[alsa-devel] bug

[Nikita N.]

> First of all, I can't say I'm representing the ALSA project or anyone else 
> in this matter, so the following is just my personal opinion.
As we already wrote, we are not blaming you or ALSA.

> particular mixer application such as alsamixergui, but should be able to 
> happen with any mixer application, given the appropriate settings.
That is indeed what we are afraid, if anybody will have the brilliant
idea to reverse engineer that tool to a more damaging level in a
virus/malware , and make its effect unstoppable. 

> Secondly, if you believe that alsamixergui specifically is missbehaving, 
> why don't you just take it out of your distribution (dCore)?
as we wrote, we are going to do this.

> Given the proliferation of cheap PC hardware this is not surprising
as you say, given the proliferation of cheap PC hardware, a
proliferation of such virus/malware could upset not only our users.

> it is hardly a software problem.
I personally don't agree with that.
As we wrote, not everybody is omniscient, I personally was not aware of
this issue, before was pointed out.
Without warnings, even a Teddy Bear can be dangerous.

> alsamixergui is not created by the ALSA 
> project, so this mailing list is the wrong place to look if none other 
> than for that particular reason.
Sure, we would be very grateful if you could point that out, so we can
contact the individual who programmed this tool
Unless it's not a secret or there is smtng to hide.
 
-- 
  Nikita N.
  nikitan at operamail.com


On Tue, Mar 31, 2015, at 01:24 AM, Ricard Wanderlof wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 30 Mar 2015, Nikita N. wrote:
> 
> > We are the devs involved in dCore porting, and that is one of our users
> > report:
> > http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,18225
> > 
> > We verified that in few of our legacy laptops.
> > It didn't reproduce for every laptop, but indeed in a couple of them,
> > the temperature of the speakers reached extremes levels in few seconds,
> > only unplugging the AC/DC cable saved them.
> > This is a serious problem in our opinion, and we would hate to see our
> > dCore reputation spoiled.
> > We hate to admit, but it is *NOT* our bug, and would hate to see this
> > bug reverse engineered into a virus/malware (on Linux, or other OS) and
> > see ourselves blamed for it.
> > So we would like to keep the incident quiet, and we are going to remove
> > that thread from our forum.
> > On the other side, we would expect any action from ALSA project in
> > removing that tool and/or exposing the real individual/s guilty of
> > writing that tool.
> 
> First of all, I can't say I'm representing the ALSA project or anyone
> else 
> in this matter, so the following is just my personal opinion. Furthermore 
> I have no real experience with the mixer application under discussion 
> (alsamixergui), but on the face of it it just looks like any mixer 
> application.
> 
> From the thread linked above, it seems that if someone maxes out all 
> controls in the mixer, this results in a high-pitched whine in the 
> speakers, which on certain laptops seem to cause the destruction of 
> something in the machine (likely the speakers themselves). It is further 
> speculated in the thread that what might be happening is acoustic
> feedback 
> from the speakers to the microphone, which would make sense given the 
> results, but would seem strange from a system design point of view.
> 
> First of all, it would seem that this wouldn't be dependent on a 
> particular mixer application such as alsamixergui, but should be able to 
> happen with any mixer application, given the appropriate settings.
> 
> Secondly, if you believe that alsamixergui specifically is missbehaving, 
> why don't you just take it out of your distribution (dCore)?
> 
> Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, this seems to be a hardware 
> problem. If the drive capability of the laptops's output stage is too
> much 
> for the speakers, then there is a serious design flaw in the hardware. 
> Given the proliferation of cheap PC hardware this is not surprising, but 
> it is hardly a software problem.
> 
> And finally, as Clemens said, alsamixergui is not created by the ALSA 
> project, so this mailing list is the wrong place to look if none other 
> than for that particular reason.
> 
> /Ricard
> -- 
> Ricard Wolf Wanderlöf                           ricardw(at)axis.com
> Axis Communications AB, Lund, Sweden            www.axis.com
> Phone +46 46 272 2016                           Fax +46 46 13 61 30

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