Polycom Communicator Low Mic Volume
Dear Lazyweb,
**UPDATE – READ BELOW THE SOLUTION**
I am having troubles getting my [Polycom Communicator](https://www.polycom.com/emea/en/products/voice/desktop/communicator_c100s.html) for Skype speakerphone working in Ubuntu – the microphone volume is always very low in Skype, and when I try to adjust the mixer volume slider for the mic, there is no luck. This does not appear to be a Skype issue – I tried recording in Audacity and the problem exists there too.
* [Launchpad bug](https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/240623)
* [Ubuntu forums thread](https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5202323)
Has anyone found a fix for this, and does this exist on other distros?
## UPDATE: Solution
Much thanks to Tom Mann who [left a comment](https://archivedblog.jonobacon.com/?p=1199#comment-122051) to point to his forums post with a possible solution. Well, I did the following, and it worked:
* `sudo alsactl store`
* `sudo cp /var/lib/alsa/asound.state /var/lib/alsa/asound.state.old`
* `sudo nano /var/lib/alsa/asound.state`
I then found the `state.Communicator` block and the sub-block with `name ‘Mic Capture Volume’` – the `value` was set to 0, so I set it to the maximum value, which is `64`. My block looks like this:
> control.2 {
> comment.access ‘read write’
> comment.type INTEGER
> comment.count 1
> comment.range ‘0 – 64’
> iface MIXER
> name ‘Mic Capture Volume’
> value 64
> }
Then **unplug the Polycom Communicator** and plug it back in again. It should now work. 🙂
It hurts. It really hurts.
Pointed to me by [Aq](https://www.kryogenix.org/) – what happens when the legendary Van Halen play the multi-million selling *Jump* live while the backing tape with the famous synth from the song is played back at slightly the wrong pitch? Well, you get a combination of the following:
* The whole band sound ropier than a snake-charming convention. Fail.
* Eddie Van Halen desperately tries to transpose the music on-the-fly to make it sound good. Fail.
* Its virtually impossible to transpose it as it is 1.5 frets out. Fail.
* Thousands of people look on. In dismay. Fail.
* To compound the situation, a giant inflatable microphone is humped, on-stage. Epic Fail.
*Can’t see it? [Click here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjx_GjyXCs4).
Oof, I feel for them…
Ubuntu Developer Channel: Packaging 101 Video
Well folks, the [Ubuntu Developer Channel](https://www.youtube.com/ubuntudevelopers) continues to get crammed with goodness, and I am pleased to announce another MOTU video – Packaging 101 [Part 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKLabbXTqMc) and [Part 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwTp1YnehoI). This video sees the inimitable Daniel Holbach teach you how to make a package. This is a great first step to [getting started becoming a MOTU](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/GettingStarted).
Part 1:
*Can’t see it? Click [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKLabbXTqMc)*.
Part 2:
*Can’t see it? Click [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwTp1YnehoI)*.
Videos will be uploaded in Ogg Theora format [here](https://videos.ubuntu.com/motuvideos/) as they are released. The videos above are not there yet – they are being encoded, but should be there over the next few days.
Invigorating GNOME
There has been some discussion recently about the future of GNOME. I have seen this blogged on Planet GNOME, on the LugRadio Forums, discussed in corridors and elsewhere. Although I am an ardent supporter and fanboy around GNOME, and I love the desktop for its simplicity and elegance…GNOME has become the software equivalent of my dad’s comfortable trousers – predictable and reliable, but has ceased to be exciting and innovative in new, innovative, visual, inspirational ways. I accept this metaphor only partially applies to the aforementioned father’s trousers. This is not to say that GNOME is not innovating – GNOME is filled to the brim with tiny little niceties, but it seems that the time for tiny little niceties needs to give way to a new, exciting vision that takes into account the changes since GNOME 2.0 in the online and offline world, in interaction, social networking and the typical things people do with computers.
