KX mini manual

Unofficial support for the KXStudio Linux distribution and applications.
More info at http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/

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wolftune
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by wolftune »

I don't think there's any irony at all. Criticism is useful. THANKS, and as long as you stay respectful, please continue!
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by danboid »

Hebjuzeb:

See my OP in this thread. There I have laid out a rough draft for a small manual consisting of 13 chapters/topics. I have so far only completed the first three of the 13 and I may not do any more until F tells me he is nearly ready to make a new release of KX but don't let me stop you guys from finishing it off!

I envisioned something coming in under 50 pages similar to the manual GMaq has done for AV Linux.
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by danboid »

I just updated the Installation instructions to include a link to the Ubuntu docs on how to resize Windows partitions.

With that addition, I feel its now pretty comprehensive yet very concise which is my aim here.

For the final PDF doc it may make sense to replace the links by copy/pasting the relevant info from the linked pages where possible so that it can be used offline.

EDIT

I'd just spotted the few sentences Wolf had tagged onto the end of the 'Booting' guide that were recommending being connected to the net before installing. I've removed these as they didn't belong on a page thats dedicated to booting.

If we are recommending people be connected to the net (wirelessly) before installing, then we first need to write the chapter on how to connect using the network plasmoid and place that chapter AFTER 'Booting' but BEFORE 'Installation'. I was originally going to put the brief networking bit in straight after the Install chapter - see OP.

I personally recommend people install first without net or doing any online updates then reboot to check install/boot has gone OK and then do an update immediately after the first boot. OK so you may have to reboot one more time than doing updates at installation but I find its more annoying to spend over twice the time installing something by doing updates too only to find out you'd messed up the partitioning or boot options so your updates were in vain (unless you're experienced enough to fix such boot issues).
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by ToddMWorth »

Great stuff guys. Remember the most important thing about documentation is that it caters to the intended audience. As important as I personally believe the matter to be, and as simple as free beer/free speech/ etc may seem to some of us, it's foreign and confusing to most newcomers. I think it's best left for a separate page, which people can check if they care about/understand the subject.
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by danboid »

What we've done so far is just provide pretty generic Ubuntu installation instructions. I'm not even 1/4 of the way through finishing what I intend (see OP) but I think that whats done so far is already of great use to a total KXStudio newb and may already be worth linking to on the KXStudio download page although thats purely a decision for F as to where and when he links to it.

The really interesting and useful stuff will come with the chapters on Cadence and JACK. I'm tempted to cover those bits next and come back to the boring bits like package management and updating later.
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by wolftune »

ToddMWorth wrote:As important as I personally believe the matter to be, and as simple as free beer/free speech/ etc may seem to some of us, it's foreign and confusing to most newcomers. I think it's best left for a separate page, which people can check if they care about/understand the subject.
First, a separate page is fine. And we can simply include a link to that separate page. I've never had a problem with that.

Second, however, your claim "it's foreign and confusing to most newcomers" is totally speculative. How do you know?? Why are they newcomers to GNU/Linux at all??? I wouldn't have ever switched if I didn't care about Free/Libre issues. I suspect you have no hard evidence to back up your claim at all. What is the motivation for people to come to GNU/Linux otherwise? Ok, maybe there are some. But seriously, the idea that people only start caring about this after they come to Linux is crazy. It is surely one of the main motivations to come in the first place. Getting hammered with the details is not cool, but we have no more basis to assume that people don't care about this as newcomers as that they particularly care. I don't think we can make these assumptions about what our audiences motivation is. We must accept the likely case that at least a substantial portion are coming here for the freedom.
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by danboid »

OK then Mr Wolf! A section dedicated to why Free Software is important and why Linux is soooo much better than the alternatives (in certain respects) it shall be! KX Propaganda, maybe? :D

I was tempted to have a list of Linux's strong points in the intro somewhere but it seemed like too much to me.
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by wolftune »

danboid wrote:OK then Mr Wolf! A section dedicated to why Free Software is important and why Linux is soooo much better than the alternatives (in certain respects) it shall be! KX Propaganda, maybe? :D

I was tempted to have a list of Linux's strong points in the intro somewhere but it seemed like too much to me.
Sure, although I agree with the brevity points and want things to primarily be links and not hammered.

For those who want to understand about the Free/non-free issues, it should be a separate section, along the lines of: if you want to be sensitive to what is non-free, here's where it is marked and here's the choices you have, and here's where the status quo of a default install fits.

So yes, propaganda is ok if done well, but my priority is simple information in an accessible form.
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by manic_b »

Wading in here... I write complex music with time signature and tempo changes, software and hardware synths and recorded instruments; this is not elegantly handled in the current state of FOSS, but the outlook is good. I'm using KXStudio because I specifically wanted to use REAPER and Renoise on a self-built computer without using Windows. The performance is superb, and I can easily incorporate stuff like Pure Data patches and Guitarix. There are some really big advantages to Linux that don't negate the use of proprietary software. Now, I respect and broadly support the view that as a community our first obligation is to Free Software - commercial vendors can provide their own support and documentation - but let's not pretend that there isn't a legitimate use case for proprietary software on Linux. We should at least acknowledge that some users will be looking for this.
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by hebjuzeb »

manic_b wrote: I'm using KXStudio because I specifically wanted to use REAPER and Renoise on a self-built computer without using Windows. The performance is superb
Careful, I think you just volunteered to write some documentation ; )

Seriously though, there are some peculiarities re. running Reaper in KXStudio, if you could share your Reaper, WINE, and JACK configuration I for one would really appreciate it.
danboid wrote:The really interesting and useful stuff will come with the chapters on Cadence and JACK. I'm tempted to cover those bits next and come back to the boring bits like package management and updating later.
Definitely, it seems like the whole doc thread has taken a detour through linux activism/philosophy which, while interesting, doesn't help people get KX working. I agree with Todd on this one, the most important thing is to identify an audience and while we'll never know what else people might be interested in reading, it's a lock that they want to know how to get out of configuration and into making music ASAP. Mark my words, nobody gets into Linux because they think it's the best or most efficient way to do audio production, the lion's share of the audience is bound to consist of people who already have working DAWs in Windows and have some experience with Linux. Information on basic Linux setup and philosophy is all over the net, but information on running KXStudio doesn't exist anywhere yet.

