Why can't i access /dev/dsp or /dev/snd on my XO

[Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves]

On 1/21/08, Dan Williams <dcbw at redhat.com> wrote:
> Except that it's completely insane to try to diverge from the upstream
> kernel and userland here.

Uh?  You are supposed to costumize the kernel as you feel like it.
Freedom of choice and all.  Also, if it may bother you, why not bring
the issue up to Mr Torvalds?

> Plus, does OSS support software mixing so
> that multiple processes pumping out different bitrates and channels of
> audio can all talk to the same sound device at the same time?  Granted,
> ALSA doesn't have that working as well as I'd like, but if OSS doesn't
> support that then there is no point in switching to OSS.

Certainly.  Just an extreme example I tried for fun in my system:

YouTube (Flash)
foobar2000 (Wine)
Kaffeine (Xine)
ogg123 (libao)

All at the same time sending a bunch of different signals (audio
cacophony but still understandable) to the speakers.  Different
bitrates and volume.  Through OSS 4.

The only problem with support for OSS in the XO is that there is no
driver for the CS5536 yet (there is one for CS5530 though).  I checked
yesterday.  That is the only reason why this may be a bad idea.  But
you know what, writing drivers for OSS is trivial for people who know
how to write drivers.  If people agree it may be a good idea to
improve the audio system of the XO, then someone will certainly write
the driver and spending one or two days doing it for the future
benefits of OSS is certainly a good idea.

-Ivo