VeroMix as KMix alternative (avoids occasional segfaults)

[PJK]

Hey guys, I'm not too impressed with KMix in Kubuntu. It's not really that functional, plus it kept crashing on me, with a "Signal, Segmentation Fault", essentially, the only thing crashing on my system, annoying me to the bone.

How do I properly switch to xmix or another alternative so I am no longer receiving KDE Crash Reporter messages about it?

SOLUTION

To prevent crashes from KMix, I simply installed veromix which is in my opinion a better alternative to control pulseaudio then disabled KMix so that there are no conflicts between them.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Open up Konsole and run these commands (copy and paste):

   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install plasma-widget-veromix

2. Click the Plasma icon on the right side of your Panel, this will extend the Panel Options.
3. Hover your mouse over the System Tray, you'll get a box with a wrench icon in the corner, click that wrench icon.
4. In the box labeled "Choose which information to show", mark the check box next to "Veromix" below "Extra Items"
5. Open up your "System Settings", and click "Startup and Shutdown".
6. Click the "Service Manager" icon on the left side. In the box labeled "Startup Services" in the bottom part of the window.
7. Scroll down until you see a Service called KMixD and select it. Once selected, click the "Stop" button and unmark the checkbox next to it in the "Use" column.
8. Click "Apply" and close the window.

Hopefully by now, you will have Veromix installed and fully utilized as a replacement for KMix which should no longer load.

Big thanks to SteveRiley for the steps to setup a proper volume icon and disable KMix.

[ricktimmis]

Hi PJK

Sure you can do this no problem. You'll need to run Kmenuedit and remap the icon to launch xmix instead of Kmix.
Erm... that may even make the desktop panel bar icon launch xmix, but if it doesn't then right click on your panel and remove the Kmix applet. Then do the opposite i.e re-add it.

That should do the trick

HTH

[SteveRiley]

You might also try Veromix, an alternative to KMix that's also a Plasma widget.

sudo apt-get install veromix

[PJK]

Cool, thanks for the veromix recommendation. Trying to get it with aptitude returned package not found, so I googled and found it. Turns out it's just a plasmoid (or whatever you call them thingies). Anyway, so I got it in my panel next to the "Show Desktop" button. I removed kmix, restarted, and saw that the icon had changed (the volume indicators to the right turned green), and I could no longer change my volume. So I ended up re-installing kmix, which I'm happy to say hasn't crashed on me since I wrote this post, so it looks like maybe the re-install fixed my issue. Thanks for being here Steve.

Oh, and is it me, or are ricktimmis' instructions way off?

[SteveRiley]

Hm, curious... after I installed it, I opened the System Tray Settings and noticed that Veromix appeared under "Extra items." I placed a check next to that. Then in System Settings | Startup and Shutdown | Service Manager | Startup Services, I stopped and deselectd KMixD. Veromix is now acting as full replacement for KMix without issue.

One thing I like about this mixer is that it can push volume beyond 100%.

[PJK]

Exactly, that was the main feature I was looking for. How did you install Veromix?

EDIT: Yeah it's right there. I removed the Veromix Widget from Panel, and checked that.

PS: Steve I got over my flickering issue, because it wasn't really that bothersome once you were in OS. It basically flickered on the splash screen, then when I opened the lid on my laptop (with power options set to turn screen off) for about 30 seconds. However, Photoshop is a necessity for me, as I do Web Design, and whenever I open a Wine application, it flickers for about 10 seconds and I can't handle it. I'm about to go back to Kubuntu 11.10 and see if I can tweak that to be a stable environment and stay with it. I'm just pissed because of the amount of time it took me to fully configure 12 to my liking.

[Calubuntu]

Thanks a lot SteveRiley and PJK!

My Kmix was also crashing all the time. Now using Veromix instead and so far so good. However there is one minor detail which I haven't figured out yet. Everything works fine except when I try to use headphones. I can hear my music with headphones plugged in, but I cannot adjust the volume?! Neither hotkeys nor the volume bar work. I now need to set the volume before plugging in my headphones. So where can I find headphone settings?