State of sound in Linux not so sorry after all

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Bill Davidsen wrote:
> 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.
> 
Speak for yourself, not for other people. I think I qualify as a
"user", and I manage to use Pulse Audio. I kind of dought I am the
only one using it. I have run into a problem once or twice, but I
EXPECT to run into problems with Fedora once in a while. If I didn't
want to deal with them, I would switch to a more stable distribution.

> 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.
> 
Where do you think things like this should be experimented with? I
thought Fedora was all about trying new things. Things that worked
fine for the people running rawhide tend to break on some systems.
The only way to find out is for a larger group to try it.

When you are talking about "the typical user", are you talking about
the typical computer user, the typical Linux user, or the typical
Fedora user? Somehow, I don't think the typical Fedora user would be
a typical user in the other two groups. ;-)

With Fedora's short release and support cycle, I can not picture
recommending it to someone that does not like to "tinker". Then
again, I could not see myself running something like Mandriva on
this machine...

Mikkel
-- 
Yes, I'm a dirty old man ...
and I'll be one until I'm a DEAD old man!

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