To expand on the heating thing: I would tend to assume that this is caused by
your CPU getting additional stress due to lack of hardware acceleration, and
producing more heat as a result. So while your computer's diminished cooling
function (could be caused by accumulation of dust over the years, for
example, or could just be caused by a design flaw) did not cause problems on
systems shipping the blobs needed for hardware acceleration, it is causing
problems on Trisquel.
Properly, the solution is to fix your cooling system so the computer does not
overheat. If it's a laptop, the easiest fix is to just supplement the cooling
system with a laptop cooler (you can get them from an electronics store for
around $30 easily). If it's a desktop computer, you may have to actually fix
the cooling system.
> can someone please explain to me why it is that Trisquel (an OS based upon
freedom) denies the user the ability to control basic media programs?
Magic Banana already pointed out that you can close Rhythmbox, but even if
you couldn't, this would not be an infringement of your liberty. You can
change the source code in any way you want and compile your modified version.
Also, it sometimes can be reasonable to have such a design (although
Rhythmbox isn't an example of a program designed in this way, as has been
mentioned). Consider, for example, the case of desktop environments. GNOME at
least does not provide an obvious way to completely stop using GNOME Shell
(while running in the normal mode) or GNOME Panel (while running in the
Flashback mode, Trisquel's default). The reason it doesn't offer such an
obvious option is because the whole design of GNOME depends on one of these
programs running. Adding an option to close GNOME Shell or GNOME Panel would
only be asking for trouble.
