On Thu, Jun 4, 2020 at 3:26 AM <nik@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hmm I never felt any advantage using RT kernels, either, at least in the recent
years, so I wonder if they still have any advantage in 2020 ? And that's not a rhetorical
question, I really wonder what contemporary use cases for RT kernels in the audio world are.
I feel like these kernel-tuning approaches date back to times when desktop responsiveness
etc. were much more serious issues. Might be wrong here, of course.
This is wrong. The behavior of a "normal", "low latency" and "preempt-RT" kernel are all different, and for realtime audio work, the correct behavior is only going to happen with a "preempt-RT" kernel.
However ...
The behavior of the normal and "low latency" kernels have changed over the years too, and on *some* systems (from a hardware perspective), they will function similarly enough to a "preempt-RT" kernel that a realtime audio workflow will be just fine. In addition, the "behavior" gap between a "preempt-RT" kernel and a normal kernel will be less and less apparent as the latency settings (buffer/period size) become more relaxed (i.e. grow larger).
How do you know which systems this is true for? You just have to try it. It is a complicated mixture of many different aspects of the hardware. There's an overview of the kinds of things that can contribute to the need for a "preempt-RT" kernel here:
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