[techtalk] System sounds in KDE 1.1.2 under Red Hat 6.0 -- issue resolved

[Caitlyn M. Martin]

Hi, everyone,

I thought I should share the solution to my little problem, since I may have
discouraged some of y'all from downloading KDE 1.1.2 and using it with Red
Hat 6.0.

To remind you of what happened:  I downloaded all the revised KDE and QT
RPMs from the Red Hat 6.1 directory on the RH FTP site and installed them
into 6.0.  Everything worked, including most sound widgets (like the
CD player), but not system sounds.  I though the only solution would be to
upgrade to Red Hat 6.1, since obviously the new KDE was looking for
something I didn't have.  It turned out that was *not* the case.

My problem had something to do with my sound card, or basic sound card
configuration.  I had been using an old, cheap generic card with an Opti 16
chipset.  Sndconfig recognized it and almost configured it correctly (I had
to change one IRQ) and everything worked for a while.  I had put this card
in to replace my SoundBlaster Vibra 16 PNP, which gave me no end of grief
under Red Hat.  I simply swapped cards with my older machine.  Well, when
I upgraded KDE, everything didn't work right any more, so I assumed it was
related to KDE.  It turned out that was coincidental.

Today I put back in the genuine OEM SoundBlaster, determined to make it
work.  I went through lots of manual configuration changes, and lo and
behold, everything (and I mean everything) is working correctly now.  I once
again have a noisy system :)

The point to all this:  it's perfectly fine to upgrade your RH 6.0's KDE,
and you get some really nice enhancements by doing so.  My favorite:
multilanguage support in KSpell, so long as you have the necessary
dictionaries installed (also available as RH 6.1 RPMs).  In KMail, I now
have a pull down under Options->Spellchecker to change languages.  I may
have to recreate my mail filters and stop using Netscape Messenger :)  KMail
support multiple accounts, and of course, Netscape doesn't, and the KMail
bug with second and third account settings getting lost has been fixed  :)
Oh, and there are pretty new 1.1.2 themes out there too...

Anyway, I'm happy about this, and considering all the negative reports I'm
hearing about how buggy the 6.1 release is, I think I'll keep my system the
way it is until the version with the 2.4 kernel comes out and looks good.

Take care,
Caity






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