Linux as a music source; should I do it?

[markot86]

Hey guys,

Recently I've been pondering switching to linux since I've essentially stopped gaming on my PC and want to try something different. Aside from creative not supporting the x-fi on linux (boo), I feel like it wouldn't be too big of a hassle. However, assuming that I get an EMU 0404 as a source, is there anything I should watch out for when trying to get a linux machine to do audio?

 

[Aman]

EMU cards are not supported on Linux. Creative are being bitchy flibbergibblets and not releasing the source.

If you want to have a high-end audio experience on Linux, M-Audio would be a great place to start. There are other more expensive options, but the M-Audio offerings are around the same prices as the EMU cards.

Linux audio is getting better by the day. I'd highly recommend it. It was my main digital source for a long time.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman EMU cards are not supported on Linux. Creative are being bitchy flibbergibblets and not releasing the source. If you want to have a high-end audio experience on Linux, M-Audio would be a great place to start. There are other more expensive options, but the M-Audio offerings are around the same prices as the EMU cards. Linux audio is getting better by the day. I'd highly recommend it. It was my main digital source for a long time.

My m-audio revolution 7.1 was more or less unfunctional in Linux, with alsa, and every driver I found for that matter.

Moral of the story : Linux is no headphile system. You probably will need to use onboard or something of the sort to even get sound working decently.

 

[markot86]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman EMU cards are not supported on Linux. Creative are being bitchy flibbergibblets and not releasing the source. If you want to have a high-end audio experience on Linux, M-Audio would be a great place to start. There are other more expensive options, but the M-Audio offerings are around the same prices as the EMU cards. Linux audio is getting better by the day. I'd highly recommend it. It was my main digital source for a long time.

That's a major pain in the butt; I could ahve sworn I read somewhere that EMU cards are supported on linux *sigh*. How about USB dac's such as headroom's micro dac? are they supported/do they work on linux?

 

[trains are bad]

I'm interested myself. For playback I'd use a USB DAC. I assume one of the more fully featured distros like SuSe or RHFC are plug and play with such a device?

Another thing is the file format issue. If I store all my music on my linux machine, I can read them and play them on other networked machines, no?

 

[RichA]

I use Linux and FreeBSD on the desktop. Mainstream audio cards are generally well supported under ALSA. amaroK is pretty much the best music player I've experienced on any desktop.

Once you use(and become fluent with) one of the open-source desktop operating systems you'll find it hard to go back to Windows. Any self-respecting modern distribution will have a wealth of packages available to you, all easily installable and updated at the same time as everything else.

Kubuntu gets my vote for a Linux desktop.

--Rich

 

[RichA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trains are bad Another thing is the file format issue. If I store all my music on my linux machine, I can read them and play them on other networked machines, no?

Most file formats are well supported on Linux - FLAC and Ogg are included with KDE as standard. Most other formats are easy enough to install, though I've struggled to get a worthwhile install of Monkeys Audio. So I don't use it

.

You can share partitions under Linux by using Samba or NFS.

--Rich

 

[flashbackk]

I am playing around with linux again myself. I am duel booting ubuntu breezy ( gnome ) and xp. Ubuntu recognizes both my usb amps/dacs. Edoral UA-25 and Meier corda aria. As soon as I get wpa figured out I will be able to lose windoz completely. I think linux even sounds better but I expect that it is mostly wishfull thinking. I am saving a spot for a sqeezebox that should fit in just right. Then I am done.....

 

[Uncle Erik]

I use both Linux and OS X for streaming music.

The important thing with Linux is having an ALSA compatible card. If you have that, the rest is easy. Most of the newer distros (Ubunto, Fedora, etc.) will recognize and autoconfigure it.

 

[markot86]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichA Once you use(and become fluent with) one of the open-source desktop operating systems you'll find it hard to go back to Windows. Any self-respecting modern distribution will have a wealth of packages available to you, all easily installable and updated at the same time as everything else. --Rich

This is really the reason why I want to switch. Lately i've been really interested in all the open source stuff available for my mac and kind of miss that kind of a community on my pc.

Longshot I know, but is there any chance that my onboard soundcard outputs a bitperfect signal?

 

[nightfire]

.. rocks. I personally recommend a TBAAM straight out to some kind of higher end dac. Optically isolating the computer helps a lot.

TBAAM is perfectly supported at both 44khz and 48khz (direct), and even the onboard analog out is decent enough.

Also, another vote for Kubuntu. And amaroK rox my nuts.

 

[markot86]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightfire .. rocks. I personally recommend a TBAAM straight out to some kind of higher end dac. Optically isolating the computer helps a lot. TBAAM is perfectly supported at both 44khz and 48khz (direct), and even the onboard analog out is decent enough. Also, another vote for Kubuntu. And amaroK rox my nuts.

wouldn't that not be bitperfect? yall are tempting me to no end =D. Now someone needs to buy my x-fi! =D

 

[Cjattwood]

I've used Linux in the past (mostly Ubuntu 5.10) and all my sound cards have worked fine under it. And yeah, amaroK is such an awesome program.

 

[bizkid]

I've been a longtime linux user, my first linux was slackware maybe 10 years ago when it still had to be installed from floppy disks. But IMHO i would still stay far far away from linux on my desktop. For me, Windows gets my work done quickly, whereas Linux slows me down on many things, i dont want to get into detail here since this is no linux forum

If you already have trouble keeping windows stable and clean, then you shouldnt even think about installing linux imho

There's only one good reason for installing Linux and thats if you have a lot of time and like to learn about it or like to play around with an OS more than just using it to get your work done.

 

[RichA]

^I dunno, but either I'm becoming more used to how *nix works on the desktop or it's all becoming much, much easier. The only thing to give me grief in the last couple of years has been my Audigy SE soundcard - and that was only because I had the latest revision(SB0570), and needed to update ALSA. The newer ALSA revision wasn't available in the Ubuntu repositories - I could have installed it from source, but I opted to go to a newer beta revision of the OS.

I find *nix on the desktop to be great. It's versatile, easy to configure and use, and a breeze to keep up to date. Installing software packages is an absolute joy, so long as it is in the repositories(which the vast majority of packages are).

Unfortunately I can't comment on getting perfect bit-out from the cards - I don't have an external DAC. But the majority of hardware is well supported under *nix these days, and the chances are that if you're looking to do something with it, someone else already has and will have - hopefully - documented it.

--Rich