Getting Salix to work better with laptops by default

[Atticus]

I've been running Salix OS 13.0.2 64bit on an old laptop for a month or two now and it has been a good experience overall. Once I got things up and running and fixed a few issues, things have been good. I wanted to bring up a few of the issues I've had (and solved for myself) and see what you guys think and what (if any) your plans are.

1. Computers with more than one audio device (includes webcams/microphones as well as sound cards) seem to use the webcam/microphone as the default output when they should be using a sound card. The manual fix for this is well documented on the Salix wiki, but is this something the Salix devs are interested in fixing for good? Most other distros I've used had no problem figuring out which card to use as the default, so maybe we could make Salix's sound card detection script a bit smarter.

2. On my laptop, none of the media keys did anything. I followed the procedure of running xev to determine each key's keycode, mapping them in Xmodmap, and adding xfce bindings with the Xfce keyboard bindings app. What do the Salix devs think about a more generalized solution to this that won't require users to set their keys up manually? (Or did I just have an old laptop that was not recognized?)

3. The touchpad on my laptop had various problems, such as tapping-to-click not working and the scrolling not working. I was able to fix this by adding a policy file that I found to /etc/hal/fdi/policy, but couldn't there be some detection mechanism that adds this file automatically if a touchpad is detected?

None of these are a big deal, but they add up to make Salix harder for normal people to set up and use, and they also make me have to spend more time setting it up to work correctly every time I install it. I'm curious as to what the Salix devs think about solving these problems for good in the base install. I'm willing to help find good generic solutions (and have the programming ability) if the devs are open to having these issues fixed, I just don't want to waste my time if there is no chance of it getting accepted.

Thanks,
Adam

[gapan]

1. Computers with more than one audio device (includes webcams/microphones as well as sound cards) seem to use the webcam/microphone as the default output when they should be using a sound card. The manual fix for this is well documented on the Salix wiki, but is this something the Salix devs are interested in fixing for good? Most other distros I've used had no problem figuring out which card to use as the default, so maybe we could make Salix's sound card detection script a bit smarter.

Actually, there are no sound card detection scripts. This is alsa's job and whatever needs fixing should be fixed there. However, we may provide an application that will help users select their default alsa device in the future.

2. On my laptop, none of the media keys did anything. I followed the procedure of running xev to determine each key's keycode, mapping them in Xmodmap, and adding xfce bindings with the Xfce keyboard bindings app. What do the Salix devs think about a more generalized solution to this that won't require users to set their keys up manually? (Or did I just have an old laptop that was not recognized?)

No idea, really. I have 3 laptops and none has any kind of media keys.

3. The touchpad on my laptop had various problems, such as tapping-to-click not working and the scrolling not working. I was able to fix this by adding a policy file that I found to /etc/hal/fdi/policy, but couldn't there be some detection mechanism that adds this file automatically if a touchpad is detected?

We actually had tap-to-click and locking drags enabled by default for touchpads in our 13.0 release, maybe also in 13.0.1, I can't really remember, but we certainly had all that disabled in 13.0.2 eventually. The reason was that while it seemed a good idea at the time and it worked great for our hardware, it actually caused several types of touchpads, ones that none of the salix developers had, to be completely unusable. So, unless someone comes up with some code that is 100% guaranteed to work for all setups, or can donate us laptops that includes all kinds of touchpads available, we have no way of knowing if we're actually breaking stuff while trying to "improve" them. And actually, this is something that should be fixed at its root, that means the xorg drivers.

[Akuna]

Issue #3 has been fixed in Slackware/Salix 13.1

Regarding issue #2, it certainly would be useful if you are able to provide a generic working solution.

[JRD]

About Issue #1, I'm currently making an application. In fact, I already have one, but it's not very good and not internationalized yet.

[ElderDryas]

No idea, really. I have 3 laptops and none has any kind of media keys.

Having just installed Salix 1337-XFCE and after scouting the forum for tips, hints and other bits to make using it better and easier, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the above sentiment (it doesn't affect me, so I don't really know or care) is overly pervasive in this forum.

Too bad.

[mimosa]

Too bad.

I've always found people to be very helpful here. But it's difficult to suggest solutions for a problem you can't reproduce, in which case the only way forward is for the person having the problem to probe a bit more deeply.

[thenktor]

it doesn't affect me, so I don't really know or care

That's why it is for free

[mimosa]

Also, these "media buttons" sound like an inconsistently implemented brand-specific feature of marginal utility rather than a core function like the touchpad or wireless.

In plain English, a hard-to-support gimmick.

[Akuna]

[quote="gapan"I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the above sentiment (it doesn't affect me, so I don't really know or care) is overly pervasive in this forum.Too bad.

Why too bad? No one is perfect and we are open to true improvements and positive contributions.

If you actually did mention that because you do truly care, then you are more than welcome to take the time and make the effort it takes to improve a situation that you seem to feel needs improvement.

Please do show us how to do it better and differently.

Thank you in advance.

[GJones]

People actually use the media buttons? That's news to me.