Is there any WiFi (virtual) Soundcard driver software out there?

January 9, 2006 3:20 AM

How can I relay the sound of my computer to another computer through the WiFi network? A virtual soundcard driver is in theory feasible, but I can't find any. I know, this is more of a /. question, but I prefer to stay home.
posted by mitocan to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

Best answer: Probably not what you want, but: remote desktop programs will do this. On Windows XP, the built in Remote Desktop will do it; other similar tools, like PC Anywhere, will also do it.

But I'm guessing that you don't want to host a remote desktop on the second computer?
posted by Dunwitty at 3:27 AM on January 9, 2006

I'm fairly sure Winamp + Shoutcast would do it, and all the tools are free. You can get a server up and running within 10 minutes.
posted by rc55 at 3:34 AM on January 9, 2006

Do you want just music, or all the sounds?
posted by pompomtom at 3:42 AM on January 9, 2006

You should check out VLC. Although the GUI is not pretty, VLC will stream any audio or video content (and I do mean any, even Windows or Real files) to another VLC installation on another PC across the internet even.
posted by costas at 5:37 AM on January 9, 2006

Yeah, because if it's just music and similar media files (not all of the sounds), you don't even need to do anything fancy. Just SHARE the proper directories over your local network, and then run the files from the other computer (no need to copy them). You'd, in effect, be streaming the content from one computer to the other.
posted by stst399 at 7:12 AM on January 9, 2006

You don't really say much about the computers involved, so it's hard to answer.

KDE's aRts daemonhas network transparency features. I'm pretty sure the GNOME sound daemon does as well.

It would not surprise me if someone had cobbled together such a feature for the Mac, but if so I haven't heard about it yet.

Have you looked into NAS? There seems to be a Win32 binary out there, but it might take some hacking to get things working just the way you want them to.
posted by majick at 7:39 AM on January 9, 2006

if it is just music, google for the slimserver software.
posted by ascullion at 9:38 AM on January 9, 2006

orb?
posted by probablysteve at 9:55 AM on January 9, 2006

videolan vlc is really simple, when loading files click on "stream output" in the left bottom corner and that's it
posted by suni at 9:56 AM on January 9, 2006

Response by poster: Thank You for the question, pompomtom,
The answer is: All the sounds.
posted by mitocan at 3:57 AM on January 10, 2006

a very good way to transport all sounds wireless would be turning up the volume thru vnc :D

tell us what your exact purpose is and which solution you chose : )
posted by suni at 10:20 AM on January 10, 2006