IMHO they are useful for 2.5 series, perhaps backported to 2.4 later.
I'm sure people will continue using the OSS drivers even after they
become the "old" sound drivers... for a while at least.
Eventually we will have a pleasant future where we have a sane API that
is scalable for expensive sound hardware, with kernel changes mitigated
by a central userspace kind of libc-for-sound. a.k.a. alsa and
alsa-lib.
Also FWIW, I support getting ALSA into the 2.5 kernel sooner rather than
later. I had hoped to review alsa before it got in, but that kept
getting put off.
Getting ALSA into the kernel in early 2.5 will allow for a longer period
of public review, and a longer period to smooth out the rough spots and
finalize the kernel<->userspace interface.
I have style quibbles with ALSA but the ALSA guys much to their credit
are very responsive and tackle technical issues as soon as they are made
aware. And having alsa-lib sit between kernel and userspace is the
correct and right idea, opening up all sorts of new possibilities for
the future of Linux audio.
Jeff
-- Jeff Garzik | Only so many songs can be sung Building 1024 | with two lips, two lungs, and one tongue. MandrakeSoft | - nomeansno- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/