Apt-get giveth, Apt-get taketh away...

[GreyGeek]

My Knoppix version of Debain Sarge was running beautiful, but I wasn't satisfied. On my previous distro I had streaming audio installed so I could listen to my favorite radio stations while I used my box. So, I used apt-get to install the app.

Realizing that the streaming audio app could overwrite my audio codecs for mplayer, I popped a DVD into the DVDROM and sure enough, I had no sound. The msg was "unknown codec 0x2001". I googled for what that meant and where I could get a replacement. Trying several codecs, including ac3 and dts, brought no joy. One source suggested to reinstall the sounddriver. I decided to try reinstalling libarts first, because mplayer was using aRts.

"apt-get install libarts" resulted in a msg which said that the current lib would be replaced by a more recent one and that 'dependencies would be deleted". No problem, I thought, and typed 'y' and pressed enter. The screen immediately began displaying what deleting dependencies meant: every KDE app on my computer!! I watched helplessly as apt-get uninstalled my ENTIRE kde application. I resisted the temptation to break the process, realizing that the apt-get database would be destroyed and I'd have to do a total reinstall of knoppix 3.7. I watched as one app after another disappered into the infinite bit bucket in the sky. Icons on the desktop visible behind the root shell terminal started disappearing. A msg appeared saying the kdm was gone. A few minutes later everything related to KDE not in memory was gone.

With nothing to lose, since I was facing a total reinstall anyway, I entered "apt-get install kde" in the root shell and pressed enter. I answered yes when asked if I wanted to install 345MB of applications. I watched in fancination as program after program came down the from the web and was installed. About 10-15 minutes later (I have a 3MB connection) apt-get was done. I executed apt-get autoclean and closed the root shell, then logged out of my current KDE desktop. Kdm wasn't running so I entered startx and was presented with the very latestest version of KDE that Sarge has to offer. Apt-get put more KDE apps on my box than Knoppix did. A couple non-standard KDE apps had to be reinstalled and apt-get made short work of them.

It's now 2:00AM and I am staring at the screen in unbelief over what I had just witnessed. What a powerful tool. Almost too powerful to be put into the hands of a Debian rookie like me!

But, does my mplayer have sound? Sadly, it does not. Neither does xine. Tonight I plan to totally delete mplayer and all codecs and configs related to it, and reinstall them. Maybe xine too. Am I mad? Hardly. Computers are my work and my hobby. I had more fun than a barrel of monkeys and learned a lot, too!

[CrashedAgain]

Do you have sound working otherwise?

First check kmix, it defaults all volume settings to 0. You will need at least master & PCM turned up. Next go to KDE control center & make sure sound system is enabled. Might as well turn on event sounds while you are there. Next check file:/home/crashedagain/.kde/share/config/knotifyrc, set all settings to true. Go to konqueror->settings->configure konqueror->plugins->netscape plugins->plugins & set 'use artsdsp to pipe plugins sounds' checkbox "on". You will also need xmms-arts plugin & configure xmms to output to it.

I think with most recent versions of mplayer nearly all the codecs normally required ar included in the 'w32codecs' package. Not sure if this includes what it needs for DVD though, don't have a DVD drive yet (installing it tomorrow).

I have never seen a 'dependencies will be deleted' message; apt-get usually lists everything it is going to delete so it can be checked before it happens.