HP software now self-destructs in printers

[Michael Butash]

On 10/01/2016 05:32 PM, Vara La Fey wrote:
>
> Hey Michael, thanks for all the info. Being as I'm not ON Linux yet, 
> I'm going to save this for when I am.
>
Take the plunge, try a live cd, and if you don't like it, just reboot 
back into windoze.  No harm, no foul, and you can see if the hardware is 
supported on linux easily enough.
>
> Not Realtek, it's Conexant. Prolly about the same. But def not a 
> driver issue; drivers don't touch the problem whether generic or not, 
> new or old. It's def something HP and or MS did. I've given up. Weeks 
> ago I posted the Q on MS tech-whatever, and haven't heard a peep. The 
> knowledge of how to fix it is buried and forgotten like the Statue of 
> Liberty in Planet of the Apes. And maybe for the same reason....
>
Yup, the other white meat for sound codec chips sold by the million 
everyone uses.  I mention this as I had an old laptop I ran linux on in 
the dark ages, like a toshiba or other relic I had about, and had a 
dual-mode port like that for whether it'd operate in spdif or analog 
mode, engaging a hardware feature that wasn't directly supported by alsa 
to deal with.  Yours sounds a bit the same, or at least they opted not 
to connect a trace output for loopback monitor functions.
>
> I dunno what the high-end people do - well, they use Macs. Don't need 
> a patchbay, I just demo my stuff living-room style so I have something 
> to show to other musicians to get the idea of my songs. But that step 
> is crucially important to me. Today I started tracking guitar, which I 
> don't really play and couldn't hear, of course, due to someome's 
> malfeasance. Just have to guess whether the track is good enough as I 
> go, and then review later, and punch in if needed.
>
Well, factor in things like 8-channel adat or 128 input and output 
channel madi interfaces, and having to virtually connect each in a 
logical fashion, including insertion of virtual sound effects and such 
via Ardour or other, resampling certain channels, etc.  Having a virtual 
representation in a decent user interface becomes critical.
>
> No doubt Linux makes hardware specs avail better than LOSEdows does; I 
> can't find jack poopie about the soundcard, and I've been through all 
> the LOSEdows info thises and info thats.
>
Here's sort of a quick rundown how Jack works, where apparently it does 
exist for windoze and mac os too.

https://music.tutsplus.com/articles/working-with-internal-audio-routing-jack-audio--audio-20601

Might be a viable option to try as a stopgap until you try to live boot 
linux on it.

For linux, also look at KXstudio for professional mixing, sort of like 
jack ui enhanced with things like Catia replacing Qjackctl's Patchbay 
and others:

http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/Applications:Catia
>
> When my old Pavilion breaks, I might take that dust-gatherer if its 
> issues aren't too horrible.  :-)
>
The other thing is go pick yourself up a Behrenger UCA222 USB sound card 
online for $30 bucks, it sounds 20x better than any built-in mobo chip 
(ground loop issues), it's cheap, and fixes any sound issues you might 
have with standard usb device i/o.

I've replaced built-in sound on every linux system I listen to music 
with, and the difference in sound was noticeable instantly.  Might 
breathe some new life into your old dog even if the sound chip sucks 
today for windoze even.
>
> - Vara
>