PipeWire 0.3.39 Brings Libcamera Plugin Improvements, Better Compatibility For JACK Apps

[boxie]

In Windows it's five mouse clicks away. Also, there's no need provide highly cryptic text files to me - I've been using Linux for more than two decades and I can configure everything perfectly, thank you very much.

The question was about the average Joe who doesn't even know how to express his desire. They surely don't know what "the sampling rate" is but they've heard that 192KHz is better than 44100Hz for his audio/sound card and you can't blame them.

Also, for some reasons you assume not only people can properly ask such questions, they can edit the appropriate files and revert the changes in case something breaks.

Too many assumptions in 2021 when everything the average Joe faces in his mundane life should be configurable via GUI. I've not even begun to ask hard questions like: how to allow/deny certain applications access to the Internet (that's trivial under Windows using a graphical firewall) or allow/deny applications to run (equally trivial via Group Policy Software Restrictions Policy).

In this I agree with you. The part about discovering how to do advanced things with a GUI that is.
We currently have very good sensible defaults and dependending on the DE some good basic audio config. Discoverability of advanced config editors is something usually left as an exersize for the end user.

I for one am all for DEs providing some more advanced GUI editors for config tweaking (audio/video/internet etc)

[birdie]

Because any other sound configuration GUI works. Including all those aimed at pulseaudio and JACK.

• pavucontrol
• Easy Effects
• Helvum
• qjacktl
• Carla

But most users dont need these. We just want good audio by default. For those that do are have more "pro" needs, the features are available from within the DAW software (eg ardour) they use.

How many of them allow to configure {/usr/share/pipewire|/etc/pipewire|$HOME/.config/pipewire}/pipewire.conf ? None? I've asked a very specific question, you give me a load of something irrelevant.

[birdie]

In this I agree with you. The part about discovering how to do advanced things with a GUI that is.
We currently have very good sensible defaults and dependending on the DE some good basic audio config. Discoverability of advanced config editors is something usually left as an exersize for the end user.

I for one am all for DEs providing some more advanced GUI editors for config tweaking (audio/video/internet etc)

Considering the previous replies in the topic we share a very unpopular opinion. Most others believe you have to be a programmer to use Linux to its fullest and it shows.

[microcode]

PipeWire is already miles better than the old classic PA server but the question remains

Why there are no graphical user-friendly utilities to configure either?

Say the average Joe wants to configure the default sample rate of his sound card or change resampler quality. Why should one edit highly cryptic files located God knows where and expect nothing to break?

Sample rates are of no interest to Joe, period. If he wants to do anything a normal audio user might want, pavucontrol has been around for years now, and it works fine with PipeWire.

[microcode]

How many of them allow to configure {/usr/share/pipewire|/etc/pipewire|$HOME/.config/pipewire}/pipewire.conf ? None? I've asked a very specific question, you give me a load of something irrelevant.

Why do you care what file changes? If somebody cares which file changed, surely they are interested in the manual, and can edit it themselves...

[birdie]

Why do you care what file changes? If somebody cares which file changed, surely they are interested in the manual, and can edit it themselves...

It's amazing how Open Source fans address any problems you've got with Open Source software:

• "There's this and that replacement" - I didn't ask for it, I need what I need
• "You don't need it" - but I do
• "This works differently in Linux" - so what, I still need it
• "You have to learn this and that to enable it" - oh, really? Should I also learn shell, programming, debugging, git bisect (done that a lot of time already) and assembly to use Linux?
• "What you want is wrong!" - yeah, really.

Again this feature is 5 mouse clicks away in Windows. I've seen people with zero technical background enabling it, including those who work with DAW (you gotta be kinda smart to use it). They just cannot do that in Linux.

Any other arguments you still have?

Again, my idea of Linux on the desktop is an OS which an idiot can use. Time and again people continue to prove me wrong by screaming that you must an IT-minded person to use Linux. Oh, boy, what a shame.

[boxie]

Considering the previous replies in the topic we share a very unpopular opinion. Most others believe you have to be a programmer to use Linux to its fullest and it shows.

Some people have earned knowledge and don't want others to have it easy to do the same thing (i get it, there is an appeal to knowing how to do things)

But as a programmer sometimes I just wanna point and click

[RahulSundaram]

But as a programmer sometimes I just wanna point and click

Sure, that's a reasonable thing to want as I noted before. Here is a suggestion for anyone who wants to see features like these they personally care about get implemented: File an RFE for the desktop environments you use or one of the GUI frontends that is popular for tweaking audio settings. Explain how you use said feature. If other operating systems have a interface to handle it, screenshots of those in the RFE can be helpful. Doesn't require any special knowledge and could be a productive way to contribute.

[birdie]

Sure, that's a reasonable thing to want as I noted before. Here is a suggestion for anyone who wants to see features like these they personally care about get implemented: File an RFE for the desktop environments you use or one of the GUI frontends that is popular for tweaking audio settings. Explain how you use said feature. If other operating systems have a interface to handle it, screenshots of those in the RFE can be helpful. Doesn't require any special knowledge and could be a productive way to contribute.

I've filed so many bug reports and feature request I've lost count to them, it's been over 600 already and you know what? Considering the number of open bug reports and feature requests in open source projects I've become a lot more modest recently. Close to 100% of Open Source projects are severely understaffed and asking for something in this situation sounds almost impudent. Just today I've filed a bug report against PipeWire, and only because I couldn't find any open relevant bug reports and it's been annoying me for many years already and it's a feature too many users expect by default.

Meanwhile changing sound card's "Default Rate" has been available in Windows since Vista, i.e. for for 14 years already.



Are you really a Fedora contributor? There are literally thousands of open file reports for Fedora with zero comments from their respective maintainers. So much for "file a bug report/feature request" and expect it to be addressed. It's a bloody pipe dream.

[RahulSundaram]

I've filed so many bug reports and feature request I've lost count to them, it's been over 600 already and you know what? Considering the number of open bug reports and feature requests in open source projects I've become a lot more modest recently. Close to 100% of Open Source projects are severely understaffed and asking for something in this situation sounds almost impudent.

Noone here is suggesting that all bug reports and feature requests will be promptly addressed but it certainly beats the effectiveness of arguing about it in a random forum. Funding is certainly an issue. More funding opportunities these days however with micro funding sites and so forth. That's another way to contribute.