[CM] what linux?

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

Fernando Lopez-Lezcano wrote:
> I think at this point all/most other important audio oriented distros or
> add-ons have realtime kernels (64Studio, Ubuntu Studio, Gentoo's pro
> audio overlay, Jacklab on SuSE, etc, etc). 

I don't think Gentoo's Pro Audio overlay is anywhere near as well 
integrated as 64Studio, JAD, or Planet CCRMA. I run Gentoo, and I just 
recently discovered the Pro Audio overlay. I was trying to build CSound 
from source on a Gentoo system and discovered on one of the CSound 
forums that it was in that overlay. Most everything I've tested so far 
works, but there isn't an integrated "Gentoo Audio Distro" that's 
tested, etc., in the same sense as the others.

Now CSound *should* be in the main Gentoo tree. CLM and CMN should be 
there too. CM is in there, as is SND. CHuCK and friends are in there 
(but only on 32-bit because CHuCK is only 32-bit). I don't remember if 
Stk is there -- I think so.

> OSS has been deprecated. Some people bring it up in the lists every once
> in a while, the discussion flares up for a while and then dies. 

Indeed OSS is dead but OSS compatibility layers / emulators are very 
much alive, I'm afraid.

> To me it looks like something like PulseAudio will become the "standard
> interface" for non-critical audio apps on the desktop, Jack will remain
> the pro api and ALSA will just be what talks to the hardware. 

Is it just me, or do other people think there are too many "audio APIs"? 
Obviously, MIDI has severe limits, but really -- Jack, SDL, PortAudio, 
PulseAudio, Network Audio System, Open Sound Control, OpenAL, LADDCA, 
LADSPA, and probably half a dozen others.