Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] State of kernel?
From: Paul Barton-Davis (pbd_AT_Op.Net)
Date: Sat Oct 07 2000 - 01:17:24 EEST
>After lurking for a few months on this list, and having supported the
>letter to Linus Torvald regarding the incorporation of options for making
>the standard Linux kernel run better for real-time applications, I'd just
>like to ask whether there actually was an answer from Linus about the
>proposal put forth by this list.
the quick summary-to-date would go like this:
* linus said there was no way he would include Ingo's patches.
* ingo said there was no way he *should* include them.
* a strenuous debate on ways to improve scheduling latency
followed.
* linus said that he would support specific, well thought out
patches that improved this kind of performance, and that he
did not want to see people forced to use RTLinux or its
cousins for multimedia work.
* andrew morton came up with a small patch that did this.
* the patch works, not quite as well as ingo's, but it does
get the standard kernel into a pretty acceptable range.
* there is some word that andrew's patch might make it into 2.4.
* ingo has re-implemented his patch for the 2.4 series kernels,
but still does not intend them to go into the main kernel.
* some work appears to be underway to get the kernel to be
fully preemptable, which would solve most of the problems.
>Here in Mexico, I intend to get together a modest group of programs to be
>able to hand out software to our music students, instead of having them buy
>expensive Windows altenatives, but I'd like to know about the state of the
>kernel options before I start doing so...
You should also think carefully about the capabilities of the linux
programs versus the windows ones. For all the bad things one can say
about windows, there are some brutally good applications for audio
work (particularly editing) on that platform.
--p
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