PulseAudio Lands Much Better Support For FreeBSD - Audio Now Plays Correctly

[AdrianBc]

Audio support under FreeBSD works quite well. One thing that might not occur to folks with Linux background is that the primary purpose of PulseAudio is to work around bugs and problems that are Linux-specific; on FreeBSD, desktop use of audio works just fine without it.

Yes, that also matches my experience with FreeBSD.

On FreeBSD, PulseAudio is useful mostly for making easier the porting to FreeBSD of Linux programs that use PulseAudio.

[kpedersen]

On FreeBSD, PulseAudio is useful mostly for making easier the porting to FreeBSD of Linux programs that use PulseAudio.

Yeah, the general consensus is that we don't really want pulse audio. If a port drags that cruft in, it is seen as a bad thing.
We basically only use it as a compatibility layer to run Linux software. Interestingly so much Linux software uses it rather than ALSA means we never needed a compat layer for ALSA.

Presumably its main use-case is remote audio (remote desktop is of great interest to me, including audio!) however I have yet to see this working once since PulseAudio has existed so I am beginning to suspect it is defective. For my own user-cases I just wrote my own bespoke system. Not pretty but it actually did something.

[splitcells.net]

While it's nice to see more stuff working on *BSD, I can't say I've ever used a *BSD device (other than a PS3) where I've cared if audio works or not. Macs are so locked down and restricted that while they might be based on BSD, it's not really the same thing.

edit:


Not got a USB headset, but audio does behave oddly for me with a Bluetooth headset on Ubuntu. Most frustrating. Could equally be a Bluetooth thing, though, rather than just audio.

In my experience, many oddities with Bluetooth seem to come with Bluetooth itself.
So far I have replicated all Bluetooth errors known to me in Linux, Windows and Mac without even trying.

Biggest problem with Bluetooth for me is, when a device is used on multiple devices.
After a time and with a bit bad luck, I have to untrust the Bluetooth device and repair it in order to be able to establish a connection.

I only use Bluetooth for audio now.
For everything else it is a big hurdle, because I am using many devices on multiple computers.

[nist]

Audio support under FreeBSD works quite well. One thing that might not occur to folks with Linux background is that the primary purpose of PulseAudio is to work around bugs and problems that are Linux-specific; on FreeBSD, desktop use of audio works just fine without it.

In Linux Alsa works fine, it just need a simple config file in the home dir.

[timofonic]

FreeBSD (and all of the BSDs, actually) are just so far behind in application and driver support that they can hardly be considered for any half-serious desktop computing use.

The only Unix system that actually shines as a desktop and laptop OS is macOS.

I agree! BSDs are the ugly brothers of UNIX.

I'm not happy about it. I really hope Linux and macOS would have a lot more stronger competition.

About BSD vs GPL: I don't care, it seems childish rivalry to me. I prefer GPL-like licenses to force conyribute back and not see selfish usage such as Sony and Google, but that's all.

[bug77]

Biggest problem with Bluetooth for me is, when a device is used on multiple devices.
After a time and with a bit bad luck, I have to untrust the Bluetooth device and repair it in order to be able to establish a connection.

That's my experience, too. Even if you turn off Bluetooth on other devices, damned earplugs still won't reliably connect to the only source left available
Very annoying till you figure out how to work around that.

[Lanz]

I really miss the days of only being able to play one sound stream at a time and having to screw around with archaic mixer config files.

[trasz]

I really miss the days of only being able to play one sound stream at a time and having to screw around with archaic mixer config files.

Which is one example of a Linux-specific bug worked around by PulseAudio.

[bug77]

Which is one example of a Linux-specific bug worked around by PulseAudio.

How does FreeBSD handle this (multiple audio streams with independent volume control, resolution changes on the fly and such)?

[Vistaus]

In my experience, many oddities with Bluetooth seem to come with Bluetooth itself.
So far I have replicated all Bluetooth errors known to me in Linux, Windows and Mac without even trying.

Biggest problem with Bluetooth for me is, when a device is used on multiple devices.
After a time and with a bit bad luck, I have to untrust the Bluetooth device and repair it in order to be able to establish a connection.

I only use Bluetooth for audio now.
For everything else it is a big hurdle, because I am using many devices on multiple computers.

Me too. Over the years, with various Bluetooth speakers, I've always had issues, even with my current not-so-cheap Marshall Bluetooth speaker (which, btw, works just fine when connected through the 3.5mm jack!), on various OS's, so it's most likely Bluetooth specific issues.