Ubuntu-Studio-users Digest, Vol 32, Issue 1

[Eric Hedekar]

On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 9:18 AM, Brian David <beejunk at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 7:57 AM, Susan Cragin <susancragin at earthlink.net>wrote:
>
>> >Brian King kirjoitti:
>> >
>> >> ubuntu's efforts to get rt kernel working in realtime mode just isn't
>> >> there yet :-( ubuntu just hasn't got the right mix for maximum
>> >> desktop performance and rt yet :-(
>> >
>> >Well, RT-kernel works me... maybe it is just me ;-)
>>
>> RT works for me much better, much faster, than generic kernel, and I even
>> run one sound app through wine.
>> If Mr. King wants to test another kernel, maybe he should try bfsbfq,
>> which is crazy-fast but runs best on a lightly-configured desktop (best with
>> only one app running at a time) and has peculiar bottlenecks. (Backup
>> first.)
>> Actually, to the extent there is a difference between real-time and just
>> fast, bfsbfq is just fast. It gallops in some places, seems to trot in
>> others. My opinion? bfsbfq will be great a year from now to run just one
>> sound application at a time on a low-powered machine. Probably best with
>> Lubuntu, if that ever gets started.
>> Susan
>>
>>
> I agree to a certain extent with Brian King's point.  I'm really enjoying
> Ubuntu Studio Karmic and it is very stable and fast for me, but it took some
> tweaking to get it running well.  And by tweaking, I don't mean adjusting
> settings in a GUI or downloading software, I mean using the command-line to
> change thread priorities.  That is a type of hurtle that the vast majority
> of potential new users are not going to care to get over.  It is also
> something that can generally be said of pretty much any Linux distro:  with
> enough tweaking it will do what you want.
>
> Ubuntu Studio is not just any distro, it is a specialized one.  And for it
> to be considered successful, at least for me, means that it can be used
> out-of-the-box (or at least with minimal and easy adjusting) by people more
> focused on multimedia production than on how a Linux system works.  Ubuntu
> Studio gets closer to that with every release, and I have high hopes for the
> future of the distro, but I agree that it just isn't there yet.
>
> Speaking of Lubuntu, has the Ubuntu Studio team ever considered switching
> to a more lightweight desktop, such as XFCE or LXDE?  I think that would be
> a great idea, but I have no idea what it would take.
> --
> -Brian David
>

It should be noted that these tweaks are generally ones that audio users
require, and that Ubuntu Studio is an Audio, Video, and Graphics
distribution.  Yes, Karmic's RT kernel is more stable than others, but it's
not infallible, and yes, the Ubuntu Studio Controls application is falling
to bits with serious bugs (not setting the things it should be setting,
putting settings in places where they will be overwritten on the next
update, and relying on a gui framework that is disappearing upstream
etc...).  However, the current dev team is stretched very thin - we are
constantly encouraging community members to step up and learn how to chip in
more (if you're not sure how, just e-mail me directly - or the dev list).
Infact if anyone with drive and a little bit of python knowledge wants to
help fix Ubuntu Studio Controls to get these tweaks sorted out better,
please contact us!  You'd also be surprised how a few volunteers taking care
of basic/easy tasks can help alleviate the burnout level of the rest of the
dev team.
(Brian David, incase it's not obvious, I'm kinda pushing you here - politely
and kindly - to step up.  You seem like you're familiar enough with the
command line and some organizational features of the distro, with an eye
toward user-ease, that you could easily help, or learn to help in your spare
time.  Hopefully you'll consider my obvious hint.  Thanks.)

As for the lighter weight desktop, it would be way too much work for the
current body of Ubuntu Studio devs to tackle on their own.  It might be
feasible to transition from an Ubuntu base to a Xbuntu base, but that would
be a huge change of direction for the distribution and could potentially
cause major issues.  This is however, a community-built operating system so
if the community wants a feature/design/tweak enough, the devs will not only
listen, but encourage people to help build it with them.

-Eric Hedekar
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