Arch based audio distro

sonnie · Post by **sonnie** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 7:51 am

Hey there,

is there already a Arch based audio distro?

Is it hard to create a fork, maybe from awesome Antergos?

cheers

sonnie · Post by **sonnie** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 8:17 am

Hm, IMO ubuntu/debian based distros on the one side have a big plus with its big community and many supported packages, but they're slow and the ppa-management is just horrible. Arch (especially with Antergos) is super easy to install and use and ridiculously fast. Unfortunately (often too) bleeding edge and the rt-kernels are a little buggy with my graphics card. But with the new hardware there should be no real reason for rt-kernels anymore.

There already is a archaudio repo, but its not very common. If there would be a easy to install a audio-arch it would be more welcome by the users. Like KX, AV and U-Studio is mentioned when linux and audio comes into any discussion.

My thougts are: pack some preinstalled programms to a finished distro and re-release it as a fork. Or is there more to do?

glowrak guy · Post by **glowrak guy** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 1:27 am

sonnie wrote:Hm, IMO ubuntu/debian based distros on the one side have a big plus with its big community and many supported packages, but they're slow and the ppa-management is just horrible.

I use PPA's to access individual files for conversions to rpm, and for populating synaptic with desired extra repositories.
Never had any issues. There are barebones deb/buntu options available, that are not slow.
It's a ton of work to create and then maintain an audio PPA and/or distro, and also have a social life/family/day job.
It's an eighth wonder of the world, that there are so many high high quality linux-audio options available

sonnie · Post by **sonnie** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 7:54 am

I'd love to support anyone with a arch-based distro, maybe with a lightning fast OpenBox DE. But supporting? Unfortunately I neither have the skills nor the time for it.

thetotalchaos · Post by **thetotalchaos** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:38 am

sonnie wrote:Is it hard to create a fork, maybe from awesome Antergos?

IMHO it will be really hard to maintain it. If it was so easy, we would still have great distros like 64Studio, Pure:Dyne, JAD, Dyne:Bolic, etc...

Arch is a great base for building an audio system. I am using it for more than an year (to be precise i am using Parabola - the FSF approved libre variant of Arch).
All its need to be done, is to install the vanilla Arch and open the Arch Wiki to find the appropriate pages.

The good news is that GMaq is planning to make the next AVLinux edition, a rolling release distro, based on Debian testing http://www.remastersys.com/forums/index ... pic=3533.0.
Close enough, right?

sonnie · Post by **sonnie** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 7:40 am

Thats good news. Its something.
With Parabola: do you install it the pain in the ass arch way? Thats not user friendly. Some love it, but the other 98% hate it.

sysrqer · Post by **sysrqer** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 12:56 pm

sonnie wrote:Thats good news. Its something.
With Parabola: do you install it the pain in the ass arch way? Thats not user friendly. Some love it, but the other 98% hate it.

Come on

sonnie · Post by **sonnie** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:07 pm

Hm, sounds a bit harsher than it was meant to be.
But its totally not a todays standard to install and conigure via command line every single step. Of corse it has its speed benefits but...I just don't want it. Enough time got wasted with 90s BSDs and setting up every single cluster on HDDs.

But great thing today: everyone can or can not use exactly what he wants to.

funkmuscle · Post by **funkmuscle** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:26 pm

my hard drive died. Been using Arch for more than 7 years now.. WHAT A BITCH TO INSTALL NOW!!
it's been 3 days now fine tuning it but it's worth it in the end.. bleeding edge is what I like and the ability to customize the way you want is great..
A prodaudio distro based on Arch, do we really need it? We need more guys updating the audio programs quicker.. Arch is falling behind at times now. I wish I knew how to do that and had the time. (bet those dudes are in the same shoes too from a 'need more time' point of view)
I this all that is needed is an audio repo for Arch. ArchAudio is kind of active but the repos they've had are gone due to AUR I guess.

