I have a LINUX DAW !!!

[kara]

ok, to be honnest, almost...

I've decided to try Linux on my second studio laptop today.
I've downloaded the Studio 64 2.0 Live CD to see how many problems I would have, expecting a lot of them 

O surprise, everything worked out of the box, i can't believe it myself 
Jack is running, could connect ardour to it, use jack clients,... no problems at all.

External hardrives are reconized automaticaly...

The things that don't work :
My wireles WIFI, i could investigate but I won't use internet on my daw (i never do)
My PCMCIA Soundblaster card, since i won't do any recording on it, that doesn't realy matter. But i'll see what the problem is.

Tomorrow, real installation on the HD, keep your fingers crossed 
More news tomorrow

[EDIT] And i had the surprise of my life, my BOSS BR600 connects nativly over the USB port with Linux 


k

[folderol]

WOW

A lappy is the hardest test you can give a Linux distro, as so many have strange proprietry drivers

[Oren]

Kara,

64studio, eh? And everything works but the Creative Labs card and wireless internet...outstanding!

Creative Labs has resisted attempts from the open-source community to develop compatible software so their soundcards will function with a Linux O/S. Some users report limited success with their on-board Soundblaster  cards.
M-Audio has done a lot of excellent work to ensure that open-source drivers will allow their soundcards to be fully functional in a digital audio workstation with a Linux operating system. My old Audiophile 2496 works better for me in the new Linux computer than it did with XP Pro and the M-Audio drivers (perhaps just because of the more understandable user interface). I'm thinking that, if M-Audio has an external laptop soundcard, it would work well with your "new" computer.

It's going to be very interesting to follow your progress!

Oren.

[kara]

Update Jan 20th, the installation

  Linux is installed and works 
These are spec's of the laptop :

HP Compaq Business Notebook nx9010 -
Processor P4-M 2.8 GHz -
RAM 512 Mo -> extended to 1GB
Harddisk 40 GB
combo CD-RW / DVD-ROM
15" TFT XGA (1024 x 768)

Since i have to keep XP on it for my Clavia & Roland hardware editors, I've repartionied the HD, now it as follows :
Win partition : 30 GB
Linux partition : 9 GB
Swap partition for linux : 1GB

Installation went like a piece of cake, actually easier then Windows, no 5 times reboot

With a bit of trial & error I've found the ideal Jack connection.
Initially I has it set at :
- Duplex audio
- 256 frames/period
- 44110 kHz sample rate
- 2 periods/buffer
Which gave me a latency of 11.6 msec

Since I don't record with my pc, i've changed in playback only
and now i have a latency of 5.8 msec with NO xruns, which is pretty cool.

I've just done a test with the cyber blues project under Audacity and it runs smootly with Alsa.
Next test will be the same project under Ardour

Searching a bit on the internet confirms problems with the SB PCMCIA soundcard, and there around a couple of hacks around to try. But to be honnest, since i don't record, I'm not at all sure that it is worth the hassle....

k

[folderol]

All good news.

I don't know if you are aware of it, but linux can read windows partitions. Lots of distros mount the windows partition as read-only (for safety) I don't know if 64studio does this or mounts it read/write as I've never dual booted it with windows.

However you can make the partition writable. The advantage of this is that you can keep common files on the windows partition and be able to edit them from either OS.

[Oren]

Mmmm....that sweet smell of success, once again! 

[kara]

Yep i know this, thanks Will
But won't need it, I have no data on fixed harddisks, work only with external USB harddrives, and those mount automaticaly when you connect them

k

All good news.

I don't know if you are aware of it, but linux can read windows partitions. Lots of distros mount the windows partition as read-only (for safety) I don't know if 64studio does this or mounts it read/write as I've never dual booted it with windows.

However you can make the partition writable. The advantage of this is that you can keep common files on the windows partition and be able to edit them from either OS.

[kara]

ok, an update after playing with the new daw today...

The plus

All sofware works.
I can use Audacity with all LADSPA plugins, I've tried an audacity project with 18 tracks and all went well.
Allso resolved the problem with the import of a win audacity project
Note : You must be sure that the project rate is the same !  The sample rate of the project isn't stored with the project.
Audacity works with alsa & jack.

Rosegarden works, I've tested it with the native synths and allso with the soundfont player. Pretty good software.
Dindn't test it yet with the routing of the midi trough jack.

Ardour is a great piece of software and pretty easy to learn, if you know how a hardware mixing desk works, it's pretty simular to a hardware desk.

Hydrogene is a great drumming machine !!


The minus

Something went wrong with Ardour....
I had a project with 8 tracks and around 20 plugins on different tracks, my laptop handled it without any problem. At the end of the work, I saved the project as an ardour project.
When I restarted Ardour and tried to load the project, Ardour just said to me that he couldn't read the project file 
And i have no idea what went wrong...

The mastering software Jamit is unusaeble on my laptop, when i load it together with ardour and connected trough jack, i get CPU spikes of 100 % and the whole user interface gets incredible slow...
Connected with audacity trough jack it is a 'litle' bit better but still unusable.

Not a big deal for me, I don't know anything about mastering and have some friends here that know a lot about mastering

All in all it is a good result, I think i will have fun with this configuration.

k
 

[folderol]

OK, just a bit of fun here

Hows this for a screenshot?

2 instantations of Zyn.
3 instatations of Jamin.
IP from a hardware synth.
Rosegarden in control
Me playing along on the virtual keaboard of one copy of Zyn. (the bassoon)
Jack connections showing
gkrellm in the top RH corner showing processor usage.

Hmmm, I suppose I should have run meterbridge too

[kara]

wow 
What config do you have ?

k

[folderol]

Mine is very similar to Oren's but less well specced.

Antec Take 3 3U Black Rackmount Case 450W PSU
Asus M2NPV-VM Motherboard
Athlon 64 Dual Core 4200 Energy Efficient CPU
OCZ® Platinum Series 2GB DDR2 PC6400 800Mhz RAM
250 GB Seagate Barracuda SATA2 7200rpm 16MB cache Hard Drive
Lite-on SH-16A7S-05C Black SATA DL DVD +/-R/RW/RAM writer

Running 64Studio V2.0

ROX desktop with Openbox window manager (these are a very fast lightweight combo)

Latest (1.6.1) version of Rosegarden

[rharv]

That's an impressive mess...but where's your mouse/pointer?

[kara]

Rharv has an eye for details 

k

[folderol]

Doesn't he just! Not many people would have noticed.

I used 'The Gimp' to do the screen capture with a 5 second delay (so it's own window doesn't get captured). However I also have a little routine installed that hides the pointer if the mouse is stationary for more than 2 seconds. Very useful when doing a lot of text processing and you don't want to get confused by two 'cursors' or the pointer exactly hiding what you're trying to read.

Two other lifesavers I have set:
Disable Caps Lock
Disable 'CTRL-A' with the LH CTRL

[rharv]

I have the Gimp here too; pretty handy at times.   

I don't know if I could function with that many windows going all at once. I'd probably just hit play and watch all the lovely pictures.