[NTLUG:Discuss] Sound Problem

[Daniel Hauck]

 On 09/19/2010 03:12 PM, Wayne Walker wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 10:54:18AM -0500, Bobby Sanders wrote:
>> Sorry for being so dumb.  Ubutu 10.04 installed on a Toshiba Sattalite
>> P105-S6084.
>>
>> Sound has not worked since I installed Linux on this system.  I have
>> googled all sorts of stuff with no success.  As I was exploring the
>> system today, I discovered that the iBus daemon was not running.  What
>> does the iBus daemon do?  Should I start it?  Should I always start it
>> on boot?  Might it possibly solve the sound problem?
> On recent linuxes, I've found that often I have to right click the sound
> icon, select applications and unmute the application.  The application
> does not think it is muted, the main volume is not muted, just
> _something_ mutes the application.   Weird.  
>
> Linux sound is now more complicated than _all_ of windows.
>
> Every change to Linux sound seems to be for the worse these days.
>
It might seem like that in many ways and in reality, you have a point in
the sense that it is "no longer simple" as it should be. But when it
comes to how I see these methods applied to things like my android
phone, I begin to appreciate how separate applications can have their
own audio streams managed individually. There are settings for
"applications" in general and for separate applications as well. System
sounds, phone calls, ring tones, alarms and notification sounds as well.
It is quite configurable and in the case of a phone, it is quite useful
and appropriate.

But on the desktop? Yeah, I can see where one control to rule them all
is appropriate. But that said, my PulseAudio controls do sport a
"master" setting that I have my laptop's volume keys mapped to so that
mute is mute for all things and volume changes also change all things.
And on the slider control I use, I see "master" and a slider for
whatever applications are running as well.

I think what we are seeing is a progression of Linux (directed by
business and industrial users) development in the direction of devices
rather than desktops. The future as I imagine it makes the desktop less
relevant. Windows has yet to make changes in that direction but Linux is
more than adaptable for such uses. Before long, you won't have a
desktop. You will have a powerful mobile processor that wirelessly
integrates with display, storage and input devices... some of which will
be your keyboard, mouse and monitor, but will also be your TV, your
refrigerator, your washer and dryer, your car and your internet
connection among others. Hints of this coming personal computing
revolution is showing up in wireless display technologies and attempts
at building bluetooth "PANs" (personal area networks).

Desktop computing will only exist for programmers and other developers.
For everyone else we will see modular devices for which the OS will
become irrelevant and it will most likely be Linux. (Because we know
Microsoft and Windows will never willingly be compatible with everyone
else... it's not in their business model to do so.)