[nas] Network transparent ALSA-sound

[Jon Trulson]

On Wed, 2 Nov 2005, Lasse Riis wrote:

> Hi
>
> I'd like to setup my home system in a way that let's me transmit the sound 
> output from my laptop to my server over the (in this case, wireless) 
> network. I'd like a way to basically pick up ALSA-output, wrap it and send 
> it off to my server, which in turn should pick it up and output it on its 
> audio-device.
>
> It doesn't have to be at ALSA-level or anything. I'd just like a setup that 
> picked up sound from all apps, not just apps that support whatever "transmit 
> software" I'm using. Basically that means I'd like Amarok by way of xine, 
> and mplayer to work. Also both computers should still be able to play sound 
> regularly at other times. So  imagine some sort of setup where a command 
> will set up sound-redirect on the laptop (and then do an automated ssh-login 
> to the server and setup the daemon or whatever to receive sound). This way I 
> can turn the sound setup on and off.
>

 	nasd can run all the time.  It only grabs the audio device when it 
has something to play.

> So in the end I should end up with "wireless sound". So I can control and 
> listen to, music or whatever without dragging a cable around.
>

 	I use xmms, mplayer, nas some others directed to a nasd server 
over a wired network to do this without any problem.  I do not think 
wireless would make any difference...

 	xmms and mplayer can support NAS natively.

> I can't really figure out if this can be done, or if NAS is the thing for 
> this anyway. But I thought you guys propably know. And might direct me to 
> other projects if NAS is not the right tool for the job.
>

 	In order for apps to be able to send to a nasd server, either the 
app needs to have native NAS support, or you need to use a wrapper library 
like libaudiooss... libaudioss works on a lot of stuff, but not all.  NAS 
can handle multiple incoming streams.

 	Sorry, there is no 'capture all ALSA audio and send it to NAS 
server' facility that I am aware of.  If there is, I'd like to hear about 
it :)


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Jon Trulson    mailto:jon at radscan.com
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