Re: Basic information on alsa needed

Thanks for the thoughtful reply Ralf. I'll try to "digest" this, and 
follow up later.


On 10/27/24 7:41 PM, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Sun, 2024-10-27 at 18:29 -0500, Seamus de Mora via Alsa-user wrote:
>> What role does 'alsa' play on my systems?
> Hi,
>
> in simple terms, it can be said that ALSA is responsible for the
> hardware level and provides the kernel modules/drivers. Pipewire is a
> soundserver that works on top of ALSA. I can't comment on pipewire, but
> some soundservers provide features, such as resampling or at least one
> other soundserver provides kind of a virtual patch bay for real-time
> audio applications, but it doesn't provide resampling.
>
> I can't comment much on the audio players mpg123 and cmus, but seemingly
> you can use cmus without the need to install a soundserver such as
> pipewire. Some GUI applications, at least audacity need mpg123.
>
> $ pacman -Si cmus | grep Optional
> Optional Deps   : alsa-lib: for ALSA output plugin support
>
> You seemingly can use cmos by directly connecting to ALSA.
>
> Simplified summary
>
> 1. To use the Hardware you need the thing that handles the hardware
> level. It's ALSA.
>
> 2. A soundserver such as pipewire does provide "features" that aren't
> necessarily needed.
>
> 3. Apps not necessarily need a soundserver, some can use plain ALSA.
>
> IOW you need an audio app and ALSA, but not necessarily a soundserver.
>
> Some distros don't install apps such as audio players or web browsers at
> all.
>
> That one of your installs does default to cmus and another to mpg123 is
> comparable to distros that install different web browsers by default.
> Firefox, Chromium, Vivaldi, Falkon ...
>
> Some apps are based on other apps or at shared libraries. There are
> countless of possible combinations, but ALSA is the base that is quasi
> always needed.
>
> Regards,
> Ralf
>
>
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