Linux has a standardized API called Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA). Another layer above ALSA, a sound server, should handle interactions with userspace applications. Initially, that layer was Pulseaudio and Jack, but it was recently replaced by Pipewire.
“Initially?” Pulseaudio was released in 2004. By then, Linux had been around for 13 years, and ALSA had been around for 6 years. And it took some years before Pulse became common.
Pulseaudio was first adopted by a major distribution in Fedora version 8, in 2008 - when ALSA was already 10 years old - and even later by Debian, Ubuntu, and so on.
“Initially” is entirely inappropriate here. Pulseaudio is Poetteringware and has no relationship to any original or early Linux audio subsystems.
“Initially?” Pulseaudio was released in 2004. By then, Linux had been around for 13 years, and ALSA had been around for 6 years. And it took some years before Pulse became common.
Pulseaudio was first adopted by a major distribution in Fedora version 8, in 2008 - when ALSA was already 10 years old - and even later by Debian, Ubuntu, and so on.
“Initially” is entirely inappropriate here. Pulseaudio is Poetteringware and has no relationship to any original or early Linux audio subsystems.