EsounD - alpha version - v0.1

So you've got your (insert sound playing program here) cruising at full tilt, and you want to check out this cool Monty Python quote, but you don't want to kill the original sound? This is just the fix, with a little tweaking, of course. =P The Enlightened Sound Daemon can mix several audio streams into one sound device. It will mix in pre-loaded samples, too. Want to play a frightening sound when the user presses the "go" button? No problem, just cache it, and play it back by sample id number.

Caveats

This is hot off the presses software, get it while it's still hot. Seriously, don't download this unless you're willing to help debug, test thoroughly, port other players, etc. It's still got a ways to go yet. Be prepared for a bumpy ride. Any and all reasonable patches, improvements accepted.

Requirements

The Enlightened Sound Daemon requires the following: Linux, version 2.??? or higher. I run 2.0.32, but I don't think the sound API has significantly changed recently. If you find it to be incompatible with earlier kernel/OSS revs, let me know.

Oh, and a C compiler too. That should do it.

Oh, and of course, a sound device.

Currently, this only runs under Linux. I will work on porting to SGI/Irix soon, as well as adding network streaming capabilities.

Known Problems, Deficiencies, and Possible Workarounds:

This should probably have some documentation as to the API, but for now it's still in development (i.e. subject to change).

Any other pressing issues or patches may be directed to ericmit@ix.netcom.com. Please mention "EsounD v0.1" in the subject line.
I occasionally hang out in the #E irc channel as ricdude.

Downloading, Compiling, and Installing

Simply download the EsounD archive from ftp://ftp.enlightenment.org/pub/ricware/esd_0_1.tgz and extract the contents of the archive.

To compile the package, change to the newly created "esd" directory, and type "make". It Works For Me (tm) =). The sound daemon, and the command line toolset should build as is. All executables should run fine from the source directory.

You may wish to copy the daemon and command line toolset somewhere more readily executable than the directory tree it was compiled in. simply copy the executables wherever you so desire. No "make install" step has been set up in the makefile yet. It's that new.

Running EsounD

esd
the Enlightened Sound Daemon, currently no runtime options

esdlock
only the "owner" of the daemon can play sounds. the first key (16 bytes) submitted to the daemon identified the owner.
esdunlock
anyone can play sounds through the daemon.
* in addition, "kill -HUP " resets ownership of the daemon.
* you can test this by removing your ~/.esd-auth file and playing with it.

esdcat
plays a raw audio stream through the daemon
esdmon
outputs the mixed stream from the daemon
esdrec
outputs from the sound device's current input
* options for cat,mon,rec - default to 16 bit signed short, stereo, 44.1kHz
* -b = 8 bit unsigned char, -m = mono, -r = sample rate of rate Hz.
esdsample
test scaffolding for sample cache, play back, and free.
* options for sample - same as above, but must specify file on command line.

Planned Development and Top Suggestions So Far...

Porting of sound playing applications. It shouldn't be *too* hard. Anyone willing to lend a hand in this effort will be duly appreciated.

Specific Planned Feature Additions:

Potentially Useful Links
[ Ric's Home ] - [ Ric's E Page ] - [ Econfig ] - [ EsounD ] - [ Links ]

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Page created by: ericmit@ix.netcom.com
Changes last made on: Mar 24, 1998