Operating Systems

[Mattias Westlund]

Potentially controversial opinion: Linux is never going to be a viable option for musicians.

UNLESS

...enough people start rejecting Windows and Mac to make both hardware and software manufacturers sit up and take notice. Is that going to happen? Possibly. But not within the forseeable future. If I'm still alive and making music 20 years from now, I might try it. Right now, though, I couldn't imagine limiting myself to native Linux plugins and instruments. No matter how good a Linux-based OS is from a general use perspective.

[Samulis]

(06-21-2020, 10:48 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: Potentially controversial opinion: Linux is never going to be a viable option for musicians.

UNLESS

...enough people start rejecting Windows and Mac to make both hardware and software manufacturers sit up and take notice. Is that going to happen? Possibly. But not within the forseeable future. If I'm still alive and making music 20 years from now, I might try it. Right now, though, I couldn't imagine limiting myself to native Linux plugins and instruments. No matter how good a Linux-based OS is from a general use perspective.

I mostly agree with you on that! There is not yet enough support in the professional software world from big names like Native Instruments, Avid, Adobe, etc. to make switching completely feasible. While I admire and enjoy Ardour and think new plugins like sfizz (and old favorites like the fantastic Airwindows plugins) are a great asset, there are also a lot of very good plugins I wouldn't really want to mix without, and a lot of creature comforts that Ardour/Mixbus lack, particularly in the realm of working with MIDI or the more critical waveform editing possible in Adobe Audition. Enough to get going or honestly even to create professional work? Yes, without doubt. But, not to the same diversity MacOS/Windows users are accustomed to.

However, I do think there's increasing interest in Linux from the non-professional world. For example, several game streaming platforms run their games on Linux servers, with Linux compatibility (albeit not necessarily native Linux support) now becoming a surprisingly standard feature on many modern games. Linus Tech Tips has done an increasingly optimistic series of videos covering Linux gaming; the first from a few years back being a wild adventure of bugs, hacks, and headaches, and the most recent being a nearly turnkey solution. In fact, those videos are one of the reasons I'm even remotely interested in Linux. Combine that with the fact that a (legitimate) Windows license costs like $130 and a lot of gamers are, well, not with huge budgets/allowances, the idea of a free operating system that can play all your games has a lot of potential appeal, especially for teens trying to get the best bang for their buck on a sub-$1000 budget. Saving that $100+ in license key cost can mean one or even two tiers higher hardware.

On the other end of the spectrum, I've seen a lot of videos suggesting the use of more comfortable Linux distros like ElementaryOS for elderly or less tech savvy users, as well as some very compact OSes being a good option to use on outdated hardware. While for old hardware I prefer retro OSes like 98SE or XP, I'd certainly admit those operating systems are all but unusable in terms of modern internet usage and are thus relegated to being 'classic gaming' machines.

I think Linux OSes ARE robust and capable enough already for the everyday user. Word processing, web browsing, even basic photo editing. All very possible with no particular paradigm shift aside from having to abandon certain software suites in favor of others, and perhaps a greater focus on web-based applications (e.g. Google Docs). For that reason, I don't think a lot of businesses will be switching, but I think there's finally a threshold we're arriving at where everyday users can use Linux with minimal fuss.

With that in mind I'm... tentatively hopeful! Linux has long wallowed in relative obscurity, and I've even read predictions of a Linux-powered future, with the same tired arguments I've just spat out, from the 90's. I guess only time will tell. 

This is why I created this topic; I think it's an interesting question with a lot of different facets and not all that clear of an answer. I've already learned, questioned, and thought about a lot!

[Michael Willis]

I agree that if you want to use Linux to completely reproduce the workflow that you are accustomed to on MacOS or Windows, you are likely going to be very disappointed. I'll go as far as saying that you have to be willing to work with limited options in hardware and software. That's a trade off that I'm willing to make. I have a combination of interface, DAW, effects, and virtual instruments that work for me, but not everybody is going to be happy with the limited options available.

Linux avoids some of the frustrations that come from the proprietary operating systems, but it comes with frustrations of its own. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that Linux tends to attract people with a heavy do-it-yourself bias. To get started, it is really helpful to have people with more experience that you can ask questions. Rather than finding a single end-all be-all manual somewhere that tells you how to do everything, you end up becoming part of a community of opinionated do-it-yourself-ers. When there is more than one way to accomplish something (and usually there is), sometimes a heated discussion erupts about which way is best. Ultimately, you have to decide what you want and how you want to do it.

Speaking of which, I should dig up my notes about how I set up ElementaryOS for real-time audio production. I wrote down several recommended adjustments to avoid the snap-crackle-pop xruns that tends to happen in DAW apps under heavy load with the default operating system configuration.

[peastman]

It really depends on the field. In scientific computing (my day job), Linux is the dominant OS. A lot of scientific software doesn't support Windows at all. Out of the top 500 supercomputers in the world, all 500 run Linux. Servers run Linux as a rule. Even Microsoft now uses Linux for a lot of their servers. For ordinary users doing ordinary day to day work (web browsing, word processing, etc.), some Linux distributions are now (in my opinion!) simpler and easier to use than Windows.

Some fields have specialized software that isn't as well supported. Music production clearly is one of them, but Linux has come a long way there and will continue to improve.

[Michael Willis]

I found my setup notes. After installing ElementaryOS 5.1, I did the following configurations to optimize it for realtime audio work. The same steps should work on other relative distros like Ubuntu or Pop!_OS, but I can't guarantee anything.

