[Accessibility] Multimedia framework requirements

[T. V. Raman]

The situation with audio output is getting better with Alsa --
though I expect we will see another year or more of the current
mess as Alsa gets installed on a majority of systems and
developers become familiar with it.

Many of the problems that have plagued us, e.g., /dev/dsp opened
in exclusive mode etc are definitely things that get better in
Alsa, e.g., see the DMIX plugin in Alsa. However, being new,
there is still a lot to get up to speed here -- both in terms of
configuring Alsa to get the most out of it, in getting it to
support your sound card (case in point with FC3 I still need to
build alsa from source -- 1.0.8 to support the Creative
Audigy LS-- FC3 bundles alsa 1.0.6).

All these are familiar Linux pain points and are typically not
worth bitching about --- the usual axiom "if it breaks, you get
to keep both pieces " holds.

that said, the situation can only get better and at this point
the best thing the developers of the various media underpinnings
can do is to create accessible documentation and lots of it.

-- 
Best Regards,
--raman

      
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