Getting the Most Out of XMMS

[Clinton MacDonald]

Tony:

Tony wrote:
> On the issue of XMMS, I have experienced problems with
> the program (locking up?) when I try to change the skin.

I have encountered this, too. I don't know why it happens (of course), 
but I have gotten into the habit of quitting and restarting xmms when 
making too many tweaks to the interface. The xmms skins can be left in 
their gzipped (or are they tarred?) state -- I wonder if the locking up 
problem has to do with the gzip decoder?

> I have had to reboot in order to run XMMS again 
> under the same user. When I installed YDL I made
> sure to check the optional skins to also be
> installed.

I have also had problems with xmms refusing to play sound after a 
crash... or sometimes, just after a while (i.e., it just stops playing 
in the middle of a song). When these random crashes occur, I cannot get 
xmms to work again until after a reboot. The complaint (I don't have an 
error message open in front of me) is usually that such-and-such a 
decoder is not present. Occasionally (though rarely), I can rescue xmms 
by opening the preferences (right-click/F12 in the display region) and 
selecting any random sound decoder (again, I don't have xmms open, so I 
cannot recall the exact details).

Like you, I have found that only a reboot (not a logout-login) will make 
things right. Sorry!

I have always attributed these issues to the Linux legacy of having 
three or four mutually exclusive sound systems, each of which has its 
corresponding applications that do not play well with others. This is 
just my opinion, though.

Best wishes,
Clint

-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>