EnergyXT 2.7 Linux (32bit) on a 64bit Machine

[AVLinux]

Hi,

Some recent discussions got my butt in gear and my curiousity piqued about getting good ole EnergyXT 2.7 Linux (32bit as we're painfully aware) running on a 64bit Linux system and by gum I did it!



Then some extra goodness from LinVST meant I can run both 32bit LinuxVST native plugins and 32bit WinVST Plugins. As proof of concept the picture above has Aspect, Helm and BlackEQ 2 as Linux VST's running alongside SFZ, Couture and Fabfilter Pro EQ as 32bit WinVST's converted with LinVST..

Probably a waste of time for most people but I'm just happy to know I can get this up and running on a 64bit distro.. This was all done on AVLinux 2019 but I made deb packages of my work if anyone wants to be a lab rat on another Debian/Ubuntu-based distro I can share them, just reply here..

While the Windows version of EnergyXT 3.0 works in Wine on a 64bit Linux system, I have some Audio artifacts and clicks and pops and dropouts with WineASIO and the Linux version seems to be more stable at lower latency settings.

[codec_spurt]

Good stuff.

I downloaded your most recent .iso and was about to set stuff up. Will soon.

This is great news.

I'm not so big in to using Linux as a main audio production system, but the geek in me likes to play about all the same. One main reason being it helps me undertstand Linux a lot more at its core.

I spent a whole week once out of my life trying to get pulse audio to work in Kubuntu on KDE (obviously). What a nightmare. I spent anohter 8 hours writing up an essay about how I had done it and put it up at the Kubuntu forum, and got, well, maybe one like?

You think KVR is a tough crowd?

I'm not sure why Glokraw is not showing up here as he's a Linux Audio freak. Maybe it's personal grudges like with everything else around this place. Maybe he doesn't know about the thread. I'll try to alert him when I get a chance. He's very knowledgeable on Linux Audio stuff. He's also usually quite happy to help out those that want to learn.

I know that there is massive interest in getting Audio working on Linux. I've had good results myself. I have a shortlist of reliable working plugins I have going good in Wine.

I remember doing some bare bones stuff for PyDaw back in the day. That run on an Ubuntu distro variant. But you could make some ok music on it.


This was all done on AVLinux 2019 but I made deb packages of my work if anyone wants to be a lab rat on another Debian/Ubuntu-based distro I can share them, just reply here..

I suppose that Linux Mint counts, especially LMDE?

Also MX Linux as well, being debian based. Based on the 'stable' version iirc.

Hell, let's get it working on antiX as well! Nothing would give me a bigger kick!

So that's Linux Mint, MX Linux and antiX!

I'm game.

But first of all I want to see what the state of play is with AVLinux itself.

I'll mess about with it first in a VM. Then maybe try a live USB disk. Then maybe do a dual boot if I get time.

Do you have any advice or pointers for setting this up?

I don't mean making a boot disk of course, but more, would I be wasting my time trying to do certain stuff?

Is there any particular OS or distro that you need tested more than any other?

Sorry if I asked any stupid questions. I really am a noob. I'm always happy to be corrected and told where I'm going wrong. It's how I learn.

I'll have a look at your distro over the next few days, and you can let me know what you want and be a bit more specific about testing stuff.

I'd be very happy with a stable working version of EnergyXT2 (whatever iteration). Plus REAPER!

For me the whole point of using Linux is for stability.

I know a whole lot of other musicians as well around the world that would be happy to get this going.


Feel free to give me any pointers in the meantime that you think would speed up the process.

[AVLinux]

Hi @codec_spurt!

*NOTE to anyone trying this... Your chances of success will increase exponentially by having the following packages pre-installed on your system. If you are not using AV Linux and are using another Debian or Ubuntu variant this is possible but requires a LOT of extra setup so be warned!! I would think you need to be a SUPER fanboy/girl of EnergyXT to even think about doing this... AV Linux has all of the support infrastructure preinstalled. This is a HIGHLY irregular and outside of the envelope thing to do on a Linux system or any other, we are running an out of architecture binary and using it to run out of platform plugins...

