From: A. C. Censi <accensi@gmail.com>
Sent: Tue, February 9, 2010 2:26:36 PM

http://www.itwire.com/opinion-and-analysis/open-sauce/36698-from-windows-to-linux-a-sound-decision
From Windows to Linux: a sound decision
Beasley's set-up:
Arch Linux system custom 2.6.31,6-rt19 kernel with RT preemption
============================
 
Thanks for posting this article.  It's allowed me to start using Jack and Rosegarden again.
 
Last November 20th or so (it's why I went totally silent, Oleg), an update came down from Fedora 11 (I was also using Planet CCRMA repositories for audio).  I only use the stable repositories and I consequently trust all updates that come down from either Fedora or Planet CCRMA.
 
That trust appears to have been misplaced.
 
For no readily apparent reason, I couldn't start Jack anymore.  Time was extremely short for me.  I tried the suggested fixes in the Jack error log output, but it didn't solve the problem.  I next tried Fedore 12 and must have gotten the same update, since Jack wouldn't start with the same error messages as I got under Fedora 11.  I've gone from then until Sunday, March 14th, without Jack, Ardour, and Rosegarden.
 
On Sunday I installed Arch Linux.  No problems, except for searching the Wiki Forum to find out the port number needed to get my network printer server recognized so I could print under Arch Linux.  I got that fixed yesterday.
 
I'm now running:
 
without PulseAudio (oh what joy!)
 
ALSA version 1.0.22, release 1 (if I've read that correctly from the PKGBUILD script)
 
Jack version 0.116.2, release 1
qJackCtl version 0.3.6, release 1
 
Ardour version 2.8.7, release 1
 
Rosegarden version 10.02, release 1
 
Audacity version 1.3.11beta, release 1
 
The other thing I like about Arch Linux is that it doesn't automatically check for updates, and it doesn't try to push updates on you.  Now that I have a system running the way I want, I can leave this system as is for the next 10 years if I wish and there won't be any broken programs due to buggy updates.  Oh what joy, again!
 
For What It's Worth,
Stephen.