.

With PulseAudio I get the following issue:
Plugging in a headphone mutes not only the speakers but the headphones as well requiring me to raise the headphone volume each and every time I plug the damn thing in.

Also, audio in Linux is an example of what I would call a mess: OSS, Jack, ALSA, Pulse...
Were I omnipotent, I would have OSS and Jack nuked and reallocated their resources (developers) to Pulse and/or ALSA.
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