Console-only distro as a sequencer appliance

What other apps and distros do you use to round out your studio?

Moderators: MattKingUSA, khz

Post Reply
jmph
Established Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:50 pm

Console-only distro as a sequencer appliance

Post by jmph »

Hey all,
I want to set up an old 32bit netbook (single-core Atom, ~1GB RAM) as a "tracker appliance." Basically it will run Schism Tracker and Sunvox and nothing else. I'm intending to use this with USB MIDI devices like my Roland UM-One & Behringer UCA200 audio interface, and possibly a USB RS232 serial port.

That's *it* - no GUI, no web browser, no wi-fi, etc. Both programs mentioned can act as their own display server. I need MIDI clock/output timing accuracy & responsive (computer+MIDI) keyboard inputs.

I'm actually leaning towards running something like Damn Small Linux with OSS but am open to suggestions. Have any of you set something like this up?
mt12345
Established Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 11:43 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Console-only distro as a sequencer appliance

Post by mt12345 »

LINUXBBQ. ultra-lighweight. no systemd no pulseaudio, no gtk or qt. 'Links' as web browser.
debian unstable branch. real-time kernel in repos.

I use BREAK edition (openbox) on laptop and SWIKEE (cwm) on other machine. After you install and setup everything you can uninstall xorg or remove file /etc/profile.d/zz-live-config_xinit.sh to prevent autologin to X session

I also have some 2009 netbook lying around and I was thinking about schism (or impulse tracker in freedos)

http://linuxbbq.org/bbs/viewforum.php?f ... bb7f38494d
lykwydchykyn
Established Member
Posts: 227
Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 2:01 pm
Location: Tennessee, USA
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Console-only distro as a sequencer appliance

Post by lykwydchykyn »

I haven't built anything music-specific like this, but I have done a lot of work with ad-hoc turnkey linux systems at work (mostly kiosks).

My advice is to stick with a mainstream distro like Debian* that can be installed from a minimal install. Using something like DSL (which is about as dead a project as distros get) is just setting yourself up for a headache down the road when you need some software that isn't packaged or doesn't work right with it.

DSL was designed around the idea of keeping a small footprint, which does not necessarily equate to being fast or low-latency. You can easily install Debian and the packages you mention in less than 2 GB, so even if you're installing to a small disc, footprint isn't an issue.


* It doesn't have to be Debian specifically, I'm just using it as an example. Ubuntu (using the minimal installer), Arch, Slackware, Fedora, etc. would be just as good.
Post Reply