GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 167606
mixer applet should be able to reprobe cards without restarting
Last modified: 2009-02-17 02:52:17 UTC
Version details: 2.8.1 Distribution/Version: gentoo When a sound card is added to the system (ie a Linux kernel module loaded) I am unable to make the gnome mixer applet recognize the card. Programs started after loading the module work well. The applet should either poll the module/soundcard list automagically (ie 5s intervals should be fine) or have some option for reprobing the cards.
The 2.9 version will never start if no elements/cards are found. Then, just start the applet again if the module is loaded. That still fails, of course, if you have 2 soundscards and only had 1 loaded. I´m marking this as enhancement because it sounds interesting to add at some point.
I still see this in 2.14. I disagree that its an enhacement though. If I'm listining to sound through my usb soundcard, it seems silly (from a user's perspective) that the media keys don't chance the volume of the muisc because gnome-mixer is stuck on my built in soundcard. This seems like a bug issue to me, not an enhancement.
*** Bug 345785 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 366723 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Ubuntu bug about that: https://launchpad.net/gnome-applets/+bug/77263
Created attachment 89596 [details] [review] Patch which forces mixer_applet to reload device list when changing the device
Why on device change? There should be a signal coming from A) kernel or B) gstreamer (as part of the mixer interface or propertyprobe interface) to signal that a new device was added. This is not the right way, because it doesn't load the device when it is added, but only when the user uses this hidden action (which only works if he/she has >1 sound devices already).
I can confirm that this is an issue for me as well (2.18). I have a creative usb soundcard (snd_usb_audio) which i use instead of the onboard sound on my laptop when at home. The issue is also present when resuming from standby as the soundcards driver must get reloaded. This means although the mixer applet is set to control the correct device changing the volume slider has no effect. The solution to this is to use the preferences dialogue of the applet to change device back to my onboard sound. Commit that change and then repeat the process changing back to the usb soundcard. Very clunky indeed.
This patch seems to fix the 100% CPU usage problem that was reported in bug 519388 for 2.24.1 in Ubuntu 8.10.
I agree with Ronald that this isn't the correct way, but it fixes bug 519388. Also, since mixer development is going into hibernation (the gnome-media people have a new mixer) it probably isn't worth the time to do it right. The patch has been applied with minor modifications.