Update catastrophy

[OldNick]

As there's no thread for post-installation after "saucy" 13.10 I'll have to post here.
It was a lengthy process which leaves me with a frozen desktop...

First a notification that the sound module (whatever it's called) has "closed unexpectedly" - this seems to happen several times - then another notification - again, several times (from the sort of flickering effect) - telling me that kwin is unstable. Lastly there is a drop down menu inviting me to choose a different window manager... which doesn't work because the whole screen is frozen.

What do I do now ?
Bearing in mind that my understanding of the console is virtually inexistant.

[OldNick]

After a bit of digging, I've discovered that KMix, which is the first bit that is going wrong is an applet/panel in the plasma desktop - and that it has been buggy for years. There seem to be bug reports about it for every version of KDE.
From what happens, it seems that it crashes repeatedly and finally causes the desktop (and everything else) to hang.
Is there a way of stopping it launching (bearing in mind I can't get to preferences or anything else) ?

[Rog132]

About kmix

Have you tried with the recovery mode ?

Grub -> Advanced options - > Recovery mode




Earlier:

- http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...-hang-on-login
- http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...he-logon-sound


The package kmix is installing:

:~$ dpkg -L kmix | grep autostart

/usr/share/autostart/restore_kmix_volumes.desktop
/usr/share/autostart/kmix_autostart.desktop

If you remove the kmix then the autostart option is removed or you could remove the autostart files.


The KMix is an option but it isn't the only option:

Pavu control: http://freedesktop.org/software/pulseaudio/pavucontrol/




Veromix: http://kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=116676




ALSA Volume Control plasmoid: http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php/?content=138990




AlsaMixer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsamixer

[OldNick]

Tried recovery mode - couldn't get it to work for me, but I've found that I can get into console before logging in, so I'm using that.

If I understand right, the first, dpkg command tells me the files that start kmix automatically - and if then I delete these files, kmix won't start...

I'll try it, and, if it works look for alternatives !

[OldNick]

I tried removing the two files, both before logging in, and prior to a reboot - the bloody thing was still there !
So I tried apt-get --purge remove kmix
Somehow IT IS STILL THERE !!
How on earth do I get rid of it and get into my computer ? (and how do I stop it ever coming back?)
It did tell me that KDE "depends on it" but it wouldn't be installed, but it was.
It beats me why KDE continues with the thing, as the web is littered with complaints and bug reports about it.

[richb]

To answer your question why they do not get rid of Kmix, through many versions of KDE I never had a problem with Kmix and it has never come up as a problem in another Linux Forum I am admin for. So that is why it remains.

[OldNick]

That doesn't exactly help me with my present predicament...
Celebrating the fact that others haven't had the problem isn't exactly uppermost in my mind at the moment.

[marco07]

If you remove the kmix then the autostart option is removed or you could remove the autostart files.

Could you please elaborate on the above?
Do you mean to remove those files?

My 13.10 install shows the followings:

marco@DX200:~$ dpkg -L kmix | grep autostart
/usr/share/autostart
/usr/share/autostart/restore_kmix_volumes.desktop
/usr/share/autostart/kmix_autostart.desktop

Do you mean to remove those files?


It seems the upgrade to 13.10 has resulted in my system not to play the regular start-up tune at the system boot up. But when I go to system settings>multimedia >sounds and audio, and test the only sound card, it plays the tune well.
What could be wrong here?
is this related to those files
Thanks!

[Snowhog]

Just go to System Settings > Application and System Notifications > Manage Notifications > Event Source > KDE Workspace and click on each item you desire to have sound for and verify that Play a sound is checked and a sound file is selected. For me, I have:

Logout /usr/share/sounds/KDE-Sys-Log-In-Short.ogg
Login /usr/share/sounds/KDE-Sys-Log-In-Short.ogg

[richb]

That doesn't exactly help me with my present predicament...
Celebrating the fact that others haven't had the problem isn't exactly uppermost in my mind at the moment.

I was only responding to your question why it has not been removed, so I believe my response was appropriate to that question.

[Rog132]

Removing KMIX

Testing:

sudo apt-get purge kmix

Log of sudo apt-get purge kmix
Sun Oct 20 20:39:39 2013

Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...

The following packages will be REMOVED:
kdemultimedia* kmix*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 1,837 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? (Reading database ...
(Reading database ... 5%

(Reading database ... 185722 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing kdemultimedia ...
Removing kmix ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for mime-support ...

Closing the KMIX from the panel.

Rebooting....

There is no KMIX:

:~$ kmix
The program 'kmix' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install kmix

The autostart is clean from the kmix:

[Rog132]

KDE 4.11 defaults

The KDE 4.11 default is no login/out sounds - more: http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-commits&m=136646628816226

You could enable the login/out sounds : KDE System Settings > Application and System Settings > Manage Notifications > KDE Workspace:

Earlier: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...e/+bug/1214668

[marco07]

Just go to System Settings > Application and System Notifications > Manage Notifications > Event Source > KDE Workspace and click on each item you desire to have sound for and verify that Play a sound is checked and a sound file is selected. For me, I have:

Logout /usr/share/sounds/KDE-Sys-Log-In-Short.ogg
Login /usr/share/sounds/KDE-Sys-Log-In-Short.ogg

Thank you Snowhog & Rog132!
That did it. I thought the issue was due perhaps to malfunctioning of the Mixer.

[Rog132]

KMIX Status

News about KMix – the KDE Multimedia Mixer: http://kmix5.wordpress.com/

'KDE 4.11 showstopper: KMix lockup for 20 seconds, and a concept for fixing it' : http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-multimed...9576831747&w=2 --> https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=317926



The Future ?

A fresh new KMix: http://wm161.net/2013/03/21/a-fresh-...fresh-new-kmix

KMix2 features:
- http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-multimed...3913526255&w=2
- http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-multimed...6003805707&w=2

KMix qml applet: https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/112208/

Seems to work:



At here:

The KMIX is mostly working....