Joermungand · Post by **Joermungand** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 7:42 pm

ArchAudio repos are not gone. I’ve updated linux-rt from them only a couple of weeks ago. It’s just that they distribute a very limited number of packages. I don’t know anything about their policies, but I think they would provide more if they had the manpower to do it. Perhaps more of us should chip in. I maintain a few packages on AUR, but, as funkmuscle says, it is always a matter of time we’ve got on our hands. Perhaps contributing to ArchAudio would be an engagement I couldn’t keep up with, perhaps I just don’t have the guts to do it. Maybe we should talk with the ArchAudio maintainers. I don’t think AUR is really a challenge. I’ve been on Arch for quite some time now, moving my (very same) install through several (failing) hard drives, through several computers, I just make do. Always picking up where my previous install left me, never starting over from scratch. Throughout this whole time, I couldn’t help feeling pro-audio on Arch deserved a little more care. But then, it is probably all about this ‘Arch’ subculture that has taught us to manage on our own. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my Arch experience (other than extremely useful technical stuff) is that we ‘Archers’ are quirky people who tend to keep to themselves. That just won’t do for a unified advanced audio experience on Arch.

funkmuscle · Post by **funkmuscle** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 1:58 am

Joermungand wrote:ArchAudio repos are not gone. I’ve updated linux-rt from them only a couple of weeks ago. It’s just that they distribute a very limited number of packages. I don’t know anything about their policies, but I think they would provide more if they had the manpower to do it. Perhaps more of us should chip in. I maintain a few packages on AUR, but, as funkmuscle says, it is always a matter of time we’ve got on our hands. Perhaps contributing to ArchAudio would be an engagement I couldn’t keep up with, perhaps I just don’t have the guts to do it. Maybe we should talk with the ArchAudio maintainers. I don’t think AUR is really a challenge. I’ve been on Arch for quite some time now, moving my (very same) install through several (failing) hard drives, through several computers, I just make do. Always picking up where my previous install left me, never starting over from scratch. Throughout this whole time, I couldn’t help feeling pro-audio on Arch deserved a little more care. But then, it is probably all about this ‘Arch’ subculture that has taught us to manage on our own. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my Arch experience (other than extremely useful technical stuff) is that we ‘Archers’ are quirky people who tend to keep to themselves. That just won’t do for a unified advanced audio experience on Arch.

that's amazing that you are maintaining a repo. Where can I find the address for it or the URL? I would love to help maintain some of those things but I just don't have the time with a family and an extended family to look after Plus making a living. I know it's probably the same for most of the guys that are already currently updating things. I just don't have the time to invest in learning how to do all that. But I'm definitely grateful to guys like you that is keeping that alive.

sonnie · Post by **sonnie** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:24 am

I already had contact with Jack Winter (Maintainer for WineASIO) because of trouble with the AUR Version. The archaudio repo version does not produces any errors.

But I can't use the linux-rt because 3.14 does not support my non-free nvidia correctly and my X crashes a lot. I've to stay at least with 3.16.

CrocoDuck · Post by **CrocoDuck** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:13 pm

falkTX wrote:There's already too many linux distros out there...

I think I agree. Moreover, in my experience, if you want to set up an Arch Linux pro audio system quickly your best option is to install ArchBang. The installation takes something like 30 minutes and you start from a base system with openbox. Openbox is just perfect for a pro audio setup as it is very light. Then you add the archaudio repos, configure some config file and install some software. In less than a couple of hours you are ready to rock on (I wrote about that in another post, I link it just in case http://www.linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic ... 19&t=10837). Together with other people, I think that the efforts would be better invested in maintaining documentation and packages: everyone in the Arch Linux ecosystem, from pure Arch to Antergos, would benefit from it...

wayneward · Post by **wayneward** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:15 pm

I think its pretty straight forward using antergos with the lts real time kernel
Easy install and pick your desktop
Then just install jack - i have jack2-dbus
Guitarix / ardour and all sorts off goodies running perfect with a usb interface !!

Better than running the ubuntu system previously to be honest
Im just on with configuring midi footboards and open dmx lighting show control using qlc!!

wayneward · Post by **wayneward** » Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:27 pm

have to say arch bang works wonders im a antergos user but used arch bang today for the 1st time and its awesome !

look here viewtopic.php?f=52&t=18105

LinuxMusicians

Arch based audio distro

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have to say archbang is aweome