[SOLVED] Where Does One Change The Default Audio CD App?

[wa7qzr]

Say, if one selects a broken application to execute whenever an audio CD is inserted, and then foolishly selects the "do this all the time" box before confirming that is works, how do you reset that selection so you get prompted again to select an application?

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I'm using the Gnome desktop on Mageia 1. I guess that goes along well with with my above idiocy.

[doktor5000]

Which application did you choose and where did you set this? From inside the application in question?

[wa7qzr]

I selected "kscd" from the helper menu that appears when you insert an audio CD (or any other CD that hasn't had the "Always perform this action" box checked).

I have discovered that I can control the action taken through the "System -->Preferences-->File Management" but I have yet to locate the configuration file where the "kscd" selection string and command is stored, as I'd like to remove that entry (which I created through the helper menu mentioned above) because it'll just confuse my user.

I threw a brick at the computer and deleted .config, .gconfd, .gconfd2, .gnome2, and .gnome2_private, but, after jumping through the requisite logout-login hoop, the thing is still there. I created another user and logged-in with that user and "kscd" isn't offered up as an option, so I'm guessing the thing I'm after is in the user's home directory.

Any idea where that config file is?

[doktor5000]

Any idea where that config file is?

Maybe just try a quick

Code: Select all

grep -Ri kscd ~/.kde4/share

[wa7qzr]

Anything below .kde4 wouldn't apply because Gnome is in control at this point.

Still though, for anybody having a similar problem, I just stumbled upon it.

In ~/.local/share/applications, I discovered a "desktop" file called "userapp-kscd-C8EGEW.desktop" (the C8EGEW seems to be the product of a random number generator), that was responsible for the issue. Interestingly enough, this file had an "Exec=kscd -f" entry, which doesn't work. Even if I edit the file and remove the "%f" and replace it with "--start", which is the kscd argument that works from the command line, it does nothing.

When starting from the command line, "kscd --start", with the audio CD in the drive, the console reports a bunch of KDE4 "kbuildsycoca4" errors. It seems to be trying to find the "amarok-play-audiocd.desktop". I did install a load of KDE4 as part of trying to fix this problem, but not Amarok. Why it's trying to run a program that isn't installed is beyond me, Must be the KDE4 demons running amok again.

At this point, I think the best solution to this problem is to select Rhythmbox for my user and in spite of the busy screen, make that the default player for an audio CD. As usual, KDE4 has become a can of worms I don't care to play with (at least in this case - you see, my user is very computer illiterate and he has serious trouble learning new things).

Although, had I known good old grep as well as you do, I could have maybe found the culprit much faster with " grep -Ri kscd ~/.*"

Yeah. That's confirmed. Took about 3-seconds as compared to my multiple-hours of by hand searching. Thanks for that, doktor. One of those things I'll not soon forget.

I guess we can label this one solved. Thanks.

[doktor5000]

Well, only because some user doesn't want to learn something new, doesn't mean that KDE has demons running amok, and it has also not become a can of worms, even less when mentioned together with "as usual". Please stop spreading such things, we're not into desktop- nor distrobashing here.

And please mark the thread as [SOLVED] by editing the topic of the first post.

[wa7qzr]

It's not that he doesn't want to learn, he's developmentally-disabled and has terrible difficulty learning new things. It took me a long time and one smashed laptop computer, to get him to where he is today and now, I'm working with him from several thousand miles away which just adds to the difficulty. When I send him this laptop, it has to be as idiot-proof as I can make it and, in spite of the affection many people feel for KDE4, it's way too frustrating for someone like my user. I know. I've already been there with him. I don't see how that's "spreading" anything, but, if you folks would rather, I can always install a different distro for this fella. It's no skin off my nose.

[doktor5000]

Absolutely no problem, totally comprehensible, and i'd also only use what works best. Still no reason to bash something, that was my point
No need to install a different distro only because of one word, no? It's just that i'm using KDE and it works just fine, forgive me for trying to defend KDE to give it an equal chance ...
*sigh*

[wa7qzr]

Don't worry about it, doktor. I forgive you. As for KDE4, that's what got that laptop smashed. I thought it would be a good choice for my user, as protecting the system from less-than-knowledgeable users seemed to be a part of KDE4 design philosophy, but in this case, it didn't work-out so. My user, it appears that he became so frustrated with the speed, or lack thereof, of the visual effects, he eventually hurled the laptop across the room into a brick wall. He told me that everything came-up out of focus and it took forever before he could read what the screen said and he couldn't get his CDs and DVDs to play. You see, even with written instructions to follow, he likes things to happen the way he wants to make them happen, and when he wants them to happen. Oh and yes, he's his own worst enemy, and he probably messed-up his computer long before he trashed it like he did. He had better luck with KDE-3.5, but I'm not all that impressed with the attempts to keep it going, so I didn't even try that.

I wasn't "bashing" KDE4. In my experience, "bashing" is prancing about like a proud horse, or strutting about like peacock, saying bad things about something because you don't like the style of shirt someone involved with the thing has taken to wearing all the time. It's personal bad-mouthing, entirely lacking in substance. It's being annoying just to be annoying. As a writer, I know how to do that, but I seldom waste my time. It accomplishes nothing. When I am critical of something, there's a pile of substance behind it; Albeit, I don't always reveal the totality of the substance. Most people just don't seem all that interested. My comments about the "demons" are just as applicable to any desktop. Sadly, they all have them. They whisper in the ears of the daemons, confusing and upsetting their logic, rewriting their code and sending them scurrying, with their return-codes, into the bit-bucket. They are the source of all the strange, inexplicable behavior attributed to computers.

I don't "defend" desktops. They all have good points but they all also have more issues than you can shake a stick at. I do defend distros and this one is the best I've ever used. It's flexible. No one is dictating to the user what they will be running or what it'll look like. It has a wide rang of very useful software in it's repos, has good out-of-the-box hardware support and, most importantly, it's the only one I've EVER used that actually left me with a usable system, instead of a doorstop, after an upgrade. That was a shock to my system, believe me. So long as the powers that be don't throw me under the proverbial bus after an upgrade, I'll continue to recommend it. The desktops are always a YMMV issue. I just collect workarounds, updated as necessary, shared when needed.

Anyhow, I have to get back to work. I've a laptop to get sent off in the mail!