Very Computer

All,

I had success getting ALSA to work on my debian 2.4.18 system (this I
verify by using aplay on a wav file).

I've had less success with OSS compatability within ALSA. I did
modprobe snd-pcm-oss and modprobe snd-mixer-oss and see them in lsmod.

But, when I cat a wav file to /dev/dsp I just get garbage noise
through the speakers.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

If you're trying to play audio by just writing something to /dev/dsp,
that won't work unless your audio stream just happens to match the default
settings of /dev/dsp, which I believe are 8-bit, unsigned mono.  16-bit
audio files would indeed sound like noise.

As far as I can tell, the free OSS project is dead.  If there's been any
significant work lately, I haven't seen it.  It's been years since I
last owned a laptop for which sound worked under Linux.

Alsa looks promising, but the last time I tried to use their drivers
they weren't even alpha quality -- frequently* the system and
requiring a reboot or even a power cycle.  I admit it's been over a year
since I last tried, but they don't even list my sound chip (YAMAHA AC-XG)
in their supported devices page, so I haven't bothered.

I think the OSS project has gone commercial; see www.opensound.com.
A typical driver for a sound chip runs about $35 and I think there's a
try-before-you buy option.  (They don't list the YAMAHA AC-XG either.)

Of course, if you're using a desktop, your chances of finding a working
driver are much better.

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