First.. is your 64bit system prepared to run and install multiple architecture binaries? If not we need to tell it to get ready.. so as Root:

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dpkg --add-architecture i386

then:

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apt-get update

Now crucial dependency packages:

*To run EnergyXT with 32bit LinuxVST Plugins Only:

'gtkdialog' - if it is not in your Package Manager I provide a "no guarantees" package below..
'jackd2' - This is the JACK Audio server required to get Audio i/o to EnergyXT
'qjackctl' - Graphical frontend for JACK to set up your Audio device
If you don't know Jack about JACK have a look at Page 78 of my User Manual:
http://bandshed.net/pdf/AVL2019UserManual.pdf

*To run EnergyXT with 32bit LinuxVST Plugins + 32bit WinVST Plugins:

'wine-staging' - This is a bleeding edge tweaked version of Wine with a lot of support pieces to run the latest games and Windows VST plugins on Linux, it usually requires adding a repository from WineHQ. You MUST install wine-staging for 64bit and 32bit architectures to get everything working..
'linvst' - amazing miracle bridge to convert WinVST dll's to Linux readable ".so's". A special custom package will be provided below depending on the relative success and/or level of interest in this guide.

Wine-staging info: https://wiki.winehq.org/Debian
Ugh! a new dependency for Wine staging: https://forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=32192


OK here we go... the usual warnings apply, below are Custom deb packages that can be uninstalled as easily as they can be installed but the typical legalese about trying at your own risk blah blah blah applies. This is a multi step process so bear with me..


OK, now a little wrinkle.. EnergyXT for Linux never did work with ALSA and only works with JACK with a lot of extra futzing with libaam... don't worry this is all taken care of in the packaging but an extra package that is needed is 'gtkdialog' because I use it for the JACK setup utility for Energy XT. gtkdialog is no longer available in recent versions of Debian or Ubuntu and I include it as part of the base of AV Linux so if you're on MX or Mint or whatever you may need it. Check for 'gtkdialog' in your package manager first and if you don't have it I have made a quick n' dirty package of it but I don't know for sure if it will work outside of AV Linux but in any case here it is to download and install:

http://www.bandshed.net/packages/gtkdia ... _amd64.deb

OK, hopefully that is going to work and we can move on with the EnergyXT stuff, there are 2 packages... one is an 'XT2-Utils" package that is based on some work done years ago by falkTX the developer of KXStudio so we can set up JACK Audio before launching EnergyXT:

http://www.bandshed.net/packages/energy ... -1_all.deb

and then the demo version of EnergyXT 2.7 that will install to /opt conveniently in a writable directory so you can register if you have a license and it will actually take..

http://www.bandshed.net/packages/energy ... -2_all.deb

If you install these packages with Gdebi in theory all of the i386 dependencies you need should get pulled in and installed but as I said this is all conjecture on anything other than AV Linux..

Now you will need to have JACK installed on your system and before launching the energyxt-utils application JACK must be running with your selected Audio device so launch JACK with Qjackctl or Cadence or whatever frontend utility you prefer.. Then run the XT2 utility which looks like this:

EnergyXT 2.7 JACK Utilities_003.png

You use the utility to configure JACK with the inputs and outputs you want and then you need to open the 'Setup' utility when you launch EnergyXT and make sure the setting in the 'Audio' tab match what you set in the XT2 utility..

If you got this far and only want to run LinuxVST's with EnergyXT you simply need to point EnergyXT (Setup--->Browser) to your 32bit LinuxVST folder and be happy..

If you don't have folder of VST Plugins to try here is a package of free widely available 32bit VST's in both Linux and Windows formats. This package installs to the /opt folder of the Linux filesystem because we want to use these plugins with EnergyXT only and leave all the regular plugins on our 64bit system alone for the 64bit applications that use them. Please note this collection of plugins has some duplicate versions of both Linux and Windows VST's and that is because this package could also be used to provide 32bit Windows VST plugins to the Windows version of EnergyXT in Wine. Obviously this package doesn't include licensed versions of commercial plugins but it does represent a good varied collection of solid plugins to get you started. You can always add your own commercial plugins to the folder later. As an example on my home system I have OvertoneDSP, U-he, Melda, Fabfilter, GSi and other commercial plugins all working great in EnergyXT..

