Hi all,

I have a strange situation with my new install of OpenSuse 10.3 (Which I happen to think is streets ahead of any other Distro I have used).

I have set up the initial user (the user from where I did all my YAST installations) and got everything working including online streaming (.ra), MP3's in Amarok, MP3 Audio online via VLC, video and Samba etc etc. All very lovely indeed.

The problem comes when I make a new user, log into that account and then fire up audio apps; the streaming doesn't work (Browser just hangs) and Amarok just hangs when you try to play an MP3.

I have just seen this from a Debian related thread, so I don't know if this applies?

This is the result of ls -l:

crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 14, 3 Feb 17 11:17 /dev/dsp
and
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 14, 0 Feb 17 11:17 /dev/mixer

So maybe I have to add the second user (and maybe the first too) to the group 'audio 14'? What do the '3' and the '0' mean in those lines?

This was never a problem in 10.2; any new user accounts automatically picked up the settings and programs installed without any further interaction; what am I missing here?

It feels like there is some kind of 'class' of user which I have never come across before - like I am an admin user and therefore have access to the plugins and codecs, but the second user is not and therefore doesn't. This is just a feeling, but how can I check?

(As far as I can tell the second user is identical to the first when I do a # ID [username] on both users, but is there another user 'level' i am not aware of perhaps? I have read about 'Power User privelages', but I don't really know what this means or how to check for it, or then how to make it so )

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, am I barking up the wrong tree?

Cheers
Jim

The group is 'audio', not 'audio 14', and yes, you should add the user to that group. The 14 and 0 are the minor and major numbers for the device you're listing there, they are not of interest here.

The permissions on the devices show that the owner and the groups the devices belong to may use them, but not any others. If you set up a new user, there is a template of permissions which sets group admittance for the new user, but the audio group may not be included.

Robin

Thanks Robin, very fast and clear reply...

I will take a good look tonight, and come back later if I'm still stuck.

Thanks again,

Jim

Hi again,

Ok, so I did:

and no change, then I added the second user to the group 'audio', which now shows up in his id username query, but still no audio.

*but* I have noticed for the first time though that there isn't any audio at all in this login, no startup sound, even the test feature doesn't work in the YAST sound properties dialogue thingy...

ALSA and almost everything to do with it is installed. Really strange, it can't be a driver issue, can it? It works in the first users' login, and he's not even in 'audio'..

Sorry to move the goalposts like that suddenly, any ideas?

Cheers
Jim

this just got weirder..

I logged out and back into user two, startup sound comes on and I can access the BBC stream! Woohoo I thought.

I logged out again, and into user number1, and noticed there was no startup sound...and the streaming hung the browser...and helix wouldn't open. Same symptoms which user 2 used to suffer from but has now miraculously recovered, but seems to have passed it to user1.

Logged back into user 2, sure enough the sound is working, backinto user 1 nothing.

So now it seems that there can only be one user using the card at any one time and somewhere or other the user isn't dropping the card? Or something?

Sorry , its late now, must go to bed..

Cheers
Jim

(shameless bump) but might this be a bug then?

Any advice or pointers on where to start on a bug report for OpenSuse10.3 would be appreciated if you think it might be..?

The problem is that I'm a numpty and I'm don't know how to provide the right information...

Thanks again for any guidance.

Cheers
Jim