[PD] pd -rt and linux 2.6 [hdsp direct alsa support]

derek holzer derek at x-i.net
Fri May 7 00:49:13 CEST 2004


Hi Guenter,

guenter geiger wrote:

> Thomas Charbonnel, maintainer of the RME HDSP driver told
> me at the ZKM meeting that it would not pay off to include ALSA support
> for the HDSP in PD, because JACK is working perfectly and offers
> so many advantages.

I would like to suggest that you disregard Thomas' advice. ALSA is now 
standard for 2.6 kernels, and throwing away the choice of using it 
straight seems like only limiting options rather than giving advantages.

Two examples:

1) Basic: new users just trying out PD and/or Linux might not have 
everything configured for properly using Jack. In fact, when doing 
workshop with all the kinds of cheap hardware and crappy motherboard 
soundcards you usually get at workshops, there have been plenty of times 
when Jack simply would not run at all! Forcing these people to rely on 
the emulation of a depreciated sound system doesn't really sound like 
such a good idea.

2) Advanced: what if I wanted to use PD + HDSP for an installation, for 
example, which autostarts if the computer for some reason gets rebooted? 
Instead of a simple prompt to open PD, I would have to make a whole 
shell script to start the jack daemon, then start PD, then connect all 
the ports in Jack *before* starting the DSP in PD. Not much advantage 
there...

And for the record, I get the same exact stream of PD watchdog messages, 
which I have posted to this list already, as Tim does with both 2.4 and 
2.6 kernels.

ok... I think I have run out of technical problems to complain about to 
this list tonight ;-) Think I'll go to bed, and get back to making noise 
tomorrow.

Best,
d.

-- 
derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
---Oblique Strategy # 45:
"Disciplined self-indulgence"




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