How is "sound system" defined in Linux?

[Detlef Lechner]

Pete Vander Giessen wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 12:47 AM, Detlef Lechner <Detlef.Lechner at gmx.net> wrote:
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> how is "sound system" defined in Linux?
>>     
>
> Sound in Linux is a large and complex topic.  Right now, Ubuntu uses
> PulseAudio to mix sound and mediate between applications and the sound
> card.  Applications that want to directly use Alsa or OSS can
> theoretically talk to PulseAudio instead; there are fewer bugs related
> to this with each release of Ubuntu and PulseAudio.
>
> Do you need to know more about anything specific?
>   
(I know yet what you wrote.)
Yes, I would like to get a definition of the term "sound system" (as it 
is used in the GNU/Linux world).

Detlef