LinuxMusicians

Hi!

I'm an artist and producer in despair. I'm trying to find a stable distro for year(s), but I can't get anything that would stand the test of time.

I feel like the newest major distro versions (Ubuntu 11.04, Mint 11) are re-feeding theese old tired bugs that should be present there 5 years ago but not now again.

I'm fed up with problems like system getting a kill-me-with-the-power-button-holded blank screen after I shut the laptop lid.

Also suspending system to disk or ram doesn't work anymore for me (it used to back when I was using KX Studio or Ubuntu, a year ago).

I don't even get angry because the webcam is rotated 180 degrees and all the brand new distros still don;t have fresh enough V4L2 libraries to fix this problem. Gentoo was a win on this, but it failed to install Blender and LMMS or Ardour so I can't do any work there.

Also it seems like JACK is working worse and worse every month now.
I can't get it now using right ALSA devices, it silently refuses tu use my second interface so I have to manually hook it up with alsa_in.

I'm freaking sick of this, but I won't give up libre software.
So here's my

I have a year old ASUS laptop named K52j. Distro I used (in no praticular order):

• Gentoo (on the very beginning, I got a working Gnome2 desktop with no audio apps I needed)
• KX Studio (3 times?)
• Ubuntu (5 times?)
• AV Linux (just from LiveCD)
• Linux Mint Gnome (current)
• Linux Mint LXDE (ouch)
• CrunchBang Linux (just from LiveCD)

Right now I'm using Linux Mint Gnome 11 and I'm sick.
The desktop is slick and nice, but Ardour JACK and PulseAudio are behaving like burning whores closed in a tiny bathroom with no water.

Why are JACK startup commands not working well just like when I run the same code in a terminal window?

Why is PulseAudio such a rude bitch that I have to killall -9 it everytime I want to reload JACK?

The more I know about linux, the more it fails me. I'm really sorry to say that. Things are not working as they are supposed to. I hope this will get better, otherwise I'm gonna become a fucking jazzman and stop touching computers at all. Because I'm never going to get a MAC or Windows machine.

Please share what distro you find the most reliable.
Is there any ROCK-SOLID multimedia linux distro out there I can trust it won't get me screaming like Serj Tankian on System of a Down's self-tiltled album?

Help! I need somebody - help! Now just anybody - help! C'mon I need someone. Heeelp!

I went through something similar. packages broken without fixing, things are not running like they should without fix, updates (upstream fixes) are not in repros, etc...
until I tried Arch Linux....(not saying it's the best for you or anyone, but in my case it was).
In Arch everything is fixable, I never had a problem which isn't. up to date packages, always. pacman is very reliable. I never have to compile anything on my own, thanks to AUR. Jack runs very stable at 2ms, even with VSTs. Although you have to configure everything on your own, in Arch-wiki you find everything (that's why everything runs like it should (once you managed the steps) - KISS). It's "bleeding edge", but it is the most stable system I ever had. KISS-principle.

I feel the same. There's so much I could do with Linux, if only I could get it to work. Right now I am trying for the tenth (or thereabout) time to install a Linux distribution and getting it to function. All the time I am getting distracted by things like (as you mention) the laptop freezing after the lid has been down. Or not being sure how to install the software from the new repos. Or things that are implicit to most other users but not to me (as e.g. how to install things "the usual way", which I might have grasped once, but then forgot).

It's just that Windows 7 handles audio terribly bad, and I can see what amazing things other people can do with a Linux installation. I'd like to be able to do the same (so I try again, this time on a dedicated laptop with Ubuntu Studio and the KXStudio repos)).

Right now I'm using Linux Mint Gnome 11 and I'm sick.
The desktop is slick and nice, but Ardour JACK and PulseAudio are behaving like burning whores closed in a tiny bathroom with no water.

In the past I used this trick to get rid of pulseaudio if and when jack was up and running.

1. Tell pulseaudio not to autospawn:
echo "autospawn=no" > ~/.pulse/client.conf

2. Automatically kill pulseaudio before jack starts:
qjackctl, setup, options, script at server startup: "pulseaudio -k" (or "killall pulseaudio").

3. Start pulseaudio when jack stops:
qjackctl, setup, options, script after server stops: "pulseaudio --start"

Nowadays I use the pulseaudio module jack so i can route all sounds through jack when it is up. But I only use ardour from time to time.

