Dealing with audio software in a GNU/Linux environment, you will be asked to configure programs for using ALSA, OSS or Jack. ALSA (an acronym for Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) and OSS (Open Sound System)are different audio architectures, that means, different ways to handle audio with a GNU/Linux Operating System. Jack is an audio server, working on "realtime audioprocessing", focusing on the coordination and distribution of different audio and audio data inputs/outputs.

Your computer, will necessarily run ALSA or OSS, while running an audio server is optional !

AUDIO ARCHITECTURES	SOUND SERVERS (optional)
ALSA	JACK
OSS	ESD
	ARTS

Using a modern GNU/Linux OSs, ALSA is standard, while OSS has been declared obsolete, and is condemned to extinction. However, very common is the ALSA emulation of OSS, a way to let ALSA work in a compatible way as OSS would do. This comes in our help if ALSA is not properly working and OSS not installed!

ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) is a Linux kernel component intended to replace the original Open Sound System (OSS) for providing drivers for sound cards. Some of the goals of the ALSA project were to support automatic configuration of sound card hardware, and graceful handling of multiple sound devices in a system, goals which it has largely met. A couple of different frameworks such as JACK use ALSA to provide the ability to perform low latency professional grade audio editing and mixing.

The JACK Audio Connection Kit or JACK is a soundserver or daemon that provides low latency connections between so-called jackified applications. Other sound servers are ESD and ARTS.