Re: if I were a newbie how would I get sound?
On Sun, Dec 17, 2006 at 10:39:33PM -0600, Kent West wrote:
> Brad Sawatzky wrote:
> > On Sun, 17 Dec 2006, Douglas Tutty wrote:
> >
> >> If I was a total newbie, how would I know how to play sound?
> >
> > Make sure the relevant sound controls are unmuted and turned up using your
> > favorite sound mixer. For example:
> <snip>
>
> I don't believe Douglas was asking how to play sound (although your
> explanation, Brad, was very good); I believe he was asking how he's
> supposed to know how since the docs don't address the issue.
>
> Good question, Doug. I haven't looked at those docs in ages, but if they
> need a section on sound, I bet the folks responsible for those docs
> would be happy for someone to contribute such a section. (Many folks
> would suggest that you write that section, but you may not be
> knowledgeable enough to do so; but perhaps your question will highlight
> the need to someone who is capable of writing that section.)
>
> I also suspect that most newbs run KDE or Gnome; I'm unsure about Gnome,
> but KDE plays a startup sound by default, giving clear indication if the
> sound system is functional (although it does not necessarily indicate
> failures), but that doesn't really seem like it adequately addresses
> your question.
>
> I guess the real answer to your question is that a total newbie would
> not know how to play sound, unless he just happened to come across the
> right sequence or the right entry in the mailing list archives or knew
> enough to ask someone (this list?), etc. But I suspect you're not asking
> that question so much as you're hinting that a sound section needs to be
> added to the newbie documentation. When someone gets the itch who can
> address this issue, I'm sure it'll be addressed. Until then (and even
> afterward), no OS is perfect in all respects. *shrug*
>
>
Thanks Kent,
Yesterday I downloaded xorg. Today I downloaded some apps (I'm on very
slow dialup at 1.5-2.5 KB/s) and alsa. Tomorrow I'll get something that
will make a sound. I ran alsaconf which is supposed to get things set
up and raise default (0) mixer levels. I then played speaker-test and
got nothing out of the headphone jack on the front of the computer. I
don't have speakers. Once I get everything I need downloaded then I'll
poke around a bit. Right now I'd just like to listen to a CD. Later,
I'd like to listen to radio shows I missed on cbc.ca.
Before I poked around the usual way I wanted to make sure there was no
new snazzy sound auto setup. It seems there isn't.
I'm not sure why nothing depends on alsa packages. It seems strange
(from a newbie perspective) that one could install a CD player and not
get the package that's necessary to actually hear the CD.
Maybe its one of those things that will get fixed before Etch is
released?
Doug.
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