Bah, wrong thread 2010/2/10 Maarten Bosmans <mkbosmans at gmail.com>: > 2010/2/9 ?<olin.pulse.7ia at shivers.mail0.org>: >> Maybe I'm wrong. I can't figure out *what* the model is, really. When I click >> on padevchooser's "Configure Local Sound Server" entry, I get a window whose >> "Network Server" tab lets me "enable network access to local sound devices." >> Furthermore, I can set or clear a checkbox for "Don't require authentication." >> But I can find nowhere any description of what this authentication would be. >> The documentation for PulseAudio is pretty weak; it mostly says that "things >> work; just try them out." That's not documentation. > > Perhaps the confusion stems from the fact that PulseAudio has two > different modes. The normal per-user mode, which should almost always > be used, uses the model of a single user having access to the hardware > of a single seat. This works great and really polishes the whole > desktop experience, including support for fast user switching, remote > ssh logins, etc. > > The other mode is the system-wide daemon mode. This follows more the > traditional unix model of a dedicated pulse user running a daemon to > which other users can connect. The system mode is more applicable to > an audio server/appliance scenario. > I have, for example, PulseAudio running as a system daemon on a > dedicated server, connected to several speakers around the house. A > local MPD process on the server can play music through the pulse > server, or I can ssh to the box and start an internet radio stream. > Moreover, sound can be redirected from any desktop to the pulse > server, so that even the neighbors can enjoy the YouTube clips I'm > watching. > > So when talking about what model PulseAudio uses, it is good to keep > the distinction between per-user and system-wide mode, which have of > course very different models. > > Maarten >
