Re: [LAD] Kim did the switch to Linux

Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>
> On 08/06/2009 03:16 AM, David Robillard wrote:
>> On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 21:53 +0200, Jens M Andreasen wrote:
>>
>>> >From TFA:
>>>
>>> --8<----------------------------------
>>> Go to System->Preferences->Sound, click on the Devices tab, and check
>>> out the pulldown menu next to ‘Sound Events’ at the top of the panel.
>>> You will see various acronyms, possibly including cryptic-looking
>>> technologies like OSS, ESD, ALSA, JACK, and Pulse Audio. These acronyms
>>> represent a byzantine tangle of conflicting technologies that over time,
>>> and due to political reasons or backwards compatibility, have ended up
>>> cohabiting with one another. ‘Frankenstein’ might be an accurate
>>> metaphor here.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thankfully, there is a simpler way, which is the combination of ALSA [a
>>> high-performance, kernel-level audio and MIDI system] and JACK [a system
>>> for creating low-latency audio, MIDI, and sync connections between
>>> applications and computers]. The battle-scarred among us have learned to
>>> ignore all the other audio cruft bolted on to Ubuntu and just use ALSA
>>> and JACK. One can think of the ALSA/JACK stack, the heart of most pro
>>> Linux studios, as the Core Audio of Linux and in my opinion Jack should
>>> be the first thing installed on any musicians laptop. I’d go so far as
>>> to suggest placing it in the Startup Applications so it’s always
>>> running.
>>> -------------------8<--------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>
>> IMO without a ton of effort Jack could, and should, be turned into a
>> viable default installation audio system (or the bottom layer of such a
>> system, at least). The desktop guys certainly aren't ever going to get
>> it right.
>>
>> The above problem is a very real one as far as people's perception of
>> GNU/Linux as an audio system. What a mess. We can do better.
>>
>>
>
>
>
> AFAICT it's like 95% there already as far as the average user is
> concerned. So the desktop guys you are referring to have got it and
> are way ahead of anyone else in this respect.
>
> Pulse is ubiquitous now. Jack was never intended to be the default
> audio system for desktop use.
>
> Let's just fix the interaction between pulse and jack and be done with it.
+1

>
> It's harmful to suggest that it things are less than they are as it
> just makes people who have already invested a lot of effort get
> annoyed and turned off.
Linux audio is not bad, not at all... but for newbies it can be pretty
difficult to get the right configuration, if would be nice if 'we' could
improve that, and yes fixing the interaction between pulse and jack is
maybe a large part of that and afaik it's already in progress and will
hit the coming distro releases...

So sorry if I sounded to negative... I just wanted to say that it isn't
always surprising that people don't convert easily to Linux for pro
audio... and that I would love to see that improving.

Kind regards,

\r
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Received on Thu Aug 6 12:15:07 2009