[linux-audio-dev] Linux and Standards

Hi all, As some of you may already know, I am going to present a paper/demo at the upcoming ICMC 2004 conference in Miami on Linux titled: Linux as a Mature Digital Audio Workstation in Academic Electroacoustic Studios – Is Linux Ready for Prime Time? As promised I will be posting an expanded version of the paper online right after the presentation that is slated for the Wednesday next week. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all the members of this wonderful community for their insight and help in making my final paper as accurate and objective as possible. Furthermore, I would like to thank everyone involved in the development of audio software for the GNU/Linux platform because without you none of this would've been possible. Finally, just a couple days ago I was invited to serve as one of the panel members on Matthew Wright's discussion titled "Standards From the Computer Music Community" that will take place on Saturday November, 6. He wants me to present the Linux audio community's angle on standards and considering that this conference encompasses faculty as well as researchers and programmers from all across the World, I feel that this is a perfect opportunity to voice out our angle on the given topic and perhaps that way further expose the strengths that Linux can offer. I would like to share with you a short overview of my thoughts on this issue and would like to encourage those of you who may have additional thoughts to please send me your suggestions and/or corrections. Your help in this matter is most appreciated! However, please bear in mind due to fact that I am leaving for the conference on Sunday afternoon and am not sure how regularly (if at all) will I be able to check my e-mail while away from home, I would really appreciate it if you would please send me your responses before Sunday 2pm or so. I would of course appreciate also belated comments just in the case I do get to check my e-mail, I just cannot guarantee I'll get to read them prior to the presentation. My sincere apologies for the unusually short window of opportunity. At any rate, here's my blurb: ---------------------------------------- My initial presentation will be limited to 5-7 minutes since panel will consist of a number of members. Following everyone's initial presentation, there will be a discussion driven in part by the questions from the audience. LINUX AS A STANDARD I feel that considering linux as a standard is on one hand a kind of a paradox as it is built on the premise that individual truly can tweak it to heart's content and therefore it is relatively unlikely that any two Linux boxes would look and/or perform the same. Yet, on the flip-side of the coin Linux stands as a most successful offspring of the GNU movement and as such it is the most revolutionary and therefore the standard-setting OS in a category where it has no competition. Furthermore, this diversity it offers perhaps stands in its own light as a kind of a standard offering the end-user to shape their computer as a personalized instrument. PLANET CCRMA/DeMuDi/THAC'S RPMS/AUDIOSLACK The diversity seemingly suggests lack of standards, yet the software packages in most cases seamlessly compile on various distributions. This diversity is simply a byproduct of the diversity of the commercial Linux distributions. This is where lies perhaps the biggest problem with Linux, and that is the issue of different file tree across the different distributions which introduces hurdles for the "compile-from-the-source" crowd and in part feeds the demand for the prebuilt distros and subsequent fragmentation (a vicious circle if you like). KERNELS There is no "standard" audio kernel even though some of the kernel releases in conjunction with patches yield better performance. This diversity is however irrelevant as most of the applications work just fine on different sub-versions of the same kernel without a recompile. Therefore such disparity is more of a nuisance for the end-user than a potential standard-breaking anomaly. Furthermore the fix for such disparity is provided via aforementioned distributions. APPLICATIONS The powerful thing about Linux is that while everyone is welcome to contribute their own ideas or even design their own applications from ground-up, the strongest concepts rather than most developed applications are the ones who set the standard (i.e. JACK, ALSA, etc.) which is not always the case with the commercial proprietary World where often PR plays a critical role (i.e. VHS vs. BETAMAX -- although this is not the best example as this is not software-related but you get my point). Eventually, the strongest concepts do become also the most developed ones, but due to the fact that the source is readily available and that other developers choose to implement and therefore support those interfaces which look most promising, should there ever a new standard arise it will always have the chance to rise and overcome the leading standard, no matter how well the leading standard is established, and will likely do so in a least painful fashion for the end-user (i.e. ALSA vs. OSS as opposed to OS9 vs. OSX transition). Finally, open-source nature of the software minimizes the potential for misrepresentation of the format's features (a.k.a. false advertising in the commercial world). This is where Linux truly shines. That being said, Linux has its own share of disparate formats which impede the development of a standard (i.e. every sequencing software has a different format for saving the sessions). However, it is my feeling that this is simply a transitional phase and in due time the strongest will prevail. As far as the standard or core applications of the Linux community are concerned, I really do not wish to go there as that may spawn heated discussion which may completely detract from my goals. Besides, it is exactly this individualized preference that drives the diversity in Linux's software offering. AUDIO-RELATED STANDARDS THAT CAME FROM LINUX COMMUNITY (in no particular order -- it's 3am, give me a break ;-) Jack, LADSPA, LASH, ALSA, Ogg/Vorbis, others? (Lash is especially interesting as it is designed to unite seemingly different standards under one umbrella session controlling mechanism which is something unique for the Linux platform -- other proprietary formats are imho harder to unite under such a meta-standard, if you like, because they are often conceived to work just by themselves and do not necessarily encourage efforts from various competitive companies to conform to them; they rather come up with their own standard unless the existing standard is too strong to compete with which in either case results in a less adequate solution for the end-user) What is both interesting and in part detrimental (at least in short-term) to the Linux audio community is that many formats due to their openness are not readily supported by the proprietary world as they have no profit-making value (i.e. Apple's DRM-ed AAC is safeguarded by Apple so that they can profit from licensing it to other companies and/or locking in their iTunes/iPod market). One final remark on Linux standards as a whole is that Linux holds an upper hand when it comes to longevity of their standards as they are not encumbered by the IP limitations imposed by a particular company and therefore directly dependant on the company's longevity. ---------------------------------------- Sorry for the messy spill of thoughts, hopefully you'll get the main points of my ideas. I am just too tired at this point to try to clean-up my prose. I would really appreciate your thoughts as well as any potential additions you may have. Many thanks! Best wishes, Ivica Ico Bukvic, composer & multimedia sculptor http://meowing.ccm.uc.edu/~ico/ --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.784 / Virus Database: 530 - Release Date: 10/27/2004