4 ms·

Which alternative to PulseAudio, Avahi, and Systemd exists for Linux that provide the same features? I'm not aware of any audio daemon that is as feature rich

by Sammi 8y ago

Which alternative to PulseAudio, Avahi, and Systemd exists for Linux that provide the same features? I'm not aware of any audio daemon that is as feature rich and flexible and PulseAudio. None of the alternatives fit the same general purpose use case that is expected in a modern desktop that needs to compete with Mac OS and Windows 10.

bjourne 8y ago
If you use a modern Linux system with KDE, you can try removing PA. Odds are you won't notice that it is gone. Not saying that network audio is a bad feature per se, but in my ten years of using PA, I have never needed it. IMO, systemd and Avahi are fundamentally different from PA in that most users have no need for the latter but almost everyone for the former.
- m45t3r 8y ago
  Because KDE has Phonon, an audio subsystem way more complex than PulseAudio (and in my experience, more bugged too). Things like hotplug, Bluetooth devices and as such shouldn't be managed by your desktop manager, unless you want for things like hotplug and Bluetooth to only work in KDE.
  - emilsedgh 8y ago
    Phonon is only an abstraction layer with API and ABI guarantees so every time a new technology comes and goes, all app developers wouldn't have to port their existing codebases. Funny story: During KDE 4.0 development, KDE introduced Solid library. Which abstracted HAL. HAL was Linux'es "Hardware Abstraction Layer". So HAL developers mocked KDE and got some tshirts that said "KDE Abstracted my abstraction layer". 1-2 years later HAL was deprecated. And Solid got a new upower/udev backend and no KDE developer had to port away their code from HAL to anything else. Phonon's situation is similar. Xine, gstream, vlc, these technologies come and go. KDE apps don't care. Also Phonon can get a QuickTime backend when it's built for Mac or something else for Windows.
  - bjourne 8y ago
    Phonon is a sound API, PulseAudio is a sound server. It is not the same thing.

by Sammi 8y ago

bjourne 8y ago

If you use a modern Linux system with KDE, you can try removing PA. Odds are you won't notice that it is gone. Not saying that network audio is a bad feature per se, but in my ten years of using PA, I have never needed it. IMO, systemd and Avahi are fundamentally different from PA in that most users have no need for the latter but almost everyone for the former.

m45t3r 8y ago
Because KDE has Phonon, an audio subsystem way more complex than PulseAudio (and in my experience, more bugged too). Things like hotplug, Bluetooth devices and as such shouldn't be managed by your desktop manager, unless you want for things like hotplug and Bluetooth to only work in KDE.
- emilsedgh 8y ago
  Phonon is only an abstraction layer with API and ABI guarantees so every time a new technology comes and goes, all app developers wouldn't have to port their existing codebases. Funny story: During KDE 4.0 development, KDE introduced Solid library. Which abstracted HAL. HAL was Linux'es "Hardware Abstraction Layer". So HAL developers mocked KDE and got some tshirts that said "KDE Abstracted my abstraction layer". 1-2 years later HAL was deprecated. And Solid got a new upower/udev backend and no KDE developer had to port away their code from HAL to anything else. Phonon's situation is similar. Xine, gstream, vlc, these technologies come and go. KDE apps don't care. Also Phonon can get a QuickTime backend when it's built for Mac or something else for Windows.
- bjourne 8y ago
  Phonon is a sound API, PulseAudio is a sound server. It is not the same thing.