RE: [linux-audio-dev] lad conference on slashdot

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Subject: RE: [linux-audio-dev] lad conference on slashdot
From: Mark Knecht (mknecht_AT_controlnet.com)
Date: Thu Mar 13 2003 - 02:31:04 EET


> Hallo,
> Dave Phillips hat gesagt: // Dave Phillips wrote:
>
> > "I can't play my MP3s so Linux audio sucks"
> >
> > To which I reply "Yawn" and "Yawn" again...
>
> Let's face it: an increasing part of the Linux user base is getting
> increasingly similar to Windows users. That's also a good sign.
>
> ciao
> --
> Frank Barknecht _ ______footils.org__

First, nothing in this email is intended as a plea for help or anything,
unless someone knows of a location that addresses my issues. It's more just
a statement and maybe a request to remember that not everyone is as Linux
savvy as you old timers.

Well, I'm slightly embarrassed to say that in many situations I'm one of
those people. I've managed to almost get my Linux system to a state where
it's usable day by day for most of the tasks I want to do, but many of the
multimedia apps remain a mystery. I do use Ardour, and Rosegarden, and lots
of other Jack apps, but the normal, day-to-day stuff is hard for people like
me.

Up front, I will also say that I think most of the info people like me need
is probably out there, but it takes time, and it isn't easy. Most of us use
Linux at home, in the evenings or whatever, and we're tired, or interrupted
a lot with life, and that doesn't make it any easier.

I use Jack all the time, and even though I completely understand Jack's Pro
Audio purpose, I really do find I want and need a minimum set of apps that
will do the basic things you need to do surfing the web, and that hasn't
been easy. I now use alsaplayer to play MP3's, but it only works when I
download the mp3's to my desktop, or browse them on my system. I have not
managed to configure Konqueror (as a KDE user) to play mp3's inside of
Konqueror when I just click on an mp3 URL. Nor have I managed to find an Ogg
Vorbis player that works with Jack, although I really haven't invested much
energy to do so.

Beyond that, there are many web site you might go to that apparently use
embedded Java to do whatever they want to do in the multimedia area, and
that all fails miserably on my system. Many times it locks up the system.
Many times it does nothing and just sits there with no messages about why it
isn't doing anything.

Linux distributions, and Linux desktops like KDE and Gnome, run many things
in the background that get in the way of audio working well. Beyond that,
they are configured for things like OSS, which gets in the way of using
Alsa. I understand that's a choice they made, but it isn't easy to a non-IT
person like me how to remove them and make Alsa work well.

Anyway, I think there could be more done in the way of teaching people like
me how to configure their systems to make all this work without having to
get a PhD. A web site with a list of apps that work for OSS, and then Alsa,
and beyond that Jack, with instructions on how to configure Gnome and KDE,
would be really cool. Knowledge-based scripts that could check the system
and help me find what does what and help get it fixed would be over the top,
but nice.

Anyway, again, take mercy guys, because there's a lot of people out there
like me. Not that many have as much patience as I do, and Linux Audio is a
lot better technically than it is from a user's perspective.

Please don't take any of this as particularly negative, but really just as a
statement from someone who isn't a developer and is a full time user. Linux
Audio works, but it could work a lot better.

Cheers,
Mark Knecht

(With apologies to Frank for sharing a part of his name and being so dumb!)
;-)


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