@matigo Yes, Siri. Please do Google that. I'm dying to see how another layer of technology mangles it. Oh, see if Cortana will ask Bing the same question.
// @sumudu
@larand Linux DOES have a really good sound solution called JACK Audio.
And I should really stop blabbing about Linux audio.
@larand Oh, and ALSA stands for Advance Linux Sound Architecture.
I always thought Another Linux Sound Abomination was more fitting.
Actually, it wasn't too bad. Most of what killed sound by that point was all of the compatibility layers and wrappers that had built up over time.
@matigo I'm not sure they even know how people who live by keypads use them.
Watch a good CPA use one. It is off to the side. He/She will not even be looking at it. His /her fingers will be moving so fast you cannot see them.
This cannot be done on a laptop keyboard. It simply cannot.
// @larand
@matigo Looks like they could have done away with the keyboard wonkiness (I can see from the pic that the layout is funky) by eliminating the number pad. I prefer those to be external on a laptop anyway.
// @larand
@larand ..And I omitted ALSA in my brief history of Linux sound :/
It was sniffles with a slight cough.
I had a lot of experience fighting Linux and sound since I used to stream to a Internet radio station with Linux. Did the occasional blues set and sometimes rambled. Sidekick used to do an entire show of her own. Good times. Wrote a QT/KDE front-end to the darkice encoder that allowed music to stream from a variety of sources and be faded in and out with the microphone input.
@matigo The "wrapped in plastic" part is what keeps me from going "YEP" right now and pulling the trigger on the Thinkpad P50. Yes, they're traditionally built like tanks but I really like Aluminum. My Air has seen daily duty for years and a wipe with a damp cloth makes it look like I just pulled it out of the carton. The only thing than makes it not look brand new is the worn keycaps.
// @larand
@larand
Then I decided to see how suspend worked. Bad move.
Still is to this day with certain hardware. Suspend/Resume has always been a crap shoot to some degree.
Networking problems began. Kernel panics. Freezes that would only respond to a forced shutdown.
sniff I smell wireless networking in 2008.
Sometimes it remembered my WPA2 password, sometimes it didn't.
Called it.
Usual steps a vendor talks a user through when bad things happen
This is why we never sold Linux laptops. Boss insisted we do it. I put Linux on his laptop. Never heard another word about it.
When I tried to restart, it hung at "shuttting down ALSA".
Here's a brief history of sound under Linux.
Note, I am omitting a few things so don't get wadded panties, Linux people.
- Linux sound was sickly, thin and named OSS. Like most earlier Linux bits, it worked and had a lot of room for improvement.
- OSS was killed by FSF because "NOT FREE ENOUGH"
- Linux sound developed a slight sniffle as it came down with something called ESD
- Linux sound's condition mutated into ARTSD which meant it could sniffle multiple times at once.
- Linux sound's condition mutated once again into Pulseaudio which was like leprosy but with sound (or, frequently, silence)
You get the idea. Sound has been a mess under Linux for years because of all those "mutations" and all the associated compatibility layers that entailed.
But first, I went to the Apple Store online and ordered a nice refurbished 2.4-GHz MacBook Pro with a 200 GB hard drive, 2 GB of RAM, an LED-backlit screen and AppleCare, the only extended warranty on the planet that's worth the money
This ending isn't restricted to non-geeks. It's roughly how my quest for "a *nix laptop that doesn't suck rocks" ended.