Ubuntu 'Gutsy' is now available

[Tony Monaghan]

The latest releases of Ubuntu for desktop and server are available today for download. This release brings together the best of free and open source software delivered on a stable, easy to use and learn platform. Read the press releases (http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu710) or download it now (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download).

(http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/710tour)
Learn more about the latest Ubuntu release » (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/710tour)

[C J Pro]

The HTTP servers are running slow right now for downloading the ISO (my download is currently clocking in at 29.8 KB/sec). In about 6-10 hours, I should be able to install it and give my opinion on it.

[loydb]

I'm thinking about building a new server around this distro, I'll be curious to see what folks think of it.

loyd

[lallis]

The latest releases of Ubuntu


Tony (or any Linuxisti),

Ubuntu bill their distributions as especially easy to get started with. Even I have got one going, although not with enough success to keep it long. Would Ubuntus have any special advantages for audio? As good as any other. perhaps?

The whole Linux scene is bewildering, and one gets the feeling that its enthusiasts rather like it that way. I'm glad to see the subject opening here. Perhaps some light will get in.

Larry

[Tony Monaghan]

Tony (or any Linuxisti),

Ubuntu bill their distributions as especially easy to get started with. Even I have got one going, although not with enough success to keep it long. Would Ubuntus have any special advantages for audio? As good as any other. perhaps?

The whole Linux scene is bewildering, and one gets the feeling that its enthusiasts rather like it that way. I'm glad to see the subject opening here. Perhaps some light will get in.

Larry
Without a doubt Ubuntu in its various flavors are easy to install and use. Like any other aspect of computing the more you put in the more you will get out of it and perhaps you will begin to see why people like me favour it above other operating systems.

Ubuntu installed freshly 'out of the box', will enable you to browse the internet, read email and perform some of the more essential office functions, in other words pretty much the same as any other OS. Ubuntu in particular does a pretty good job of detecting hardware and installing the correct drivers, something that might have been a showstopper for many people with other older distros. In my opinion at some point you will need to get to grips with the command interface or shell - open up Terminal. It can be bewildering at first although if you remember old DOS days it won't be such a hurdle to overcome. Using the command shell to run apt-get for instance to install software will quickly become the preferred method. As an example, open a terminal session an type;

sudo su (you will be prompted for a password here)

<enter>

apt-get install rosegarden

<enter>

apt-get will go online and download all the packages necessary to install Rosegarden which is a sequencer similar to Cubase. When finished if you look at your Applications menu - Audio, you will see Rosegarden has been added and can be launched.

Ubuntu is not particularly better at handling audio than any other standard distro and in fact Rosegarden will complain that the system timer resolution is too low. To fix this requires a recompile of the kernel code which is not for the faint hearted, I may do a tutorial on this soon. To successfully run audio apps requires a low latency kernel which is included in the audio oriented distros like Studio 2 Go and Jacklab. IF I were a beginner I would get used to Linux by using Ubuntu for a while before moving to a different distro, there is a ton of information out there for the Linux newbie to help get you started.

[lallis]

[quote
Ubuntu is not particularly better at handling audio than any other standard distro and in fact Rosegarden will complain that the system timer resolution is too low. To fix this requires a recompile of the kernel code which is not for the faint hearted, I may do a tutorial on this soon.[/quote]


Well, it's always something, isn't it? Sometimes, I suppose a man has got to recompile his kernel code. But he can hack it, if he can just find out what it is.

That is to say, tutorials would be hugely helpful. I had Ubuntu running and coiuld at once do the "normal" bread and butter things you list. Ubuntu was VERY good-looking and responsive enough, although never really snappy. Unfortunately, the OS installed itself as the first in a dual-boot list, although I hoped I had prevented that; it required me to stay with the machine during boot-up most of the time. Then I couldn't figure out anything much to do with the thing, since I could already surf and process words at a smart clip with Windows.

One is especially curious about Rose Garden. Is it a usable replacement for Cubase or Sonar? Screenshots make it look prosperous as hell.

[C J Pro]

sudo su (you will be prompted for a password here)

<enter>

apt-get install rosegarden

<enter>


Wouldn't it be better to use the following command?

sudo apt-get install rosegarden

That way, it keeps users from remaining as root user and possibly damaging their installation by accident.

[Tony Monaghan]

Wouldn't it be better to use the following command?

sudo apt-get install rosegarden

That way, it keeps users from remaining as root user and possibly damaging their installation by accident.

