On 2/8/21 1:00 PM, [email protected] wrote:
On Mon, 8 Feb 2021 14:05:04 +0100
Tom Peters <[email protected]> wrote:
Chuck, Michael, Lorenzo:
thank you very much for your input.
Michael, Lorenzo, I share your sentiment. I think it is fair now in the
22nd year of the 21st century to expect from a computer application:
1) that the package management system like apt is configured that an
application will get all its dependencies so that it will actually work;
2) that an application is configured with sensible defaults so that it
actually works out of the box.
agreed
I sympathize with the devs who want to
just improve the product that is but its
extremely frustrating to have to hunt for
basics. Let's not forget that a user may
well be a novice to both musicware AND Linux.
Again, I wanna stress that I'm trying to
throw pebbles but leaving earth orbit should
kinda come before nuclear sails or mars
landings. Is it THAT difficult to hardwire
SOME minimal sound ability if only to show
that the right software is being tried?
Other apps can do it, at least at some
rudimentary level at first.
So far, PulseAudio seems to have basic sound sorted out upon
installation - if you only have one audio device and want to use it for
everything.
Package management systems depend on humans to specify what to include
in or require for a package. The package maintainers decide how heavy or
light they want their package to be. Say your package wants MIDI output.
Does it require a particular MIDI output application like Timidity,
Fluidsynth, Qsynth, etc? Do you make that application a requirement for
someone that already has another MIDI output set up on their system? Do
you make it optional so someone that installs just the application has
no MIDI output after installation and has to install/configure yet
another application?
Also, what's a "sensible default" vs something that someone else might
consider a headache or bloatware? On all my systems, PulseAudio my
systems defaulted to one form or another of on-board audio - either the
built-in hardware connected to laptop speakers/headphone jack, or HDMI.
The PA default was useless on one system, a headache to deal with on my
main laptop, and suitable only on the netbook. None of my HDMI monitors
include speakers, so no sound output.
Doing pro audio/MIDI is not in the same league as just playing MP3s or
Youtube videos. I read about some of the MIDI setups people on the list
have - multiple hardware synths, external keyboards, multichannel sound
cards, softsynths running on multiple machines, etc. Seems to me like
there's *no* "sensible default" that would apply to every situation.
I remember discussion years back in the RG world: should RG require
Lilypond for printing scores.
I have a friend, singer/songwriter, that's exclusively used Windows
audio systems setup by professional techs. It seems to me that not even
Windows has it sorted out if you need a professional to set up your
Windows audio system!
--
David W. Jones
[email protected]
authenticity, honesty, community
http://dancingtreefrog.com
"My password is the last 8 digits of π."
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