Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] introB
From: Samuel S Chessman (chessman_AT_tux.org)
Date: Fri Dec 29 2000 - 06:03:33 EET
On Fri, 29 Dec 2000, Sukandar Kartadinata wrote:
> hello list
> new to linux-audio-dev, and actually rather new to Linux in general, I have
> a few questions, hopefully appropriate for this forum.
Welcome! Linux Audio Development seems to have a wide charter, and
of late has been discussing varied issues, alphabetically:
Commercial sampler formats
Denormalisation considered harmful
Distributed audio processing
GTK pix sliders (ladspa xml gui)
LAD page updated
LADSPA Non-Sequential API
LADSPA hard_rt_capable
Lock Free FIFOs (my personal favorite)
MAIA-devel mailinglist created
MIDI sync issues; mmc, mtc, ..
More plugins
ecasound 1.8.5d15
Reverse-engineering files
A PhD program in computer music
ardour
compiling MiXViews, G++ help needed
gigasampler format
hdrbench 0.1, high performance mul
ladspa xml gui vs. libvstgui
>
> a few lines about myself: I do (custom) technology for musicians and
> artists - system design as well as components, software and hardware,
> sometimes also installation. At times I do music myself. I'm familiar with
> Macs, DSP, micro controllers, FPGAs, Windows, assembler, C++, MAX, Matlab,
> sound cards, and all that, but, alas, not Linux.
>
Linux is not difficult. Easier than most unices, and you have the source for
the hard parts.
> my main reason to consider inflicting yet another techonolgy upon myself,
> is the promise of lower latency, which according to the faqs is a little
> tricky but possible.
>
I recommend you see the linux low latency pages; Andrew Morton's kernel
patches against 2.4.0 series and some measurement tools can be found
at http://www.uow.edu.au/~andrewm/linux/schedlat.html
Paul Winkler has an ALSA oriented howto at
http://www.linuxdj.com/audio/lad/2.4-install-notes.html
There is other context you will need to configure your own low-latencty
kernel. It's not hard, but a bit mysterious the first time. See if
you can build a stock one first.
> now, as I need to assemble a portable system, my first question would be:
> #1 how painless/ful is it to run Linux on a laptop ?
Laptops are the most challenging platforms for linux, due to the
hardware being proprietary in some cases and poorly supported in others.
Laptop support is much better now than last year, and IBM and others
are even supporting linux on some platforms.
Still, you will end up knowing all the idiosyncracies of your particular
unit once you have Linux, X11, networking, audio and PCMCIA all operating
on your unit. It can be done unless you are unfortunate to have one
that just can't be supported for some reason.
>
> and, as I'd prefer a dual-boot MacOS/Linux machine:
> #2 what are your experiences with LinuxPPC on a PowerBook ?
>
This is probably best directed to the linuxppc experts. Please get to
know them at http://linuxppc.org/
I personally would be interested in what you discover. Especially the
audio/ALSA stuff. From what I recall on the alsa-dev maillist, the PPC
support lags the x86 support.
> and then, towards "ultra-portability":
> #3 has anyone done linux-audio on embedded systems ?
>
I wonder what the rio runs.... I know of one commercial automobile
MP3 player running linux. Of course there is Tivo and the Sony PS2
development platform. The hobbyist/experimenters have stuff working.
ARM if I recall correctly. This is where the mass market for linux
will grow. Most people just want the buttons to work. There are guitar
tuners, stomp boxes, etc, but few have been "productized". Most people
still are using their PCs.
> thanks
> Sukandar
Welcome again.
Sam
--
Sam Chessman chessman_AT_tux.org
Disruptive technologies always appear to incumbents as toys.
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