i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

Well, I finally got some sound recording to work on this computer ...

...

Recording is pretty important to me -- and on my main work computer, for months NOTHING. Oh, I've tried connecting things with the JACK panel and other efforts. Nothing, Nothing, Nothing. I've got four or different sound mixers loaded. Nothing.

It's not the computer, since I can record just fine using Windows. Except, of course, that industry nonsense that caused all new computers to come with sound cards that won't conveniently capture what's playing (like that stops anyone.) I used to use this feature to go from my multi-track software to final mp3s. Thanks alot RIAA.

Anyway, I've got all this amazing linux software, Rosegarden and the like -- but I haven't been able to get it recording on this computer. Or even Audacity. In fact, my best recording setup has been a really old desktop computer with a soundblaster card. (Okay, so I'm too cheap to buy good hardware.) But hey, if it works.

Have I diverged far enough? So, today I needed to record a phone answering message for my new favorite phone related website -- "youmail.com". Which painfully reminded me I couldn't make sound recording work in linux on this computer.

So, I started testing things. And, last thing I tried, here's what I discovered. The gnome sound recorder invoked the gnome volume control, innocuously marked "volume control" in the multimedia menu. AND IT WORKS.

I actually hadn't tried this "volume control" before ... and until writing this email, I hadn't even figured out whether it was a separate program or part of gnome sound recorder. But in any event, it has what none of my other mixer software has -- and that's on/off buttons for the capture/input lines.

Suddenly we are LIVE! -- and Audacity now reports I can playback 181 simultaneous tracks. How's that for fun?

But, I wanted to mention a few other errata that I discovered recently:

1. I previously complained that Thunderbird mail does not check all of my IMAP folders so I can't tell when I have new mail (as I sort my mail via filters on my server). It turns out, each folder can be individually marked via "properties" to be checked.

2. It turns out KMail can be set to store replies in the folder from which you are replying. Unlike Thunderbird, which sets this globally, the Kmail option is in the folder properties (right click), where you can also set a default identity for that folder.

3. YouMail website. Well, things are always easy once you know about them, aren't they? I've been trying to simply my electronic communications and address various issues for some time. And, do it in a cost effective way. I've been using "Faxtalk" software to answer my phones for many, many years. I need to update it, because the version I have is now broken as the result of Windows XP updates and crashes regularly.

But, the bigger problem is what to do when I travel -- what happens if there is a power failure or other problem back home? An online solution would be so much more convenient.

Quite frankly, there are truly amazing solutions for a lot of communication problems, but it takes a bit of work to track them down. For instance, when I travel to Europe I have phone service that provides a local phone number that is automatically forwarded to my international cell phone. Is that amazing? "Where are you?" "Dude, I'm standing under the Eiffel Tower." "WHAATTT???"

Okay, that's fun for the first dozen calls or so. But it also keeps clients from becoming hysterical because they can't find you.

And, of course, I've got online fax service, so I get all my faxes via email or online. Plus, my faxtalk will foward all my phone messages via email.

So far, so good. In fact, my phones have far greater capacities than my carriers will let me utilize. For instance, my cellular phone (but not my carrier) allows automatic recognition and forwarding of incoming fax calls and selective forward of incoming calls.

But then we get to bureaucratic nightmares and monopolistic pricing tactics. My OLD CRAPPY Blackberry is good as far as it goes, but for instance, it can't play sound attachments from email. So much for receiving phone messages by email. AND I CAN'T USE A GOOD PHONE because the court system is scared to death of anyone taking a picture of a courtroom. Heaven forbid the public be able to see their own government in action. So, I have to use the BLACKBERRY because it is the only reasonable capable smart phone THAT DOES NOT HAVE A CAMERA.

Now, cellular phone companies insist upon putting cameras in phones because then you will send your friends lots of meaningless photos and videos, increasing phone company profits. But, will they provide you with decent answering system, ie, emailed and online message retrieval? No.

