KMix development revitalized since KDE MM meeting in Randa

[Christian Esken]

Hello,

since the KDE Multimedia Sprint in Randa I am still in a coding rush for KMix. 
That MM Sprint was a really great meeting, wonderfully organized by Mario and 
in a gorgeous setting (geographically). See the pictures: 
http://community.kde.org/Multimedia/Sprint2010/Resources



As I didn't write any report about what happened in Randa, I'll summarize the 
ongoing work in KMix, which is done in its own branch [1].

- Making KMix fit for dynamic backends (Pulseaudio). This should  already be
  much smoother in branch than in trunk.

- Support user defined layouts (aka GUI Profiles). While this is 
  theoretically possible since KDE4.0, it has now reached mature status.
  See http://christian.esken.de/kde/screenshots.html for a "KDE3-style" 
  Playback/Capture layout (and don't be confused about the icon set).

- Refactoring: KMix requires heavy consolidating from all the hacks gone
  in it since the KDE4 series.

- Optimizing: Removing "unused" code. Using better data structures, which
  makes things faster and also the code better readable. Starting and Stopping
  KMix feels faster now, also recreating the GUI is way faster and smoother.

- Last one: There is now a KMix Service (kded based). It could be
   helpful, when you want the KMix DBUS interface but no GUI.
   This feature is targeted at a common fd.o DBUS Mixer API. It would
   make stuff like https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoundMenu possible. That (or any
   other GUI) simply wouldn't have to care about the actual implementation.
   This has happened before, with WM Spec, DnD spec, and I sincerely hope that
   we can finally extend standardization to the Multimedia area.
  Oh: If anybody is afraid: The KMix GUI is (currently) not dependent on
       that kded/DBUS service.


[1] The work branch is /branches/work/kmix/. If you have changes for KMix, 
especially bugfixes, please let me know, so that I can integrate that in the 
work branch.

Greetings,
     Christian