Dream beta release (Ubuntu Based Multimedia Distro with Ardour and ArdourVST 2.8.7)

Installation & Configuration Linux
#21

CaptainMission: Thanks for telling me about the pulsejack issue. It seems to be fixed if you set the “timeout” to a higher value in qjackctl (I was getting the same issue in a VM, but not on real hardware). I’ve since fixed this in the next beta release which will be up by tomorrow morning.

Metaldefektor: Does jack start up okay when you start it with qjackctl (before you start Ardour)?

LinuxDSP, GMaq, Paul: I have had some issues with desktop software not working at the same time (like Paul said; although not always) when pulseaudio is removed. Not to mention that Ubuntu’s default sound control app is Pulseaudio based. As I have always admired Ubuntu’s approach to making things easier for first time users, I want to stay as much inline with Ubuntu as possible, and only to ADD software/features, and never to take away. As such, I’ll do everything I can to make pulseaudio play nice, but will probably not remove it. There are other distros out there without pulse if that’s what people need. The other reason I don’t want to remove pulse is that Dream is focused on multimedia in general. Some people may only use it for graphics, or for video, or for webdesign. Either way, staying in line with stock Ubuntu while at the same time making it easy for first time users to make whatever multimedia creations they can imagine (including audio recording); will ultimately remain Dream’s goals. Also, Dream automatically adds all users to the audio group and gives the audio group realtime permissions.

Thorgal: very interesting approach! This requires Jack to be running though, and as I mentioned above, some people may not be using this distribution for pro audio.

I’d like to thank EVERYONE for mentioning your issues not only with my packages, but also with stock Ubuntu, as these comments are enormously helpful in perfecting my distribution before I make a “final” release. As most of the packages I’ve created are meta-packages (or minor variations of stock packages), once this debut release is finalized, it should be no problem to release at the same time as Ubuntu in the future (starting with Maverick Meercat in October).

As I’ve mentioned above, keep your eyes peeled for the next beta due sometime tomorrow morning.

#22

Wich kernel is the default in Dream: RT or Dream? (both are in the repos)
Besides that with the Dream kernel the boot splash don’t work, I get better performance with the RT kernel (less xruns, and no glitches)

#23

Actually the RT kernel is the default. The Dream kernel is an old one I use for karmic. I should probably remove it.

#24

I was just planning to upgrade my audio machine to Lucid now that I’ve finished my current major project. I think I’ll give Dream a shot instead and see how it goes.

I’ve developed a very specific process for setting up Ubuntu for pro-audio, and while the end result is a nicely running machine, I’ll agree with those who say that this is far from ideal if we hope to get more new users on board the Linux audio bandwagon. Also, to add to the discussion about setting up Ubuntu, in addition to the now standard editing of the limits.conf file (as well as the 50-udev-default.rules file if you want easy access to firewire devices) and putting the user in the Audio group, I’ve found that since Intrepid I’ve needed to create an init script that sets specific thread priorities. The process is described at this link-

http://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Low_latency_howto

-under the ‘Thread Priorities’ section. If I do not do this, then i get an unworkable amount of x-runs. For some reason, this process was not necessary in Hardy.

#25

beejunk: what do you have to do with 50-udev-default-rules? I suppose I can search around, but I have no firewire devices so I hadn’t heard of that before. The init script you described secondly is available from standard ubuntu repos in a package called “rtirq-init”. I have included this package by default.

#26

@macinnisrr:

Thorgal: very interesting approach! This requires Jack to be running though, and as I mentioned above, some people may not be using this distribution for pro audio.

actually, not really, I also use this ALSA loopback trick on my old laptop when I use jack on it but this is quite rare. The trick is to add another initialization command in qjackctl during jack server startup, namely :

cp /home/thorgal/.asoundrc_loopback /home/thorgal/.asoundrc

So the original .asoundrc is temporarily overwritten

of course, the assumption is that you are the only user here but this could also be made to work in distributed environments by temporarily changing /etc/asound.conf or whatever it is called.

After the jack server shutdown, I restore the original .asoundrc (automated from the qjackctl options). So I do not have to starve ALSA apps from processing audio while jack is also sometimes running on this laptop :slight_smile:

#27

macinnisrr,

If Ubuntu is the same as Debian in this regard then you need the user to be a member of the “disk” group to use any firewire device since Linux still regards firewire primarily as a disk i/o, this also goes for DV video camcorders. I’m not sure if that is what beejunk is referring to but a simple ‘sudo adduser USERNAME disk’ is all that is required post install to get firewire going assuming of course that ffado and jack-firewire support are already installed.

