If the on-board soundcard is a true SB Live! then you should give using it a try as it *does* support hardware mixing.
I don't quite understand this issue of hardware mixing.
XMMS and Xine both played on my USB Kenwood device. Does that mean that those applications don't require any mixing anywhere? They do it on their own?
And then FireFox didn't work with my Kenwood device, meaning that FireFox needs some kind of other software to do the sound mixing?
I guess why I'm lost is that no matter what, for any sound to play, CentOS needs to detect and have support for the audio device. Since it detects and outputs sound through my Kenwood device for some programs, why do other programs not use the same settings?
Also, part of the reason I'm attached to using my USB Kenwood device is that it takes a digital signal all the way to my Kenwood stereo, and doesn't get analog until it gets to the speakers. It has great sound, and they are the only speakers I have (living in Tokyo means space is at a premium). If I go the SB Live on-board route, the only option is to run a cable from the sound card to the auxiliary input, which is analog, and then amplify it through the speakers. It's noticeably not as good.
Dave