updates& audio question

Arne Chr. Jorgensen achrisjo at yahoo.com
Tue Mar 18 12:52:30 UTC 2008


hi,

Running F8 x86_64. Received an update 2.6.24.3-34.fc8.
"Guillaume" wrote in "Kernel crash on F8 last update" about some issue that might
have occurred for me too. 

But my question is about "Skype":  - latest release seem to be for Fedora7, and
in order to install it, it needed several .i386 packages. Just prior to the update,
I believe, it passed the testing of audio setup, while I have been unable to get
anything working after installing it after the last update. ( I have only used GNOME )
I am confused about what to use, alsa,oss,pulse, plus other things. ( didn't know
there were that much settings, as I found ) It reports either error getting playback,
or errors getting capture. Have internal microphone, and have external plug. 

Before the update, I believe I had it running, and it used some defaults, partly why
I wasn't aware of all the options possible in mixer, and other stuff. 

1 .  Any comments on what Skype usually prefer using ?

- just found the PulseAdio Volume Control, and there are no streams, which
may be why things don't work. Ticks for mute, and other stuff, don't reflect
the hardware settings. But I am pressed for time, and cannot check if bugs have
been reported. 

                          -------------------


Have been read some of the inputs on:  
- A Topic that needs to be discussed on next the QA meeting
- X.org server 1.5: An ABI Too Far?

Will add a few comments regarding it, but first:

2.  Info regarding updates ?

Is there any info as to why/what changes are made, the reason for updates ?
( may read what I find of info when installing a package, but like the update 2.6.24.3-34.fc8 - it doesn't say much )

Some said: "Fedora exists as a platform for innovation." in a discussion 
versus " end users has to be and is expected to be an "Linux Guru " attitude that still exists here" ( excuse me taking it out of some context ) 

I don't think it is that innovative, when a lot of people my spend a lot of
time, attempting to figure out what and why things suddenly go wrong. 

- believe that those that has made changes has a reason for doing so, want to
achieve something, while at the same time, they may know and can predict areas in
which you might encounter problems. 
 
Returning to my question in (2) - is there something I am missing, a place where
there exists some notes to what they attempt to achieve, and possible problems ?


3.  Hardware issues 

Well, tried Skype during a bidding round on some hardware we need. I have been in
a long battle with NVIDIA and ATI drivers. ( returned a computer with NVIDIA as I had
to give up )  Fedora and all software are pointless if we don't have hardware to
run it. If hardware isn't reported, then most effort in attempting to figure out
what causes the problems is fruitless too. 

Systems are too complicated to handle today, "Linux Guru" or not. Perhaps you may
know something very well, but then there are other things you don't. Default
settings, changes that get introduced, recommendations for what is set, seem
difficult to follow. At times we may discover things we never knew were there, 
hidden behind a menu, maybe simple things. I think it is obvious that an
exchange of configuration settings and recommendations could be helpful.

( a personal reason why I have not been in a place like this: - spend too much
time to get things the way I want, and when satisfied, it starts all over again. 
It does not make people interested to contribute, test and report, and jeopardize 
their own work and interests. It's I full-time job, in which what you get in return becomes a question )

"Fedora exists as a platform for innovation." Perhaps, not sure. Don't intend to
complain, just offer some opinion. At the moment, I got a few looking for some
possible hardware we can run. In lack of information regarding
issues around "ATI/NVIDIA/Intel/what-ever", things become complicated. In this
case, the issue whether we should go for Linux or Microsoft also appear. 

4.  Innovation

Fedora might be innovative, while - people are a resource, and if it become too
complicated, they may drop out. I am well aware that there are information that
I have missed out on, have not discovered, or have had time to consume. And
right now, I just wondered if there were better info somewhere, which could
be helpful as to what some important updates may do. 

  
                            ----------------------

- just too much to do and consume..

//ARNE
       
---------------------------------
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