Sound newbie ... what is OSS, ALSA, etc all about?

["Randolph S. Kahle" <RandyKahle@KahleAssociates.com>]

I have a workstation with potato and adrian bunk's packages supporting
the 2.4.14 kernel.

I am running SMP with two processors on a P2B-DS motherboard. I have a
SoundBaster AWE64 card (ISA) that I would like to get working.

I started researching how to get sound working on my machine and I am
confused about the following:

    * ALSA

    * OSS

    * PNP support (in the kernel or not)

It seems that I have to complete several configuration steps and get
several layers of software working to have sound function on my machine.

Would someone mind explaining to me (as a Sound newbie) which of what
appear to be competing sound system in Linux I should focus on.

Is there a question of applications / tools / games supporting one or
the other?

Am I better off getting a PCI-based sound card and not having any ISA
cards?

Thanks!

Randy