I think unfortunately, Ubuntu’s policy of allowing one to run any command with sudo has created a crop of people who don’t understand what should and shouldn’t be privileged; some of them seem to believe that ’sudo’ is what you type at the beginning of every command. It completely defeats the purpose and circumvents the security gained by not running as root. For my part, when I want to administer my system, I become root, do what I need to do, and then quit again. I rarely sudo any command other than sudo su -

[stmiller]

You don't have to recompile a kernel to have one be audio-friendly with Ubuntu. Ubuntu provides low latency kernels for x86 and x64, with the increased kernel timing setting. Seems they are not yet available for Gutsy, but I'm sure they will be soon.

sudo apt-get install linux-image-lowlatency

And yes doing sudo before a command needing admin rights is recommended by all of the ubuntu documentation folks. But getting a root shell with that above method, or with 'sudo -s' works too, as long as you know what you are doing. :)


-----

Rosegarden is fantastic. I have used rosegarden + Qsampler + Ardour (with plugins) to get a few tracks going. Midi tracks in Rosegarden triggering samples in Qsampler; output of Qsampler laying down audio tracks in Ardour.
For instance, this (http://www.scottmillercomposer.com/tmp/strings1.mp3) small clip was created completely in Linux with that combination. The reverb/eq and such available with Ardour are quite good.
More later. :)

[Tony Monaghan]

You don't have to recompile a kernel to have one be audio-friendly with Ubuntu. Ubuntu provides low latency kernels for x86 and x64, with the increased kernel timing setting. Seems they are not yet available for Gutsy, but I'm sure they will be soon.

Thanks for that tip, I was doing it all by hand before since I'm fairly new to Ubuntu although I've been using other Linux distros since it came on floppies.

[C J Pro]

The Live CD for Gutsy appears to be faster than for Fiesty.

Also, on a small side note, 3 years ago today, the first version of Ubuntu was released. No better way to celebrate the occasion than to install Gutsy.

[Tony Monaghan]

The Live CD for Gutsy appears to be faster than for Fiesty.

Also, on a small side note, 3 years ago today, the first version of Ubuntu was released. No better way to celebrate the occasion than to install Gutsy.

So you got it downloaded at last? Good show!

I installed Gutsy on a basic spec PC I had lying around so I can't try out the new graphic enhancements yet. Looks good so far except for some niggles with apt-get which might be down to the proxy setup I'm using, need to investigate more.

[Michael_uk]

.....

Ubuntu is not particularly better at handling audio than any other standard distro and in fact Rosegarden will complain that the system timer resolution is too low. To fix this requires a recompile of the kernel code which is not for the faint hearted, I may do a tutorial on this soon. To successfully run audio apps requires a low latency kernel which is included in the audio oriented distros like Studio 2 Go and Jacklab. IF I were a beginner I would get used to Linux by using Ubuntu for a while before moving to a different distro, there is a ton of information out there for the Linux newbie to help get you started. Well I'm a beginner in the world of Linux and I went for Ubuntu Studio which, as you say, has a low-latency kernel. Apart from this it is stated to have the best that open source has to offer the musician and has everything we need.

Ubuntu installed freshly 'out of the box', will enable you to browse the internet, read email and perform some of the more essential office functions, in other words pretty much the same as any other OS. Ubuntu in particular does a pretty good job of detecting hardware and installing the correct drivers, something that might have been a showstopper for many people with other older distros. Whilst aimed at the Linux audiophiles amongst us Ubuntu Studio also does all these basic things that the 'ordinary' Ubuntu does so we get the best of both worlds.

I should mention that the download .iso for Ubuntu Studio is 800 Mb and therefore needs to be burnt to a DVD.

As I said at the top, I am a beginner to all of this but I installed the Studio first time and everything Tony mentioned required for Audio is there. It also has Open Office, Firefox, Email, Gimp and everything for playing and working with audio and video including Rosegarden, Jack an audio editor and a host of other things.

All I have to do now is learn how to connect everything up and getting it all talking to each other.

This is going to be some learning curve. :confused:

[Michael_uk]

-----

Rosegarden is fantastic. I have used rosegarden + Qsampler + Ardour (with plugins) to get a few tracks going. Midi tracks in Rosegarden triggering samples in Qsampler; output of Qsampler laying down audio tracks in Ardour.
For instance, this (http://www.scottmillercomposer.com/tmp/strings1.mp3) small clip was created completely in Linux with that combination. The reverb/eq and such available with Ardour are quite good.
More later. :)
Just a quick reply to this here and more in the Software Forum.

Well, Rosegarden kept freezing every time I tried to open it and I had to reboot every time to get things going again.

After some experimenting, I traced the problem to my M-Audio soundcard and Rosegarden opened when I removed the card.

As stated more details in the Software Forum.