Well, while talking to the Linux Audio User's Group, my idea was that
everything they want in a specialized audio distro, we could easily have
with a little work. But it's not turning out to be so easy.
Mainly this includes:
1. low-latency, preemptable, capabilities kernel
2. jackd with capabilities
3. ardour
4. lots of cool sound toys
So far we've had problems with 1, 2, and 3. The kernel was graciously
made by Danny, and I can easily make an SMP version, but we can't seem
to get it into contribs, and we have no commitment that it will be the
same version as that in main at release time. It would help if we had a
little cooperation from MDK team on this.
As for jackd with capabilities, I had to make it a compile-time option.
This is fine for experienced users, but a pain otherwise. I wish there
was an easier way.
Also, I've almost finished ardour, only to learn that 'the author'
doesn't want binary copies distributed, because he's afraid users will
pester him and/or us about bugs/limitations which he already know
about. He does however allow gentoo to have an emerge script from CVS.
So either we disrespect his wishes (and they are only wishes; there's no
clause in the GPL saying source-code only distribution), or I will adapt
my SRPM to do a CVS checkout. Probably go with latter option. No want
to step on any toes if possible.
I expected to tell people, "Hey we've got an easy to use, fully capable
distro that will do all the cool audio stuff you want out-of-the-box.
Just: urpmi jack ardour kernel-multimedia."
Currently, I will have to make a long page of detailed instructions
like:
1. go to a mirror and download jack and ardour SRPMS
2. install devel packages (cvs, gcc, etc)
3. rebuild jack --with-realtime (a few mintues)
4. rebuild ardour (long download, VERY long build)
5. go to club and get a membership if you don't have one
6. download kernel-multimedia
7. install your new kernel, jack, and ardour rpms
8. reboot and run jackstart
Quite a task for a Windows-user, and not as cool as just running urpmi.
The one cool thing is it pushes people to join the club, but I
anticipate some resistance to paying just to download the linux kernel
(of all things).
Any ideas/suggestions?
Austin
--
Austin Acton Hon.B.Sc.
Synthetic Organic Chemist, Teaching Assistant
Department of Chemistry, York University, Toronto
MandrakeClub Volunteer (www.mandrakeclub.com)
homepage: www.groundstate.ca