Please share what distro you find the most reliable.

As you seem to like the classic gnome desktop I suggest tango studio.

Cheers, Pablo

unfa wrote:Gentoo (on the very beginning, I got a working Gnome2 desktop with no audio apps I needed)

Did you emerge layman - proaudio overlay http://proaudio.tuxfamily.org/wiki/inde ... =Main_Page?
A german Gentoo DAW install wiki (in process):
http://wiki.datentraeger.org/index.php? ... stallieren
I use Gentoo with Fluxbox.

Hi,

I'd be genuinely interested to know what was so bad about AV Linux? It has NO pulseaudio at all and doesn't push updates on you that you don't want or need. As far as Gnome 2 or whatever is it really that important ?, once the application is open and running who cares what the D.E. is...Gnome 2, XFCE & LXDE are all using the same gtk2 themes anyway.

If you really want to do audio production reliably then things like the desktop environment, pulseaudio and suspend really are of secondary importance. What is primarily important is IRQ threading and rtirq working by default, proper JACK permissions and reliable proven versions (not always the newest) of the applications you want to use.

As you said some features were working previously and now not...On Mac/Linux/Windows a working multimedia system is hard to achieve so if you had things working why did you change it? I've never seen another platform like Linux where people will have a system that achieves 99.9% of what they want and when a new version of something comes out and they flush it down the toilet and start from scratch with unproven beta software. If something works it works...Many people are still using a 2.6.33-rt Kernel that is almost 2 years old for Audio production why? because it still works and works well. When you are using a machine to create multimedia in a professional environment what works is much more important than what is new.

GMaq wrote:Hi,

I'd be genuinely interested to know what was so bad about AV Linux? It has NO pulseaudio at all and doesn't push updates on you that you don't want or need. As far as Gnome 2 or whatever is it really that important ?, once the application is open and running who cares what the D.E. is...Gnome 2, XFCE & LXDE are all using the same gtk2 themes anyway.

Specifically about AV Linux: shortly after installing it, I experienced that it was very cumbersome to specify that the keyboard was Danish. Based on this, I assumed that there would be many other aspects, where AV Linux was above my level and that using it would be too frustrating.

At the time, my adversity threshold was rather low. AFAIR, it was not long after I'd given up compiling Bristol on 64 Studio and had had UbuntuStudio crash due to a failed update or installation.

alexoest wrote:

GMaq wrote:Hi,

I'd be genuinely interested to know what was so bad about AV Linux? It has NO pulseaudio at all and doesn't push updates on you that you don't want or need. As far as Gnome 2 or whatever is it really that important ?, once the application is open and running who cares what the D.E. is...Gnome 2, XFCE & LXDE are all using the same gtk2 themes anyway.

Specifically about AV Linux: shortly after installing it, I experienced that it was very cumbersome to specify that the keyboard was Danish. Based on this, I assumed that there would be many other aspects, where AV Linux was above my level and that using it would be too frustrating.

At the time, my adversity threshold was rather low. AFAIR, it was not long after I'd given up compiling Bristol on 64 Studio and had had UbuntuStudio crash due to a failed update or installation.

I understand, thanks for the reply. As of AV Linux 5.0 the keyboard and locales can now be set up during the install, the AV Linux manual on the LiveDVD Desktop covers how to quickly change the keyboard during a Live Session.

Not one distro, or windows or mac will do exactly everything you want the way you want it.
But buy a car, none is perfect matching your wishes.

I have tried several distro's, but my E-mu 1616 is giving the trouble.
In ubuntu and all the distro's wich are build on it it will not work.
In openSuse it works, but but, a lot of buts.

In Avlinux the card is working fine! And Avlinux is based on Debian, I can really recommend it.
The LXDE / openbox was new for me, but it does what you need.
And if you cannot live with LXDE, just put Gnome in Avlinus. It works, I have tried.
But I am back at LXDE now, after a new install, I was to lazy to gnome it again.
As Gmaq says: who cares what DE is running when Rakkarack etc is open.
For me it is RockSolid as you wish. Maybe for you also!

Try it, and give it some time.

unfa wrote:Hi!

I'm an artist and producer in despair.

