Okay, I grok that. So, then, is the option of compiling into the kernel an improvement, or not? It seems like it should be an improvement, otherwise, why do it? Or is it simply, like, replacing oss in the kernel?
It looks like there may be two issues being discussed here - using kernel ALSA drivers vs. the alsa-driver ebuild ALSA drivers, and if selecting the former, whether to build into the kernel or to leave them as modules. I take the "use kernel drivers but build them as modules" approach, myself. I seem to remember some problem I had when building them into the kernel (a long time ago, so I don't remember details) which were resolved when building them as modules. Also, at some point you could *not* use the alsa-driver ebuild with a 2.6 kernel at all, so inertia has held me here.
Note that there are some caveats to using the modular form of the drivers, in the form of hotplug/coldplug. If the ALSA driver for your soundcard is hotplug-enabled, when coldplug runs the driver will be modprobed automagically. Then when alsasound starts, it detects that the ALSA modules are already inserted, and doesn't insert them itself. The only problem with that is that the coldplug doesn't insert some of the auxiliary ALSA modules (like OSS compatibility) so you end up with an incomplete set of modules. The workaround is to check your /lib/modules/<kernel-version>/modules.pcimap to see if your soundcard driver is listed, and if so add it to /etc/hotplug/blacklist - this way coldplug will ignore it and the alsasound script will insert all of the required modules.
-- Manuel A. McLure KE6TAW <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.mclure.org> ...for in Ulthar, according to an ancient and significant law, no man may kill a cat. -- H.P. Lovecraft
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