I forgot the most important part in the original, the kernel!
(I hope the ASCII art doesn't get mangled)
I have been working a while trying to get a big picture of how Linux handles sound processing and after much work I have put together this little representation of what I have learned.
Please send me any additional comments or components that I may have missed.
I hope it helps somebody though who may be struggling in getting sound to work and just needs some idea of how all the parts fit together.
There really needs to be some concise, up-to-date Wiki on Linux sound processing and how the different applications work and work together (or not).
Linux Sound Architecture XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X Linux Sound Applications X X X X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Sound Servers X X X ESD/Arts/NASD/Pulse X X X X X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X X Third Party APIs X X X X GStreamer X X X X X X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X OSS Compatibility API X X ALSA Sound API XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X Linux Kernel X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X Sound Hardware X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ross S. W. Walker Information Systems Manager Medallion Financial, Corp. 437 Madison Avenue 38th Floor New York, NY 10022 Tel: (212) 328-2165 Fax: (212) 328-2125 WWW: http://www.medallion.com http://www.medallion.com/
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