Sound Questions

[Eric Jensen]

Matthew Frederico wrote:

>Something I have noticed with linux, is its sound has weirdness.  For
>example, I am using XMMS, and in order for me to use Skype, I have to
>shut down xmms.  I can't play XMMS and talk via skype at the same
>time.
>
>using Alsa and I8x0
>
>I've googled for it, and can't find any answer that can conclusively
>tell me if it can be done or not.
>
>  
>
It's been a while since I was able to play with Linux, but I do remember 
having similar problems.  A piece of software like XMMS would lock 
whatever sound device it is using so no other application could talk 
with it (if the device didn't support hardware mixing).  This happened 
in Windows as well when just using the WAV output.  Once DirectX came 
into play you were able to share.  Not sure if there are output options 
in Linux that will allow this similarly as DirectX or not though.

Eric Jensen