[PLUG] Launch executable, nothing happens?

[John Jason Jordan]

On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 17:40:36 -0700
Carlos Konstanski <ckonstanski at pippiandcarlos.com> dijo:

> At Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:42:35 -0800,
> John Jason Jordan wrote:
> > 
> > On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 08:34:56 -0700
> > Carlos Konstanski <ckonstanski at pippiandcarlos.com> dijo:
> > 
> > And regarding the above packages, those must be the files that you have
> > installed. I searched my entire filesystem on the filenames like
> > "medialibs," etc., and found none of them, nor do I have any of the
> > folders. I installed it from Synaptic, which is usually pretty good
> > above making sure all dependencies are met.
> 
> Nah, these are packages.  But they are gentoo packages, not ubuntu
> ones.  Ubuntu may or may not have analogs.  I have never used ubuntu,
> so I don't know.
> 
> > Clearly, something is missing that is keeping it from finding the
> > audio system.
> 
> There is another thing to check: the kernel.  ALSA kernel support
> inclues a config option for OSS emulation.  Thia may be important.
> Look for any loaded (or otherwise) kernel modules with "oss" in the
> name:
> 
> lsmod |grep oss (these are loaded)
> or 
> find /lib/modules/`uname -r` -type f -iname '*oss*.ko' (these may or
> may not be loaded; check with lsmod)

Thanks again fror the suggestions. Here is what I got:

jjj at Devil7:~$ lsmod |grep oss 
snd_pcm_oss			50048	0 
snd_mixer_oss		20096	4 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm				94344	2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_oss			36864	0 
snd_seq_midi_event	9984	2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq				62496	6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device		10260	5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd					69288	11
snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device

jjj at Devil7:~$ find /lib/modules/`uname -r` -type f -iname '*oss*.ko'
/lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-mixer-oss.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-pcm-oss.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/sound/core/seq/oss/snd-seq-oss.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/media/video/saa7134/saa7134-oss.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/scsi/osst.ko

Sadly I have no ken of what that means, except that apparently a bunch of OSS stuff is installed. I note even more things in Synaptic. For example, I found (and installed) oss-compat and alsa-oss. They didn't make any difference, however.

Meantime, after much poking around I finally got Amarok to play sounds. (Another program with too many features.) It handles a lot of the streaming radio that other players cannot. However, it can't play everything, and several streams give me something that sounds like a card being thlupped by bicycle spokes. Plus its interface is annoying.

I understand now how my parents felt when, as a teenager, I tried to explain to them the marvels of surround sound. Their idea of playing music was to turn on a radio. A radio had an on/off/volume knob on one end, a tuning knob on the other, and a station dial in between. Now, like them back then, I am being dragged into higher tech than I want to know anything about. However, I do eventually want to be able to listen to streaming internet radio on my home sound system. I want to do this because the quality of local broadcast radio has dropped to vomitous levels. My plan is to broadcast to the sound system from the computer via bluetooth. I have a home sound system bluetooth receiver on order. So I guess I have to steel myself and learn about music playback in the new millennium.