[HN Gopher] FreeBSD Home Audio Studio
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       FreeBSD Home Audio Studio
        
       Author : vermaden
       Score  : 146 points
       Date   : 2023-03-02 06:16 UTC (16 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (vermaden.wordpress.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (vermaden.wordpress.com)
        
       | ianai wrote:
       | I'm blown away that people are still playing Urban Terror in
       | 2023.
        
         | bit-perfect wrote:
         | With OpenArena you have that some maps still look really nice
         | in 2023 if you set all settings to the highest settings, which
         | any modern GPU can easily handle. Some maps are just plain
         | super cool. So I mean some maps can give you an experience that
         | the best commercial titles can't match right now. Urban Terror
         | is probably similar in that it has been developed more and more
         | over the years and has received better maps and features.
        
           | merpkz wrote:
           | Can you just tell which maps are those? Whenever I check
           | OpenArena I am saddened to see that every server is empty of
           | humans or there are just few russians arguing in regular
           | stype maps
        
         | merpkz wrote:
         | I still do, because there is no other game which can match the
         | experience of jump-slide-fps action as this one does, simple as
         | that. Sadly there are only ever two maps where people still
         | play and neither of them roll Dust2 or Ryiadh maps, which are
         | my fav.
        
           | ianai wrote:
           | True it has a golden combination of realism and quakeism.
        
         | numbsafari wrote:
         | If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
        
       | huimang wrote:
       | I think it's cool that people work on DAWs for *nix/*bsd, but as
       | someone who uses linux as a daily driver, I don't really see the
       | point.
       | 
       | When I want to make or record music, I don't want to spend time
       | debugging the system. I just want it to work, and I don't want
       | have to worry if a plugin runs on my system. *nix/*bsd don't come
       | close to achieving that, and windows is not stable enough for
       | audio systems for my taste. IOW what is the hobby here? Making
       | music, or tinkering with my *nix/*bsd system?
        
         | prmoustache wrote:
         | The association of using linux/bsd and spending time debugging
         | system is getting old. Like very very old and outdated.
         | 
         | The parent article show a small number of config files to set
         | and a package to install. It is not more complicated than
         | installing ASIO4ALL driver and setting it up on a windows box.
         | 
         | And I can show you countless of threads in music forums about
         | people asking how to solve their midi connections / sync /
         | latency / clipping problems on macOS and windows.
        
         | hn8305823 wrote:
         | Linux didn't get that way without people like OP helping to
         | make things work. Many people said (and still say) the same
         | things about Linux vs Mac for example.
        
       | ralphw wrote:
       | This might be a good idea to find a more stable platform. I may
       | start messing with GUIX to feel Lispy throughout my next
       | computing adventures
       | 
       | I love Linux, but feel a bit of whiplash after Ubuntu's feeping
       | commerce creaturism, charging for things that it seems like
       | should be in the core product. (live kernel patching, for
       | example)
        
       | pipeline_peak wrote:
       | The amount of effort people will go to avoid working a job and
       | buying a Mac or installing Windows.
        
         | whalesalad wrote:
         | You do realize this is _Hacker News_ right?
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | jrm4 wrote:
         | "Working a job?"
         | 
         | What _do_ you think the readers of this space do? What is your
         | vision of this  "non-working" hacker news reader? I
         | legitimately can't imagine anything here but a 90's era
         | stereotype.
        
           | nickpeterson wrote:
           | I think it's a comment on tinkering vs working. A lot of
           | people view alternative OS's like BSDs as a toy for tinkering
           | but not being productive. I wouldn't know because my entire
           | 7-figure income comes from my basement rack of Plan9
           | machines...
        
           | pipeline_peak wrote:
           | Ride their tandem bikes around "SanFran" with raspberry pi's
           | up their asses. Complain about how normal people don't use
           | Firefox anymore and that it should be rewritten in Rust. Try
           | to convert their FreeBSD thinkpads into modern DAWs.
        
             | nix23 wrote:
             | The only person complaining here is you, oh the irony.
        
