[LAU] another linux audio bashing thread on slashdot

Gene Heskett gheskett at wdtv.com
Tue Oct 29 21:18:34 UTC 2013


On Tuesday 29 October 2013 17:13:48 Barney Holmes did opine:

> Quoting Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com>:
> > On Monday 28 October 2013 10:44:40 Barney Holmes did opine:
> >> Quoting Brett McCoy <idragosani at gmail.com>:
> >> > On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 5:48 AM, michael noble <looplog at gmail.com>
> > 
> > wrote:
> >> >> Must be that time of year again when slashdotters get a bee in
> >> >> their bonnet about how useless Linux is for audio production.
> >> >> Enter at your own risk...
> >> >> 
> >> >> http://ask.slashdot.org/story/13/10/27/0534248/ask-slashdot-best-c
> >> >> ros
> >> >> s-platform-linux-only-audio-software?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkano
> >> >> n&ut m_medium=feed
> >> > 
> >> > Ha, I stopped reading /. a long time ago. I can see not much has
> >> > changed...
> >> 
> >> Same here. It seemed to turn into a cynicism fest in many
> >> circumstances. If this kind of post (no I didn?t go in, I have enough
> >> anger already) is anything special or just the usual I don't know.
> >> However there is a HUGE watershed going on at the moment that
> >> undoubtedly is spilling well beyond the borders of open source land.
> >> Something extraordinary IS happening and I don't see why anyone
> >> should be embarrassed about giving themselves a pat on the back or
> >> even getting others to pat them on that back ! An enormous amount of
> >> work by thousands upon thousands is paying off. The fruits started
> >> happening with Android, despite proprietary drivers (if Google had
> >> refused that none of the mobile phone manufactures would have even
> >> used Android!), then Ubuntu, as well as the less visible internet
> >> servers and embedded technologies. But the one that takes the
> >> biscuit for me is Steam announcing SteamOS. This is going to be a
> >> huge change in what has been a long standing corporate culture of
> >> Microsoft/Nvidia/Intel. Video games are the quintessential example of
> >> the Real Time application. Graphics and sound all running as a real
> >> time application. There's hints of where this is going in things like
> >> the 3D synth by Robert Gareus. Look at the 3D menu / interface that
> >> you can spin around in Borderlands 2. It amazes me that we are not
> >> already using 3D window managers and are still stuck in static 2D
> >> land (go ask Ted Nelson about that).
> >> 
> >> Where does this take Linux Audio Users ? Well the future is bright.
> >> What's over that horizon ? I've been looking at Blender Game Engine
> >> for doing VJ visuals (it can play full frame video within the game
> >> engine and spin that around a'la a high end vision mixing desk).
> >> Combined with sound who knows what kind of 3D dynamic sound mixing
> >> environments could be created ?
> >> 
> >> So Linux bashing, go easy on them.
> >> 
> >> DJ Barney
> > 
> > I have not yet looked at SteamOS, but you are claiming realtime for
> > it.
> 
> We don't know the gritty technical details of SteamOS yet. I was only
> claiming that video games are a form of Real Time application. Things
> have to go off, be processed, and return within a given time limit,
> but it's not as stringent as the needs of a robotics production line.
> As every gamer knows, esp. PC gamers, there are sometimes slight
> glitches, short freezes and frame rate drops because the game is not
> tuned to known hardware like it is for a console. Who would put up
> with this while watching TV, or from their hardware CD player ? Yet, I
> payed £20 for Borderlands 2 recently. Should I not have guaranteed
> uninterrupted game play for that price ? But I think this is what
> Valve are up to. Developers will develop for known hardware specs and
> if there are glitches on other machines then "its your own problem"
> (but I hope they will support DIY PC people as well). All this has
> some similarity to the company, I forget the name, who sell music
> production systems pre-installed on a known hardware config laptop.
> 
> > That  pulls my curiosity trigger because one of my hobbies is CNC
> > machinery, and its realtime demands are far more stringent than some
> > .1 millisecond accurate audio delivery.  Currently we are running
> > linuxcnc on 2.6.32-122-RTAI, but that RTAI patch is invasive as hell,
> > and extremely difficult to apply to a newer kernel, so we are running
> > on Ubuntu-10.04.4 LTS yet, with an occasional hiccup at other
> > functions.
> 
> Valve development may help with that, assuming they actually work on
> any RT stuff, but I'd be very surprised if they didn?t. This is
> happening with Android development being flowed back into the Linux
> kernel -
> http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/linux-guru-re-merging-of-android-i
> nto-kernel-eases-sysdev-a-bit/10635
> 
> > If SteamOS is claiming real time, just how "realtime" is it?  We need
> > to have an I/O heartbeat running at a 20 to 25 u-sec rate, with not
> > over a 3 u-sec jitter in that timing to run well.  Currently the
> > intel atom based boards are the goto boards for that, but we could
> > sure use some additional iron in the mix, which oddly, seems to point
> > toward the BeagleBoneBlack because of its bank of programmable
> > realtime units (PRU's) and a true feast of I/O pin availability that
> > can serve as the step pulse generators.
> 
> We should see the source code of SteamOS sometime in 2014.
> 
> > I have an old HP box with a 1 Ghz athlon in it that could serve as a
> > proof of concept box if this is downloadable and buildable on it.
> > So, what say you that have tasted this?
> 
> I will be installing SteamOS on my PC when it comes out. If it has any
> use for music production remains to be seen. What I'm tracking is the
> effect these developments are having on the future of developments for
> Linux audio users in the open source ecosystem.
> 
> > Thanks.
> 
> Cheers !

I don't know as I'd go so far as to install it just because its there, but 
I will certainly keep my ears tuned for suitable comments when it does hit 
the streets.

We both know that there is a certain amount of iron to do the work, and 
that one thing done exceedingly well, will be balanced by some other aspect 
thats so bad the local stray cat population surplus will be quickly solved. 
:)

Thanks Brett.

Cheers, Gene
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)

Prerecorded for this time zone.
A pen in the hand of this president is far more
dangerous than 200 million guns in the hands of
         law-abiding citizens.


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