[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] sound architecture question

[From: Dale Swanston]

Hello.  I'm new to this arena but have searched hi and low and haven't been able to clearly understand the sound architecture.

I'm attempting to port the package 'zinf' to the N770 and am having difficulty getting the audio out.  

I've read this:
http://maemo.org/platform/docs/multimedia/multimedia_architecture.html

Zinf comes with an esd output plugin.  Using the EsoundD.pmo plugin comes closest to playing a test mp3 but the output is very choppy and the CPU is maxed out.  Likely not the correct route.  

So looking around the /proc filesystem I see what appears to be alsa support.  However doing 'cat /proc/asound/cards' shows only a card called 'Dummy'.  So I presume this is a place holder for future alsa support and not a functioning driver? Is that correct?

Looking at the /dev filesystem - I don't see a standard /dev/dsp or /dev/mixer device but instead a number of /dev/dsptask* devices.  For the life of me I can't find documentation on these things - can anyone enlighten me or point me in the right direction?  That would be much appreciated.

Any thoughts will be very appreciated. 
Dale Swanston
SED Systems, a division of Calian Ltd.
Saskatoon, SK,
CANADA