Ubuntu Studio 64 bit & program availability

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Thu, 2011-01-13 at 09:26 +0000, Yorvyk wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:57:40 -0800
> Casey Forslund <cforslund at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > Before I decided to switch over to Linux/Ubuntu, I was contemplating an
> > upgrade to a full 64 bit system. The one thing that stopped me was the lack
> > of native 64 bit software in the Windows world (lots could be run in
> > emulation mode or whatever, but it wasn't true 64 bit). My question is: How
> > does the 64 bit transition work in Ubuntuland, i.e. will I be able to use
> > all of the programs that come pre-installed with Ubuntu studio, and would
> > they be true/native 64 bit, able to fully utilize 64 bit hardware etc?
> > 
> Everything in the Ubuntu 64 bit repo is 64 bit, so will utilise your 64 bit hardware.  The only area where 64 bit apps are occasionally missing are proprietary drivers for some hardware eg some wireless card/dongles.  These are easily avoided though.  Whether things will run faster/better is another matter.  
> 
> > If this is the wrong place to discuss this, just let me know and I can go to
> > the forums with this instead.
> > 
> > Thanks in advance,
> > 
> > Casey
> 
> 
> -- 
> Steve Cook (Yorvyk)
> 
> http://lubuntu.net 


Yes, 64 bit on Linux is 64 bit and at least on my machine it has got
advantages. JACK1 isn't ok on my 64 bit machine, hence I use JACK2. On
64 bit Ubuntu Linux you can run some 32 bit software in a 32 bit chroot
or some other software by using a command to add 32 bit libs. On 64 bit
Suse Linux the design is a little bit different, here it's able even to
use some proprietary 32 bit drivers, e.g. the LightScribe drivers.
I've got issues with VSTs on my 64 bit Linux, but on 64 bit wineasio I
was able to run VSTs, while IMO wineasio is unusable regarding to
jitter. I'm not missing VSTs, but it's because I don't need a lot of
virtual stuff.
If you need some loudness war FX, real vocoders, Auto-Tune, perfect ARP
synth emulations, a synth choir that will sing your lyrics, a classical
orchestra, a superguitar FX rack and some other stuff and you shouldn't
care about ethics, Linux isn't the right choice. At least the loudness
war can be done with Linux too, by using JAMin, but JAMin needs a lot of
resources, so this can become an issue.
The only thing I'm missing on Linux is a soundfont and gig player with
integrated editor and proper timing for external MIDI equipment and
sometimes an orchestra emulation. I also won't do live recordings with
Linux for money.
At home I'm using Linux only, but even at home I do have a lot of
external audio equipment.
YMMV Ralf