Crossing the Arch

[funkmuscle]

great, so since we're all using Arch, has anyone got non-mixer to install. non-sequencer and non-daw works fine.

[PatS]

Oh well, being a beginner in this field

Might be better to switch early. I've been using debian-based systems for around 5 years now (not only for music), and now, everytime I want to install something on Arch, I type apt-ge<bksp><bksp><bksp><bksp>pacman

I've been on Ubuntu for about 3 years (I'm only a beginner audio-wise) and apt-get is one of those things that have made me a believer in anything Debian based (except PuppyLinux, which I also really like).
Still, I've downloaded Arch today and will see how I get on with it these coming days/weeks hopefully.

[funkmuscle]

pacman is kinda like apt-get. same with yoaurt and aurget from AUR.
using aurget or yaourt to download the app and install it, it gives you the option to customise the app editing the PKGBUILD unlike apt-get.
I also like the Linux From Scratch feel or Arch... Build it the way you want it.

[morko]

I've been using arch linux for about a month now. It's been a bit of a pain to set up mainly because I connect to internet with a 3G modem and my soundcard Fast Track Pro isn't really supported by alsa. But if you don't have any strange hardware, I think it can be quite easy to set it up. The guides are good and there is a lot of information.

Ofcourse getting stable and low latency was some work too. But now I believe it's better than just some distro that installs everything you need and lots of stuff you never need. And with arch I've learned much more about linux than with ubuntu. And now I hope I can just focus on making music.

[funkmuscle]

make sure you're running rtirq also for low latency.

[Zen:Core]

I just decided to switch to Arch and I've been using it now for about a month. I got my feet wet with Chakra Linux which was a good distro to get use to the Arch Way a bit. Setting up my system was easy and I'm not going to distro hop anymore, I'm really happy with Arch.

The only issue I've had was getting JACK to run in real time using QJackCtl. I had to change the server path to read:

Code: Select all

jackd --realtime

and now all is well.

I've used Deb based distros forever, but there were just some things that drove me up the wall. Now that I know more about the way Linux in general works I'm very happy with my Arch install.

[kaimerra]

I recently got interested in Arch as well. I lost patience waiting for release cycles of UbuntuStudio and the forever period of 64 Studios 3.0 beta.

There is a little bit of a learning curve because you have to configure a handful of things that other distros do for you, but the Arch Linux wiki is very helpful through the whole process. I just came across this today, but haven't run through it yet. I have to fix my video issue first.

Anyone have an ATI card here on Arch? I have a x1600 and was using the open source ati driver. It was working great with two screens except the screen would flicker every minute or so. I couldn't figure out what was causing it, so I decided to try the radeonhd driver but it won't start X now. So, it just goes to a black screen because I have it loading GDM and I can't switch to another TTY. Is there a hotkey to not start gdm?

[funkmuscle]

you need the wiki for that... ati is a pain period... I have it too and it is a pain.

[kyokurider]

well, i have just started another job under prod support for a gaming company, basically dealing with linux servers most of the time. They made me install archlinux (this is a workstation not a server), and..., i am thinking about switching from debian already.
I think i will do a clean install at home and be with it for a while as at work i am doing lots of terminal stuff but dont deal with the workstation as i would be at home. So far i like pacman, the documentation (it reminds the way gentoo was, very neat and clean)..; and somebody said about the multiple displays thing, apparently with one of the latest nvidia updates there seems to be improvement so check it out, i have dual display here, but one colleague has a 3 display setup, and my boss is testing a noc wall supporting 4 displays per pc with two nvidia cards each.
So theres a way to make it work...

Now just waiting for the next months to buy an external sound card.

[spm_gl]

and somebody said about the multiple displays thing, apparently with one of the latest nvidia updates there seems to be improvement so check it out, i have dual display here, but one colleague has a 3 display setup, and my boss is testing a noc wall supporting 4 displays per pc with two nvidia cards each.
So theres a way to make it work...

I'm guessing my problems are due to the cards being from different generations (8k and 9k), so the driver gets confused when switching or something. It works, but it isn't stable enough for production. Doesn't matter though, because I'll need a separate machine to do the video display anyway, so I can do audio to uncompressed HD if needed.

[kyokurider]

That might explain, but i could not confirm, will Xorg be able to discern between two adapters and two drivers?..

[spm_gl]

Well, in my case both used the same driver, and I was even able to set them up in nvidia-settings. Setting up manually in xorg.conf would also work, but I was not able to get two separate server instances running. Separate screens yes.

[studio32]

@spm_gl, wasn't fedora an option for you, in your situation? If you find Ubuntu not good enough for your studio, I think Fedora is also an good option after some testing: http://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php ... &sk=t&sd=a

[funkmuscle]

I've tried them all and Gentoo or Arch seems to be the best for audio once you get them going... Fedora, Ubuntu, etc are way too bloated, well for me at least. And I figure if Arch runs so well on a slower machine, imagine what a faster machine can do..
the performance I get on this AMD 1.7GB XP2000+ with 1 GB ram is amazing once I tweaked it. That never took long either. I don't have anything fancy and dual monitors or anything but many that use it do...
you guys should check the Arch forums for help... most users here seem to be Deb users so to get help, go to the Arch forums. My issues are usually resolved by them in a day or 2.

Great way to find out what's best for your needs are removable drives. I keep installing different distros to test and still come back to Arch. AVLinux is awesome too but still got outperformed by arch but I do love AVLinux so what I did was matched the apps it comes with to my arch so now I have AVArch without xruns.

if you guys haven't tried AVLinux yet, do so..

[PatS]

After 3 years of ubuntu I just wanted to share my first experiences so far with Arch. I started using/learning it about 3 weeks ago after reading this thread and I think it's absolutely great!
Yes, installing it was a struggle (What? You want me to review/edit a dozen config files? What? I have to manually install X and a desktop environment ?)
No, I couldn't get it to work with my ATI graphics so I used the onboard Intel (which worked like a charm).
Yes, even with Gnome working at last there were still a few things to manually configure.
But eventually I was rewarded with a lightning fast system! Amazing boot time and app start, smooth graphics, @funkmuscle: I agree 100%.
Am I maybe missing all sorts of daemons and services that'll be slowing things down once I realise that I need them? No idea. But for now it's just great!
The Arch wiki is fantastic as well. I wouldn't have managed without the beginner's guide.
And of course the bleeding edge repos impressed me a lot.
AUR amazes me even more where source code gets automatically compiled!
One thing I have not managed so far is installing a realtime kernel (in case someone can give me a hint: with "kernel26rt" X won't start anymore. With "kernel26-ice" I'm not sure how to activate the rt patch)
But I'll keep working on it. It seems well worth the effort.

if you guys haven't tried AVLinux yet, do so..

Don't tempt me

regards,
Patrick