Linux Users, What's You Distro Experience?

[glokraw]

One of the REAPER camp here, agree with j_e_g direct to ALSA MMAP. Coming from Windows I am used to only one host connection and using plugins. Never had a desire to use the internet while in that room of my home. If I ever were to need the net I would setup a separate machine.

Choice is a good thing, so for others there is JACK and Pipewire.

From a philosophical standpoint, I consider the OS I use, to be my daw, hosting any and all software and hardware available, including things like Reaper and Bitwig, that are otherwise themselves labeled as being 'a daw'. There are worlds of hardware and software that are not 'plugins', but still can be connected within my enhanced definition of the whole computer being the daw. Of course there are worlds of great plugins to use in a singular software daw, and far beyond sufficient when
someone thrives in that scenario.
And lately, great things are possible linking networked computers to a single record button
Such great potential, should one choose to work at it!

[j_e_g]

the various releases of jackd work fine for normal small session recording situations.

Yes, they all do work. Just some of them work better. But if even the worst of the lot is "good enough" for a particular person, then that's his legitimate prerogative to choose. It's counterproductive to spend time worrying about things that "don't matter" to a given person.

But that doesn't change the fact that you can objectively measure differences that do exist. It's also counterproductive to pretend that there's no differences at all.

For me in particular, an important use is real-time AI musical arrangement on-the-fly (ie, BackupBand), in which case the lowest latency is of utmost importance. So those details matter.

[j_e_g]

great things are possible linking networked computers to a single record button

This is not a scientific observation. But it's been my experience that, the longer it takes to connect the various pieces together, the less likely it is to get good results.

That's why I'm always looking for simpler, quicker setups. Every time I have the urge to add some new piece of hardware/software to my setup, I always first ask myself "What can I get rid of (ie, replace) by adding this new item".

If you've got wires running between various computers, all set to "go off" with the push of a button, then it sounds like you've got something that should be outlawed under the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty) agreements.

[frankmissing]

I personally used Debian on my laptop! Some functions were useful for my tasks! But practically nothing from the list!

[FrettedSynth]

Choice is a good thing, so for others there is JACK and Pipewire.

From a philosophical standpoint, I consider the OS I use, to be my daw, hosting any and all software and hardware available, including things like Reaper and Bitwig, that are otherwise themselves labeled as being 'a daw'. There are worlds of hardware and software that are not 'plugins', but still can be connected within my enhanced definition of the whole computer being the daw. Of course there are worlds of great plugins to use in a singular software daw, and far beyond sufficient when
someone thrives in that scenario.
And lately, great things are possible linking networked computers to a single record button
Such great potential, should one choose to work at it!

Yep! Choice is a good thing.
For me I look at a computer with an audio interface like a piece of gear. Sold 90% of my hardware 10 years ago, don't miss it at all, but I also am getting older and haven't played out much since covid.

Needed four compressors and eqs recently for the vocal inputs of my board. Cheap umc404 wired to the inserts running fircomp2 and mdynamiceq worked much better than I thought it would! Cpu load was small enough to run at 16 samples 3 periods 48khz. Setup the box headless and had a good time with no fuss.

But all of us are different and have different needs so! Choice is good.

[dellboy]

So as per usual something breaks in Linux that I can't fix. I tried to update Bitwig but it says I have broken dependencies that need fixing. Anyone know what to do about - "trying to overwrite '/etc/skel/.gtkrc-2.0', which is also in package mint-artwork 1.8.4 dpkg-deb: error: " ?

[uOpt]

So as per usual something breaks in Linux that I can't fix. I tried to update Bitwig but it says I have broken dependencies that need fixing. Anyone know what to do about - "trying to overwrite '/etc/skel/.gtkrc-2.0', which is also in package mint-artwork 1.8.4 dpkg-deb: error: " ?

Neither of those packages should have any business creating that file. And it is funny because you probably don't have any gtk-2.0 applications around.

I would force remove that mint artwork package (ignoring dependencies), then install bitwig and see what happens.

[uOpt]

Having thought about this a bit more, you should let Bitwig server know. They have no business writing that file. And guessing from the filename they disable the use of their product on all Linux Mint installations.

[dellboy]

Having thought about this a bit more, you should let Bitwig server know. They have no business writing that file. And guessing from the filename they disable the use of their product on all Linux Mint installations.

Thanks for replying. I have it working again now and the new Bitwig installed. It was not just Bitwig which had a problem, it was system wide, and pretty much everything would not install or uninstall. It seems to be a known bug relating to dpkg going back a long way.

[EnGee]

First thing came to my mind is that the new bitwig version (5.2) is using the GPU much more than a previous version. I have Vulkan (or whatever related to my nVidia card) installed, so bitwig is very smooth.
I didnt have any installation problem. I just double click the file and it installs (actually upgrading what's there unlike in Windows where i need to uninstall the previous version then install the new one!).
Anyway, glad that you found it. I have the same mint linux as you and bitwig is my main DAW there, so i keep an eye on your problems/solutions

[uOpt]

Having thought about this a bit more, you should let Bitwig server know. They have no business writing that file. And guessing from the filename they disable the use of their product on all Linux Mint installations.

Thanks for replying. I have it working again now and the new Bitwig installed. It was not just Bitwig which had a problem, it was system wide, and pretty much everything would not install or uninstall. It seems to be a known bug relating to dpkg going back a long way.

What did you do to fix it?

[dellboy]

Having thought about this a bit more, you should let Bitwig server know. They have no business writing that file. And guessing from the filename they disable the use of their product on all Linux Mint installations.

Thanks for replying. I have it working again now and the new Bitwig installed. It was not just Bitwig which had a problem, it was system wide, and pretty much everything would not install or uninstall. It seems to be a known bug relating to dpkg going back a long way.

What did you do to fix it?

I wish I knew. In essence, I googled around and copied and pasted script into the terminal until something worked. I think I ended up installing "aptitude", and that fixed it for some reason. I ended up with a fancy new bootloader that I had no intention of installing. I Now I have to learn the difference between "aptitude" and "apt". Always something new to learn in Linux land.

[audiojunkie]

But at least you are sticking to it and making progress, which is admirable.

[dellboy]

But at least you are sticking to it and making progress, which is admirable.

I guess the proper way to do it would have been to "sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite"?

My trouble was that I could not find the file I was supposed to overwrite. It was supposed to be in "etc/skel/", but it was not there. I guess it was caused by myself doing an in-place upgrade instead of doing the recommended clean install of the new Mint 22. But who is going to wipe an installation and re-install everything? Is that what people do?

[uOpt]

But who is going to wipe an installation and re-install everything? Is that what people do?

No. I never reinstall any OS, not even Windows. If it can't be repaired it is a junk OS and I won't use it, or I am too dumb to fix it and need to change that.