[all variants] Hardy 8.04 & OSS4 (Alternative to ALSA)

[Temüjin]

Now that Ubuntu 8.04 is out and all the old info is archived, I figured it was time for a new thread on OSS4.

Link to the OpenSound System project forum: http://www.4front-tech.com/forum/index.php
I encourage you to register an account there and use their Linux forum if your issue is more pertinent to OSS itself and not installing/using it on Ubuntu. This ensures that users of other Linux distros will have a chance to benefit from or give feedback on your issue, and ensures that we keep non-Ubuntu issues off of these forums, which are already loaded with unresolved issues.

I will be updating this thread with new information and announcements, so remember to subscribe to it.

[Temüjin]

The OSS4 Install Guide has moved to: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenSound

[Mr. Sunshine]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the advantage of using OSS4 instead of ALSA? I was under the impression that OSS is outdated and ALSA should be used.

Is it for older hardware? Or is the sound quality better than ALSA?

[Temüjin]

I was under the impression that OSS is outdated and ALSA should be used.

This is a common misconception. Please read Hannu's blog post "OSS is Dead. Long Live OSS!" here: http://4front-tech.com/hannublog/?p=5

[Mr. Sunshine]

That was enlightning. There are two forks of OSS: a GPL one which is outdated and this one, which is binary only.

However, that is unimportant.

What I really want to know is: will OSS4 give better sound with than ALSA? I have a HD Audio chipset.

[Temüjin]

The blog is about a year old. Since that time, I believe all of OSS is now GPL'd except for some non-Linux stuff (BSD, Solaris & other Unix OS's) and a select few modules whose vendors still have NDA's with 4front.

What I really want to know is: will OSS4 give better sound with than ALSA?

It did on my sound card (M-Audio Revolution). If your sound works properly, I would not recommend that you switch at this time. But I do think you'll like the upcoming release of OSS 4.1. If you decide to switch, I would recommend using the Mercurial repo version rather than a .deb package because the HD Audio modules have had a lot of work put into them for the new build.

[terminator14]

@Temüjin

I'm a linux noob like I'm sure a lot of us reading you post are and I'd just like to say THANKS A LOT ... I have been trying to get my X-Fi to work on Linux for probably over a year, waiting for new drivers from creative to come out, and trying stuff people have written about, trying and waiting. Following your guide, I was able to set up my X-Fi on Ubuntu 8.04 in minutes. I can't thank you enough.

BTW, the only thing I don't have working is my media keyboard won't increase/decrease the sound and that sort of thing. You mention that here:

Originally Posted by Temüjin ADDENDUM: Volume Control Patch The current gstreamer-based volume control in GNOME is incompatible with OSSv4, meaning your mouse wheel and media buttons won't work. To remedy the issue, try Clive Wright's patch. I've also built and attached an AMD64 version to this post. Note that this patch was updated on 1/8/08, so if you tried it before then and it didn't work, try again. Also, if you'd prefer to map commands to your shortcut keys, here are some scripts to use (at the bottom of the page).

It seems that http://www.4front-tech.com is down right now and I can't get Clive Wright's Patch. Can anyone point out a mirror for this? I would find it myself but I have no idea what the file name of the patch is...

[Temüjin]

Originally Posted by terminator14 Following your guide, I was able to set up my X-Fi on Ubuntu 8.04 in minutes. I can't thank you enough.

Awesome! If you'd like to thank me, please edit your post and remove the huge quote (I expect this thread to get rather long as it is)

It seems that http://www.4front-tech.com is down right now and I can't get Clive Wright's Patch.

The forum works fine for me at the time of this post. Just to make sure, I've added the 32-bit version to the original post.

[seawright]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive_w...r-ossv4.tar.gz
contains patch and 32 bit version of libgstossaudio.so

regards,
Clive

[terminator14]

Originally Posted by Temüjin Awesome! If you'd like to thank me, please edit your post and remove the huge quote (I except this thread to get rather long as it is)

Got it. Thanks again for the How To.

Originally Posted by seawright http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive_w...r-ossv4.tar.gz contains patch and 32 bit version of libgstossaudio.so regards, Clive

Worked like a charm. Thanks