<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 9:18 AM, Brian David <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:beejunk@gmail.com">beejunk@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 7:57 AM, Susan Cragin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:susancragin@earthlink.net" target="_blank">susancragin@earthlink.net</a>></span> wrote:<br></div><div class="gmail_quote">
<div class="im"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>>Brian King kirjoitti:<br>
><br>
>> ubuntu's efforts to get rt kernel working in realtime mode just isn't<br>
>> there yet :-( ubuntu just hasn't got the right mix for maximum<br>
>> desktop performance and rt yet :-(<br>
><br>
>Well, RT-kernel works me... maybe it is just me ;-)<br>
<br>
</div>RT works for me much better, much faster, than generic kernel, and I even run one sound app through wine.<br>
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.)<br>
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.<br>
<font color="#888888">Susan<br>
</font><div><div></div><div><br></div></div></blockquote></div><div><br>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.<br>
</div></div><br>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.<br>
<br>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.<br>-- <br><font color="#888888">-Brian David</font><br>
</blockquote></div><br>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. <br>
(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.)<br>
<br>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.<br>
<br>-Eric Hedekar<br>