               | pipeline_peak wrote:
               | > Making a joke = complaining
               | 
               | hmmm
        
       | numlock86 wrote:
       | Is FreeBSD bringing anything special and mention-worthy to the
       | table here or is this just a post in the realm of "Hey, FreeBSD
       | can do this, too!"? Not a rant (I'm working with OpenBSD and/or
       | FreeBSD almost daily) but more of a question if I have missed
       | anything.
        
       | kamranjon wrote:
       | For those that might have struggled with Ardour or were looking
       | for something just a bit more professional on Linux, I recommend
       | Reaper - it's a one time purchase and in my opinion about as good
       | as it gets on Linux: https://www.reaper.fm/
        
         | chrisjc wrote:
         | Thanks, I was recently trying to figure out what audio app use
         | for some very amateur toying around. I used to play around with
         | a version of Reason I had long ago and recently just started
         | playing with Garageband. It's pretty difficult trying to
         | understand where to get started and what to use, esp as just a
         | hobby.
         | 
         | Googling "reason vs X" just turned up ad-loaded drivel.
         | 
         | Anyone know of any good guides that lay out the land? Venn
         | diagrams of where DAWs (digital audio workstation), Mixers, etc
         | overlap or how they relate/compare with each other?
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | dizhn wrote:
         | If one is not against proprietary software, Reaper can actually
         | be tested (for quite a while) free with all the features
         | enabled.
        
         | wyager wrote:
         | Reaper is awesome! I did a bunch of research before buying a
         | DAW and Reaper struck me as the most principled and generally
         | well-designed option among those I found.
         | 
         | It's _very_ powerful, which means there is a bit of a learning
         | curve, but it can do everything you want it to, and it has nice
         | stuff like really solid scripting support (lua, python, and
         | some DSL).
         | 
         | I record like 20-30 audio tracks at a time from my rackmount
         | setup and reaper handles it no problem.
         | 
         | Very much worth the $60.
        
         | 7speter wrote:
         | Earlier this year I was struggling with just trying to get an
         | audio recording workflow together on linux mint. It was really
         | eye opening and disappointing, considering that to get some
         | tools to work optimally, you have to get into the weeds and see
         | if you have the right kernel. Adjusting mic levels are painful,
         | everything is painful. I thought we moved beyond having to
         | dualboot windows and linux, but now that I'm here for the
         | coding, other techie pursuits (bash scripting, homelabbing and
         | the like), and gaming, I come to find out that if you still
         | probably need to dual boot if you want to do content creation.
         | Oh and the only seeming distro thats setup out of the box thats
         | focused on content creation is ubuntu studio, and I don't want
         | to be run up against a wall because of the snap eco system.
        
           | ladyanita22 wrote:
           | You should give Fedora a try with the stock kernel.
        
         | b33j0r wrote:
         | "I want to record audio" should not require even 2 hours of
         | work. It's still a 10 year learning experience in some
         | circumstances. I'm at 20, hopefully I'm saying something
         | useful.
         | 
         | I support reaper, here's an opinion. My problem with reaper is
         | that I think it was trying to be protools for people who
         | couldn't afford protools.
         | 
         | The thing is, most people aren't recording 32 ADC channels and
         | 1024 midi tracks on rackmount stuff. I think I have my dad's
         | last MIDI cables, and it makes me feel either ancient or
         | hipster. Even pro studios are slimmer, cause it's not 2003.
         | Workflow is at a premium, and reaper... kinda feels like an
         | expensive version of FOSS.
         | 
         | Still so great in the ecosystem, and aw, a DAW love of mine. A
         | chisel for the days when the 3D printer just isn't robust
         | enough.
         | 
         | I use Logic Pro and bitwig. Bitwig fails the same test. I
         | rarely say this, but this niche could inspire nerdy moments a
         | bit less, and creative workflows a bit more to be attractive to
         | a prosumer.
        
           | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
           | The problem is that after your typical singer/songwriter
           | spends a month or two working with the sort of tool they
           | "really need", their sense of the possible expands. And
           | expands. And expands. They may never get to 32 hardware
           | channels, but they will get to automation, VCAs, plugin
           | favorites, grouping, and much, much more.
           | 
           | I've considered doing a crazy-simple version of Ardour
           | (nominal name "arb" for "Ardour Recording Button"), but I'm
           | still not convinced that writing a tool that will only be
           | useful to most of its users for a couple of months makes
           | sense.
        
