Perspectives On KDE Multimedia

sombragris points out this interview on OfB, excerpting "Open for Business Associate Editor Eduardo Sánchez sits down with Scott Wheeler, creator and lead developer of JuK, and a member of the KDE Multimedia Team, to find out where the KDE multimedia department is headed in general, and concerning a replacement for aRts, more specifically."

Comments

In general

[Otter]

That KDE development has always been a complete free-for-all is one of the things that made it fun, but it's also been one of its big weaknesses. Especially because there's no one to say no -- because there's no hierarchical leadership like in GNOME and no acknowledged dictator with the willingness to use his power, like Linus. That's why every possible option gets added anyplace anyone wants it and why the packages keep getting bloated with more redundant or specialized applications. (Does kdegraphics really need a POV-Ray front end?)

And kdemultimedia has always been the weakest point in the KDE lineup, partly as a result of no one to enforce policy in it. aRts and noatun became its centerpieces because each had an enthusiastic developer pushing it. JuK, on the other hand, is a very nice piece of work (next to iTunes, my favorite music player) and hopefully Scott Wheeler's influence in the vacuum that seems to have appeared will improve things.

Re:A change

[MarkRose]

Indeed, it has improved a lots. I still find myself reaching for the kickarts applet far too often though -- the sound system should really work completely transparently. I actually avoid non-KDE apps simply because they often use a different method for sound control. It would be great if GStreamer because the sole standard for Linux on the desktop, simply because a standard is really needed (much like how we almost all use X).

Regarding latency, it is adjustable for aRts, however, the lower the latency, the higher the CPU usage, and the more sensitive it becomes to heavy loads and not getting its slice of CPU time in time. It was definitely a huge improvement over esound, but it is not without fault.