Ubuntu no longer works correctly without pulseaudio

[Susan Cragin]

>wineoss is not a viable solution to the pulseaudio problem, but this
>is a real nasty issue where the solution is "as long as it works for
>you, it's fine".
>
>What exactly is the issue with purging pulseaudio? Though this should
>be taken up with ubuntu's bugs tracker. pulseaudio should be
>considered optional, since ALSA/dmix works wherever pulseaudio with
>ALSA backend works, even if it is opt-out.

Ben, sorry... 
You probably haven't been following this thread closely. I determined a couple of days ago that pulseaudio was not actually my problem even though I thought it was. I just kept the name of the thread. 
One of wine's developers asked me if linux's (or Ubuntu's) alsa-wrappers could have changed, and if wine's alsa-wrappers could therefore need updating. 
The fact that something works under winecfg OSS (but not under winecfg ALSA) is a valuable piece of diagnostic information. 
My value to this group is usually as a canary in the mine. Because I have the latest kernel, and the latest updates, I am able to spot problems before they hit the mainstream. 
And remember, this is a developers' group, not a users group. Experimentation is grist for the mill. 
Susan