Re: [GnomeMeeting-devel-list] [BETA7] the "I'm in a real hurry" release

[Damien Sandras <dsandras seconix com>]

That leads us to think about the way GM should use the plugins.

For video, that is easy: all exising plugins are loaded, and if one of
the devices can be handled with a plugin, it appears in the list. It is
evident that a same device can only be used by one plugin at a time,
never more.

For audio, that is more complication: all existing plugins are loaded,
but all devices will be usable by different plugins : OSS, ALSA, ESD.

It means that you will have the following in the list of available
devices :
- OSS /dev/dsp
- ALSA /dev/dsp (the name will be different, but...)
- ESound /dev/dsp

Using ALSA /dev/dsp as input (recording) with OSS /dev/dsp as output
won't work. It means that in most cases, using the same device
(/dev/dsp) with different plugins for output and input won't work.
Notice that ALSA means here native ALSA support and not ALSA with OSS
emulation.

I think that it is a bit complex for the user. So we have several
possibilities :
- Add a command-line parameter in GM that returns the available plugins,
and another one that permits to set the device to use in an hidden gconf
key. That way the user will only have to do it if he wants to use
something else than what his distribution ships. 

- Add a box in the prefs, where the user chooses what plugin he wants to
use. Problem here is that average users don't know what is ALSA or OSS
and they shouldn't know it. They should just have something that works.

- Tell to packagers in distributions to only package one plugin, the one
they like.

- Propose all devices to the user, he will get an error popup during
calls when it doesn't work. Problem here is that average users don't
know what is ALSA or OSS and they shouldn't know it. They should just
have something that works.


The first solution is perhaps the one I like the most. But we have more
problems when we introduce ALSA :
- the mixer devices settings in GnomeMeeting doesn't make sense anymore,
only the player and recorder settings make sense, so there must be a way
in GM to hide them when ALSA is used
- OSS devices don't have a name, ALSA devices have a name

Any comments?

Julien, perhaps migrating my function that detects mixers to the plugin
is a good idea. If you look at their code, it already detects the
mixers, but there is no way to get the mixers list from the outside.

Le lun 11/08/2003 à 20:36, PUYDT Julien a écrit :
> Le lun 11/08/2003 à 17:52, PUYDT Julien a écrit :
> 
> > * INPUT->Input & OUTPUT->Output;
> 
> Oh, well... I tested the new manager, and didn't see I had forgotten one
> such in the dlopen one...
> 
> Snark
-- 
 _	Damien Sandras
(o-	GnomeMeeting: http://www.gnomemeeting.org/
//\	FOSDEM 2003:  http://www.fosdem.org
v_/_	H.323 phone:  callto://ils.seconix.com/dsandras seconix com