What to use instead of /dev/dsp to (reversibly) transition scripts to Linux?

[Duncan Roe]

On Sat, Feb 07, 2026 at 10:24:44AM -0800, cygwin wrote:
> Microsoft is forcing me to abandon Windows because my perfectly
> functional laptop isn't W11-compatible. As a result, I have literally
> decades worth of scripts written for Cygwin that I need to edit to be
> made compatible with Linux. I'd prefer not to lose Cygwin
> compatibility, if possible, as I may be forced by some unknown evil
> entity to move back to Windows some day.
>
> The most common issue I'm going to face is what to do about /dev/dsp.
> I like things to make noise so that I know what's going on without
> looking so many of my scripts use /dev/dsp.
>
> I'm also going to have to deal with the various cyg... utilities that
> I use, but that is likely a much harder issue to deal with and,
> fortunately, less common in my scripts.
>
> So... recommendations, please?
>
> Thanks... and thanks for the many, many years of not having to write
> scripts in Windows BAT format!
>
Does
https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/how-do-i-get-dev-dsp-594171/
work for you?

Cheers ... Duncan.