[Testing] Testing summary - Auckland New Zealand, 4 September 2010

[James Cameron]

On Mon, Sep 06, 2010 at 10:00:00AM -0400, chm wrote:
> James wrote:
> > Tabitha wrote:
> > > Record on XO-1.0 - picture, video and audio fine but mic pick up
> > > was low (maybe the XO settings), there is a resolution option but
> > > you can't change it
> >
> > Intentional.
> > See http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/10242 for history of issue.
> 
> It is the low volume of the mic input to the recording, almost
> inaudible in the playback, that is the most problematic.  The ticket
> does not say anything about resolution or workarounds for the volume
> issue.

No, I was not replying to the volume issue, I was replying to the "can't
change the resolution" issue.

I'm surprised that the low volume is more problematic than low
resolution, and surprised that it was experienced on an XO-1.  I'd
expect it on an XO-1.5.

The tickets regarding audio volume that may be of interest are: #10235
(XO 1.5 Audio volume very low), and #10234 (test for audio record
playback sound level differences 8.2.1 vs 10.1.2-beta).

See also #9913 (sugar frame speaker icon does not reflect volume hot key
usage) which may lead you to believe the volume is up when it is not.

A workaround for the volume issue may be to manipulate the mixer
controls manually using alsamixer run in Terminal.  Note that some of
the controls are not shown by alsamixer until after Record has begun
recording.  Also take care; the controls are stored on normal shutdown,
and so one laptop may differ from another based on history of usage.

You can also use the amixer command to capture the control settings in a
text format for sharing.

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.linux.org.au/