The Sorry State of Sound In Linux

Question

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READ: http://insanecoding.blogspot.com/2007/0 … linux.html
I've only discovered this because of an ALSA bug was making my life miserable.  That article was written about a month or two before OSS4 (Open Sound System v4) was released under GPL and CDDL. This past January, it was released under BSD as well. Unfortunately for the developer, he does not understand open source very well. He is now reporting that his revenue went significantly down..
OSS4 does not equal to the crap OSS in Linux 2.4 kernels. Even OSS3 != OSS3 in former linux kernels. He was neglecting the open source version in favour of the commercial one. Instead of improving it, someone forked it. And, the fork became popular. Unfortunately, the original author had no interest in working on the fork. So, he only focused on the commercial version.  Now, many years later, the commercial version is fully open source. There is no more commercial version.
I've tried it,  and I really like it. Music sounds much better than on ALSA. For example, screaming in alternative rock is more legible.  It's like enabling "enhance voice" in a phone. It supports higher PCM values without noise.
The mixer (vmix) is capable of 18 channels. It can also do per application volume control (like PulseAudio).
It totally makes sense that OSS gets back into the kernel because it works on almost every UNIX and UNIX-like system (except OS X). ALSA only works on Linux, and according to that article, developers still prefer the OSS API, even on ALSA. However, the ALSA OSS API is lacking according to an ALSA developer. I can confirm that the comment on the ALSA OSS Emulation API working better than the ALSA API. XMMS with ALSA enabled freezes my system. XMMS with OSS enabled on ALSA does not.
It worked without any configuration besides muting some channels to kill the noise.
THE BAD
ossmix and ossxmix are totally unusable because they do not name the channels properly. ossxmix uses 100% CPU if Compiz is enabled. Version 4.1 will fix this.
I had to figure out WTF ossxmix.codec1.connector.jack14.jack 54:54 means. Sane names need to be added to the jacks such as "mater, front, input, auxiliary, microphone, etc.."
It's best to use ossxmix (GTK+ mixer) and playing with all the jacks to figure out what each one does.
One interesting control is how OSS4 should behave (Fast, Medium High, Professional, etc.). It's probably a latency control.  ossxmix is a demo app on how you can control the mixer from GTK. It needs to be made usable.
If you use Media Player Daemon, VLC, and MPlayer, OSS4 works beautifully. They use OSS directly. Others have problems.
Totem does not play sound. Totem-Xine uses 100% CPU (Xine-UI works with low CPU usage).
In terminal I noticed some output from oss mixer control saying it received bad arguments. OSS4 is backwards compatible with OSS3, but xine-lib may be using the API badly.
The progress bar (seeker) in GStreamer based applications (Rhythmbox, Banshee) does not work if you use vmix, or it may work, but it will be unsure of the length of a song. You will see it constantly adjusting a few seconds up or down. By the middle of the song, the length reporting generally stabilises. You have to enable softoss (the old mixer). vmix and Gstreamer behave very badly. The Gstreamer developer responsible for OSS claims that it does on his system. Though, he is most likely using the trunk version.
You have to apply this patched gstreamer to make volume control in GNOME work.
While the progress bar problem is fixed with softoss, volume control does not work, even with the patched GStreamer. It only works with vmix.  System > Preferences > Sound lists nothing under "Default Mixer Tracks".
Sound does not work in KDE4 at all. While Phonon is based on Xine, which has OSS support, it queries HAL, which does not support OSS4 yet. Therefore, it thinks that there is no sound card.
As for KDE 3.5.9. Amarok works, Noatun works, and anything based on MPlayer should work. KMIX does not work. Same in KDE4.
DOWNLOAD IT (Popular Distributions Linux and Unix Distributions)
Gentoo ebuild
Arch Linux
The Arch Linux wiki has a good article. Read it.
A Ubuntu user has published an install guide as well.
Check Configuring Applications for OSSv4 after you install it.
Overall, I think it's a million times better than ALSA. It's cross platform, and it's stable. It was released a year ago on 15th of March 2007. Since he does not have a marketing department, no one has heard of it.
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Last edited by SpookyET (2008-03-29 15:01:19)

Answer 1

wyvern wrote:
Hmm, so it's a choice - have to enable effects and use an older mixer, or put up with a 'stuck' progress bar... Well, as I said, I use MOC, and I'm happy with my mixer setup so far, so I'll stick to what I've got.
I can't believe I finally have my headphones working, or external speakers, should I so wish - and what with the ATI divers *finally* providing tear-free video, it's like it's my birthday
Since you mentioned ATI and went offtopic, can you pastebin your ATI xorg? It works fine for me, but If I enable compiz, i get flickering video and slow scrolling. So, I'm stuck with the open source driver, which uses a lot more CPU when I play video.
