Hi, I'm currently experimenting with Etoys' audio recorder on the XO. It seems to be broken on the XO-1.5.
While it works (more or less) ok on several XO-1s, all of them have a fresh install of System 10.1.2/Sugar 0.84, it completely fails on the XO-1.5, running the same System/Sugar version.
Following is a description of what happens: I create a new project, open the supplies box, fetch a Sound Recorder, and place it somewhere on stage. I press the record button, the microphone control light lights up and I'm able to record about a second or two. Then Etoys gets kind of stuck. It is hard to move the mouse cursor, stop the recording, remove the recorder... It takes some time, then Etoys starts to be responding again and I'm able to delete the recorder. Even if the recorder is deleted the microphone control light still keeps burning until Etoys is finally stopped.
I wrote more or less ok as on both XO's the quality of the audio is less than satisfactory. Also the level of the recording is very low. Maybe a control to adjust the input level might be a means to improve this.
If this list should not be the appropriate address for reports like this, please tell me and give me directions where to go to instead.
Thanks, Tom
Tom Staubitz HTW Berlin
Just noticed that the microphone control light does not disappear on the XO-1 either.
Begin forwarded message:
From: "tom.staubitz@fhtw-berlin.de" tom.staubitz@fhtw-berlin.de Date: October 12, 2010 4:58:00 PM GMT+02:00 To: squeakland@squeakland.org Subject: [squeakland] Audio recorder broken on XO-1.5
Hi, I'm currently experimenting with Etoys' audio recorder on the XO. It seems to be broken on the XO-1.5.
While it works (more or less) ok on several XO-1s, all of them have a fresh install of System 10.1.2/Sugar 0.84, it completely fails on the XO-1.5, running the same System/Sugar version.
Following is a description of what happens: I create a new project, open the supplies box, fetch a Sound Recorder, and place it somewhere on stage. I press the record button, the microphone control light lights up and I'm able to record about a second or two. Then Etoys gets kind of stuck. It is hard to move the mouse cursor, stop the recording, remove the recorder... It takes some time, then Etoys starts to be responding again and I'm able to delete the recorder. Even if the recorder is deleted the microphone control light still keeps burning until Etoys is finally stopped.
I wrote more or less ok as on both XO's the quality of the audio is less than satisfactory. Also the level of the recording is very low. Maybe a control to adjust the input level might be a means to improve this.
If this list should not be the appropriate address for reports like this, please tell me and give me directions where to go to instead.
Thanks, Tom
Tom Staubitz HTW Berlin
(I'm copying the olpc devel list)
On 12.10.2010, at 07:58, tom.staubitz@fhtw-berlin.de wrote:
Hi, I'm currently experimenting with Etoys' audio recorder on the XO. It seems to be broken on the XO-1.5.
While it works (more or less) ok on several XO-1s, all of them have a fresh install of System 10.1.2/Sugar 0.84, it completely fails on the XO-1.5, running the same System/Sugar version.
Following is a description of what happens: I create a new project, open the supplies box, fetch a Sound Recorder, and place it somewhere on stage. I press the record button, the microphone control light lights up and I'm able to record about a second or two. Then Etoys gets kind of stuck. It is hard to move the mouse cursor, stop the recording, remove the recorder... It takes some time, then Etoys starts to be responding again and I'm able to delete the recorder. Even if the recorder is deleted the microphone control light still keeps burning until Etoys is finally stopped.
I wrote more or less ok as on both XO's the quality of the audio is less than satisfactory. Also the level of the recording is very low. Maybe a control to adjust the input level might be a means to improve this.
If this list should not be the appropriate address for reports like this, please tell me and give me directions where to go to instead.
The squeakland list is okay to report Etoys problems. If you are fine with a more technical discussion, the etoys-dev list is even better: http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys-dev
Your report sounds like this issue: http://tracker.squeakland.org/browse/SQ-641
So we are aware of it, and there is a solution. But we (Etoys developers) do not build the XO operating system nor the Etoys/Squeak packages used there. To actually fix this for OLPC users in general, the packaging needs to change (in particular to fix older versions). The OLPC developers list is more appropriate to discuss that:
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
There are open tickets on the OLPC tracker too:
http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/9724 http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/9527
Currently we have nobody driving the process of getting this fixed. But volunteer positions are always open, maybe you are interested in helping out? :)
- Bert -
On Oct 12, 2010, at 8:26 PM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
(I'm copying the olpc devel list)
On 12.10.2010, at 07:58, tom.staubitz@fhtw-berlin.de wrote:
Hi, I'm currently experimenting with Etoys' audio recorder on the XO. It seems to be broken on the XO-1.5.
While it works (more or less) ok on several XO-1s, all of them have a fresh install of System 10.1.2/Sugar 0.84, it completely fails on the XO-1.5, running the same System/Sugar version.
Following is a description of what happens: I create a new project, open the supplies box, fetch a Sound Recorder, and place it somewhere on stage. I press the record button, the microphone control light lights up and I'm able to record about a second or two. Then Etoys gets kind of stuck. It is hard to move the mouse cursor, stop the recording, remove the recorder... It takes some time, then Etoys starts to be responding again and I'm able to delete the recorder. Even if the recorder is deleted the microphone control light still keeps burning until Etoys is finally stopped.
I wrote more or less ok as on both XO's the quality of the audio is less than satisfactory. Also the level of the recording is very low. Maybe a control to adjust the input level might be a means to improve this.
