Hi,
I'm using a laptop with a faulty audio output, so I'm forced to use an external usb soundcard to feed sound into my sound system. Thing is, usb sound card is hw:1, internal sound card is hw:0. If I don't specifically set alsa settings to hw:1 in amarok, it keeps using the integrated speakers (on hw:0), which sucks. But then, if I set amarok to use hw:1, as soon as the usb cable is unplugged, I can't play anything, which is logical.

The problem is that, while the cable is unplugged, it select void engine at the start, and I can't select any other engine in the settings which would enable me to select hw:0, so basically I'm stuck. Is there a way to tell Amarok (specifically with Xine-engine since it's the only one available for my distribution) to use hw:1 when the cable is in, and then to automatically switch to hw:0 when it's not? There should be a simple way, since it already switch to void-engine when hw:1 is absent, so there's a framework to use to make it use hw:0 instead. It would be really great, since right now, if I'm taking my laptop somewhere and wish to use the integrated sound, I have to plan it before leaving, since access to engine setting is locked when hw:1 (the usb one) is absent. Only workaround I've got is fiddling with ~/.kde/share/config/amarokrc, but that's only a temporary fix since I've got to do it each time.

This is fixed in 1.4.1: xine-engine doesl no longer refuse to load when it can't use the device. You get the chance to reconfigure.