[LAU] Building Audio from a Server Core?

On Wed 27/02/13 5:33 PM , "Len Ovens" len@email-addr-hidden sent:
>
> On Wed, February 27, 2013 10:46 am, Grekim Jennings wrote:
> > How difficult or even possible is it to start
> with a server core system> and make it useable for a audio? I don't need a
> GUI/desktop for this.
> Not sure what you mean by a "server core". It could be starting
> with coreserver SW installed. Or be specific HW. Adding Audio Apps to a machine
> setup as a server is not hard, though a new install would be easier. The
> onlyreason to keep the server SW in place is if you want to use the machine
> both ways. In that case I would suggest setting up another run level
> justfor audio. That would make it easy to turn off some of the system
> serviceswhile doing audio or reconfigure some of the core defaults. On the
> otherhand, if you want the machine to run as a server while also using it to
> doaudio work, one of your two uses will suffer. Either the server side
> willbe slower or the audio side will need more latency.
>

This would be for the sole purpose of audio, and GUI-less ones at that. I also like the idea of being able to carry a studio on a flash drive...sort of amazing. Another machine would have Ardour etc. I
came across the "server core" terminology from the Lubuntu alternate downloads area. So, my impression was a server system is a bit more raw and basic than a desktop system and going with a "core"
version of that would be almost as basic as it gets. I know there are distros tuned for audio, but I honestly don't like all the extra stuff I don't need.

> > I installed Lubuntu server core to a usb flash
> drive. I added myself to
> Ok, this looks like just adding audio SW. Take a look at the
> ubuntustudiometas with whatever SW installer you use. (synaptic would be easiest I
> tihnk) You most likey do not want the -desktop, icons or settings, just
> the audio related ones. Though it may be just as easy to choose the
> appsyou want.
>
> > the audio group, but my usb Audiobox does not
> seem to be working,> although it is recognised with aplay -l. Should
> it work without any> additional steps?
>
> Working? Meaning what? Does lubuntu use pulse like most of the other
> *buntus? Have you set your USB card as the default sound device with
> pavucontrol? Which application are you playing audio on? If the machine
> you are using has an internal card, that would be the default, not your
> USB card. Are the levels raised in the alsa mixer? Not muted?
>

I noticed when running my software that the playback variables are set correctly through Alsa calls, but the record ones are not. It's just the first time the (Presonus) Audiobox has not initialized properly
on probably a dozen systems I have tried it on. I'm assuming the kernel should be the same between a server and a desktop. I works fine on the same 12.04 desktop/Unity version. I wasn't sure if we
needed to run modules or set something a certain way to tap audio capability in a server system. Again, doesn't have to be a sever system at all. I just thought it might be closer to what I am after to
begin with.

> So what are you trying to achieve? And how? It would be easy to tell
> thesethings if I was there in person, but I am not and so to help you we
> needas many details as possible.
>

Thanks for the help :) See above about the goal here. But again, I crave simplicity and I like to build a system around a specific task and not have one machine do everything.

> > I suppose I could build an Arch system, but I
> was pleasantly surprised> by the performance of Ubuntu 12.04 (desktop)
> with the particular> software I want to run and thought I would try
> an even more basic> setup. Thanks!
>
> Pretty much all the Linux setups use alsa these days. There is not much
> difference from one to the next at that level. You should be able to
> getsound with any of them.
>
>
> --
> Len Ovens
> www.OvenWerks.net
>
>
>

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Received on Thu Feb 28 08:15:02 2013