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

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Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] lad conference on slashdot
From: Frank Barknecht (fbar_AT_footils.org)
Date: Thu Mar 13 2003 - 11:01:49 EET


Hallo,
Mark Knecht hat gesagt: // Mark Knecht wrote:

> > 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.

> 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.

Alsaplayer does Jack, as 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.

What you describe is exactly what I mean. Linux audio is not very
different from the way Linux in general was two or three years ago.
Today people don't need a PhD anymore to install a self-installing
Suse or Redhad system and run KDE with OpenOffice on it and browse the
web. They also don't need as much help with that anymore.

But it still is difficult to get a decent audiobox working. Planet
CCRMA and Agnula make this easier, but a flagship like Ardour isn't
even released officially. My statement regarding the similar user
bases of Linux and Windows (or Mac) was also targeted at the
expectations of users. The users expect, that mp3-playing works. If it
doesn't, there is a problem. Some years ago, many just knew, that
listening to sound required HOWTO-reading in advance and luck in
choosing the right hardware. The goal is of course to make these times
go away for real, and as long as people complain about mp3 not
working, they aren't.

But we can expect, that complains are fair. "mp3 doesn't work on
Linux, Linux sucks" isn't fair, "Can someone help me get mp3 working?"
is. And "Someone told me, how to get mp3 working. I can help you..."
is surprisingly often the result. My impression is that a lot of
Windows users like to complain about their OS not doing certain things
right. Windows is a great hate and flamewar target, not only in the
Linux scene.

So when people complain "I can't get mp3 working on Linux" they aren't
complaining, that their box won't start and they have to use Outlook
to ask for help. *This* is a good sign as is, it's good that people
*expect* an OS, where they can listen to mp3.

As much as we might despise mp3 as a format, the ability to run an
mp3-player is a prerequiste for all we do here (or hear).

I fiddled a lot this week with getting a Quattro working on my
notebook and I tested it a lot with alsaplayer.

> (With apologies to Frank for sharing a part of his name..
BTW: How are our *knecht's pronounced in English?

ciao

-- 
 Frank Barknecht                               _ ______footils.org__


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