Cheers
h.
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wolftune
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by wolftune »

You folks are missing my point. Nobody is suggesting that we create Free Software activist stuff. The entire point is identifying what is free and what is non-free and telling people what the status is. In other words, simply informing people what it is they are using, not telling them that one thing is good or bad. I stand by the value of including this. The entire detour has been caused by people suggesting that we leave this out entirely and my resistance to that. The idea of trying to avoid informing people about this, of trying to censor any mention of the issue, this is more reactionary than the neutral position which is to inform the users in a concise way without telling them what to think.

I personally believe that the current reality justifies the use of some proprietary software, and I use some myself.

I just believe in the value of telling people things like "The KXStudio repositories are split so that non-free software is listed in its own separate repository." Which is the case!
Otherwise, I was suggesting that we just have some appropriate links for those who want to learn more.

And I am not accepting the arguments that this should be omitted. Those arguments have so far amounted to a baseless assumption that newbies won't care to even know this.
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manic_b
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by manic_b »

wolftune wrote:You folks are missing my point. Nobody is suggesting that we create Free Software activist stuff. The entire point is identifying what is free and what is non-free and telling people what the status is. In other words, simply informing people what it is they are using, not telling them that one thing is good or bad. I stand by the value of including this.
I absolutely agree.
hebjuzeb wrote: Careful, I think you just volunteered to write some documentation ; )
Happy to help! I think my set-up is mostly default though. When/where/what is the best way to do this?
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by hebjuzeb »

manic_b wrote:Happy to help! I think my set-up is mostly default though. When/where/what is the best way to do this?
Well, what we have here is guerrilla-documentation; Dan came up with a plan, started writing writing/arguing with Wolftune :lol: , others had some observations, and here we are! Actually working really well, I think.

But if you're using Reaper that's a niche in itself; there are some peculiarities about running Reaper in WINE, for instance I had problems with random crashes and someone told me I had to go Options / preferences / audio / uncheck "close audio device when stopped and application is inactive." OK, easy fix, but I never would have known to do that in a million years. Did you import your Reaper.ini file from a Windows install? If so where did you place that in Reaper? How about project files? Any tweaks to WINE configuration? If you can point out a few potential newbie-timebombs, that's a lot of help right there.
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ToddMWorth
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by ToddMWorth »

wolftune wrote:
ToddMWorth wrote:As important as I personally believe the matter to be, and as simple as free beer/free speech/ etc may seem to some of us, it's foreign and confusing to most newcomers. I think it's best left for a separate page, which people can check if they care about/understand the subject.
First, a separate page is fine. And we can simply include a link to that separate page. I've never had a problem with that.

Second, however, your claim "it's foreign and confusing to most newcomers" is totally speculative. How do you know?? Why are they newcomers to GNU/Linux at all??? I wouldn't have ever switched if I didn't care about Free/Libre issues. I suspect you have no hard evidence to back up your claim at all. What is the motivation for people to come to GNU/Linux otherwise? Ok, maybe there are some. But seriously, the idea that people only start caring about this after they come to Linux is crazy. It is surely one of the main motivations to come in the first place. Getting hammered with the details is not cool, but we have no more basis to assume that people don't care about this as newcomers as that they particularly care. I don't think we can make these assumptions about what our audiences motivation is. We must accept the likely case that at least a substantial portion are coming here for the freedom.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=what ... tware+mean
About 89,500,000 results (0.34 seconds)

'Nuff said :)


Edit: Sorry, maybe not enough... Just to clarify my words, I'm not implying that newcomers don't care, I'm implying that if they *do* care, they can click the link, but if they don't care, then you *really* want that info on another page!If they don't understand, but want to, then they can click the link to learn, but if they don't want to understand, then you *really* want that info on another page :)

I think you've read my sentence saying "if they care about/understand the subject" as "they don't care about/understand the subject", and that's not what I wrote :)
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Re: KX mini manual

Post by danboid »

hebjuzeb wrote: Information on basic Linux setup and philosophy is all over the net, but information on running KXStudio doesn't exist anywhere yet.
"All over the net" was the correct way to describe the install info, yes. No more!

Pretty much all the install info ie whats been done thus far on the KX docs is already on the internet but its scattered all over the place so I believed there was a definite need for someone to cherry pick the most relevant info. We all know that KX is based upon Ubuntu hence most of the Ubuntu docs etc do apply but a total newb wouldn't know that and nor is stating that enough IMO.

If 'KXStudio is based On Ubuntu so read their docs' was all I said, the hypothetical total newb may have gone and searched for 'Installing Ubuntu' and they most likely would've found this page:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation

Many total newbs without a Linux-using friend are likely to have a glance at that and decide its all a bit overwhelming and just decide not to bother at all. Additionally, there's numerous pages linked there that don't apply to KX (ie alternate installer, server installer). How are they to know which bits of that guide apply to KX and which don't?

The official Ubuntu install docs desparately need to be updated now to give much better coverage for the increasingly popular and prevalent UEFI hardware. I had a hell of a time trying to demystify dual-booting Win7 with Linux on my UEFI machine at work and I'm far from being a newb (to Linux, I am a newb to UEFI) so this issue has been addressed too by the KX install guide.
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