All of the code blocks can be run in the terminal. It will warn you that copy/pasting random scripts like this is a very bad idea. It is up to you to decide how much you trust me and these commands. If you do, copy one line at a time, as some of them will prompt you for user input like your password or typing Y to confirm a download.

Install Liquorix Kernel

Code:

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:damentz/liquorix && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-image-liquorix-amd64 linux-headers-liquorix-amd64

An oversimplified way to explain this is that the default kernel tends to be good a heavy multitasking, but tends to have higher latency when you want to do just one thing. The Liquorix kernel is optimized for tasks that require low latency, like recording audio in a DAW.

Select "Performance" CPU policy

Code:

sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils
sudo bash -c "echo 'GOVERNOR=\"performance\"' >> /etc/default/cpufrequtils"
sudo systemctl disable ondemand

This keeps the CPU cores running at top speed, instead of down-clocking them while idle. Sometimes when a DAW needs CPU power RIGHT NOW, it can experience an xrun if it has to wait for the OS to tell the CPU to run at full clock speed. Note that this will likely make your CPU run more hot. If you have a fanless CPU cooler, be sure to keep an eye on the temperature for a few test runs of heavy DAW sessions to make sure that the temperature doesn't get too high.

Other Performance Optimizations

Code:

sudo bash -c "echo 'vm.swappiness = 15' >> /etc/sysctl.conf"
sudo bash -c "echo 'fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 524288' >> /etc/sysctl.conf"
sudo bash -c "echo '@audio - rtprio 99' >> /etc/security/limits.conf"
sudo bash -c "echo '@audio - memlock unlimited' >> /etc/security/limits.conf"

Set swappiness to 15 to discourage the OS from swapping memory to disk too much. I'm not sure what increasing the max_user_watches does, but it was recommended to me so I did it. Grant audio realtime priority of 99, the OS will tend to prioritize audio over everything else. I think memlock unlimited allows a single process to use all of the memory - in this case, your DAW and its plugins are likely to use most of the system memory and you don't want the OS to throttle that.

Add Yourself to the Audio Group

Code:

sudo adduser michael audio

Of course replace "michael" with your own user name. This adds your user to a group called "Audio", which gives you explicit direct access to all audio devices (including interfaces). I'm not sure if this step is necessary anymore, but I think that it gives your user the ability to run audio apps with realtime priority. One of these days I should ask somebody who knows more than me, but it doesn't hurt anything to do this step.

[Samulis]

Thanks for sharing, Michael! I will most certainly return to this next time I try out ElementaryOS!

I was poking around the internet today and found another interesting MacOS/Windows alternative, based on Ubuntu:
https://zorinos.com/

They seem to have a clever WINE integration where you can just right-click an installer and go right into running it via WINE or PlayOnLinux-
https://zorinos.com/help/install-apps/#windows-apps

[Michael Willis]

(06-24-2020, 06:14 AM)Samulis Wrote: I was poking around the internet today and found another interesting MacOS/Windows alternative, based on Ubuntu:
https://zorinos.com/

I wasn't aware of this one. I'm not really the target audience since I don't use wine for a lot of things, but for somebody coming from Windows it sounds like it could be nice. Sometimes getting wine to work can be kind of tricky, having PlayOnLinux immediately available can make it easier.

Also since it is just another Ubuntu derivative, my setup steps above will likely work as written.

[Samulis]

(06-24-2020, 01:34 PM)Michael Willis Wrote: Also since it is just another Ubuntu derivative, my setup steps above will likely work as written.

I've read a lot of comments about the various distros expressing the opinion that there are too many, and blame that for one of the reasons Linux is "behind". Honestly just from what I've seen so far, I think it's a real strength. It gives the user a lot of choices based on their philosophy regarding the hardware/software/user relationship, while having multiple distros based on the same root OS gives pretty decent compatibility (at least more than, say, things were back in the days of Tandys, Amigas, Commodores, Sinclairs, and IBMs).

Maybe the actual weakness here is that there's not as much effort in centrally cataloging the unique aspects and differences between the distros, so that a first-time user can make an educated choice. I think I remember seeing an app where you could quickly switch between/experiment with different distros, but that is yet perhaps too involved for many users. Honestly I find just the process of picking a distro to be overwhelming, especially when you start asking people who are in further than you for advice.

[Michael Willis]

I keep going back and forth about distros. Sometimes I wish that all of these communities that maintain different flavors of Linux would just consolidate their efforts and make one really nice operating system. Then I remember that part of the appeal of Linux is getting away from one big organization that makes decisions that I disagree with.

As far as recommendations for newcomers picking a variety of Linux, I say look at the top ten on distrowatch.com (look at the right sidebar), and pick one that appeals to you. I just barely took a look, and all of the options we have discussed in this thread are within the top ten. My reasoning for "pick a popular distro" is that you are more likely to find people online who can answer questions and help guide you through it. If you pick something more obscure, it can be more pain to troubleshoot if something goes sideways because there are less people familiar with it.

Ultimately they all have a lot in common, particularly the ones derived from Ubuntu. They are 99% the same stuff just with different default configuration, apps, and desktop environments.

[peastman]

Even though there are a ton of distros, nearly all of the popular desktop ones are based on either Debian or Red Hat. So they aren't nearly as different as they might seem at first. It's more like the variations on Android provided by different phone manufacturers. They look a bit different and some settings may be in different places, but they all work basically the same way and they all run the same software.