...Because I'm never going to get a MAC or Windows machine.

Help! I need somebody - help! Now just anybody - help! C'mon I need someone. Heeelp![/i]

Well, Mr. desparate Artist and producer, I felt your pain years ago, and purchased hardware widely
acknowledged to 'just work' in linux. I then stuck with one distro that specialized in stability, and
my frequent experiments and alternate solutions, are all on external devices, so my production system remains secure, yet options are available, for rare specific hard/software that needs a different OS

AVLinux, is based on an older, therefore more thoroughly tested linux, and is a great choice. Laptops waste money which could have gone for superior desktop technology and software. You could have
had a well warn record button, instead of portable producers despair. But if kids want to be cool, instead of productive. So be it.

As an aside, Mac and windows machines are what people use to run linux. The fantasies and follies
of Microsoft and Apple leave ample room for linux, in corporate, military, and public computing.
Being all religious about using only libre software, that can only be run on the 'devils own' hardware,
hints at the roots of your despair.

Most of your valid complaints would be easily answered by some thorough google searches. The info
is out there, like clusters of sweet dew covered grapes in September.
Cheer up. 2012 will be a great year for linux audio, and 2013 even better!

Debian Squeeze with penqutronix rt-kernel

http://pengutronix.de/software/linux-rt/debian_en.html

no fancy new stuff though...

install from ground up... no pulseaudio, xfce-desktop, remember to add
yourself to audio group(if not automatic...)

I had that conf running nicely, but switched to archlinux (for the new stuff.)
...now archlinux is great but bit, ehh, demanding... on the other hand, teaching.

easiest way of installing archlinux would be archbang

http://archbang.org/

Archlinux uses pre-emptive rt-kernel by default, and these kernels have
worker for me perfectly.

And when using binary-only drivers like nvidia, you can _allways_ get in trouble...
if you have those problems then I would say Ubuntu, or better Xubuntu (with kxstudio)
just try to rip in to bare essential. Remove pulseaudio, if you don't _really_ need it.

Pablo wrote: In the past I used this trick to get rid of pulseaudio if and when jack was up and running.

1. Tell pulseaudio not to autospawn:
echo "autospawn=no" > ~/.pulse/client.conf

2. Automatically kill pulseaudio before jack starts:
qjackctl, setup, options, script at server startup: "pulseaudio -k" (or "killall pulseaudio").

3. Start pulseaudio when jack stops:
qjackctl, setup, options, script after server stops: "pulseaudio --start"

Nowadays I use the pulseaudio module jack so i can route all sounds through jack when it is up. But I only use ardour from time to time.

Sorry to threadjack. Could you explain how to execute these commands?

Sorry to threadjack. Could you explain how to execute these commands?

1. This command writes a line in a configuration file in your home (/home/your_username/.pulse/client.conf). Just paste the command into a terminal window.

Or, if you prefer, open/create it with a text editor and write down the relevant line (autospawn=no). There is no mystery here. Only that you have to be aware that directories or files whose name begins with a dot are "hidden". In a file browser you normally have to press Control-H or go to Menu -> View -> Show Hidden Files

2. and 3. Where mentioned, without the quotes.

NOTE! Don't do the above, or undo it (removing this .pulse/client.conf file doesn't hurt) in case you want to use the pulseaudio module jack ( I would try that first if I were you). The how is explained in the ubuntustudio help guide.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ubunt ... o_and_Jack

Been running Gentoo for 7 years now. Can't say I never got a problem (don't run emerge --update --deep world if you haven't updated for a year) but nothing that got in the way. Use it both on a desktop with RME cards and laptop with FA-66.

Thing is, don't install things you don't need/want. Like pulseaudio if you want jack. Take your time to understand about the kernel build process and what it can do for you. Take your time to understand what hardware you do have. Same can probably be done with Arch. Always start with the simplest thing and add one at a time. If you want gentoo the easier way you could try Sabayon.

I tried a few audio distros but found them not to my taste. Often (too often?) they think AV is just trowing in every audio and video application out there.

Another way to go might be to look for linux help around you (friends, family) and use whatever they use so you can have some direct help when needed until you feel sure enough to go your own way.

Take a look at Tango Studio. No pulse, gnome 2.x. Been with it about one year now (before was distrohopper) many years.