esd just won't let me play games

["Smith, Nathan A., Capt. SMC/TEL" <Nathan Smith comanche plk af mil>]

Hi, 

I have a question about using esd.  I have read some of the earlier post
about using esd with an esd unaware program.  I have tried the "program |
esdcat", "esdcat > program", etc combinations in an attempt to get programs
(well actually games) to work correctly.  Programs such as Quake, Maelstrom,
Xgal, etc refuse to work correctly with esd.  To make matters worse - once I
start the esd program it will not release /dev/dsp.  This is true even if I
suspend or out right kill esd.  So my questions are:

1.  How do I get games to work with esd?

2.  If that is not possible, what is the proper way to get the /dev/dsp
device released?

3.  How can I confirm that the device is released?  I have seen a command
that tells what program is using a device, but I have lost that information
somewhere.

4.  I have been using the sound-applet (nice applet), it though has trouble
restarting esd after I have 'suspended esd'.  (I question if esd is
suspended as the /dev/dsp device is never released)

Thanks in advance for any assistance. 

BTW:  I am running enlightenment 15.4 with gnome (all the latest versions)
on a redhat 5.0 system (with all the necessary packages upgraded) run on a
AMD K6-2 266 with 96 megs of memory.


Nathan