             | squarefoot wrote:
             | You probably mean the equivalent of a scratchpad for
             | writing down ideas without caring about formatting, typos,
             | small details etc. This is often accomplished much quicker
             | in music by using a hardware platform such as a portable
             | recorder with a set of effects and sometimes instruments
             | too: plug mic and guitar, start drum machine and start
             | recording, then add a few tracks, mix down to .mp3 and the
             | quick demo is ready, when done you export the result into
             | the DAW where the real work work happens. Zoom and Tascam
             | have some really nice devices in their catalog.
             | 
             | The same could be accomplished also in software, and it
             | would have a huge success, however packing it with features
             | can only slow down the work; everything should be thought
             | without the idea of turning it into a full DAW but just
             | putting it there the _minimum_ necessary to be productive
             | without distractions. Think about a mini Linux distro
             | (Alpine?) that boots in seconds on a small netbook to
             | directly load the  "music scratchpad" at full screen and no
             | other software in the background. Plenty of devices are out
             | there ready to be repurposed for that, and good external
             | USB audio card can be found for cheap.
             | 
             | Years ago I used my old Samsung NC10 netbook to record my
             | band. The internal mics were crap like with every laptop,
             | but once I built a small stereo jfet preamp to connect two
             | external dynamic mics, I got quite good results. It was a
             | bit slow to operate, and more so managing the long files we
             | created (~3 hours at 44.1KHz 16bit stereo .wav) but I used
             | a full Debian plus Audacity without any optimization for
             | speed and size.
        
               | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
               | 1. no, you should never ever "mix down to mp3 and export
               | to the DAW, where the real work happens". If you're going
               | to work in a DAW, please, please start with losslessly
               | compressed or uncompressed PCM data.
               | 
               | 2.
               | 
               | > The same could be accomplished also in software, and it
               | would have a huge success
               | 
               | Odd how none of the proprietary DAW manufacturers believe
               | this, isn't it?
               | 
               | I've already described the basic problem with this idea:
               | it starts out as being precisely what someone wants, but
               | every few months, their desires/expectations expand. What
               | "productive without distractions" means looks very
               | different after you've done a bit of computer audio
               | production for a year than when you're just starting out.
        
         | rhizome31 wrote:
         | Also check Bitwig, Renoise, Tracktion , U-He, AudioThing...
         | Plenty of commercial audio software running on Linux nowadays.
        
           | filoleg wrote:
           | Bitwig specifically is very known and exceptional. It isn't
           | just a "daw for linux", it is a major cross-platform DAW that
           | is being developed by a bunch of ex-Ableton people. Been
           | following it since the initial release, and by now it became
           | clear that they are clearly shooting (and really promisingly)
           | for the "top DAW overall" status rather than something more
           | narrow like "top Linux DAW".
        
         | marttt wrote:
         | I would also add Non DAW. Great example of modular design,
         | extremely lightweight, non-destructive editing. The session
         | files of Non Timeline are also comfortable and fun to parse or
         | even modify with sed/awk etc scripts.
         | 
         | http://non.tuxfamily.org/
         | 
         | EDIT: Also, if you're a command line and text file weirdo like
         | me:
         | 
         | Mixer4: http://www.acousticrefuge.com/mixer4.htm (From the
         | homepage: "Mixer4 is an audio mixer and processor that can be
         | controlled through simple text files. Over a dozen accessory
         | programs complete what can be a very solid recording studio." I
         | can confirm that it is extremely fast and very interesting to
         | use. Nice, responsive and friendly solo developer, too.)
         | 
         | And Ecasound: https://ecasound.seul.org/ecasound/
        
           | ladyanita22 wrote:
           | It seems to be somewhat abandoned or unmaintained, does it?
        
         | shams93 wrote:
         | Reaper isn't bad however qtracktor is really good and now
         | supports the CLAP plugin format.
        
       | Aldipower wrote:
       | Which professional sound interface to use?
        
