How to get waveform working in ubuntu

[burn]

Hello

I was curious to know how Waveform is working on ubuntu, so I installed ubuntu on two really old machines (core 2 duo, not much RAM), but can't get waveform to launch. On one machine I have 24.04 and the other ubuntu studio 25.10. Waveform won't launch on neither of them. I've looked through some threads here for solutions, but most of them are really old, so maybe they're not up to date?
Don't really know much about using the terminal, but I have used linux in the past, many years ago.

[mikoatkvr]

Assuming you have waveform version 13 installed , open the terminal and paste ( or type ) the following command

Code: Select all

ldd /usr/bin/Waveform13

. This should show any missing dependencies for the runtime binary. You can then paste the output here.

[burn]

Thanks!

This is from the one with Ubuntu Studio 25.10:

ldd /usr/bin/Waveform13
linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007b74398e1000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007b74398b3000)
libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007b74398ae000)
libGL.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 (0x00007b7439826000)
libusb-1.0.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libusb-1.0.so.0 (0x00007b7439803000)
libasound.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libasound.so.2 (0x00007b742b0e6000)
libfontconfig.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfontconfig.so.1 (0x00007b742b094000)
libfreetype.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.so.6 (0x00007b742afb6000)
librt.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/librt.so.1 (0x00007b74397fc000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007b742aea9000)
libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007b742ae7c000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007b742ac00000)
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007b74398e3000)
libGLdispatch.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLdispatch.so.0 (0x00007b742ab47000)
libGLX.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLX.so.0 (0x00007b742ae48000)
libudev.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libudev.so.1 (0x00007b742ab02000)
libexpat.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexpat.so.1 (0x00007b742aad6000)
libz.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0x00007b742aab6000)
libbz2.so.1.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libbz2.so.1.0 (0x00007b742aaa1000)
libpng16.so.16 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpng16.so.16 (0x00007b742aa68000)
libbrotlidec.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libbrotlidec.so.1 (0x00007b74397ea000)
libX11.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6 (0x00007b742a915000)
libcap.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcap.so.2 (0x00007b742a907000)
libbrotlicommon.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libbrotlicommon.so.1 (0x00007b742a8e4000)
libxcb.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1 (0x00007b742a8b3000)
libXau.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXau.so.6 (0x00007b742a8ad000)
libXdmcp.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXdmcp.so.6 (0x00007b742a8a5000)

[talby]

Looks fine to me.

You did not only try to launch it from a launcher icon or graphical launcher app, but also tried to launch it by its command from the command line?

Code: Select all

/usr/bin/Waveform13

Are there messages on the command line appearing upon launching Waveform from there?

[burn]

Yes, it says: Illegal instruction (core dumped)

[burn]

I wonder if the machines are just too old...?

[mikoatkvr]

I think as you mention the machines might be outdated. Waveform somewhat recently set a minimum avx2 ( or sse ) instruction set requirement. You could try with version 11 or perhaps 12 to see if they run OK

[burn]

Yes that was the problem. I had to go down to waveform 9 to get it working. I just assumed it would work, seeing people install on Raspberry PI and such. I guess even those are more powerful nowadays. Might have a go on a better machine, when I have time.

Thank you for your help!

[DavidPardy]

The power isn't necessarily the issue here, but if the CPU doesn't have the required instruction sets then it can't work

Core 2 Duo is from around 2006 so in computer terms it's an antique these days