> This seems like a good time to inquire as to whether the original
> behavior was intended, and also to inquire whether the "catch up
> required" behavior should be a supported output mode.  (I believe the
> current behavior--play all samples--should be a supported output mode.)
Yes, I agree.  Both modes are useful.  
I think the original behaviour was intended (I've read the manual
page now :-).

There are also other modes that you might want to set.  The current driver
fills short writes to make up a block of samples.  This is good
if you want to play short sounds, but can be a pain as well, e.g., if you
try just write to the audio device and don't write with multiples
of the blocksize.
In short, yes, we need different modes for the audio driver.

	-- Lennart