Sound card not working in FC6

[Joe Desbonnet]

>From my limited experiences in the last few days the GUI sound tools
in FC are woefully inadequate. It's been a while since I played with
sound in any serious way, but just looking at a recent Dell PC I can
see there are multiple audio outputs and inputs and getting it all
configured with the tools at hand would seem beyond the non-tech user.

I think some sort of discovery tool is required. BTW: is it possible
to detect form the hardware which outputs have a speaker attached? If
so the GUI should show a diagram of all the outputs, its current
status (mute/unmute) and volume level and (if possible) which outputs
have a speaker/headphone attached. There should be a play tone button
next to each output in the diagram to force a tone on that output.

Likewise with the inputs. On the same diagram all the inputs, status
and volume setting. Also a level meter. That should quickly allow you
to figure which input (line in, mic front, mic back etc) you are
using.

Also the tools should use more descriptive names. Terse terms like
"Mux" and "ADC" are fine for those that understand the tech, but most
people don't. They just want to play music or call their friend on
Skype. (The Skype secenario seems next to impossible with FC6).

I think this is part of a general trend in the Gnome desktop: The GUIs
are nothing more than a thin layer over the existing command line
tools. You still need the same level of understanding of the
underlying technology as you do with the command line tools. So why
bother?

Instead the GUI design should start with the users expectations and
work back to the technology. Eg with the network management tool:  I
think a diagramatic approach would be more intuitive in this case
also. A box representing the PC and pipes representing the inputs etc.
Interfaces should be descriptive (visually and in text). Eg "Onboard
Ethernet" not "eth0". (of course all that info should be available in
an "advanced mode").


Joe.


On 4/19/07, Anne Wilson <cannewilson at googlemail.com> wrote:

> In most cases it is found that some of the sound channels have been muted.  In
> my opinion the easiest way to tackle this is to open a terminal and then
> type 'alsamixer' (without quotes).  This gives a clearer and better picture
> of what is going on than the gui tools.
>