WAVplay
WAVplay is a graphical sound recording and playback utility developed by Andre Fuechsel. WAVplay lets you see the sound wave as it is recorded and played back. You can alter the sampling speed and the number of bits per sample by clicking on options on the GUI. Both stereo and mono signals can be recorded. WAVplay only records .wav files.
Tip: The latest version of WAVplay is 2.1 and can be retrieved from the FTP site:
Sound Studio
Sound Studio was written by Paul Sharpe. It is an X-based application that provides practically every tool you could want to use with sound recording and playback. Sound Studio allows you to record, edit, and play back several formats of sound files. Written in Tcl/Tk for Linux (along with some C code), Sound Studio shows what can be done with this operating system.
Tip: The latest version of Sound Studio is 0.21 and can be retrieved from the FTP site:
MiXViews
MiXViews is similar to Sound Studio in that it is X-based, but was developed on UNIX workstations and ported to Linux. The author is Douglas Scott. MiXViews allows for recording and playback of sound files in most formats. You can use MiXViews to edit sound waves on the screen. Unlike the other tools mentioned here, MiXViews extends the power of the sound card by allowing filtering, scaling, and mixing of sounds.
Tip: The latest version of MiXViews can be retrieved from the FTP site:
ftp.ccmrc.ucsb.edut/pub/MixViews
Joysticks
Some games are a lot more fun when played with a joystick instead of the mouse and keyboard. Since a joystick port is built into most computers (either on the motherboard or on a multifunction board with serial or parallel ports), it would be nice to take advantage of the port. Unfortunately, a joystick driver is not built in to Linux. Fortunately, there are several joystick drivers that have been released. Of course, a joystick is only useful for playing those games that support this device. A game that doesn’t support the joystick will probably not be playable with one.
Tip: The latest version of the Linux joystick driver was 0.8.0 at press time. This driver can be retrieved from most FTP sites listed in the Appendix and from the FTP site:
The joystick driver is distributed as a loadable kernel module so you need the module utility to install it. The module utility is included with most versions of Linux. A loadable module allows the device driver to be loaded and unloaded as needed by the application, saving system resources and avoiding a kernel rebuild.
To install the joystick driver, unpack the distribution using tar and gunzip, checking that the header file joystick.h has the correct information in it (most joysticks work on I/O address 201). Then compiling the driver and using a script file included with the driver, create the device files. After that, loading the module makes the joystick available to you (and Doom!). Most versions of the joystick driver include a utility to test the driver to make sure it is working properly.
Summary
In this chapter we’ve looked at installing and configuring both a sound card and a joystick. Since you already have a CD-ROM working on your system, you’re all set to use practically any of the multimedia applications that are now available for Linux. From here, you may want to read about some related topics such as:
Learn how to install X so you can work with the X-based sound file applications in Chapter 22, “Installing and Configuring XFree86.”
Learn about Wabi which lets you run Windows applications under X in Chapter 23, “Wabi.”
Learn about rebuilding the kernel to include your sound card drivers in Chapter 57, “Working with the Kernel.”