I am a big fan of looking at problems, taking the current solution, tearing it up and re-assessing everything from the ground up, at an *interaction level*. On a smaller scale, this is what we did with Jokosher, and it was an invigorating, exciting experience. We tore up the perceived conceptions of multi-track recording, and asked questions at every step of the way. *Why do we need to call them Tracks? Tracks make no sense, lets call them Instruments. Why do we need waveforms that look like that? Let’s make them simpler. Why do we need to display 100 buttons? Lets just display the relevant buttons when a selection is made*.
It seems there is no shortage of people wanting to see a new vision, but what the project seems to lack right now is actually *making it happen*. In my mind this problem is split into two key areas – (1) leadership and (2) the number of hands on deck.
Something I talked about in my keynote at GUADEC 2007 was that GNOME is a community that has really benefited from the cult of celebrity. We have some incredible rock-stars involved in the project; people like Miguel, Federico, Nat, Havoc, Luis, Jeff, Lennart, David, Behdad, Christian, Bastien etc. But the problem with celebrity is that the project is looking to the GNOME 2.0-era leaders and celebrities for guidance and approval for any specific vision. We could have the most insanely clever vision put on the table, but a vision of a new GNOME would be large and complex enough to need upfront consensus, and if it does not get the thumbs up from some of these key people, it probably won’t swim. This is just the nature of how things are – this is not the fault of anyone specific, it is just pretty much how our community seems to work.
The problem is time. With many active GNOME contributors working for distributors, development firms or consultancies, everyone has a day job, everyone has an overflowing inbox and TODO list, and not many people have an action on their TODO list saying “hack on a super-exciting-new-next-generation-GNOME”. In addition to this, many of the GNOME 2.0-era leaders are simply not as involved in the desktop anymore.
What we need is new leadership, and consensus behind a vision, and in my mind the way to make that happen is to get some key enthusiasts in the project to take a weeks holiday together, get them into a room and work on fleshing out a core draft of a vision. Ideally, this should be GUADEC, but GUADEC is too big and complex and busy for this to happen. I am convinced that if we got some of our most talented minds together to flesh out a vision, mock it up and communicate it to the world, we would have some incredible opportunities available. Just look at the great work being proposed for GTK3. Look at clutter. Many of us cant reasonably get together to discuss this as part of our day jobs, so let us get the key people to take a week off, get in the same room, and make it happen. Heck, I will hold it in my house if needed. 🙂
One week. A small team of GNOME’s finest. The result could be a new vision for GNOME, with the consensus of our community leaders. Seems worth a shot to me. 🙂
Severed Fifth Announcement
Well, I am pleased to finally take the wraps off my new project – [Severed Fifth](https://www.severedfifth.com/). The curious can go and [listen to](https://www.severedfifth.com/) or [read](https://www.severedfifth.com/news/2008/06/severed-fifth-launched/) the announcement. If you are interested in free culture and a new music economy, the project may be of interest to you.
In summary – “Severed Fifth is a music project designed to explore how far a musician can take his music with the new economics of the music industry”.
This has been a project that has been brewing in my mind for the last few years, but something that really got kicked into motion a few months ago. The goals and aims of the project are best explained in the announcement, but you should also cast your beady eyes over [the first Severed Fifth blog entry](https://www.severedfifth.com/blog/2008/06/remixing-things/) which adds some more details of the project. You can also keep up to date with the [News](https://www.severedfifth.com/news/) and [Blog](https://www.severedfifth.com/blog/) sections of the site, both which have RSS feeds, and I would also encourage you to also join the [Forums community](https://www.severedfifth.com/forums/). Finally, there is also an [Announcements mailing list](https://mail.severedfifth.com/lists/listinfo/severedfifth-announce) if you prefer updates about Severed Fifth to come to your inbox. 🙂
Thanks to Xalior for posting a [Digg story](https://digg.com/music/Severed_Fifth_launched_to_shake_up_the_music_industry) <--- go and Digg it and spread the word. 🙂
Nearly Ready
Getting the final bits ready for the Severed Fifth announcement on Monday. I would like to thank Aq, Mike, Adam and Scott for all of their excellent work in getting it together. Their work has been incredible, particularly with my life being so busy right now with Ubuntu, LugRadio, LugRadio Live, and various personal things. Thanks also for the feedback from a bunch of people I have shared the concept with – lets hope we can stir things up a little bit. 🙂
Keep your eyes on [www.severedfifth.com](https://www.severedfifth.com/) for the announcement this coming Monday.
