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--- wiki:audio_layers_overview [2009/09/20 12:25] – created raboof
+++ wiki:audio_layers_overview [2009/11/23 22:42] – fixed broken OSS links lee
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ===== Kernel layer =====
-The most low-level layer is the kernel layer, which takes care of the communication with the hardware. This role is usually fulfilled by [[ALSA]] or [[OSS]].
+The most low-level layer is the kernel layer, which takes care of the communication with the hardware. This role is usually fulfilled by [[apps:all:ALSA]] or [[apps:all:oss_free|OSS]].
 Most sound cards do not support 'hardware mixing', meaning each output can only play one stream at a time. This is, of course, inconvenient: you might want to play sounds from more applications at a time. Mixing is one of the most important operations performed by the higher-level layers.
@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ===== ALSA userspace =====
-On top of the kernel [[ALSA]] layer, [[ALSA]] also provides some user-space plugins, including mixing with [[Dmix]].
+On top of the kernel [[apps:all:ALSA]] layer, [[apps:all:ALSA]] also provides some user-space plugins, including mixing with [[http://alsa.opensrc.org/DmixPlugin|Dmix]].
 ===== Sound servers =====
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 ==== Jack ====
-[[Jack]] is the standard sound server for audio production work.
+[[apps:all:Jack]] is the standard sound server for audio production work.
 ==== PulseAudio, ESounD, GStreamer, aRts ====
-Other sound servers such as [[PulseAudio]], [[ESounD]], [[GStreamer]] and [[aRts]] serve various desktop audio needs, and have lots of overlapping functionality, but are not specifically focused towards audio production like [[Jack]].
+Other sound servers such as [[apps:all:PulseAudio]], [[apps:all:ESounD]], [[apps:all:GStreamer]] and [[apps:all:aRts]] serve various desktop audio needs, and have lots of overlapping functionality, but are not specifically focused towards audio production like [[apps:all:Jack]].
+===== Compatibility layers =====
+An application that does not use a sound server is generally written for either [[apps:all:OSS_free|OSS]] (in which case it would use /dev/dsp*) or [[apps:all:ALSA]] (in which case it would use /dev/snd/* though the [[apps:all:ALSA]] libraries).
+This would mean [[apps:all:OSS_free|OSS]] would not work on systems using [[apps:all:ALSA]] and vice-versa. Luckily, both projects provide a 'compatibility layer' to work with each others' applications.