Get the package here:

http://www.bandshed.net/packages/avlinu ... -1_all.deb

Make sure to point the EnergyXT Plugin Browser to the newly installed package folder as shown here:

Setup_004.png

Getting Windows VST Plugins running yet to come..

[djvision]

Great write-up, looking forward to reading more.

... a lot of extra futzing with libaam...

This is where I gave up last time I tried to get Linux XT working, about three years ago. Was in dependency hell and completely broke my system.

[AVLinux]

Great write-up, looking forward to reading more.

... a lot of extra futzing with libaam...

This is where I gave up last time I tried to get Linux XT working, about three years ago. Was in dependency hell and completely broke my system.

Yeah, it's not really a straightforward thing to set it up in Linux, it took a lot of trial and error and junk collection from all over the web for me to get it organized as well as it is and it's still not just an "install and use" solution..

How the Linux version of EnergyXT ever got out of the chute without basic ALSA working is something I still really can not comprehend... how did Jorgen or any of the beta testers ever run the damn thing to try it out without basic ALSA support!!?? It almost seems like the extent of the testing was "Yep it compiled on Linux and the binary runs... our work here is done, release it!"

If I'm not mistaken libaam etc. was all greasily hacked up later so it would at least work with JACK, but my knowledge on how that all came to be is pretty spotty.

[codec_spurt]

Thank you AVLinux for the detailed explanation.

I'll be trying this out in the next few days and getting back to you.

If I get any snags I'll be sure to ask.

It would really be quite something to get this working.

As you say, it's not so easy. But your little mini-guide makes it much easier.


I really appreciate your work and dedication here.

I'll do my best to reciprocate.

[codec_spurt]

Well, major progress to report!



EnergyXT2 running on a 64-bit Intel chip on a 64-bit OS (Win7) in a 64-bit Virtual Machine (MX Linux 19).

Your instructions worked and it didn't take me long to get that far. However, I stumbled and spent hours after my machine seeming to lock up, not being able to open the package manager or the repo manager. The Updater not working. I had to actually restart my whole machine (not just the VM) after FFox stopped working as well. I think I might have messed this VM distro up now.

I'm a Linux noob and idiot, so there's probably a reason for it. I'm working in Virtual Box at the moment.

The reason why I wanted to get the update and package managers working was to install JACK. I'm new to this, please keep in mind.

I downloaded the initial files from your site though and got up and running quite quickly. I got the no audio driver message box. Even though audio still works for youtube vids. Guess it needs JACK.

So, I don't know how to install it. I got to the page with all the .deb versions via the web browser way of doing things (as the standard package manager will not even open) but I don't want to go further in case I mess anything up. Maybe this install can still be sorted out? As you know there is a lot of things to click on there that might be the wrong things to click on and package manager takes care of all that for you. Doh! Why won't it open now?

Here is some notes I took that may be of interest:

EnergyXT install -

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Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'energyxt-demo' instead of '/tmp/mozilla_marko0/energyxt-demo_2.7-buster1-1_all.deb'
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libdumbnet1 libxmlsec1-openssl
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libbsd0:i386 libffi6:i386 libgmp10:i386 libgnutls30:i386 libhogweed4:i386 libidn2-0:i386
  libnettle6:i386 libp11-kit0:i386 librtmp1:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libtasn1-6:i386
  libunistring2:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxau6:i386 libxcb1:i386 libxdmcp6:i386 libxext6:i386
  zlib1g:i386
Suggested packages:
  gnutls-bin:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  energyxt-demo libbsd0:i386 libffi6:i386 libgmp10:i386 libgnutls30:i386 libhogweed4:i386
  libidn2-0:i386 libnettle6:i386 libp11-kit0:i386 librtmp1:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libtasn1-6:i386
  libunistring2:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxau6:i386 libxcb1:i386 libxdmcp6:i386 libxext6:i386
  zlib1g:i386
0 upgraded, 19 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 4,346 kB/7,535 kB of archives.
After this operation, 22.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 /tmp/mozilla_marko0/energyxt-demo_2.7-buster1-1_all.deb energyxt-demo all 2.7-buster1-1 [3,189 kB]
Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libxau6 i386 1:1.0.8-1+b2 [20.3 kB]
Get:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libbsd0 i386 0.9.1-2 [104 kB]
Get:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libxdmcp6 i386 1:1.1.2-3 [26.7 kB]
Get:5 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libxcb1 i386 1.13.1-2 [141 kB]
Get:6 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libx11-6 i386 2:1.6.7-1 [778 kB]
Get:7 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libxext6 i386 2:1.3.3-1+b2 [55.2 kB]
Get:8 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libstdc++6 i386 8.3.0-6 [424 kB]
Get:9 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libgmp10 i386 2:6.1.2+dfsg-4 [264 kB]
Get:10 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libnettle6 i386 3.4.1-1 [233 kB]
Get:11 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libhogweed4 i386 3.4.1-1 [143 kB]
Get:12 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libunistring2 i386 0.9.10-1 [397 kB]
Get:13 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libidn2-0 i386 2.0.5-1+deb10u1 [77.8 kB]
Get:14 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libffi6 i386 3.2.1-9 [20.0 kB]
Get:15 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libp11-kit0 i386 0.23.15-2 [313 kB]
Get:16 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libtasn1-6 i386 4.13-3 [54.5 kB]
Get:17 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 libgnutls30 i386 3.6.7-4+deb10u2 [1,134 kB]
Get:18 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 zlib1g i386 1:1.2.11.dfsg-1 [95.7 kB]
Get:19 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 librtmp1 i386 2.4+20151223.gitfa8646d.1-2 [64.2 kB]
Fetched 4,346 kB in 3s (1,265 kB/s)      
Selecting previously unselected package libxau6:i386.
(Reading database ... 318991 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../00-libxau6_1%3a1.0.8-1+b2_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libxau6:i386 (1:1.0.8-1+b2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libbsd0:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../01-libbsd0_0.9.1-2_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libbsd0:i386 (0.9.1-2) ...
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Preparing to unpack .../02-libxdmcp6_1%3a1.1.2-3_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libxdmcp6:i386 (1:1.1.2-3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libxcb1:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../03-libxcb1_1.13.1-2_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libxcb1:i386 (1.13.1-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libx11-6:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../04-libx11-6_2%3a1.6.7-1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libx11-6:i386 (2:1.6.7-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libxext6:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../05-libxext6_2%3a1.3.3-1+b2_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libxext6:i386 (2:1.3.3-1+b2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libstdc++6:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../06-libstdc++6_8.3.0-6_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libstdc++6:i386 (8.3.0-6) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libgmp10:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../07-libgmp10_2%3a6.1.2+dfsg-4_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libgmp10:i386 (2:6.1.2+dfsg-4) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libnettle6:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../08-libnettle6_3.4.1-1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libnettle6:i386 (3.4.1-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libhogweed4:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../09-libhogweed4_3.4.1-1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libhogweed4:i386 (3.4.1-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libunistring2:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../10-libunistring2_0.9.10-1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libunistring2:i386 (0.9.10-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libidn2-0:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../11-libidn2-0_2.0.5-1+deb10u1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libidn2-0:i386 (2.0.5-1+deb10u1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libffi6:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../12-libffi6_3.2.1-9_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libffi6:i386 (3.2.1-9) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libp11-kit0:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../13-libp11-kit0_0.23.15-2_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libp11-kit0:i386 (0.23.15-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libtasn1-6:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../14-libtasn1-6_4.13-3_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libtasn1-6:i386 (4.13-3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libgnutls30:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../15-libgnutls30_3.6.7-4+deb10u2_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libgnutls30:i386 (3.6.7-4+deb10u2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package zlib1g:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../16-zlib1g_1%3a1.2.11.dfsg-1_i386.deb ...
Unpacking zlib1g:i386 (1:1.2.11.dfsg-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package librtmp1:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../17-librtmp1_2.4+20151223.gitfa8646d.1-2_i386.deb ...
Unpacking librtmp1:i386 (2.4+20151223.gitfa8646d.1-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package energyxt-demo.
Preparing to unpack .../18-energyxt-demo_2.7-buster1-1_all.deb ...
Unpacking energyxt-demo (2.7-buster1-1) ...
Setting up libxau6:i386 (1:1.0.8-1+b2) ...
Setting up libunistring2:i386 (0.9.10-1) ...
Setting up zlib1g:i386 (1:1.2.11.dfsg-1) ...
Setting up libffi6:i386 (3.2.1-9) ...
Setting up libidn2-0:i386 (2.0.5-1+deb10u1) ...
Setting up libgmp10:i386 (2:6.1.2+dfsg-4) ...
Setting up libp11-kit0:i386 (0.23.15-2) ...
Setting up libnettle6:i386 (3.4.1-1) ...
Setting up libtasn1-6:i386 (4.13-3) ...
Setting up libbsd0:i386 (0.9.1-2) ...
Setting up libstdc++6:i386 (8.3.0-6) ...
Setting up libxdmcp6:i386 (1:1.1.2-3) ...
Setting up libxcb1:i386 (1.13.1-2) ...
Setting up libhogweed4:i386 (3.4.1-1) ...
Setting up libgnutls30:i386 (3.6.7-4+deb10u2) ...
Setting up librtmp1:i386 (2.4+20151223.gitfa8646d.1-2) ...
Setting up libx11-6:i386 (2:1.6.7-1) ...
Setting up libxext6:i386 (2:1.3.3-1+b2) ...
Setting up energyxt-demo (2.7-buster1-1) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.62) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.28-10) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.23-4) ...
N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '/tmp/mozilla_marko0/energyxt-demo_2.7-buster1-1_all.deb' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)

gtkdialog

Code: Select all

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'gtkdialog' instead of '/tmp/mozilla_marko0/gtkdialog_0.8.3-nodeps-1_amd64.deb'
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libdumbnet1 libxmlsec1-openssl
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  gtkdialog
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 downgraded, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/92.2 kB of archives.
After this operation, 524 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 /tmp/mozilla_marko0/gtkdialog_0.8.3-nodeps-1_amd64.deb gtkdialog amd64 0.8.3-nodeps-1 [92.2 kB]
dpkg: warning: downgrading gtkdialog from 2:0.8.3-2mx150+1 to 0.8.3-nodeps-1
(Reading database ... 319227 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../gtkdialog_0.8.3-nodeps-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking gtkdialog (0.8.3-nodeps-1) over (2:0.8.3-2mx150+1) ...
Setting up gtkdialog (0.8.3-nodeps-1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.5-2) ...
Processing triggers for install-info (6.5.0.dfsg.1-4+b1) ...
install-info: warning: no info dir entry in `/usr/share/info/gtkdialog.info.gz'
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '/tmp/mozilla_marko0/gtkdialog_0.8.3-nodeps-1_amd64.deb' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)

press any key to close

MX Updater

Code: Select all

  full upgrade
  Reading package lists...
  Building dependency tree...
  Reading state information...
  Calculating upgrade...
  The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
     libdumbnet1 (1.12-8)
     libxmlsec1-openssl (1.2.27-2)
  Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
  The following packages will be upgraded:
     gtkdialog (0.8.3-nodeps-1 => 2:0.8.3-2mx19)
  1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
  Need to get 233 kB of archives.
  After this operation, 461 kB of additional disk space will be used.

MX Updater 2

Code: Select all

marko@mx:~
$ sudo apt autoremove
[sudo] password for marko: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libdumbnet1 libxmlsec1-openssl
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
After this operation, 425 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 319134 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing libdumbnet1:amd64 (1.12-8) ...
Removing libxmlsec1-openssl:amd64 (1.2.27-2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.28-10) ...
marko@mx:~
$ 

Hopefully that makes some kind of sense or provides some useful information.

I can't go much further at the moment.

I'm super happy to get EnergyXT2 loaded and working and firing up from a symlink from my desktop! So thank you very much for that!

Sorry I'm such a Linux idiot. But if I can get things working anyone can. I did some Drupal web development on the LAMP stack and liked using Linux Mint LMDE for that which is also Debian based. I got pretty far with that, except one day I couldn't get back in to root and couldn't log in and no body would tell me how to do it and they all just called me a stupid idiot (thank Linux users). So I lost a lot of work, even though I was running the development in tandem on my windows box, so I salvaged most of it.

I seem to get stuck at the really basic stuff. I do feel like an idiot now.

How difficult must it be to install JACK?

I'm not disheartened though. I now know that with your instructions I can get EnergyXT working in MX Linux (debian based as you know) - that is the real hard part. The other stuff is just teething problems. Thanks again.

I'm going to try and mess up my MX Linux distro on my VM in VMWare now!

And see if I can get that working.

I think I might have jumped the gun a bit and been a bit impatient. I didn't read through all your instructions first, I just started at the top and worked from there. I have a better idea what I am working with now.

I just don't understand why my package manager will not open (or my repo manager) and why the Updater has stopped working. I went in to the terminal to execute the first part of one of those messages to autoremove, and that worked, but to update it is just stuck and going 'round in loops. Doh!

Never mind, I have a backup of this VM. I can always wipe things and start again. I have to anyway by the looks of it.

Maybe I will have more luck with your instructions in VMWare with MX Linux 19.

I'll also give it a go with your AVLinux distro as well, of course!

So close...

Would be great to get this one going.

Any other stuff you need me to try out, then just fire away...

[AVLinux]

Hi,

Well I'm glad you got this far... I'm a bit puzzled about what went wrong installing JACK, MX being based on Debian should simply install the Debian 'jackd2' related packages (ie 'jackd2, libjack-jackd2-0, libjack-jackd2-0:i386). *NOTE the ':i386" package is crucial!

Rebooting the VM doesn't work? If you can reboot are there any error messages when you run the Package Manager?

Uhm BTW I think you are in no way an idiot, quite the opposite I'm sure and this little EnergyXT2 trip we're taking isn't exactly in newb-friendly waters..

A couple of notes, if you do a do-over I think it is best to install the 'jackd2' package first in your MX before you go anywhere near this hack, secondly the performance of JACK in virtualized environment is abysmal so expect a lot of Xruns unless you crank up the frames per period in Qjackctl to 2048.

I don't know your familiarity with setting up JACK so I suggest having a look at my AVL User Manual page 78 for some context:
http://bandshed.net/pdf/AVL2019UserManual.pdf

Also it looks like when you installed my gtkdialog package it replaced one already on your system so even though gtkdialog isn't in basic Debian or Ubuntu it must be included in MX Linux, so it would appear you don't/didn't need to install gtkdialog.

*EDIT*
On second look it appears MX updated the version of gtkdialog back from mine to the MX version. Nothing I'm seeing there looks problematic or explains why your system is behaving strangely..

[codec_spurt]

I think you have done most of the hard work.

I got further in 30 minutes tonight than I ever have in all my time of trying to install XT2. Whatever you did behind the scenes it seems to have worked.

As always, with Linux (imho) it's the petty things that hold us back.

I just tried again with my VMWare install of MX Linux. It took a while to update. I wanted to do this to make sure we were working from the same page. It's been a little while since I used it.

Before I did any of the XT2 stuff I just wanted to see if my package manager worked or if the repo manger worked. They did not. Both locked.

This seems to be a problem my end.

This is why I'm having problems installing JACK. I've done it before on other systems. But it's a bit hard without having a manager to do it for you. I've made note of your advice though and I'll look in to that.

Usually you would just load up whatever package manager you have (I use a couple usually on whatever Linux system I run) to do this for you. Package Manager knows best. But if it won't run. Uh ho.

I'll have a better look at your post and advice tomorrow when I'm not so tired.

But this is only one distro. MX Linux. It's cool that it works - but is debian based, so...

I haven't tried Linux Mint yet. Nor your own AVLinux distro. But I will.

Let's try to get this one working first if we can. MX Linux is the no.1 distro on Distrowatch and I like it very much. Debian based and with some great tools. It just does everything I want. Except...

No worries.

I think we both made some great progress today.

I never could get EnergyXT2 to install.

Until today.

You've done great work.


I'm pretty sure if I tried this out on your AVLinux distro it would work a lot easier. The hard yards are done it would seem. Not much further to go.

Thanks to Jorgen for providing a Linux version that works pretty well ( as does his windows version ).

Thanks to AVLinux for going the extra mile and keeping the faith.


If nothing else, I'd like to see this working and fully integrated in to the next version of AVLinux.

I'd also like to see it working well in MX Linux also.

Then in Linux Mint (LMDE).

It would be great to see Jorgen get a bit of a return on his investment, and lots of people decide to buy this thing for the paltry amount he offers it for.

Who knows, if things work out well, we might even see a very rare update!

It would also be great to see AVLinux become some kind of standard.

If I could get REAPER and EnergyXT2 and Harrison Mixbus all working on a stable setup (and don't forget Bitwig is Linux friendly) - then we could all really start cooking with gas!


I'm rambling again.

Today was a good day. A milestone. For me at least.

Exceptional work!

[AVLinux]

Hey we're only half done!!

If you get JACK working and EnergyXT working with proper Audio/MIDI i/o then we can get to the next step of using LinVST to get both LinuxVST and WinVST Plugins working.. heck I'll even provide sandboxed packages of 32bit Windows and Linux VST's that are all tested and working... you simply install them and after that you can just add other plugins of your own you want to try to the folders that the packages installed all safely separated from your regular system plugins..

[codec_spurt]

Hey we're only half done!!

If you get JACK working and EnergyXT working with proper Audio/MIDI i/o then we can get to the next step of using LinVST to get both LinuxVST and WinVST Plugins working.. heck I'll even provide sandboxed packages of 32bit Windows and Linux VST's that are all tested and working... you simply install them and after that you can just add other plugins of your own you want to try to the folders that the packages installed all safely separated from your regular system plugins..

We'll get it working.

[AVLinux]

*Note Changes..
I added a lot of clarification to the guide, thanks so much for your input!

I made the JACK Utility a bit prettier and updated the logo in EnergyXT and the utility to match each other and my custom Numix theme, I replaced the linked packages above so you may want to re-download.. no functional changes though..

[codec_spurt]

Ah, I see you moved the goalposts there!

Good stuff.

I referenced your new guide tonight after trying to set things up again.

Success!




But boy was I almost in tears after nearly six hours of setting this up.

I was just about to post this as I was just about to admit failure:




Hours of messing about to get Jack working and get some sound out.

Let me retrace. Deep breath...



My goal tonight was to stop faffing with other distros like MX, which I know we can get to work. There is enough proof of concept there. But it's something silly and I don't feel like dealing with that shit tonight.

So, the goal was to set AVLinux up in a virtual machine. I used Virtual Box.

More to say on the null audio driver setup later.

This took a bit longer than usual. AVLinux is quite specific about what it wants. This is probably a good thing. The really great thing is that it provides very detailed and well-thought out explanations for install.

I did get frustrated when my initial Virtual Disk was a coupla gig too small, and the whole install got knocked off because of it. Had to go back and do a whole new virtual disk. Took me hours. Never mind. Let's just say that you need 16GB virtual disk to play about here. Anything less and it's a waste of time. You can't resize the original disk because of UUID, so rename the little bugger!

Another thing. Don't mess with the audio settings in VBox. I tried doing a null driver and all kinds of permutations and you just end up with no sound at all. This is after I ended up with no sound and following the instructions to a tee.

Don't mess with audio driver settings. Let be. The problems lie elsewhere. They default to Intel/windows whatever settings. Let them be.


So, I got my disk set up. You will need the password to begin installation or even run the live CD by the looks of it.

Go here:

https://parafox-asoka.blogspot.com/2018 ... login.html

Takes a coupla hours even for an old hand like me (who is not an expert). But pretty soon you will have a brand spanking new install of AVLinux.

And boy is it worth it. The tears haven't come yet. The frustrations of setting up Jack/XT.

What an absolutely superb little distro. Been a few years since I last tried it. I also tried KX too which seems related. It's based on the XFCE desktop manager (don't brutalise me for my incorrect terminology please - you know what I mean). And that is a great choice. Very windows like. Functional. Doesn't hog system resources. Sensible choices all round.

Harrison mixbus is on call to start with. It recognizes your ethernet so you are connected straight away. So much work has gone on under the hood here. This isn't just a great audio/visual distro, it's just a great distro to start with and I really want to make that point.

I followed the new instructions for setting up XT2, all worked as usual. Got it working very fast.

The frustrations came when trying to set up JACK. Yes, it all looked good, and seemed to work fine. But there was just no bloody sound, at all. It took me hours of restarting, re-reading instructions (do we close down the XT Utilities before starting XT? or not?), restarting the virtual machine. Changing settings in the audio part of Virtual box (don't do that).

And I was just about to give up. Still happy though, to have such a great distro working in a virtual machine.

I used Audacity to test the audio stuff, and that was handy.

Just as I was about to call it a day (for the 3rd time) I fired up XT2 and it worked!

We have sound!



After a little too much


So it's all good.

I saved a coupla logs along the way but really not needed I suppose by the man who set this all up to work.

A phenomenal achievement.

It's hard to understate the amount of work that went in to this. And this is without even getting to the kernel stuff yet (which I haven't).

Just making this work is a real accomplishment of the highest order.

I never could get XT2 to work ever on Linux. I could never understand why. I could have delved deeper, but I was too busy figuring other things out because I don't use Linux at all for a music production system.

It's quite something to get this working. I don't even know how I got it working. But I did. After many many years. This is a milestone of sorts.

And the fact that AVLinux seems to be such an excellent distro on top of everything else is just sweet icing on the cake.

I want to get this working in MX as well. So many similarities between the two distros - well thought out, utilitarian, custom tools, beautiful interface, quick interface, common interface (Xfce).

MX Linux is the no.1 distro in the world right now. And quite rightly so. Linux Mint dropped the ball.

MX Linux is based on the same Debian code as is AVLinux. Well, kind of, Buster.

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianBuster



AVLinux, you need to go the extra mile and make a kind of idiot's guide for idiots like me that almost get this stuff working, but fall at the last hurdle.

The order of starting the JACK stuff and the XT Utils stuff. Do you keep them open or shut them down before starting other programs? It seems to make a differerence but I might be wrong.

(see my graphic at the top of the page)


Another thing that caught me out was I thought that the EnergyXT2 demo was included in the distro. No big deal, but I guess that's an extra hurdle again for some people. Especially as we are on the EnergyXT forum. You will need to download it and install it yourself. It's not built in. So far.

What would be really great is if you could get permission to remaster this in to the next version of the AVLinux distro. Still the demo version. But I'm sure Jorgen would see a major uptick in sales after doing so. After all, he's only charging peanuts for it now.

Thank you AVLinux. You've done great work with this.



And maybe even a small little thanks to Jorgen as well, who coded this way back when, and it's working now on a 64-bit Linux system in 2020, with a little help from his friends...

[codec_spurt]

Hi,

Well I'm glad you got this far... I'm a bit puzzled about what went wrong installing JACK, MX being based on Debian should simply install the Debian 'jackd2' related packages (ie 'jackd2, libjack-jackd2-0, libjack-jackd2-0:i386). *NOTE the ':i386" package is crucial!

Rebooting the VM doesn't work? If you can reboot are there any error messages when you run the Package Manager?

Uhm BTW I think you are in no way an idiot, quite the opposite I'm sure and this little EnergyXT2 trip we're taking isn't exactly in newb-friendly waters..

A couple of notes, if you do a do-over I think it is best to install the 'jackd2' package first in your MX before you go anywhere near this hack, secondly the performance of JACK in virtualized environment is abysmal so expect a lot of Xruns unless you crank up the frames per period in Qjackctl to 2048.

....

Setting up the 'jackd2' package will be my next step. Thank you. There was the first one and then the second one and they didn't really make any distinction. So 'jackd2' it is. I was waiting for that advice before I went ahead.

If things mess up or don't work I'll just reset my VM's and try again.

I know this can work in MX Linux.

This is a silly little hurdle more to do with my incompetence with regard to Linux and Virtual Machines, in general.

I'm a dog with a bone on this one.

I'll let you know how I get on.

[codec_spurt]

Just loaded my VM back up again to check that everything still works.


This is the process that works for me:

1: Start Jack. (don't forget to press 'PLAY')
2: Start XT JACK Utilities. (Set JACK Inputs and Outputs)
3: Start EnergyXT (make sure that you have JACK set up, in the Setup options)





Not sure if you can then shut down some of these windows. But this works for me for now.