On 02/21/2012 09:07 PM, Kyrian wrote:
Just been taking a metaphorical chainsaw to my inbox and got through to
the Fedora Music list at long last.
I've packaged up some bits and bobs and assisted with Fedora myself, for
better or for worse. Anyway, this thread makes me think a couple of
things that I'd like to throw in for the masses (nor not, as the case
may be) to chew over.
- Couldn't this lot be done as a yum 'Group' or several? With that then
incorporated into the standard installer environment?
Absolutely, that's been something I proposed a little earlier. I'm not
sure exactly what this entails, but I envision that once the default set
of audio packages have been decided we will submit something to be
included in the comps file [1]
- Then I think, ah, wrong kernel, and pulseaudio? But that could be
grouped too, no? Have, say, Jack and have it conflict with pulseaudio
somehow?
Pulseaudio is proving to be a pain. Its now an implicit dependency of
the default desktop (GNOME) which is unfortunate. Having said all that,
I think its a great piece of software, but creates unnecessary
complications when all you want to do is create/produce and edit music.
There are some applications which refuse to play with anything else now
(skype anyone?) that mean people like me have no choice but to coexist
with it. I'm still not happy with my setup - other users on this list
have also posted their solutions [2]. I think we should aim to ship a
pulseaudio-less solution. This means we need to decide on a desktop
that's not Gnome - of course that won't make everyone happy, but if we
have the comps group like you suggest, those gnome users can still pull
in the audio packages with ease.
- Then it all sounds a bit complicated, and I can't help think that
maybe a respin is a valid and sane way forward.
I think most pro/semi-pro audio users in Fedora probably can get a
Fedora installation from scratch to a fully workable installation with
little effort. The main focus of the spin should be to cement the
community around Fedora audio by attracting new users and give us a
stronger sounding voice moving forward.
- But still, it might be nice to give the non-pro users a leg-up to that
sort of stuff with package groups in Yum anyway? Surely you don't need
an RT kernel unless you're really hammering at the audio?
- Having better documentation would be really good, and I've noted the
"Musicians Guide" on my travels, which I fully intend to real real soon
now(tm).
I'm extremely impressed with this documentation thus far - its a real
strength that we need to capitalize on.
- Every person who's into pro audio that I mention about Linux audio
says "ah, but will it accomodate my XYZ plugins/filters from a.n.other
windows app"? As far as I know the answer is usually "yes", but I hope
that's documented in wherever the docs are.
Look there's some really exciting plugins, opensource and commercial
alike which run really well on Linux. I'd like to get the TAL audio
NATIVE linux VST plugins packaged at some stage for example. Hopefully
Ardour3 will be realized in the next cycle which will give us another
viable host.
I'll gladly put in such time as I can find to make this happen, and if
necessary to get it documented as well, because I want to start using
all my kit properly through Linux, with the minimum of fuss (there was a
lot of fuss the last time I had a go, in spite of PlanetCCRMA and
other's best efforts...), help other people at the same time, but
perhaps mainly, get some distractions from my day job which involves
Linux too.
For those packagers out there I need help getting my stuff reviewed. Any
packager can review - if you're not a packager and are keen, there's
plenty of packages in CCRMA that can be moved over. Fernando's done all
the hard work, just need minor adjustments to Fedora's latest
(ever-changing) package policies. My stuff awaiting review here [3]
Another thing it would be nice to have is a way to use my laptop running
Linux for dj-ing if I'm feeling extremely lazy on a given night (I'm not
a laptop DJ when I do so, but others are, and, hell, CD's are heavy,
physically as well as at times musically), but I could not find a
suitable app for that. Rhythmbox has a cross-fade feature, but it's a
bit "brute force" and not very nuanced.
Mixxx is available on rpmfusion only at this stage - another libmame
(MP3) dependancy. I'm not sure how big an audience it would have
without MP3 support though. Perhaps someone else can comment here [4]
If this helps, or provokes discussion in any way, then that's great, and
if someone can help me with any of the above questions, that's perhaps
even better.
Thanks for the interest!
Yours,
Kev "Kyrian" Green.
[1]
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_use_and_edit_comps.xml_for_package_groups
[2] http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/music/2011-December/000890.html
[3]
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced&classification=Fedora&product=Fedora&component=Package%20Review&bug_status=NEW&emailreporter1=1&emailtype1=substring&email1=brendan.jones.it%40gmail.com
[4] http://www.mixxx.org/
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