14 DAY TRIAL // KDE developer David Rosca has recently talked about the improvements coming to the Audio Volume applet of the KDE Plasma 5 desktop environment, which should be implemented in the next update.
The KDE Plasma 5.7 desktop environment is coming this summer to a GNU/Linux operating system near you with many new features and improvements to existing components. One of these is the Audio Volume applet, which is currently maintained by David Rosca, a software developer at KDE.
The new Audio Volume applet (package name: plasma-pa) of the KDE Plasma 5 desktop was introduced as part of the 5.4 release, which, at that point in time, replaced the old-school KMix volume applet, but according to Mr. Rosca, it was missing some important features.
"I have been using KMix instead because changing application volumes from the applet is a must have for me," said Mr. Rosca. "But KMix system tray popup doesn't integrate nicely into Plasma, so I finally decided to switch to plasma-pa and implement those missing features."
Here's what's coming to KDE Plasma 5's Audio Volume applet
David Rosca has been working hard in the past few months to add many cool new features to the Audio Volume applet, and among these, we can mention the ability to change application volumes, thanks to the implementation of two new tabs, one for managing the running apps that use the sound card and the other one for devices.
Another interesting feature is the ability to move audio streams to different devices, which should come in handy to those who have multiple sound cards installed on their Linux boxes. Moreover, users will finally be able to assign their keyboard's mute button to the "Mute microphone" global shortcut.
Lastly, the next update of the Audio Volume apple for KDE Plasma 5.7, which should see the light of day on July 5, 2016, promises to let users change the volume of notification sounds directly from KCM (KDE Control Module). Shortly, KDE Plasma users will also be able to increase volume over 100%, which remains one of the most requested features for the Audio Volume applet.