         | eropple wrote:
         | I am not a musician, but I am a live events operator, and since
         | almost everybody has a Zoom setup now I want to asterisk
         | something for folks who are reading: the interfaces recommended
         | in other comments are _great_ interfaces if you are a musician,
         | but for spoken word they 're all overkill. If you're in the
         | market for that, start slow.
         | 
         | I recommend a good USB-powered dynamic microphone, such as the
         | Samson Q2U or Samson Q9U. If you're going to buy an interface
         | (maybe to drive some monitors as well as a microphone) and an
         | XLR microphone for exclusively spoken-word stuff, the "buy a
         | dynamic" advice still applies--I like the sE Dynacaster but I'm
         | also the type to spend $300 on a microphone, you don't need to
         | be--but you really don't need more than something like a
         | Behringer UMC22 for an interface. Not a UM22, that's different
         | and a bit below-the-bar, but you don't need to spend more than
         | $60-$70 for an interface that will do everything you need.
         | 
         | I wrote this near the start of COVID when at a previous company
         | and my advice still holds.
         | 
         | https://www.mux.com/blog/zoom-like-you-mean-it-1
         | 
         | https://www.mux.com/blog/zoom-like-you-mean-it-2
        
           | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
           | https://ardour.org/faq.html#say-no-to-usb
        
             | eropple wrote:
             | Can you explain why you posted this link-and-run? Because
             | this is not a responsive criticism to what I wrote. And, if
             | one reads the document you linked, the authors of that
             | document expressly do not intend it to be responsive.
             | 
             |  _> If you plan to use your USB mic with its own headphone
             | jack, then most of what is written here does not apply to
             | you, and you can regard the microphone as a small, not
             | particularly good, simple audio interface just like one of
             | the boxes you might otherwise connect to you computer._
             | 
             | Yup. This is true. I recommended the Samson Q2U or Q9U in
             | no small part because of this. It is a single-purpose audio
             | interface and _it 's fine_ for people who want a good-
             | sounding Zoom presence. They are also both microphones that
             | provide some nontrivial improvement when they are used over
             | XLR, which can rationalize _later_ buying an interface once
             | you 've decided that you want to do so.
             | 
             |  _> If you 're making a podcast, or working with some audio
             | where the highest possible fidelity to the original sound
             | isn't particularly important, you're probably going to be
             | just fine with this resampling taking place. You can use
             | your USB mic, the operating system will resample one or
             | both audio streams, things will seem to just work, and
             | you'll probably be happy with the results._
             | 
             | As it happens, I agree with the general thrust of what
             | they're saying--for music. This is a reason why I have a
             | very large and moderately expensive digital mixer. But they
             | themselves are not intending to cover _general-purpose,
             | spoken-word uses_ , like podcasts (which I think one can
             | reasonably expand to "teleconferences"), with their
             | criticism.
             | 
             | So can you enlighten me as to your point?
        
         | speed_spread wrote:
         | I use a Zoom Livetrak L-12 mixer. It's more than just an
         | interface but it sounds great and has a excellent functionality
         | for the price.
        
         | yootyootr wrote:
         | home/hobbyist: Focusrite Scarlett
         | 
         | semi-pro/more serious: MOTU 828
         | 
         | pro/studio level: PRISM Sound Lyra or Titan
        
           | tonyarkles wrote:
           | A couple other thoughts for people who are looking around.
           | 
           | - I had a consumer M-Audio interface that was always a bit
           | weird. One day well outside the warranty period I popped the
           | lid off and discovered a tombstoned resistor and two _bodge
           | wires_ on the PCB. I reached out to M-Audio on Twitter and
           | the best they could do was offer me a $20 discount on another
           | interface. Very unimpressed.
           | 
           | - I replaced it with a Behringer UMC404HD and the very first
           | thing I did when it arrived was pop the cover off. I'm an EE
           | by trade and I was very impressed by the design. The board
           | layout etc was nice, but the part that really surprised me
           | was the pre-amps for the mic inputs. Maybe I'm weird for
           | feeling this way, but the folks who designed it have _taste_.
           | The pre-amps are designed around some NJR op-amps; NJR parts
           | are notorious for being slew-rate-limited for a lot of
           | applications, but to my ears they sound absolutely buttery
           | smooth. The fact that the designers used those parts instead
           | of some jelly-bean  "flat" op-amps really made me appreciate
           | the consideration that went into the design.
           | 
           | Edit: and yes, I know Behringer has a bit of a reputation for
           | being "kinda cheap and kinda crappy" but I have zero
           | complaints and I've had this unit for a few years now.
        
