Hi Chaim, On 12/26/05, Chaim Keren Tzion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Can anyone explain how USB headphones and microphones are implemented in > Linux?
If you're using ALSA sound modules, then it should appear to you as: alsa_usb_audio module (it does load other modules which required). > > I assume that the USB headphone and microphone would be a separate > device but does that mean that a regular jack device plugged into the > sound card can be used at the same time as the USB ones? For example > could a person listen to some music on speakers with a regular jack and > have an audio chat ala-Skype or IP phone with a USB headset? Actually the USB headphone and the microphone are the same device (/dev/dsp1 for example (or if you want to see the ALSA way, check this out): [EMAIL PROTECTED] device]$ cat /sys/class/sound/controlC1/device/product Logitech USB Headset > > Does the USB device use the sound card or does it have some software > sound card emulator? It has it's own simple DSP chip which acts as a simple sound "card". You can hear music, record through microphone, raise and lower the volume and mute. > Is there any advantage to having a USB audio device? Advantage: * You can use a USB Headset audio device with almost any OS - Linux with kernel 2.4.x, 2.6.x, BSD, Solaris (9 and above), Windows (98, 2K, XP) and it should work out of the box without requesting drivers (all the mentioned OS's have the USB audio driver built in), so you can take them with you anywhere, stick them to a machine and use them without additional drivers and fiddling. Disadvantage: * No Bass or Treble adjustment, no hardware mixing (you can use ARTS or ESD in KDE or GNOME) for multiple sound playback applications (e.g. sound notifications while using MP3 player). Hope this helps, Hetz ================================================================To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
