State of sound in Linux not so sorry after all

[Bill Davidsen]

Valent Turkovic wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 8:56 AM, Valent
> Turkovic<valent.turkovic at gmail.com> wrote:
>> This is copy/paste of article "State of sound in Linux not so sorry after all" found at http://insanecoding.blogspot.com/2009/06/state-of-sound-in-linux-not-so-sorry.html It is really interesting article, and comments are also really insightful. *** About two years
> 
> Uff, now I see that Lennart Poettering, Pulse Audio Guru, has already
> answered about this post on PA mailing list, sorry ;)
> 
I think "Pulse Audio Guru" is a symptom of the problem as users see it. We don't 
*want* to be gurus, or more to the point don't want to *need* to be a guru to 
use sound. End users should *not* have to load one or two non-default "advanced 
mixers" just to turn up the volume of their speakers high enough to hear. They 
should not be fiddling with the pulse/alsa/advanced controls trying to find some 
combination which works for input. Inserting modules with options should not be 
the way you select audio options.

Under RH8 users could use audacity or the 'rec' part of sox to take sound from 
mic or line input, set the sample rates, and write a wav file. Under F11 I have 
yet (four systems) to find any one which will do that, with any mix of 
interacting controls, with any application including the "sound recorder" 
installed by default.

Clearly in the rush to add fancy features for audiophiles the usability of sound 
  has been devalued. Google for "sound problems + fedora" and the volume of 
results for recent versions should convince you that there is a usability 
problem. Sound should "just work" for the typical user, and the people who want 
to do complex things should be using not complex controls, not people who just 
want to hear sound.

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot