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Anyone using Linux?

Nov 20, 2006 at 2:05 PM Post #31 of 48
Quote:

Originally Posted by episiarch /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I'm using 6.10 Edgy with Eclipse and the RadRails plugin, and FWIW so far it's working fine for me. I'm still in early days with it, though, so I'm certainly willing to believe that heavier users are seeing problems I haven't come across yet...[/SIZE]


The problem seems to be with the cdt package which I use almost exclusively. Check google for "preference change listener ubuntu" for more info.
 
Nov 20, 2006 at 2:47 PM Post #32 of 48
Quote:

Originally Posted by jefemeister /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The problem seems to be with the cdt package which I use almost exclusively. Check google for "preference change listener ubuntu" for more info.


Yikes. I wonder how it's possible that I'm not experiencing that.
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Jan 14, 2007 at 5:31 PM Post #33 of 48
I'm working in ubuntu with SB A2ZS, and everything goes good with the ALSA driver. I need more tests to say how good is the sound.
 
Jan 14, 2007 at 5:45 PM Post #34 of 48
Ubuntu was too taxing for my system, so I stuck with PCLinuxOS. Runs better, but still far from perfect. I would've tried DSL, but I had already transfered a ton of my media files through USB1.1, so I just gave up.
 
Jan 15, 2007 at 12:48 AM Post #35 of 48
I've been exclusively on Linux (except for gaming) since '95, back in the good 'ol slackware days. Today I run Debian, but I've played around with half a dozen distros over the years.
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I'm happy with it as an audio station, running mainly amaroK. Its user interface is awesome and it handles all of the main music formats. I'm using an M-Audio Audiophile to output to my DAC, via USB. It works very well.

The reason Linux sounds better than Windows by default is because Windows uses a software mixer in its multimedia stack that upsamples to 48khz, and does so rather poorly. It does this so that you can get the "ding" and other sound effects even while playing MP3s or talking under Skype, etc.

Alsa (Linux's current preferred multimedia stack) doesn't allow this (by default), unless your soundcard does hardware mixing. It simply outputs the audio data bit-perfect.

Windows drivers are available that bypass Kmixer (I believe it's called), which will give you the same quality as Linux. Similarly, alsa's dmix plug-in will allow you to mix multiple audio streams in software, though it can do so without upsampling.

If you can live without games and specialty software, I highly recommend Kubuntu or Debian proper. If it's for an audio station, you can't lose.
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Jan 15, 2007 at 12:53 AM Post #36 of 48
I was running SUse for about 2 years. I loved it, until I had to install stuff. Even via RPM, installing stuff sucks. I got tired of the compiling thing quick. Also, having the latest OS always seemed like it only lasted about 10 minutes, lol.

I think when I build my next putor, it's gonna be Linux based...either RedHat or Fedora. Never tried those two, and they seemed rather friendly.
 
Jan 15, 2007 at 12:55 AM Post #37 of 48
I've been using Kubuntu for awhile now, works like a dream, except for the odd issue with some non-standard HW. (I wish the broadcom guys would stop being jerk faces) My DPU-50 was plug and play, sounds just awesome!
 
Jan 15, 2007 at 1:01 AM Post #38 of 48
Quote:

Originally Posted by oicdn /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I was running SUse for about 2 years. I loved it, until I had to install stuff. Even via RPM, installing stuff sucks. I got tired of the compiling thing quick. Also, having the latest OS always seemed like it only lasted about 10 minutes, lol.

I think when I build my next putor, it's gonna be Linux based...either RedHat or Fedora. Never tried those two, and they seemed rather friendly.


They both use RPM's for packaging IIRC.
 
Jan 23, 2007 at 1:06 AM Post #39 of 48
Quote:

Originally Posted by nightfire /img/forum/go_quote.gif

The reason Linux sounds better than Windows by default is because Windows uses a software mixer in its multimedia stack that upsamples to 48khz, and does so rather poorly. It does this so that you can get the "ding" and other sound effects even while playing MP3s or talking under Skype, etc.

Alsa (Linux's current preferred multimedia stack) doesn't allow this (by default), unless your soundcard does hardware mixing. It simply outputs the audio data bit-perfect.



This is no longer true.Current alsa versions enable dmix by default, unless the card supports hardware mixing.
 
Jan 23, 2007 at 1:27 AM Post #41 of 48
Quote:

Originally Posted by darklegion /img/forum/go_quote.gif
This is no longer true.Current alsa versions enable dmix by default, unless the card supports hardware mixing.


Er, I phrased that wrong. I didn't mean doesn't allow; I meant by default (with no .asoundrc or /etc equiv) if you launch an app, it won't use dmix, but the hardware device. dmix is in userspace, so if you point an app at the hardware device and it doesn't support multiple subdevices, you're hosed.

Though I think some distros now ship with the default device mapped to dmix.
 
Jan 23, 2007 at 8:05 AM Post #42 of 48
Quote:

Originally Posted by nightfire /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Er, I phrased that wrong. I didn't mean doesn't allow; I meant by default (with no .asoundrc or /etc equiv) if you launch an app, it won't use dmix, but the hardware device. dmix is in userspace, so if you point an app at the hardware device and it doesn't support multiple subdevices, you're hosed.

Though I think some distros now ship with the default device mapped to dmix.


Nah, I think you misread me
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Dmix is enabled on newer alsa versions even if there is no /etc/asound.conf or .asoundrc, unless the card supports hardware mixing.So alsa out-of-the-box is running dmix (and upsampling to 48khz).If you want to override this you need to make your own config file.
 
Jan 24, 2007 at 1:04 AM Post #43 of 48
It looks as though people are having good experiences running Linux with USB DAC's and the like.

How about a rundown of recommended soundcards? I know there is a list of supported cards at the ALSA-Project but what cards do you guys like?
 
Jan 24, 2007 at 3:06 AM Post #44 of 48
I first installed Linux on a 486 about seven or eight years ago. The distro was Red Hat, probably around version 5. I didn't use it exclusively at all, but I played with it almost every day. Otherwise, I was using my Apple (I'd guess it was around MacOS 9 then). Between then and now I've tried Red Hat, Fedora, Yellow Dog, Debian, Mepis, Knoppix (installed to the drive), SuSE, and Gentoo. But, I've settled on Kubuntu for the time. I like it a lot, and I've been using it exclusively for over two years. I haven't turned my PowerMac on for most of that time.

In those two years, I've become very much into Open Source culture/hacker society. It's a great community, and these guys make such awesome contributions to the greater good.

I highly encourage anyone who is curious about it to check it out. Download a live disk, and just use it. If you like to mess with computers and software, Linux/unix will get you closer to it than any other operating system. It really isn't as hard as it's been made out to be at all. I love it because it's so tweakable and I can really dig deep into the system.

For those of you who would like to read more about Linux misconceptions, you should read this article on the differences between Linux and Windows, and why these differences are often misinterpreted by new Linux users as bad. Also, read this article on the myth that Linux is "not ready for the desktop."

FLOSS for Life!
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nrwilk
 
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