Fedora 10 / CCRMA

This past week, I installed Fedora 10 and Planet CCRMA at Home on my computer.  So far, it’s been wonderful.  Here’s the full story.

Kubuntu Studio

This past summer, my old computer died.  I replaced it with a brand new HP Pavilion m8530f:

• AMD Phenom 9550 Quad Core processor.
• 5+ Gb of memory.
• 750 Gb hard drive.

Not too bad.  Problem is, I had my old computer working perfectly (until it died — hardware problems, not software problems.)  I could record and compose music in real time; I could run an enormous number of Linux audio applications.

With a new computer, things should have worked better, right?

Right?

So I installed my highly successful combination of Kubuntu + Ubuntu Studio (both based on Ubuntu 8.04).  On the surface, everything worked fine.  But when I tried to work with the same software I’d been used to . . . problems arose.

64 Ways to Lose Your Real Time Lock

There are a lot of programs out there that just don’t work on 64 bit architecture, yet.  I’m sure they will Real Soon Now.  My old computer was 32 bit; I had no problems.  Under 64 bit, every time I turned around I had another closed door staring me in the face.

Examples:

• Renoise, which I’d been getting into prior to the move — It can run on 64 bit, but can’t run with 64 bit JACK.  So in other words, the audio quality and latency on this (allegedly) better hardware was crap!
• Chuck — utterly fails at 64 bitness.
• Even common, non-audio programs have problems — the (unfortunately ubiquitous) Flash player, for instance.

Intel HDA = Hardly Does Audio

There was another, bigger problem.  The new computer had a ‘high definition’ soundcard.  Unfortunately, this was the Intel HDA chipset.  You can tell what I think of this chipset by the title I’ve given this section.  I’m sure it’s great for doing something.  Just not audio.

The card has never worked well.  At first, no sound at all.  After a software upgrade — sound, but scratchy, choppy, and distorted.

The problem is that it apparently doesn’t play well with Linux.  There’s a kernel module in ALSA for it, but it apparently, fundamentally, sucks.

To get around this problem, I actually had to order an external device (the new computer also has no normal-sized PCI expansion slots).  I’ve been getting by with an Edirol UA-4FX.  It doesn’t work perfectly, but it’s better than bashing my head to shards against the Intel HDA problem.

The Long Road to Resolution

When will the problems I’ve mentioned be solved?  Again, Real Soon Now.

• Some day, not saying when, the standard for software will be 64 bit, and everything I’m used to using will work fine on 64 bit with no problems.  This will probably be when 128 bit comes out.
• Some day, not saying when, someone will fix the ALSA drivers for the various permutations of the Intel HDA chipset, so they aren’t crap.
• Some day, I’ll just forgetaboutit and get a Mac!

No, no, Linux has been good to me, and I’m sticking with it.  But it looks, from the above, that solutions are a long way off.

I waited for Ubuntu 8.10 to come out, hoping for a fix.  No such luck.  Intel HDA still sucked, and worse — Jack wouldn’t even work in realtime anymore.  Ubuntu 8.10 goofed up the realtime kernel!

So I’ve been using an 8.04 system ever since . . . hoping the next release, 9.04, actually fixes some of these problems.

The Dual Boot Strategy

A question you might have after reading the above is . . . how?  If I tried out Ubuntu 8.10, how is it I am still using 8.04?

Answer: I always have a dual boot system.  The 750 Gb disk is partitioned into the following sections

• /dev/sda1 is the “Main System” — whatever works and is stable.  This is never, never changed, until I’ve found a more stable, reliable, and powerful system.  Right now, this first partition is home to “Kubuntu Studio” 8.04.
• /dev/sda2 is the second partition, the “Alt System.”  Here I try out new systems.  I’ve had Xubuntu, OpenSuse, Debian, and others in this spot.  Before the most recent change, it was running Ubuntu 8.10 (which is how I knew it had problems).

The day came when I’d had enough of waiting.  I finished Martian Winter; I finished FAWM 2009; I’d started working with Csound again.

I decided to try something new.

Fedora 10 (x86 version).

I installed Fedora 10 on the second partition for one reason — I wanted to install the audio software from CCRMA.

However, I made one change: I installed the 32-bit version of Fedora 10, not 64.

Someday, 64 will be worth my time.  For now, it’s a sideshow, a backwater.  I’m done with it until software catches up to its potential.

Planet CCRMA at Home

The compelling reasons to go with Planet CCRMA are actually summarized in this quote from their website:

Planet CCRMA at Home . . . is a collection of rpm packages . . . that you can add to a computer running Fedora 8, 9 or 10 or CentOS 5 (not all applications are built on the 64 bit version) to transform it into an audio workstation with a low-latency kernel, current audio drivers and a nice set of music, midi and audio applications . . . .  It replicates most of the Linux environment we have been using for years here at CCRMA for our daily work in audio and computer music production and research.

That’s what I want — the ability to do daily work in audio and computer music.  Without fighting software battles!

Installation went smoothly.  I’ve already tested a numbe of my old favorites — Renoise is back up and running, Jack is powerful as ever, and I’ve gotten back into the land of Chuck.  There was only one problem . . . .

The Latest, Greatest Kernel

The Planet CCRMA realtime kernel I dowloaded had a strange little quirk.

I kept noticing that a process was using a lot of CPU time.  When I ran ‘top’, I found it was something called ’sirq_sched/3′: the realtime sound system.  It was routinely eating up 20-30% of my CPU time — clearly decreasing my realtime efficiency.

A little research turned up this was a known bug.  It’s been fixed in recent kernel updates.

Guess what?  CCRMA, bless ‘em, already had a new kernel on deck, in their testing repositories.  It’s not only realtime, it’s PAE (I can access most of the 5Gb of memory I have, even though formally 32 bit can only handle up to 4Gb).

Success

So now I’m off for a bit to do more testing.  I’ll report my results here, as they become available, and as I learn more about my new system.

I am taking this entire month off from recording, just to sharpen up my computer music skills.  I’m already planning my sixth Jamendo album.  I’ll be back with the guitar, the Hammond, the Nord, and of course the basses — but I’m also coming back with CCRMA.