For anyone who may be interested a downsized ‘Base’ version of AV Linux MX Edition has been released. Please note the Ardour version included has been held at a cherry-pick 8.2.5 but an 8.10 build is optionally downloadable.
We’re so glad you got pardoned and can get back to work!
Especially good since I’m not even a citizen! Although I may be soon once the 51st state annex begins…
Hello Glen,
Is there a Belgium keyboard available in this distro, otherwise we can not use it.
Thanks
Hi, good question!
Keyboard settings are a little different than other DE’s where the system keyboard settings get passed to the Desktop Environment automatically. With Enlightenment you select the keyboard with the flag icon on the Panel and set it from there, there is a Belgian layout…
NOTE*
If you are running a Live session your keyboard settings will not be retained in an install so if you plan to use a non-English layout either select ‘Autologin’ for the Install or create a simple Username and Password that translates from one layout to another. Once you are logged in to your new install you can change the keyboard on the Panel and it will stay that way.
Ok Thanks Glen,
I found the Belgium keyboard, so everything is OK.
Looks very promising.
I have a partition on my hard drive where i can install it.
Is the sound driver PipeWire?
Best Regards
Jean
Hi, and glad to hear you got it working.
Yes, it’s PipeWire and pipewire-jack is pre-linked to take system calls for JACK. If you run Ardour and select the JACK backend it ‘just works’… If you feel you want a newer PipeWire version then a newer build is available in the MX Package Installer ‘MX Test’ Repo.
@GMaq Did you have to do anything more than install the “pipewire-jack” package to set this up in AVLinux so that Ardour’s use of the Pipewire/JACK backend ‘just works’, or were there additional configuration steps? I am curious how good Pipewire’s defaults are.
I ate eye of newt, I faced east at sunrise with 2 toad legs in my left back pocket, I said the rosary backward and forward 7 times and I linked pipewire-jack with this:
# cp /usr/share/doc/pipewire/examples/ld.so.conf.d/pipewire-jack-*.conf /etc/ld.so.conf.d/
and ran
# ldconfig
The problem is I have no idea which one worked…
I also used some sharp sticks and flint put together some simple graphical tools to show common PipeWire command output and change metadata settings. *qpwgraph is also included
The irony is I don’t use any of it… I use ALSA… Also to be clear this particular PipeWire setup is nothing new for this ISO, it’s in all 23.X AVL versions.
LOL! The Cauldron Caretaker’s Cookbook of Linux Audio Configurations is due for a revised edition, I see. Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks. #bookmarked
Great work. I will test this some day.
Thank you glen for your great work.I propose an avlinux super lite. Tiny core linux with nothing but ardour and native plugins installed.No pipewire,jack,yabridge,firefox,etc. If your interface cant use alsa…too bad for you ! Intended use would be older computer as a dedicated audio workstation.
Thanks for considering.
I don’t think Ardour’s binaries can run on Tiny Core. I don’t know the technical specifics, but I remember trying it in the past, and it did not work. I suspect this is related to Tiny Core’s use of BusyBox instead of the standard utilities that most distributions use and/or the differences in file system hierarchy. It may be possible to compile Ardour and a number of open source plugins to work on Tiny Core, but it would be a ton of work for little gain. Enlightenment already is a lean desktop environment, but even KDE or GNOME aren’t a struggle for modern hardware.
I recently started to work on my own Openbox/Tint setup (using Debian as a base) to turn a retired laptop into an Ardour appliance as you described. For me it is less about the performance gain and more about having a dedicated machine free of distractions at-the-ready when I want to record…and also about scratching my itch to tinker and finding a use for a laptop that would otherwise be thrown away. Getting the nuts and bolts in place was pretty simple, but adding that final layer of polish is taking a lot of time.
As someone with kids, a full time job unrelated to technology, and no formal computer education, I would never consider distributing my creation to others because I simply cannot commit to that amount of work and time. [I am also skeptical that anyone besides me would even like it.] @GMaq somehow does all of this, which is very impressive, but I think requesting a complete refactoring of the OS is too much of an ask per my own experience of what it takes to create a customized distribution. I only have a notion of what it takes to distribute it for others to use, but I know it adds a lot more to it.
