Feedback for Porteus version 2.0 RC1

New features which should be implemented in Porteus; suggestions are welcome. All questions or problems with testing releases (alpha, beta, or rc) should go in their relevant thread here, rather than the Bug Reports section.
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fanthom
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Re: Feedback for Porteus version 2.0 RC1

Post#91 by fanthom » 30 Jan 2013, 09:40

Mplayer complains that there is no /dev/dvd
must be related to udev+kernel-3.7.x breakage as per slackware-current changelog:

Code: Select all

Fri Jan 18 07:07:54 UTC 2013
a/udev-182-x86_64-6.txz:  Rebuilt.
  The upgrade to the 3.7.1 kernel broke the generation of persistent optical
  device rules, and existing rules in 70-persistent-cd.rules no longer worked.
  This update fixes the issue by basing the rules on ID_SERIAL rather than
  ID_PATH (which is not supported by the new kernel's libata transport class).
  After upgrading the package, remove /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-cd.rules
  and reboot the machine.  This will create a working rules file and restore
  the expected symbolic links to optical devices in /dev.
will fix this for 2.0 final - thanks a lot for reporting.
I've tried several dvd movies that have played just fine in both WinXP, slax 6.1.2 and slax 7.0.5.....but I get this same faulty behavior with the same movies from mplayer in Porteus 2.0-rc1.
will double check that - thanks again.
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claude
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Re: Feedback for Porteus version 2.0 RC1

Post#92 by claude » 30 Jan 2013, 12:24

@fanthom

Just to report that I've solved all the mplayer issues in Porteus 2.0-rc1 reported earlier simply by accessing mplayer only through skin smplayer. Even the "dvd not found" issue is resolved as you start smplayer, as immediately it reports that devices /dev/cdrom and /dev/dvd are not found and asks you to select them. In my case that's /dev/sr0. For those with permanent changes enabled, the issue gets fixed permanently here.
In slax 7.0.5 access to mplayer directly through the graphic interface is disabled: when trying, you get the message: 'skin "default" not found' and are forced to use mplayer through smplayer. In slax, mplayer is accessible directly only through the command line... May I suggest you do the same thing with Porteus? For 2 reasons:

1) Smplayer is a great skin to mplayer (I did not even know it existed until yesterday, this tells you how much outdated I am as far as current software).... it is a much greater, pleasing and more efficient experience to use mplayer graphically through this skin than natively, aside from the issues that using mplayer natively may cause. And,

2) All the problems reported earlier with mplayer when accessed directly in Porteus 2.0-rc1 (lack of sound with some of the DVDs played, faulty rendering of initial images, various glitches) immediately disappear, for some reason, when mplayer is accessed through smplayer: I was able to watch all those DVDs mentioned earlier without any problems whatsoever when Porteus' mplayer was accessed through smplayer. Suddenly, accessed through this skin, mplayer feels as solid in Porteus as it did in slax 7.0.5.

So, my suggestion to you is to just disable direct graphic access to mplayer just like it is done in slax 7.0.5 so that it is accessible only through smplayer. Console access to it is however still very useful.

Of course you also probably need to look into those kernel udev issues in the long run. These are not present in slax 7.0.5, but slax uses a different (earlier) kernel. Hope it helps.

EDIT: Who knows if the udev problem I reported in another thread (affecting my custom version of Xfce 2.0-rc1) is in some way related to this problem between udev and 3.7.* kernel? However, this problem did not take place in standard Porteus 2.0-rc1. It is perhaps a combination of the kernel udev conflict AND my customizing. Off now......

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Re: Feedback for Porteus version 2.0 RC1

Post#93 by fanthom » 30 Jan 2013, 14:01

my suggestion to you is to just disable direct graphic access to mplayer just like it is done in slax 7.0.5 so that it is accessible only through smplayer.
i think you are referring to "Gnome Mplayer" which is another skin but for GTK based systems.
Anyway - while comparing gnome gplayer and smplayer options i have found that cache is disabled by default in gnome mplayer.
could you make a quick test for me and check if enabling 2MB cache bufor in gnome mplayer would resolve audio/video sync problem?
if yes that i'm going to enable cache by default for 2.0 final.
(removing gnome mplayer completely is not an option as XFCE/LXDE users who does not use kde4 module would be left without graphical movie player)

thanks
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Re: Feedback for Porteus version 2.0 RC1

Post#94 by claude » 31 Jan 2013, 10:56

@fanthom
Well, yes, Slax 7.0.5, just like standard Porteus 2.0-rc1, offers two choices to play videos: Gnome Mplayer and SMplayer. However, as I said, in Slax you can't play Gnome Mplayer out of the box (I thought it was done on purpose but perhaps that's a Slax bug I've come across which results in the error message as reported earlier here). Anyway, I've done per your suggestion and have enabled cache for 2000 KB in Gnome Mplayer within standard Porteus 2.0-rc1 on the usual laptop featuring 1.3 GHz processor and 768 MB of RAM. Enabling cache did not make any perceivable difference at all on my system.
Please note that (also stated in my previous post) I haven't been able to duplicate the situation where sound would get out of synch with images and then slowly die out...... Instead, what's been consistently happening lately is that, with a few DVDs, there's no sound at all in Gnome Mplayer within Porteus and it also has a few glitches, like a funny fading out of colors during the first track before the actual movie, and images breaking down......it feels like something is missing to make it run properly.....however, this has nothing to do with enabling/not enabling cache on my system. Most of the problem movies that played without sound are foreign ones and some of them ripped off, but this has happened also with a few original DVDs made for the US market. Again, this malfunctioning is taking place only in Gnome Mplayer from Porteus 2.0-rc1 and it is not happening at all with Gnome Mplayer from Slax 7.0.5 (latest version) and from Slax 6.1.2. It is also NOT happening with Smplayer from Porteus 2.0-rc1. I have no idea why this is so, but I have tested repeatedly last evening and now in the middle of the night (it is now 2:50 in the morning here).
could you make a quick test for me and check if enabling 2MB cache bufor in gnome mplayer would resolve audio/video sync problem?
As I just said, enabling 2MB cache in Gnome Mplayer did not make any difference. But please remember that the instances of the audio/video sync problem only occurred a few days ago and after that I haven't been able to duplicate them. It's puzzling, I know, as it is the same computer, same Porteus, same DVDs...... Hope it helps.

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