[plug] Shutdown and mp3's

[Matt Kemner]

> does anybody know where the problem lie? ie, is it a netscape bug
> or GlibC bug?

No idea, sorry.

> On another topic, is there a way for a non-root user so do a 
> shutdown -h now?

Install sudo and give those that need access to shutdown, access to
shutdown. (or give them access to a wrapper script that calls "shutdown -h
now" - that way they can't pass their own parameters to shutdown)
 
> each card, every time I get a hard disk read, I get a sound
> stutter.

It could be the HDD/IDE interface stealing IRQs away from the soundcard
You could try unmasking IRQs on your HDD (see hdparm(8)) or increasing the
priority of soundcard IRQs with irqtune.
Make sure you heed the WARNING in the manpage for hdparm (and apply the
same caution to irqtune) - If in doubt, backup your system first.

> Anyway, If I go SCSI, am I less likley to get a stutter due to
> the machine waiting on the disk all the time?

I don't think it will solve your problem.
The latest IDE drives (including the CX) all have seek times and transfer
rates comparable with SCSI drives, and in (U)DMA mode using as little CPU
time.
 
> I will upgrade the processor tho, probably to an AMDK6II-300.
> That should improve the free time available to the CPU.

You could also tell mpg123 to allocate a buffer for the mp3 it's playing
(see the -b option) "The defualt is 0, which turns buffering off"

 - Matt