gnome-applet-volume-control is a huge usability regression

[Gene Heskett]

On Sunday 19 August 2012 11:36:14 Colin Law did opine:

> On 19 August 2012 12:00, Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com> wrote:
> > On Sunday 19 August 2012 06:39:59 Colin Law did opine:
> >> On 19 August 2012 11:02, Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com> wrote:
> >> > Greetings all;
> >> > 
> >> > Ubuntu-10.04.4 LTS
> >> > 
> >> > Some so-called update in the last 2 weeks has moved the system
> >> > volume control from my keyboard, to a teeny little icon in the
> >> > notifier applet.
> >> > 
> >> > Generally when I need to get to it because the fscking commercial
> >> > in front of a news story is 40 db louder than the previous watched
> >> > stories audio track was, trying not to wake the missus sleeping 4
> >> > rooms away, but because the mouse pointer has been blanked, you
> >> > can't find the SOB without issuing a click someplace to unblank it
> >> > just so you can move the pointer to this microscopic icon in the
> >> > upper right corner of the screen, then roll the wheel to adjust
> >> > the volume.  That works, but the extra click needed to unblank the
> >> > mouse (why does it not unblank just by moving it?)
> 
> Is it a wireless mouse?  I suspect that is to do with the mouse itself
> and nothing to do with ubuntu.  It is switching the light off in order
> to save power.  Since the light is off it cannot tell when you move it
> (obviously), hence the need to click.
> 
Yes, a logitek, and you are likely correct.

> >> > is occasionally miss interpreted
> >> > causing unwanted side effects, and it takes several seconds of
> >> > waving the ^%$ mouse around to find it in the screen clutter and
> >> > do it.
> >> > 
> >> > My keyboard has volume up/down/mute functions buttons which DID
> >> > work very well and instantly, and could be used in a second or
> >> > less for this until some "genius" thought it could be better done
> >> > with an icon.  Quotes intended to be satire of course because left
> >> > to my natural instincts, genius isn't the proper descriptive word.
> >> 
> >> I think you may be jumping to the false assumption that the disabling
> >> of the keyboard function keys has been done on purpose.  I think it
> >> more likely to be accidental.  Rather than ranting about supposed
> >> intentional changes apparently intended to annoy you personally
> > 
> > I'd bet a bottle of your favorite suds I am not the only one
> > disappointed by such a usability regression.
> 
> I am sure you are not the only one disappointed, assuming that others
> have also got the problem.  That does not mean the disabling of the
> keyboard keys is intentional.
> 
> I can't comment on whether the volume applet in the panel has changed
> as I don't use 10.04.  Anyone else help on this issue?
> 
> >> I
> >> think a better approach would be to ask for help in analysing why the
> >> function keys do not work.  In order to help with this the first
> >> information required is full details of the make and model of the
> >> machine.  I presume you have already searched launchpad in case it
> >> has already been reported.
> > 
> > No, I wanted to make sure I pointed out (but didn't really) that this
> > little icon showed up at the last reboot about 2 weeks ago, it wasn't
> > there before that I can recall, and my keyboard controls worked. 
> > That is a logic connection even I can make.  The obvious conclusion
> > is that this icon has intercepted those 3 keyboard events.
> 
> No, I don't think that is obvious at all.  Possible but not obvious.
> If it were intercepting them then the fact that it is not acting on
> them is still a bug.
> 
> >  Launchpad URL?
> 
> I don't understand, are you asking me to look up the url of launchpad
> for you? I have had a quick look and can't see anything obvious.
> 
> >> Have you touched the BIOS settings recently?
> > 
> > Not in over a year.
> 
> Worth asking the question.
> 
> >  Its an AMD 4 core phenom 9550, on an ASUS M2N-SLI
> > 
> > Deluxe board, 4GB of ram, sound is an audigy2 value, aka real 24 bit
> > hardware.  Motherboard sound is disabled, has been for years.
> > 
> >> Have you tried a re-boot?
> > 
> > 2 weeks ago.  Rebooting here is about a 10 to 20 minute project due to
> > the custom scripts that handle my email needing to be hand started in
> > sequence. I could automate that if I could figure out where to put a
> > script that would be equal to rc.local, but which was executed once X
> > was up and running.
> 
> Was that re-boot after you noticed that the volume keys were not
> working?  If not then I think you have to do a re-boot before doing
> anything else.

No, they were working up to the reboot, which was caused by an extra copy 
of kmail that was burning 100% of a core, making kmail extremely sluggish, 
and was not killable by htop running as root.  I have had that occur at 2 
to 3 week intervals since I installed this several months ago, and is 
generally the only reason I do reboot, which gets about halfway through the 
shutdown script, hits what I presume as it doesn't name it, an unkillable 
process, so the front panel reset button is used from there.

> You could still put it in a single script and run that manually once X
> is up,   Or call it from Startup Applications and then it will run
> after logon if that is what you mean.

Humm, I looked at that, but its not abundantly clear how to do that. Some 
guidance or a tut URL would be nice.

I treat the suckage of email from the 2 accounts I use, as being 
independent of kmail since fetchmail & friends don't need a gui.  That all 
starts before X does.

Then it is synchronized by watching the spool dir, and sending kmail a 
message over dbus to go get the local mail when a file close operation has 
been performed on a file in the spool dir.  Incoming mail is at that point 
completely hands off.

But because dbus gets a tummy ache if the target of the message isn't 
registered, so before I send the message, I make sure each time that pidof 
kmail returns a valid value.  That unforch, goes straight into the toilet 
when pidof returns more than one 5 digit proc ID.  At that point, I might 
as well reboot because the system is already failing.

> > This isn't supposed to be windows where multiple daily reboots need to
> > be done is it?  ;-)
> 
> No.
> 
I had to ask. ;-)

> Colin


Cheers Colin, Gene
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