[linux-audio-user] mandriva 2005 (ex mandrake) as daw

[Johannes Mario Ringheim]

emanuele ..::www.rumoridifondo.com::.. wrote:
> so i tried to install "jack". but i don't manage to start him. 
> every time a try to start jack by qjackctl the program tell me that it
> can't connect to audio server.

First try with the mm-kernel and a newer jack-version from THAC's. See 
below.

> my kernel version is 2.6.11mdk. do i have to use the multimedia-kernel
> to work in realtime and low latency?
> 
> does anyone use mandriva 2005 as a daw? 


I've been using mandriva/drake as a DAW for a year now, and IMHO this is 
(one of) the best distro(s) for the job. I can tell what I did, then you 
can see if that works for you. (Maybe you've already done this, I dunno).

First run this as root:
urpmi.addmedia thacs.rpms http://rpm.nyvalls.se/10.2/RPMS with hdlist.cz

It will add the THACS repository to your system so that you can install 
THAC's apps from rpmdrake or with the urpmi command. THACS got lots of 
great audiosoftware, and it's pretty well updated too.

Then, if you're using the download-iso version of mandriva, go to this 
page and ad all of the repositories to your system the same way you did 
it with THACS:

http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/

Now, with all the repositories installed you can very easily install (as 
good as) any gnu/linux app through rpmdrake or with the urpmi command. 
Dependency-trouble will be dealt with automatically, just remember to 
update the media (repositories) once in a while.

With all this installed I've found mandriva to be a most easy to use and 
powerful distro for audio. You can even install pre-compiled kernels 
with all RT-patches etc all set up (mm-kernel).

The sad story, though:

It appears to be that THAC's got into some quarrel with mandriva-folks 
(correct me someone if I'm wrong), so he refuses to continue building 
apps for mandriva "primarily". In that case I dunno if I can recommend 
mandriva for your daw, atleast not until some similar repository 
appears. THAC's gone over building for the PCLinuxOS distro, wich is a 
derative of mandriva. It seems this PClinuxOS can become quite good, 
possibly better than mandriva, but for the time being, in my experience, 
it is not quite "ready for the daw", atleast not for noobs, there's just 
too many bugs yet.

I've tried to look around for some other distro lately, but with my 
snobbish preferences on how things should be I've not really found any 
distro wich can quite make up for the quality and ease-of-use of 
mandriva. I guess for now I'll watch THAC's coming moves and keep an eye 
on the PCLinuxOS to see if there's progression (I think there is much 
nowadays), before I eventually up/re-grade my system again.
If anyone has more info on this of course I'd like to know ;)

Good luck with your daw!

-- 
Ringheims Auto - Fri musikk for bilstereo!
http://ringheimsauto.1go.dk/