Linux Multimedia Distros

[jippers]

Hi all,

Does anyone here know much about Linux Distros, in particular, the Multimedia ones? I've tried Ubuntu Studio, and have had heaps of issues with it, most notable that it conflicts with the wireless network part of the kernel, which is bad for me.

I've had multiple problems using Ubuntu Desktop and Jack server, so I'm keeping an eye out for something else that might be better suited. Any ideas, people?

Thanx in advance.

[Märk]

Jesus christ, just find a cracked version of XP and stop making things difficult for yourself.

[jippers]

Oh for christ's sake.

I should have expected someone would have come up with a response like that. I'm so over Windows.

[Märk]

Sorry about that, I was really drunk last night. But seriously, Linux (pretty much any distro) is *horrible* for a DAW environment. I've tried several on for size over the years, and could never get everything to work properly.

If you're persistent, though, and don't mind spending weeks getting everything working, I'd say use Debian for the distro and Ardour for the DAW. Good luck! You'll need it!

[JonPorobil]

Hi all,

Does anyone here know much about Linux Distros, in particular, the Multimedia ones? I've tried Ubuntu Studio, and have had heaps of issues with it, most notable that it conflicts with the wireless network part of the kernel, which is bad for me.

I've had multiple problems using Ubuntu Desktop and Jack server, so I'm keeping an eye out for something else that might be better suited. Any ideas, people?

Thanx in advance.

The system requirements for Ubuntu Studio were so weirdly specific that I couldn't even run it on my computer. It's barely tested, unstable, and it's aimed at a niche of a niche market, so I don't expect them to stabilize it anytime soon.

I have had some luck getting my external audio interface - a Lexicon Lambda - to work in Karmic Koala, and on paper, I could record a song from Linux, but I've tried it a few times, but I find it impossible to work with any of the Linux-compatible DAWs. Audacity is pretty much just proof-of-concept because of how clunky it is manipulating multiple tracks together, and Ardor has some weird quirks that I can't seem to get over (plus I'm not fond of any of its plugins). Maybe someday we'll be able to record without using bloated operating systems...

Having been down some of the same roads as you at this point, my advice would be to dual-boot to Windows or Mac and record your songs on the more mainstream OS.

[Mostess]

I had Ardour running through Jack on a Ubuntu system (the Jackalope one). I had it running fairly well for a little bit (little occasional buffer underruns), but then I made some little tiny tweaks to Jack fix it (oh why?!! ooooh WHYYYYY!!!?!?) and it fell apart and I never got it working again. I have no idea what went wrong, but I think it had more to do with Jack than with Ardour or Ubuntu. I think it had something to do with my machine being dual core but the dual core jack executable being a little unsteady.

I've also tried to get Jack->Ardour working on my Mac PowerBook with absolutely no success. So that's probably part of it.

But I gave up entirely when I read that the music recording community has been losing the war against the Ubuntu developers who want to keep a bunch of interrupts open for debugging purposes; these are highest priority and mess with the timing of recording by eating processing cycles. Developers have half-promised to release an interrupt-free Ubuntu one of these days but no one is holding his breath.

I tried switching to Debian to see if it was better but had the same problems getting Jack to work at all. Here I threw up my hands. I'm not a techhead, but I'm no n00b. I have UNIX experience. I have a Ph.D. I spent 2 months on that project, maybe 60 hours total. I failed.

I wish you the best of luck and advise that you write everything down as you do it. Every little thing.

[JonPorobil]

But I gave up entirely when I read that the music recording community has been losing the war against the Ubuntu developers who want to keep a bunch of interrupts open for debugging purposes; these are highest priority and mess with the timing of recording by eating processing cycles. Developers have half-promised to release an interrupt-free Ubuntu one of these days but no one is holding his breath.

This was, in theory, the purpose behind Ubuntu Studio, wasn't it? Like I said, though, I can't get it working on my machine, and I have no plans to try again until I get a fresh computer. Even then my hopes aren't high.

Plus, what's up with Jack, anyway? I know that Ubuntu is communicating with my Lambda, so why does it need additional software to route that connection? Frustrating.

[irwin]

I've used Jack/Ardour on OSX and it worked well enough. I found Jack actually pretty handy for rerouting the output of one application to the input of another.

Sadly there are no linux drivers for the MOTU boxes under, so I'm kind of stuck with OSX. Not that I'd necessarily want to use linux for audio all the time, but it'd be nice to have the choice.

[Mostess]

But I gave up entirely when I read that the music recording community has been losing the war against the Ubuntu developers who want to keep a bunch of interrupts open for debugging purposes; these are highest priority and mess with the timing of recording by eating processing cycles. Developers have half-promised to release an interrupt-free Ubuntu one of these days but no one is holding his breath.

This was, in theory, the purpose behind Ubuntu Studio, wasn't it? Like I said, though, I can't get it working on my machine, and I have no plans to try again until I get a fresh computer. Even then my hopes aren't high.

Plus, what's up with Jack, anyway? I know that Ubuntu is communicating with my Lambda, so why does it need additional software to route that connection? Frustrating.

Yeah, Ubuntu Studio uses a patched version of the kernel so those hooks aren't there. But since a) I was getting buffer underruns anyway and b) I learned that the Ubuntu community at large was not moving in the hookless kernel direction, I figured keeping the system working with upgrades and other software (assuming I got it working again at all) was going to be a much bumpier road than I wanted to travel. IIRC there was an even more realtime kernel patch available but once I'm tinkering with LINUX kernels I'm officially ignoring my family, job, and songfight for no good reason.

But that said, Jack is cooler than I thought it would be. At first I had your reaction---why add another software layer between my audio in and my DAW? But it quickly hit me that in Jack you can send your audio and MIDI through third party software before sending it to the DAW. This is much more like analog recording. I always did like a big patch bay.