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lumpy211

Member

Registered: 2009-02-14

Posts: 20

[Solved] KDE 4 and Amarok 1.4 Media Keys

I've been using KDE 4.2 since it was released. I had installed Amarok 2.0.1 via AUR and was having issues with that version not being compatible with the newest libgpod. I upgraded to 2.0.2 and now Amarok's not able to build my collection database. Add to that the fact that Amarok 2.0.2 still lacks many of the features I liked about 1.4, I've downgraded to Amarok 1.4 in the repositories.

That being said, with Amarok 2 I had multimedia keys working perfectly (skip/next, play/pause, stop) from the KDE global shortcuts settings menu. However, I can't seem to get it to work with 1.4. According to this post (which is for Debian, but it should still work I would imagine), it does seem possible to get Amarok 1.4 to work with the KDE 4 shortcut interface, but I can't figure it out. I tried searching the forums here for people running into this issue, but didn't find anything. Anybody have any insight, or perhaps a thread I've missed?

Last edited by lumpy211 (2009-04-10 14:05:20)

lumpy211

Member

Registered: 2009-02-14

Posts: 20

Re: [Solved] KDE 4 and Amarok 1.4 Media Keys

*bump*

Any ideas?

samwise

Member

From: Sydney, Australia

Registered: 2008-07-26

Posts: 53

Website

Re: [Solved] KDE 4 and Amarok 1.4 Media Keys

I have the same issue, and there doesn't seem to be an easy solution, as amarok 1.4 uses DCOP while the rest of KDE has started using DBUS to communicate hotkeys. I've basically just been right-clicking on the amarok icon in the system tray to control it.

What I am waiting for is for an officially supported amarok 2 package. However amarok 2 has a LOT of problems...maybe it's time to check out some alternatives.

---

"He was perfect except for the fact that he was an engineer"

lumpy211

Member

Registered: 2009-02-14

Posts: 20

Re: [Solved] KDE 4 and Amarok 1.4 Media Keys

Thanks very much for the reply, samwise.

I feel a bit silly, though. After playing around a bit in Amarok 1.4, there's an option of setting shortcuts, including global ones. Setting the global shortcuts for play/pause, stop, skip, etc worked great It's not what I was originally looking for (integration into the KDE 4 global shortcut menu), but at least it works.

As for Amarok 2, I agree it's got some big issues. It's a shame that such a good player has gone so wrong. As much as I like the Shoutcast plugin in 2, there are just too many things I don't like, such as the widget area (I wish I could turn it off as I don't use it), the lack of an equalizer, how it handles idv3 tagging, and general bugginess (my original issue with not building my music database).