It’s an intriguing idea for sure, but I’m not the guy… I could never leave Debian/MX and as much as I personally don’t need JACK/Pulse/PipeWire for new folks it would be a non-starter… Enlightenment with a fully set up functional Audio system and extra utilities is already “too weird” for a lot of people and I get grief about that to this day…
AVL had Openbox for a while with XFCE4 and that was also not well received and I personally don’t like many of the ‘tiny’ window managers like IceWM etc. as they all look somewhat Win98 dated and the more you try and modernize them the sillier they look.
There has definitely been a big paradigm shift with new Linux Users… When I got into the game around 2006 people were excited about the variety of products, something like TinyCore or Damn Small Linux could be discussed as being pretty cool and interesting even if you were a Gnome or KDE person. Almost every Distro aside from Ubuntu had some homespun ingenuity charm to it and you could actually see the developers personality in there with the little utilities and workarounds etc… What made it exciting and interesting was that it wasn’t glossily big-enterprise perfect, it did the stuff you needed to do but it was still a little rough and unique… as the User when you got some actual work done with it you had a little sense of job well done because you had produced the same quality of finished product but it took a little extra engagement on your part.
As time has gone on and people have subscribed to the whole 'year of the Linux Desktop" hype we have a bunch of ‘business blue’ Distros out there trying to out-Windows and out-Mac the competitors. A lot of Distros now look like Windows or MacOS with a different/better theme and we have ‘App Stores’ and all the same virtual shopping mall accoutrements and much of the homespun human charm is completely gone…
We also have a generation that have been raised on devices by helicopter parents that fixed every problem for them and replaced every broken device with a newer faster one. This same generation that largely avoid ‘trade’ jobs (my little Billy has to get a degree!) and generally by no fault of their own have little innate mechanical/engineering ability or curiosity so they have a device-based approach and just want their device to work and behave how they expect without figuring out how to repair it or God forbid replace the Operating System on it.
This may result in more Linux Users and bigger err… uhm… better Enterprise Linux Distributions but as these things usually go that quaint unique Mom and Pop coffee shop will get bulldozed for a new Starbucks…
Actually i do ok w/ older versions of AVL after uninstalling packages.The idea is to use a dumpster pull core 2 and have a lean and mean workstation,that boots up & flies (making mac & windows look like chumps)
Use older versions (6.5 or 6.9) 5.15 kernel etc.
Keep it a simpler less complex setup.One that is fun to use after a few beers ! No 500 page manual to figuire it out.Hard to say how many burned out hippies will want it…so i understand the reluctance to proceed.But,its fun when you get a dumpster pull kicking serious a**
I get the appeal for sure and for making a mulitrack Audio recorder appliance out of dumpster pulls is very possible. Have you dabbled with antiX, they make that stuff an art! Also lots of people really like MX Linux Fluxbox version, up and going in around 200Mb of RAM…
I’m actually setting up a test bench for an MX/Bodhi hybrid… E-17 era Enlightenment with Bodhi’s fixes and refinement and even more frugal with RAM than AVL. Current E-27 Enlightenment runs in the neighborhood of 400Mb and Bodhi is like 250Mb and it’s quite attractive (unless you love the current flat trend)…
I have always used Alsa for Ardour, and it ALWAYS works, so it’s good that it still is the default.
What is your thought on TuxGuitar, or MuseScore for notation software, both are free.
Have a nice day.
Hi!
100% agree about ALSA!
The full version of AVL has MuseScore (as an AppImage) it has fallen way behind in the Debian Repos. I’ve lost touch with how well-maintained TuxGuitar is these days, so I’d have to get better acquainted with it. This last release is trying to get away from so much extra stuff.
Fair enough, from a light-weighed distro we can not expect to be everything included…
Thanks.
It’s so easy to download the latest version of MuseScore. No big deal.