EDIT
This appears to no longer be the case for Lucid, although it still is for Debian, my apologies for any confusion.

#28

GMaq: Ah, I see. Well that makes sense. I’ll add this capability (to add all users to the disk group) to dream-default-settings package, which is what I currently use to add users to the audio group. Any users already installed, however, will have to be added manually.

Thorgal: That’s very clever! I will likely not be removing pulseaudio as I’ve mentioned (or perhaps might with a pro-audio package as an option), but I will certainly keep that in mind.

#29

GMaqs technique may very well work, and I’ll give it a try since it would be easier, but what the Ubuntu Studio people have been doing (which is where I got this particular trick) is to edit the /lib/udev/rules.d/50-udev-default.rules and add the line:

KERNEL==“raw1394”, GROUP=“video”

Of course, you’ll need to add yourself to the “video” group now to get permission, but it works. I suppose you can just change the group to ‘audio’ to get all these permissions in one spot.

Without this trick, firewire devices will not work with JACK unless you chang the ownership of /dev/raw1394 every time you start up.

Also, I had no idea that script was in the repos. That’s awesome.

#30

Hi there, lately i’ve got this message when updating my sources: A error occurred during the signature verification. The repository is not updated and the previous index files will be used.GPG error: http://www.dickmacinnis.com lucid Release: The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY…

Any idea what’s going on?

tx

#31

Also, as i am working with lucid and ubuntu studio, if installing dream versions for jack, ardour, etc…, will the dream versions upgrade the old versions or should i uninstall the old versions once the dream versions are installed?

just waiting for the issue with the public key to be fixed.

tx

#32

didjewind (and anyone else using the Dream repository): You’ll need to install this package manually: http://dickmacinnis.com/dream/pool/main/d/dream-repository/dream-repository_1.1_all.deb in order to get the repository working again. The original key was lost, so the only way to get the repo up and running again was to create a new one. Once you’ve installed this package, you’ll find many upgrades and changes ready to install (and the error message you mentioned will go away)

Also, any packages which conflict with existing ones are marked as such in the packages, so dream packages will automatically warn you if they will cause a conflict, and will mark the offending original packages for removal. If a package will conflict and is not packaged correctly as such, you will still get a warning when you try to install it, but in this case please let me know so I can fix it.

Beejunk: I noticed that the script you’re describing is in the Ubuntustudio-controls package, but their script for adding/modifying realtime permissions works on the wrong file (/etc/security/limits.conf as opposed to /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf), and in addition, Ubuntu’s stock jackd package formats those same settings in a way that isn’t currently readable by ubuntustudio-controls. I’m working to fix this (you may notice a package in the repo called realtime-audio-controls, but I haven’t worked all the bugs out), but even in its current state, you can add the aforementioned modifications for firewire support. As well, since this allows members of the “video” group to access firewire devices, anybody who installs Dream from the standard installation disk will already be a member of this group, and therefore will simply need to click the option in question in realtime-audio-controls. This program will be installed by default once it’s in slightly better shape.

#33

didjewind (and anyone else using the Dream repository): You’ll need to install this package manually: http://dickmacinnis.com/dream/pool/main/d/dream-repository/dream-repository_1.1_all.deb in order to get the repository working again. The original key was lost, so the only way to get the repo up and running again was to create a new one. Once you’ve installed this package, you’ll find many upgrades and changes ready to install (and the error message you mentioned will go away)

Also, any packages which conflict with existing ones are marked as such in the packages, so dream packages will automatically warn you if they will cause a conflict, and will mark the offending original packages for removal. If a package will conflict and is not packaged correctly as such, you will still get a warning when you try to install it, but in this case please let me know so I can fix it.

Beejunk: I noticed that the script you’re describing is in the Ubuntustudio-controls package, but their script for adding/modifying realtime permissions works on the wrong file (/etc/security/limits.conf as opposed to /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf), and in addition, Ubuntu’s stock jackd package formats those same settings in a way that isn’t currently readable by ubuntustudio-controls. I’m working to fix this (you may notice a package in the repo called realtime-audio-controls, but I haven’t worked all the bugs out), but even in its current state, you can add the aforementioned modifications for firewire support. As well, since this allows members of the “video” group to access firewire devices, anybody who installs Dream from the standard installation disk will already be a member of this group, and therefore will simply need to click the option in question in realtime-audio-controls. This program will be installed by default once it’s in slightly better shape.