Ubuntu UK Podcast Interview
I got some hassle from the inimitable [Dave ‘Daviey’ Walker](https://daviey.mooo.com/) to mention that I was interiewed at UDS on the latest [Ubuntu UK Podcast](https://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/). You can download it [here](https://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/2008/06/03/s01e07-do-not-disturb/). Thanks guys for the interview! 🙂
Ubuntu Global Bug Jam!
[DIGG THIS AND SPREAD THE WORD](https://digg.com/linux_unix/Ubuntu_Global_Bug_Jam_Announced)!
People of the world rejoice for I am delighted to announce our very first [Ubuntu Global Bug Jam](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam) which will take place from **Fri 8th August to Sun 10th August 2008**.
So, what is the Ubuntu Global Bug Jam? Well, let me explain. Put simply, it is a world-wide online and face-to-face event to get people together to fix Ubuntu bugs – we want to get as many people online fixing bugs, having a great time doing so, and putting their brick in the wall for free software. This is not only a great opportunity to really help Ubuntu, but to also get together with other Ubuntu fans to make a difference together, either via your LoCo team, your LUG, other free software group, or just getting people together in your house/apartment to fix bugs and have a great time.
…believe me, a collection of Ubuntu geeks, some pizza and some cans of something delicious make for a fun time, that’s for sure.
If you are in a LoCo Team, the Ubuntu Global Bug Jam it a great opportunity for [LoCo Teams](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeamList) to get together and have a physical bug-jam, which in turn becomes a great opportunity to drink tea, eat biscuits, and possibly listen to death metal if you are so inclined (well, you can ignore the death metal bit). To get started there is a [Running a Bug Jam](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RunningBugJam) guide, which offers some helpful advice for getting your jam organised. If you are in a Linux User Group why not try and organise a bug jam for your LUG too?
If you are planning on organising a jam for your group, just follow these steps:
1. Decide on a venue and dates, and start letting people know about where and when the jam is. You might want to post to other local groups to let them know so they can attend. Take a read of the [Running a Bug Jam](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RunningBugJam) page to help you get started.
2. Update the [Ubuntu Global Bug Jam](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam) and add your jam to it. Be sure to add any specific applications your local participants are interested in in the *Interests* box – we will then try to get upstream specialists to the Jam who can help with debugging on IRC.
3. Blog about it, post to mailing lists, put flyers up in computer shops and other places and otherwise spread the word. 🙂
4. On the day we will post more information about getting involved in the jam
We will be posting more information about how the global bug jam will work closer to the time. 🙂
LugRadio Live UK 2008
**UPDATE:** Go and [Digg this story](https://digg.com/linux_unix/LugRadio_Live_UK_2008_19_20_July_Wolverhampton)!
Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, I am pleased to announce the first collection of confirmed speakers for the legendary [LugRadio Live UK 2008](https://lugradio.org/live/UK2008/) that is happening on the 19th and 20th July 2008 at The Lighthouse Media Center, Chubb Buildings, Fryer Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1HT – astute readers may have noticed the venue has changed – thats right, we are now back at The Lighthouse.
If you are unfamiliar with LugRadio Live, where have you been living? LugRadio Live is the leading open source, free software and free culture event in the UK, and every year brings together three stages full of incredible speakers, a raft of exhibitors and a lot of fun. LugRadio Live is a very different event, and something often described as a “rock conference” – it presents an incredibly social and fun event where the focus is on meeting cool and interesting people and having a great time. And all of this costs just **£5** for the full weekend to get in.
