Usability - sound finding mission

Ferdinand Gassauer gassauer at kde.org
Sat Oct 2 07:36:04 BST 2004


Hi!

I frequently update my system (KDE-CVS and SuSE packages) and very often there 
is no sound.

I know how to restore the sound, but it is always a long way to get there.

So what I suggest:
a) a "HELP no sound" in all (? or only kmix) sound applications button which 
opens a verbal description of possible problems and solutions/checklist (may 
be platform and software dependant, but this could be filtered automaticaly 
at least partially)

b) a helper application (kcontrol/sound) which ties together all possible 
settings (and problems )

To sum up what can happen and sometimes has nothing to do with KDE, or even 
worth, KDE provides a solution, but is turned off (like autosuspend)

- Speaker:
-.- Speakers are turned off: electrically, mute, ....
-.- not branched correctly

- Hardware: (this could be at least displayed if not changed in kcontrol)
-.- sound card is not configured correctly
-.- master volume is set to 0 (hard to detect, needs root privileges)

- Software (ALSA,....)
-.- software not installed/activated
-.- Lines in/out are disabled or volume set to 0
-.- interaction of volume settings of the individual appliaction with kmix 
etc. (BTW are they synced with dcop?, sometimes I have the impression that 
the volumes are "cumulative".) 
-.- Autosuspend is turned off

c) Explanation (link, tooltips) of some cryptic names like "IEC958", "PCM", 
"LFE" in kmix and the consequences of changing the settings.

-- 
ferdinand



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