Re: Sound report

[Stas Sergeev <stssppnn@yahoo.com>]

Hello.

Jochen Reinwand wrote:
>> When software mixing is added to dosemu,
>> the problem is no more. 
>  Wouldn't it be simplier to add support for arts as output module? This 
>  should solve the problem in a very compatible way for most users.
Yes, but there are problems with this:
1. This will not solve that problem for
OSS, which is bad: dosemu must work with
OSS too.
2. Not all the sound servers can change
the sampling rate on a fly, so you will
have to close/open session when you want
to change the rate. I don't know about
arts in particular, maybe it have that
ability, but then we are incompatible
with everything else.
So indeed the internal mixing code is
required, and the mixing itself is not
on the first place: what we really need
is a resampling, which will allow dosemu
to change the sampling rate at any time
without a problems.

> This way you can 
> for example listen to music via xmms with the arts output plugin while 
> using dosemu.
When the internal mixing is added,
writing the output plugin for any
sound server would be a piece of cake:
only output a single stream at a single
rate. Without a mixing code it would be
a headache. Just look at linux_sound.c
to see what a headache it is. linux_sound.c
can be reduced 3-4 times if we have a
mixing code inside, and also a sound.c
can be cleaned up a bit.

> btw: I've tried to use artsdsp to redirect sound to an virtual dsp device 
> simulated through arts. Seems like dosemu is very "unfriendly" to the 
> dsp device...
Yes, that's why it fails even with some
OSS drivers, and will certainly fail
with any redirectors like esddsp or
artsdsp.
I have already patched the Aureal Vortex
driver to be dosemu-compatible as I was
provided with that card for testings, but
I know some other drivers are also failing.
Have we the internal mixing code, this
hell would be ended. But also threading
is required to solve everything for good.
Then all the DSP redirectors will suddenly
start working. Currently I think they
don't like a non-blocking I/O.