#34

Macinnisrr: I attempted to try out Dream, but ran into some problems. The CD drive on my main computer is busted, so I’ve been installing Ubuntu via USB start-up disks. The first problem I ran into was that I was unable to install Dream onto a USB stick using the standard Lucid start-up disk creator. Everything would seem to be going fine, until I reached about 98% when copying the files, at which point the program would simply stop and not recover.

I was, however, able to create a Dream start-up disk using UNetBootin. I was even able to start a live session using this disk, and from what I could tell, Dream seemed to be running well (nice menu layout, btw, and I like how qjackctl starts up right away). However, when I tried to fully install Dream, I would once again reach about the 90% point, and then get an ‘input/output’ error that would end the installation process. I was unable to figure out why, and so sadly I have yet to give Dream a real shot.

I then installed standard Lucid, and discovered that what you are saying concerning Ubuntu Studio controls is correct, in that it does not edit the audio.conf file (which I believe is new with this release. Or, at least, I have never had to deal with this file before. I’ve always edited limits.conf). It also seems that Ubuntu Studio Controls no longer edits the 50-udev-default.rules file, or at least, not in the way I previously described. It is doing something that is required to get firewire support, I’m just not sure what, I’ll have to look into it further. Also, I tried GMaqs suggestion of justing adding myself to the ‘disk’ group, and this did not seem to work. At this point, it appears that getting firewire support in Lucid involved doing whatever it is that Ubuntu Studio Controls is doing, and adding myself to the ‘video’ group. But, once this is done, it does seem that Lucid runs very well under the standard RT kernel. At least, for me.

I would really like to try Dream, though, so if you have suggestions on what might be causing my USB stick problems, let me know.

#35

beejunk: The new ubuntustudio-controls creates a file to which it adds availablity of firewire, and as you mentioned, joining the video group once it’s enabled is the way to make use of it.

As far as your problems getting a USB install to work, I’m not sure what to say, but I’m testing as we speak. I’ve already successfully installed Dream to a USB stick from the Dream beta1 iso, but I’ve only done it locally, so I’ll check the iso on my webserver and get back to you when I’ve given that a go. By the way - what version of Ubuntu are you using to install it? I had success with both the usb creator and unetbootin on Lucid, with no errors on install…

#36

macinnisrr: I used Lucid running on my desktop. I have since tried it on my laptop running a fresh Lucid install, and usb creator had no problem making a startup drive. So it was something that was wrong with my desktop. Who knows what.

However, I was still unable to complete an install of Dream onto my computer from this drive. I received the same error toward the end of the installation. This is the text of the error:

The installer encountered an error copyinig files to the hard disk:

[Errno 5] Input/output error

This is often due to a faulty CD/DVD disk or drive, or a faulty hard disk. It may hellp to clean the CD/DVD, to burn the DC/DVD at a slower speed, to clean the CD/DVD drive lens (cleaning kits are often available from electronic suppliers), to check wheter the hard disk is old and in need of replacement, or to move the system to a cooler environment.

I do not have this issue when installing regular Lucid from a USB drive.
#37

beejunk: Thanks for your help, I think I’ve figured out what happened. There was some sort of file degradation with the iso on my webserver, but my local file is still okay. I’ve since uploaded a new file to my webserver (same name as the old one so the link will still work), but unfortunately you’ll have to re-download the iso. One thing you should know, however, is that when you go to upgrade your system (to get the new realtime-audio-controls, which works as it should now), you’ll have to manually remove these three packages:

ubuntustudio-controls
dream-audio (which depends on the above)
dream-studio (which depends on dream-audio)

Once you’ve removed these files you can re-install “dream-studio” and all the other dependencies will come along with it. I will be uploading a new iso (beta2) overnight tonight with these changes applied, which will be the final beta, as I will not be removing any more dependencies. I will be adding some example files (Ardour and Cinelerra sessions, inkscape, scribus, and gimp files, hydrogen, qtractor and zyn sessions, etc…, as well as the demo versions of linuxdsp plugins) before the final release comes out, but all of these will be pulled in by dream-studio on final release.