Getting new machine

[Qualitymix]

Hey guys,
I'm getting a new machine soon and I'll be able to upgrade my distribution. The question I'm faced with is should I? I currently use AVLinux because it's rock solid stable, the kernel works perfectly with my machine, and the xfce environment makes the best use of my limited resources.
As a result, I've come to like JACK1, and the general workflow of using Mixbus3 in AVLinux.

But now that I'll have a better machine, *should* I use a more modern distribution like KXStudio? I started in my linux music journey using KXStudio, but quickly moved to AVLinux because it ran better.
Can KXStudio run properly with JACK1? How modified is the kernel for realtime audio? I'm used to Debian, how difficult is it to fully modify a vanilla Debian install with KXStudio repos?

Thanks guys.

[GMaq]

Hi,

A couple of extra points..

AV Linux 6.0.X is still quite viable for workflows centered around Ardour4 and Mixbus3 however it is at the end of it's life and the newer Debian Testing based AV Linux is still early in development without a clear release date and I have been too busy elsewhere to do much with it this past summer. Generally speaking an efficient system is efficient anywhere you use it, so if XFCE saves resources on your old machine it will also use less resources on a newer machine... Although with more CPU power and RAM you have more choices I suppose.

The new development version of AV Linux is using the KXStudio repositories on Debian Stretch plus our own custom RT kernels with JACK1 and other than the usual clusterf***s that can be experienced with Debian's testing branch everything works together very well, I would have no reservations on recommending the KXStudio repos with either Debian Jessie or Stretch if you'd rather not use the full KXstudio ISO and KDE4. Your workflow with Mixbus3 should be easily attainable on Debian or Ubuntu + the KX Repos or if you want to wait a while longer the next AV Linux will as usual have Mixbus3 pre-installed and ready to roll with XFCE4 (4.12)...

Anyway falkTX has done an amazing job of giving us all pretty much unlimited choices within the Debian/buntu world, basically the Linux Audio world is your oyster

[glowrak guy]

Utilizing external drives, is good luck, and fun.
I keep a few different working systems
on different drives, and use each according to it's current strengths,
which may vary throughout any given year.

The different installs all can record efficiently,
so if I mangle one, or some update breaks something, it's no big deal.

I keep all the debs and rpms from rolling releases, or reinstall the crucial apps
from new distros, to harvest the files, so I can up/down-grade as needed.
Doesn't happen often, but makes for peaceful sleep, being covered.

I also put all the soho stuff on one system maintained for stability,
rather than cutting edge a/v to reduce the chance of a rogue dependency failure.
Cheers

[skavar]

I did a netinstall of debian unstable (sid) but you can do the same with testing (stretch):
https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

added a desktop environment to the base package (xface), and then the kxstudio repos to that.

I use the latest liquorix or debian rt kernels.

Has been rock solid.

[Luc]

I'm used to Debian, how difficult is it to fully modify a vanilla Debian install with KXStudio repos?

It's exactly the same steps as for Ubuntu.
See http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/Repositories

I did exactly that on Debian Jessie and I wouldn't even label it as "modify a vanilla install." I just added the repositories, installed the applications and everything works fine.

[aprzekaz]

Hmmm. I just installed Debian 8.2 today and tried to add the kx repositories and I get

kxstudio-repos pre-depends on software-properties-common
software-properties-common is not installed.

Whats this all about? Should I just look for that in the Jessie repositories?

[aprzekaz]

Thanks. That worked.

[Qualitymix]

So I straight up can't find any low latency kernels for Debian Jessie. Any good guides on how to compile my own low latency kernel that will work with NVidia drivers?