On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 02:06:20 +0100 David Garcia Garzon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The architectural division you did (the same one that appears in all > existing documentation) is very useful (in fact, vital) for > programmers but only annecdotal for final users (or it should be in > the future). Drivers-Lib-Programs division is implicit on my > documentation but i think that structuring the document like that is > not a good idea. I want to enforce an arquitectural view from the > final user viewpoint. In that sense, i prefer explaining the > architectonic abstraction that provides alsa-lib interfaces, and > explaining the user programs as the way to interact with that model. I can understand that very well. I had, for the moment of writing my answer to the post, the impression you really wanted to write an all-around user guide for alsa. A nicely organized Alsa-documentation is, as far as i have found out, not really available.. There is quite a bit of material available but it's somewhat scattered still.. I think, to understand alsa, every user needs to understand that seperation into the different layers and what each layer does. He doesn't need to know how modules.conf works for using apps like ardour and jack, but it will help him when problems come up. He will know where to look for more specific information. To use plugins like dmix, dsnoop, etc.. a user will have to have at least a basic understanding of this. The question to your answer about virmidi is partly a question of hw/sw layer. As far as i know, virmidi installs a virtual soundcard in the system that has nothing but some "physical" midi ports. It works on the kernel module layer, because a normal seq-client cannot create a physical port. This is useful to interconnect alsa apps, that explicitly request a physical midi port to read/write to.. This is also useful for older alsa apps that use the drivers directly.. /me is no expert though. To understand how jack works, a user needs to know why he can't give it a software device with satisfactory results. A hardware device is needed.. [valid points snipped] > > kernel modules: what do the alsa core modules do? which drivers are > > available [link to the soundcard matrix]? > > Available drivers are an instalation issue. I'm not interested in > that. Most user documentation are too centered in such process. That's right, but even that's a field where alsa documentation is also lacking.. I don't talk about going into deep details here. The emphasis is clearly much more on the high level issues, but a rather non-technical introduction into this can be very useful to users.. > > Which special purpose modules like virmidi are available and what do > > they do? what does all this acore/seq, acore/oss, etc.. stuff do? > > Yess, is that kind of thing: 'what can i do with Alsa'. I want to sell > it to musics as an alternative to windows. I can't hasle them with > kernels, drivers, api's and compilations. ;-) Do you get the point of > view? Sure.. > Also i don't need to explain legacy OSS compatibility issues, and I > can't supose an OSS background as many documentation does by comparing > OSS and Alsa features. OSS stuff will be useless for a future new user > using >2.5.0 kernels. :-) Except for those legacy apps that need the OSS emu layer. So at least a short discussion is needed on how it is possible to use this OSS emu layer. This is a question, a typical end user will ask.. > Hopefully, the english translation will be ready soon (a pair of > months?), then, you will be able to give your view on the document > without language barriers. I will thank you a lot if you review it > then. I also will thank any answer to the questions i sent. :-) I will be glad to read it then. I would also like, if my aruments convinced you that at least a basic treatment of the architecture of alsa is necessary, assist you in writing something up. It would be great to have a document that covers all aspects a (new) user needs to know. Regards, Florian Schmidt -- music: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/9/florianschmidt.htm ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: SF.net Giveback Program. Does SourceForge.net help you be more productive? Does it help you create better code? SHARE THE LOVE, and help us help YOU! Click Here: http://sourceforge.net/donate/ _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
