[ubuntu-studio-devel] ubuntustudio controls

[lukefromdc at hushmail.com]

Cutting off hyperthreading/AMD dual core per module will harm
video editing/rendering, so that needs to be an option. Yes, I've
tested this and found a significant favorable difference in video
rendering time from enabling all  8 threads on the AMD FX-8120.

On 6/13/2014 at 10:24 PM, "Len Ovens" <len at ovenwerks.net> wrote:
>
>Ubuntustudio-controls is dead right now (won't start and when 
>started 
>in a terminal as root crashes) and lacked a lot of features in 
>any case. It has been suggested that we work on the code to do 
>what needs 
>to be done and then write the GUI afterwards to tie all these 
>things 
>together. There are a few ways we can do this:
>
>1) write each function as a separate script (python seems to be 
>the common 
>thread here) and gather them together later.
>
>2) Write one script with a CLI menu to try out things.
>
>3) Write one script where CL arguments select functions.
>
>We could even start with 1) and then combine them to 2) or 3). The 
>GUI 
>would call the procedures already there.
>
>However, before we do that, we need to have a spec of what things 
>this 
>application should do. We should also decide how each feature 
>should be 
>accessed. Some features would be used only for original system 
>setup and 
>could be accessed from the settings or system menu. Other things 
>might get 
>changed any number of times during one session and would be better 
>accessed from the systray.
>
>So first is setup:
> 	System setup:
> 		realtime access?
> 		swappiness?
> 		Check audio card for irq conflicts?
> 		Check system for hyperthreading turned off.
> 			user should be told they can use bios or
> 			-controls can disable second thread on all cores
> 		CPU governor
> 			I am not sure what to do with this one. On a
> 			desktop it may be best to just set performance
> 			all the time. The CPU in my testing seems to
> 			run cooler when all the cores are the same speed.
> 			My cores have always been 10 deg below max running
> 			temp even with performance. When the system is
> 			idle The temp seems to be about the same as
> 			ondemand at idle. One might even infer that the
> 			power demand can not be much more if the heat
> 			generated is similar. Needs more testing if
> 			someone has a laptop with an i5 or i7 (the i5
> 			seems to be a better audio CPU) and can see
> 			what the battery life difference is with the
> 			two governors that would help.
> 		Len has forgotten other system settings for audio, but
> 		there seems to be less need for them now than in the past.
> 		(I have run at jack set -p16 for hours with no xruns)
>
> 	Session setup:
> 		user's choice of audio backend... what is going to start
> 		when the session starts.
> 		user's choice of jack server (1, 2, dbus)
> 		Jack's default settings
> 		An automated way of finding the cards:
> 			lowest latency (lowest jack will start with)
> 			highest latency
> 			If 2 or 3 frames works best (3 for HDA)
> 		Will pulse be used? (what other options can be auto set
> 		up?)
> 			should it be started after jackd?
> 			do we need to manually add jack sink?
> 		What utilities shold we start in the systray?
> 		default audio IF.
> 			Is there a way we can make this not show in pulse?
> 			I personally would like to set pulse not to see
> 			ALSA and only see jack. But, other people will
> 			want other setups.
>
>My brain is already going foggy   :)
>
> 	The settings we might change "on the fly" depending on what
> 	we are doing.
> 		Latency
> 		cpu governor
> 		pulse to jack bridge
> 		background services (on/off) (which ones)
> 		audio/midi connections
> 			It would be nice to include a Pulse patch bay
> 		levels... a universal mixer?
>
> 	Things we may want to monitor.
> 		DSP usage
> 		CPU usage
> 		memory
> 		temperature
> 		CPU speed
>
>Is this all? ... probably not. Is it too much? Could be. Would it 
>be all 
>one application? I don't think so... personally I see at least 3, 
>but 
>would probably use 5 (some being startup scripts run at session 
>start).
>
>Is this official? No, it is just some ideas. I also hope I am 
>showing some 
>of the problems we may have  ;) and some of the division into 
>units we 
>might have. These are important as they show what privilages are 
>needed 
>for different things. No one wants to be typing a password for 
>minor 
>changes and we don't want to leave an application running in 
>userspace the 
>whole session with root access either.
>
>Anyway, I would like to see a wiki set up for this with these or 
>some 
>other logical divisions. I am sure I have left a lot out as well.
>
>--
>Len Ovens
>www.ovenwerks.net
>
>
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