__/ [ RPH ] on Friday 21 July 2006 09:40 \__
> So off I go to install PCLinuxOS on the main family PC. Stick in the
> LiveCD and boot. That was easy. Click on install icon on desktop. Follow
> instructions. Half an hour or so later I have a bootable system.
>
> So why the disappointment? Well, from all the sob stories that certain
> people trot out I wanted to fiddle about getting everything working.
>
> Damn thing just bloody worked! Only thing I had to do was get hold of a
> driver for my printer (HP LJ1020) - downloaded it, followed instructions
> and it... worked.
>
> What the hell am I supposed to tweak? Guess I'll just have to use it
> instead!
>
> Seriously for a moment, it did install just fine, and it's now the
> primary OS - XP is still on there so daughter can run her games, but
> otherwise she has barely noticed the difference. There was only one app I
> didn't have, but as it is something I wrote myself I just ported it
> across.
>
> Okay, I have one minor gripe - the main mixer volume doesn't work, but
> the headphone mixer channel affects the volume. Not that this would be a
> problem for me in any OS as my speakers have a good old fashioned knob
> marked "volume"!
Rich, I had what I though was a similar problem in Ubuntu
and SUSE (same computer, sound card embedded in the on-board
Intel chipset). Later I realised that I was just
manipulating the wrong mixer dials, which means that only my
ignorance is to blame. Sound balance, I suspect, is
something I didn't manage to change because it did not
correspond to the type of output (CD, Master, System Sounds
and so forth). So I suggest you tinker with the mixer and
see how you get along. Perhaps the mixer interfere is not
intuitive (both GNOME and KDE), but I am told by a friend
whom I recently convinced to try Linux (Mandriva 2006) that
mixing under Linux is far more advanced than XP in every
area. Perhaps it's a case of complexity, attributed to
excessive level of choice.
Windows XP has some third-party mixers that extend the
capability of the more rudimentary one. These only come with
pricey professional sound cards though.
This entire thing reminds me of a statement once made by wd
in this newsgroup. People come to Linux with the presumption
that it's hard and any case they find to justify this and
give up would do. Stereotypes (FUD,prior experiences in the
nineties, etc.) are the worst enemy of Linux. "It's not me,
it Linux. Easier to blame the software, which others say is
hard/faulty".
Best wishes,
Roy
PS - it took me /months/ to realise that mixing (volume and
balance) was always working flawlessly.
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