From alsa-devel-owner@alsa.jcu.cz  Sun May 17 15:57:29 1998
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Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 09:57:24 -0400
To: alsa-devel@jcu.cz
From: Alan Robinson <ar@vt.edu>
Subject: Mixer Defaults
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>Your problem is probably in muting (please, read FAQ before someone send
>mail to this list):
>
>Q: Driver is installed and sucessfully loaded in kernel, but it doesn't
>   produce any sound. What's wrong?
>A: You should raise volume for mixer channels and/or unmute mixer channels.
>   Look for alsa-utils package at http://alsa.jcu.cz where are native mixers.

Like others, I feel I must express my disatisfaction with this default of
muting all channels.  Sure, all channnels on, at full volume, will
interduce noise, but when the user starts out, they care about whether the
driver is installed correctly, not whether the sound is as clear and
balanced as possilble.  

The defaults should be set so as to most useful, and most likely to need no
change.  Few people will want all channels on, at full volume, but even
fewer (dare I say none?) will want them all muted.  Sure, chances are good
they will start messing around with the mixer some time in the future, but
that should be to make their card sound sweat as possible, instead of
required, in order to make it function at all!

-- Alan.