So, I spent a good deal of time looking at various online "phone receptionist" options. And some have very useful features. One I like will time your calls -- which is good if you are earnings are based on "billable" hours. Though the cost of the timing is going to run about $3.00 per hour, as far as I can tell. That's pretty heavy overhead. But, it also offers call screening, message transcription and a whole bunch of other probably very useful features.

Since my reality is at the low $$$ end of the spectrum, I had to search further -- and finally arrived at YouMail. Is this cool or what? Unless you want premium services, it's free. With many cell phone carriers, you simply set up the answering system forwarding to YouMail -- and now you've got emailed and online message access and storage. This is a truly big YAY! (and I have no idea why none of the major carriers offer this service themselves). Plus, you can accumulate all of your phones in one place.

Because we all carry more than one cell phone right? (Is this insane or what ...)

Well, every system has a glitch. I have the Blackberry for smart phone service, web surfing, computer tethering, okay to bring to court because no camera, etc. But, naturally being hardcoded to Verizon, it's not much use when I cross the Atlantic. So, I have a nice quad band Motorola Z3. Which, of course is now obsolete because it doesn't have 3G. But, since you can slap regular phone chips in it (and with some clever hardware do-dads, more than one at a time for a multi-line/multi-carrier phone), it has many uses.

So, I have a pre-paid T-Mobile chip in that phone. But sadly, T-Mobile won't allow answering re-direct on a pre-paid phone. Well, I am not about to incur another $40 per month just so this phone will get answered on YOuMail. I guess it will have to be "outgoing only."

I guess I will keep the Faxtalk system running, because I can easily screen calls with it. But, when not in the office, then I can't screen calls anyway, so I will be forwarding my office phone to my Blackberry, putting all my messages on YouMail.

Meanwhile, I covet 3g phones because according to my reading 3g service is now faster than Verizon's high speed internet. But geez. I can't afford another entire cell phone + data package, I can't dump the blackberry in favor of a phone with a camera because of the court system. (I could use a cheap non-camera phone for court -- but I need internet access from court). So, it's very frustrating that there are technology solutions that would make life easier but remain just out of economic grasp -- but only for STUPID BUREAUCRATIC/MONOPOLISTIC reasons!

And, despite all the technology I've got -- I'm a very low footprint user. Although I've got cellular internet access for my computer, I seldom use it except when I travel. I don't like to jabber on the phone, so even though I have a phone plan so small that Verizon doesn't offer it any more, my family collectively throws away 100s of minutes every month. And, I keep buying more time on my prepaid phone to keep the unused minutes alive, so I've got a massive amount of unused prepaid time. Despite all that, it's the most cost-effective system I've been able to come up with. (I've also been wasting money "saving" all the minutes I bought to use in Europe. Now if I could only afford to go back.)

To recap:

1. Thunderbird will check individual IMAP folders if you mark them in the "folder properties" in Thunderbird.
2. Kmail will store replies in the folder of the email replied to, if you mark this option in KMail folder properties.
3. Gnome Volume Control will turn on my Sony Vaio microphone while the KDE/QT mixers won't.
4. YouMail offers a bunch of good cell phone answering features, such as online storage and access, emailed messages and message transcription.

So, while this post has been mostly rant, perhaps there is some useful information here for ya.

Thanks for visiting and have a pleasant tomorrow.

_________________
Later update: How's this for weird? Now that I turned the microphone on and off with gnome volume control, kmix (the "capture" check boxes) will now turn it on and off too.

Don't ask me, I don't write the programs, I just click on the buttons.

Power Management Issues: For awhile, my computer was suspending when active. That actually was a good thing -- it's nice to see "suspend" actually working. And in the Gnome login (using IceWM windows manager) I actually manage to get "suspend" from a power down choice. Good.

On the other hand, I'm not suddenly not getting any screen power down at all. What now? This is especially true when I am running plasma on top of a gnome login, using KWin for windows management. In all likelihood, I have throughly confused the power management system(s). OTOH -- it was working previously.

Not to be outdone by plasma, my gnome panels have commenced randomly re-ordering icons at login.