If this list should not be the appropriate address for reports like this, please tell me and give me directions where to go to instead.
The squeakland list is okay to report Etoys problems. If you are fine with a more technical discussion, the etoys-dev list is even better: http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys-dev
Your report sounds like this issue: http://tracker.squeakland.org/browse/SQ-641
So we are aware of it, and there is a solution. But we (Etoys developers) do not build the XO operating system nor the Etoys/Squeak packages used there. To actually fix this for OLPC users in general, the packaging needs to change (in particular to fix older versions). The OLPC developers list is more appropriate to discuss that:
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
There are open tickets on the OLPC tracker too:
http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/9724 http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/9527
Thanks for the links. I'll check the bug trackers next time before reporting.
Currently we have nobody driving the process of getting this fixed. But volunteer positions are always open, maybe you are interested in helping out? :)
- Bert -
Any other time I'd say yes. But I'm currently writing my master's thesis, have a couple of day time jobs, and a newborn baby. So I hardly will find the time to actually fix stuff. What I can offer to do though, is reporting bugs or issues that occur to me while I'm doing research for my thesis.
Cheers, Tom
On 14.10.2010, at 02:38, tom.staubitz@fhtw-berlin.de wrote:
On Oct 12, 2010, at 8:26 PM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
(I'm copying the olpc devel list)
On 12.10.2010, at 07:58, tom.staubitz@fhtw-berlin.de wrote:
Hi, I'm currently experimenting with Etoys' audio recorder on the XO. It seems to be broken on the XO-1.5.
While it works (more or less) ok on several XO-1s, all of them have a fresh install of System 10.1.2/Sugar 0.84, it completely fails on the XO-1.5, running the same System/Sugar version.
Following is a description of what happens: I create a new project, open the supplies box, fetch a Sound Recorder, and place it somewhere on stage. I press the record button, the microphone control light lights up and I'm able to record about a second or two. Then Etoys gets kind of stuck. It is hard to move the mouse cursor, stop the recording, remove the recorder... It takes some time, then Etoys starts to be responding again and I'm able to delete the recorder. Even if the recorder is deleted the microphone control light still keeps burning until Etoys is finally stopped.
I wrote more or less ok as on both XO's the quality of the audio is less than satisfactory. Also the level of the recording is very low. Maybe a control to adjust the input level might be a means to improve this.
If this list should not be the appropriate address for reports like this, please tell me and give me directions where to go to instead.
The squeakland list is okay to report Etoys problems. If you are fine with a more technical discussion, the etoys-dev list is even better: http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys-dev
Your report sounds like this issue: http://tracker.squeakland.org/browse/SQ-641
So we are aware of it, and there is a solution. But we (Etoys developers) do not build the XO operating system nor the Etoys/Squeak packages used there. To actually fix this for OLPC users in general, the packaging needs to change (in particular to fix older versions). The OLPC developers list is more appropriate to discuss that:
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
There are open tickets on the OLPC tracker too:
http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/9724 http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/9527
Thanks for the links. I'll check the bug trackers next time before reporting.
We just did an update to the 4.1 release which might fix this, provided a "good" Squeak VM package is installed.
Currently we have nobody driving the process of getting this fixed. But volunteer positions are always open, maybe you are interested in helping out? :)
- Bert -
Any other time I'd say yes. But I'm currently writing my master's thesis, have a couple of day time jobs, and a newborn baby. So I hardly will find the time to actually fix stuff. What I can offer to do though, is reporting bugs or issues that occur to me while I'm doing research for my thesis.
That is very valuable, too. Thank you!
- Bert -
On Oct 14, 2010, at 6:50 PM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
We just did an update to the 4.1 release which might fix this, provided a "good" Squeak VM package is installed.
How do I know if a "good" Squeak VM Package is installed? Is there an easy way to update the XO to this new version? My Settings->Software update says that my software is up to date. Or do I have to install it from source? Where do I find an installation guide? I'm not only looking at this from my perspective but also from a perspective of teachers that might not be techies.
Thanks, Tom
On 14.10.2010, at 11:58, tom.staubitz@fhtw-berlin.de wrote:
On Oct 14, 2010, at 6:50 PM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
We just did an update to the 4.1 release which might fix this, provided a "good" Squeak VM package is installed.
How do I know if a "good" Squeak VM Package is installed?
It has to have the vm-sound-pulse module. The available modules are listed at the end of the "squeak -help" output. It was added in 4.0 but when building it, the right headers/libraries have to be installed, otherwise it is left out.
Is there an easy way to update the XO to this new version?
Depends on what you mean by "easy" ;)
My Settings->Software update says that my software is up to date. Or do I have to install it from source? Where do I find an installation guide? I'm not only looking at this from my perspective but also from a perspective of teachers that might not be techies.
If RPMs were available (that's what I meant by "packaging" at the start of this discussion) then you could upgrade them. But this requires using the command line, and you will have to have root access. IIUC many kids don't have root access so they cannot fix this themselves. Only a new operating system version would be "simple" because that's installed deployment-wide. But that does not happen often, if at all.
OTOH, recording worked fine in previous versions (before PulseAudio) so not too many people are affected yet, I think.
- Bert -
squeakland@lists.squeakfoundation.org
-
Bert Freudenberg -
tom.staubitz＠fhtw-berlin.de