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
More information about the kde-multimedia
mailing list