## First Confirmed Speakers and Exhibitors
So, lets get started with the first batch of confirmed speakers and exhibitors. Work is progressing apace to continue, but we can announce the following so far:
Speakers:
* Chris DiBona (Google)
* Max Spevack (Red Hat) – The Fedora Project
* Christian Schaller (Collabora Multimedia) – GStreamer
* Steve Lamb (Microsoft) – Green IT
* Robert Collins (Canonical) – Bazaar
* Benjamin Otte (GNOME) – swfdec
* Rob McQueen (Collabora)
* Edward Hervey (Collabora Multimedia) – PiTiVi
* James Hooker – Taming the Dragons
* Kevin Sandom – Grouphug – Clustering with an evil twist!
* Barbie (MessageLabs) – Understanding Malware
* Daniel James – Mobile multimedia production with Free Software
* Emma Jane Hogbin – Form an orderly queue, ladies
* Bruno Bord – Baguette on Snails
* Ben Thorp – Supporting World Domination
* Rufus Pollock – FFFI
* Sam Birchall – Philosophy and AI: Modelling Human Cognition
* John Carr – Laying Down the Pipes: connecting your desktop with Conduit
* William J Giddings – Tcl/GTK bindings, using the GNOCL extensions for Tcl
* Agostino Russo – Wubi, the Windows Ubuntu Installer
* Martin Meredith – Keysigning Party
* …and another 10 or so to confirm…
Exhibitors:
* Bytemark
* Icculus
* Ubuntu UK
* Open Rights Group
* www.tinker.it
* KDE
* Linux Outlaws
* 64 Studio
* Linux Emporium
* Chris Hayes
* …and many more…
Call for speakers and exhibitors is still open – contact us at show AT lugradio DOT org if you would like to speak or exhibit, but get in quick, space is filling up. Oh, and exhibiting is completely free, just in case you wondered. 🙂
## Other Fun Stuff
Not only do we have a rip-roaring schedule of speakers and a juicy collection of exhibitors packed into the venue, but we have lots of other fun stuff too such as:
* **
* **The Mass Debate** – again we will put together some leading lights in the free software world to bang heads and debate the important topics that you can ask about.
* **LugRadio Live and Unleashed** – the LugRadio team will again present a live show in front of the LugRadio Live UK 2008 audience, and in this show…anything can happen!
* **Nutsacks** – becoming something of a staple part of LugRadio Live, we will again provide bags of incredible swag that you get for free when you enter the venue. We are working on some excellent nutsack fun and games. 🙂
* **Partaaaay!** – on the Friday and Saturday evenings there will be parties in which you can have a few drinks, talk to other attendees and get to know the speakers, the LugRadio presenters and the crew.
* **LAN Gaming** – we will have a large LAN gaming setup where you can go and blow the crap out of other geeks…
* **Much, much more** – we have lots of things up our sleeves, rest assured…you will have a great time…
## Travel and Hotels
If all of this is sounding like a lot of fun to you and you want to come along, thankfully Wolverhampton is a pretty easy place to get to. It is very well connected by trains and has an airport (Birmingham International) 30 minutes away. There is also a large car park opposite the LugRadio Live UK venue which makes parking very convenient too.
in terms of accommodation, we have a raft of hotels, most of which have special deals for LugRadio Live UK 2008 visitors. Go and see [this page](https://lugradio.org/live/UK2008/travel) for more details.
## Spread The Word!
LugRadio Live UK 2008 is very much a community event, and we are looking for as much help as possible to spread the word about it – if you are planning on coming along, put one of these rather nice buttons on your website and link it to [https://lugradio.org/live/UK2008/](https://lugradio.org/live/UK2008/):
More information as we get it…
MOTU Instructional Videos
I am pleased to announce another new video on the [Ubuntu Developer Channel](https://www.youtube.com/ubuntudevelopers). This one is the first in a series of instructional [MOTU](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/motu) videos, that Daniel Holbach and I shot in London a little while back.
If you are primed and ready to get going on your MOTU journey, this is a great place to start. 🙂
See the video [here](https://www.youtube.com/v/VyEl3w7SFK4).