[nas] multiple dsp devices under linux?

[Paul Fox]

 > 
 > >     beep_device: <dsp device>
 > >         The sound device through which to play the beep sounds.
 > >         This cannot be the same device which mpg123 uses.  I 
 > > 	use /dev/dsp1.  Note that most sound drivers provide
 > > 	multiple dsp devices.
 > > 
 > > the last line is news to me.  in particular, i would like
 > > very much to run the nas server on one audio device, and
 > > have a second device available for use by non-nas-aware
 > > applications.  is it really true that most linux sound
 > > drivers have multiple entry points?  
 > 
 > No, when they say device, I'm pretty sure they mean hardware device. 
 > For example, if you have two physical sound cards, then one will be
 > /dev/dsp, and the other will be /dev/dsp1. I don't think you are
 > suggesting getting a second sound card just to support non-NAS program.

no, i'm not suggesting that.  by the same token i'm kind of
surprised that _they're_ suggesting a second audio card just
for beeps.  :-)  (i haven't gotte a response back from those
developers yet -- maybe the second device is meant to be a
pc-speaker pseudo sounddriver.)

 > To suggest a different solution, have you played with audiooss?  Despite
 > the warning on that config line, you should be able to just specify
 > /dev/dsp if you are running the program under audiooss.  (Although IMHO,
 > it's too bad they don't ask for a beep *command*!)

as it happens, the two programs i'm trying to run are both
NAS-enabled, and i have to have nas running for one of them,
but the other (mpg123) is running locally, and it just
seemed like it would be more efficient (fewer cpu cycles),
and suffer fewer latency issues (like the too-much-data-
buffered-when-i-pause problem i mentioned in a different
email), if it were accessing the device directly rather than
going through the extra server process.

(i have played with audiooss for some things, and it works
quite well.  i did find that it seems quite a bit less
efficient than a native NAS app though.  the specific case
i'm thinking of was using a "regular" mpg123 process along
with audiooss vs.  a nas-enabled mpg123.

 > 
 > Lex Spoon

paul

=---------------------
 paul fox, pgf at foxharp.boston.ma.us (arlington, ma, where it's 35.2 degrees)