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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