I can also confirm what the article said about the ALSA OSS emulation. It does work better than ALSA with the ALSA API. xmms with ALSA enabled freezes my sytem. xmms with OSS enabled running ALSA does not. I'm tired of this bollocks. We have to mount a campaign to get OSS back into the kernel.
Anyway, this is my OSS output.
OSSINFO
Version info: OSS 4.0 (b1014/200803130443) (0x00040003) GPL
Platform: Linux/i686 2.6.24-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Mar 5 12:07:52 UTC 2008 (mercurius)
Number of audio devices: 10
Number of audio engines: 13
Number of mixer devices: 2
Device objects
0: osscore0 OSS core services
1: hdaudio0 Intel HD Audio interrupts=1389433 (1526696)
HD Audio controller Intel HD Audio
Vendor ID 0x80862668
Subvendor ID 0x10250070
Codec 0: ALC880 (0x10ec0880/0x08800000)
Codec 1: Unknown (0x11c13026)
2: softoss0 OSS Virtual Mixer v3.0
Mixer devices
0: High Definition Audio ALC880 (Mixer 0 of device object 1)
Device file /dev/oss/hdaudio0/mix0, Legacy device /dev/mixer0
Priority: 10
Caps:
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-mx01
Device priority: 10
1: Virtual Mixer (Mixer 0 of device object 2)
Device file /dev/oss/softoss0/mix0, Legacy device /dev/mixer1
Priority: 1
Caps: VIRTUAL
Device handle: softoss0-mx01
Device priority: 1
Audio devices
HD Audio front /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm0 (device index 0)
Legacy device /dev/dsp0
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP
Modes: OUTPUT
Out engine 1: 0/HD Audio front
Available for use
Input formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-au01
Related mixer dev: 0
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 2 - 8
Native sample rates (min - max): 44100 - 192000 (44100,48000,96000,192000)
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
HD Audio rear /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm1 (device index 1)
Legacy device /dev/dsp1
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP
Modes: OUTPUT
Out engine 1: 1/HD Audio rear
Available for use
Input formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-au02
Related mixer dev: 0
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 2 - 2
Native sample rates (min - max): 44100 - 192000 (44100,48000,96000,192000)
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
HD Audio center/LFE /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm2 (device index 2)
Legacy device /dev/dsp2
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP
Modes: OUTPUT
Out engine 1: 2/HD Audio center/LFE
Available for use
Input formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-au03
Related mixer dev: 0
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 2 - 2
Native sample rates (min - max): 44100 - 96000 (44100,48000,96000)
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
HD Audio side /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm3 (device index 3)
Legacy device /dev/dsp3
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP
Modes: OUTPUT
Out engine 1: 3/HD Audio side
Available for use
Input formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-au04
Related mixer dev: 0
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 2 - 2
Native sample rates (min - max): 44100 - 96000 (44100,48000,96000)
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
HD Audio spdif-out /dev/oss/hdaudio0/spdout0 (device index 4)
Legacy device /dev/dsp4
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP
Modes: OUTPUT
Out engine 1: 4/HD Audio spdif-out
Available for use
Input formats (0x00001410):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_AC3 - AC3 (Dolby Digital) encoded audio
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00001410):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_AC3 - AC3 (Dolby Digital) encoded audio
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-au05
Related mixer dev: 0
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 2 - 2
Native sample rates (min - max): 44100 - 96000 (44100,48000,96000)
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
High Definition Audio rec1 /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcmin0 (device index 5)
Legacy device /dev/dsp5
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP
Modes: INPUT
In engine 1: 5/High Definition Audio rec1
Available for use
Input formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-au06
Related mixer dev: 0
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 2 - 2
Native sample rates (min - max): 44100 - 96000 (44100,48000,96000)
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
High Definition Audio rec2 /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcmin1 (device index 6)
Legacy device /dev/dsp6
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP
Modes: INPUT
In engine 1: 6/High Definition Audio rec2
Available for use
Input formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-au07
Related mixer dev: 0
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 2 - 2
Native sample rates (min - max): 44100 - 96000 (44100,48000,96000)
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
High Definition Audio rec3 /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcmin2 (device index 7)
Legacy device /dev/dsp7
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP
Modes: INPUT
In engine 1: 7/High Definition Audio rec3
Available for use
Input formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00001010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-au08
Related mixer dev: 0
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 2 - 2
Native sample rates (min - max): 44100 - 96000 (44100,48000,96000)
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
High Definition Audio spdif-in /dev/oss/hdaudio0/spdin0 (device index 8)
Legacy device /dev/dsp8
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP
Modes: INPUT
In engine 1: 8/High Definition Audio spdif-in
Available for use
Input formats (0x00001410):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_AC3 - AC3 (Dolby Digital) encoded audio
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00001410):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
AFMT_AC3 - AC3 (Dolby Digital) encoded audio
AFMT_S32_LE - 32 bit signed little endian
Device handle: PCI00701025-0000:00:1b.0-au09
Related mixer dev: 0
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 2 - 2
Native sample rates (min - max): 44100 - 96000 (44100,48000,96000)
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
OSS Virtual Mixer v3.0 Playback /dev/oss/softoss0/pcm0 (device index 9)
Legacy device /dev/dsp9
Caps: TRIGGER MMAP VIRTUAL
Modes: OUTPUT
Out engine 1: 9/OSS Virtual Mixer v3.0 Playback
Available for use
Out engine 2: 10/OSS Virtual Mixer v3.0 Playback
Available for use
Out engine 3: 11/OSS Virtual Mixer v3.0 Playback
Available for use
Out engine 4: 12/OSS Virtual Mixer v3.0 Playback
Available for use
Input formats (0x00000010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
Output formats (0x00000010):
AFMT_S16_LE - 16 bit signed little endian
Device handle: softoss0-au01
Related mixer dev: 1
Sample rate source: 0
Preferred channel configuration: Not indicated
Supported number of channels (min - max): 1 - 2
Native sample rates (min - max): 48000 - 48000
HW Type: Not indicated.
