The sound server only supports applications that are aRts-aware. Many legacy applications want to access the sound device directly. The artsdsp command provides an interim solution that allows most of these applications to run unchanged.
When an application is run under artsdsp all accesses to the /dev/dsp
audio device are intercepted and
mapped into aRts API calls. While the device
emulation is not perfect, most applications work this way, albeit with
some degradation in performance and latency.
The artsdsp command follows the format:
artsdsp [options
] application arguments
The following options are recognized:
-h
, --help
Show brief help.
-n
--name
= name
Use name
to identify player to artsd.
-m
--mmap
Emulate memory mapping (e.g. for Quake).
-v
--verbose
Show parameters.
A typical invocation is:
artsdsp
-v
-m
realplay
song.mp3
Some applications work better with the --mmap
option. Not all features of the sound device are fully emulated, but
most applications should work. If you find one that does not, submit a
detailed bug report and the developers may be able to fix it. Again,
remember this is an interim solution and something of an ugly hack; the
best solution is to add native aRts support to the applications. If
your favorite sound application does not have aRts support, ask the
developer to provide it.
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