Re: [Ekiga-list] Issues

[Derek Smithies <derek indranet co nz>]

Hi,
 Thanks for the answer, but it leaves me uncertain.

On Wed, 23 Dec 2009, Julien Puydt wrote:

> David Bowman a écrit :
> > The problem is that in the middle of calls to my partner he stops being 
> > able to hear me.

> Pulseaudio.

If the cause of an audio problem is likely to be pulseaudio, what is the 
user to do?

Pulse audio is standard on all the major linux distros.
Doing a complete removal of pulseaudio from my ubuntu 9.10 box 
will cause the entire ubuntu-desktop to be removed, breaking 
quite a few apps.

So - what are we asking users to do?
 remove pulseaudio ?
    surely not.

 write a new set of entries to their asound.conf?
    a task only for the knowledgeable.

 switch to debian (or gentoo or.. ) and use alsa, not pulseaudio?
    some linux users are experienced enough to achieve this.


There is a pulseaudio plugin in the ptlib SVN repository. Has the latest 
version of this been tested?

================================================================

If pulseaudio is faulty - then we should be passing developer feedback to 
the pulse community, and they fix it.

if the pulseaudio plugin in the ptlib SVN repository is faulty - then we 
fix it. So far, the reported bugs in that plugin have been fixed.

We cannot tell people to use alsa. We have to make pulseaudio work with 
Ekiga.

=============================================

Every now and then I read that someone says,
 "linux is ready for the desktop".
Fools.
  the setup of sound on linux is so hard and convoluted that linux is not 
ready for the desktop.

If you think that sound on linux is ok, try the following test.
Plug a usb headset into your computer.
start watching a youtube video, or flash animation.
change a gui control to send sound to your headset.

To achieve the above, if you had to write extra lines to your asound.conf 
file, or modify the order of sound modules on your box with module 
parameters, well, you showed that linux sound is hard&complicated, and not 
ready for the newbie.

Derek.

--
Derek Smithies Ph.D.
IndraNet Technologies Ltd.
Email: derek indranet co nz
ph +64 3 365 6485
Web: http://www.indranet-technologies.com/