Minimum latency: Not indicated
OSSMIX -d0
Selected mixer 0/High Definition Audio ALC880
Known controls are:
codec1.connector.jack14.mode <jack|input> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack14.mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack14.front-m ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack14.inputmi ON|OFF (currently ON)
codec1.connector.jack14.jack <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 57.9:57.9 dB)
codec1.connector.jack15.mode <jack|input> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack15.mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack15.rear-mu ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack15.inputmi ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack15.jack <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 57.9:57.9 dB)
codec1.connector.jack16.mode <jack|input> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack16.mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack16.center/ ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack16.inputmi ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack16.jack <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 57.9:57.9 dB)
codec1.connector.jack17.mode <jack|input> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack17.mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack17.side-mu ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack17.inputmi ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack17.jack <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 57.9:57.9 dB)
codec1.connector.jack18.mode <jack|input> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack18.mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack18.jack <jack|jack|jack|jack> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack19.mode <jack|input> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack19.mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack19.jack <jack|jack|jack|jack> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack1a.mode <jack|input> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack1a.mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack1a.jack <jack|jack|jack|jack> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack1b.mode <jack|input> (currently jack)
codec1.connector.jack1b.mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
codec1.connector.jack1b.jack <jack|jack|jack|jack> (currently jack)
codec1.record.rec1 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 31.9:31.9 dB)
codec1.record.rec1.rec1 <jack|jack|jack|jack|jack|jack|jack> (currently jack)
codec1.record.rec2 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 31.9:31.9 dB)
codec1.record.rec2.rec2 <jack|jack|jack|jack|jack|jack|jack> (currently jack)
codec1.record.rec3 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 31.9:31.9 dB)
codec1.record.rec3.rec3 <jack|jack|jack|jack|jack|inputmix|jack|jack|jack|jack> (currently jack)
codec1.misc.jack1 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 58.9:58.9 dB)
codec1.misc.jack2 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 58.9:58.9 dB)
codec1.misc.jack3 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 58.9:58.9 dB)
codec1.misc.jack4 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 58.9:58.9 dB)
codec1.misc.jack5 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 58.9:58.9 dB)
codec1.misc.jack6 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 58.9:58.9 dB)
codec1.misc.jack7 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 58.9:58.9 dB)
codec1.misc.jack8 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 58.9:58.9 dB)
codec1.misc.inputmix <jack|jack|jack|jack|jack|jack|jack|jack> (currently jack)
OSSMIX -d1
Selected mixer 1/Virtual Mixer
Known controls are:
synth <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 100:100)
pcm <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 100:100)
2 <leftVU>:<rightVU>] (currently 137:136)
autoreset ON|OFF (currently OFF)
effects.eq.prescale <monovol> (currently 255)
effects.eq.lo <monovol> (currently 128)
effects.eq.mid <monovol> (currently 128)
effects.eq.hi <monovol> (currently 128)
effects.eq.xhi <monovol> (currently 128)
effects.eq.bypass ON|OFF (currently OFF)
voices.pcm9 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 100:100)
voices1 <leftVU>:<rightVU>] (currently 135:135)
voices.pcm10 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 100:100)
voices2 <leftVU>:<rightVU>] (currently 118:119)
voices.pcm11 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 100:100)
voices3 <leftVU>:<rightVU>] (currently 0:0)
voices.pcm12 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 100:100)
voices4 <leftVU>:<rightVU>] (currently 0:0)
Last edited by SpookyET (2008-03-15 01:17:07)