             | bluGill wrote:
             | IIRC the UMC404 was designed just after they bought Midas,
             | and those engineers had a lot of input.
             | 
             | Behringer has gotten a lot better, their early days (20
             | year ago) they made cheap junk clones. Now they have some
             | good gear as well.
             | 
             | Though the company itself has other operating practices
             | people don't like. You should for sure do your research on
             | them. I have some of their gear, but I'm not sure I'll buy
             | more.
        
           | selykg wrote:
           | I prefer the Universal Audio Volt series over the Scarlett.
           | Plus, if you ever think of upgrading you'll have some
           | familiarity with Universal Audio, who is a pretty big player
           | in this area. This is coming from a guitarist perspective, in
           | case it matters. I really like my Volt.
        
             | wyager wrote:
             | The all-aluminum UA volts are made in TW, aluminum-wood
             | models are made in CN, FYI. The Volt 1 and Volt 4 are a
             | good deal.
             | 
             | Software is atrocious though. Their spyware DRM crashes any
             | windows VM I try to install it on.
        
           | krossitalk wrote:
           | Focusrite makes higher grade options for the pro studio
           | space. They offer a variety of rack mount interfaces.
        
           | wyager wrote:
           | What would you say are the distinguishing features between
           | home/semi-pro/pro interfaces?
           | 
           | Universal Audio recently released some really nice made-in-
           | taiwan desktop interfaces in the same price range as the
           | Scarletts. I have scarletts on my rackmount setup, UA Volt on
           | my desk.
           | 
           | UA's software is atrocious though. Their spyware DRM crashes
           | any windows VM I try to install it on.
           | 
           | Scarlett's software is relatively good by comparison,
           | although you have to start their server by hand from the
           | terminal if you don't want it running all the time.
        
             | filoleg wrote:
             | > What would you say are the distinguishing features
             | between home/semi-pro/pro interfaces?
             | 
             | Without going into tons of nitty-gritty details, the major
             | ones are the number of inputs/channels, size, and price.
             | 
             | Scarlett 2i2 is more than enough for most people, with its
             | 2 channels (both with independently controllable headphone
             | and monitor outputs).
             | 
             | Motu 828, the one listed as semi-pro tier, has 20 input
             | channels.
             | 
             | I suggest reading reviews of each of them, but basically
             | the rule of thumb is that if the review is listing
             | bajillion things that you have no understanding of at all,
             | you don't need that tier and can safely move to the tier
             | below.
             | 
             | No shame in that at all. Even the home/hobby level of audio
             | equipment today is functionally crazy, and priced insanely
             | cheap compared to just a couple decades ago.
        
           | peepee1982 wrote:
           | No RME for semi-pro? Any specific reason?
           | 
           | Because they seem to have great performance and stability on
           | Windows.
        
             | Aldipower wrote:
             | I have a RME and it does not work with Linux or FreeBSD,
             | which is a bummer. So, it is fair not to list it here.
        
             | yootyootr wrote:
             | I'm from the UK and they're not well known here versus
             | MOTU..
        
               | butterknife wrote:
               | Anecdotally, I'd like to disagree. Plenty of RME used in
               | professional PA system industry. MOTU, not so much.
        
               | bluGill wrote:
               | The PA market and the recording markets are different,
               | and there is surprisingly little overlap between the
               | people in each.
        
               | Applejinx wrote:
               | I would note that MOTU is very solid for Mac-based
               | studios, and I've heard that RME is comparably solid for
               | PC-based studios.
        
       | SanjayMehta wrote:
       | Sounds perfect for an old mac mini I have lying around. FreeBSD
       | 12 should work?
        
         | x98asfd wrote:
         | Hmm, wouldn't the same work on Linux or other Unixish system?
        
           | themodelplumber wrote:
           | Yes, I was running the same setup, sans Qtractor, in 2009
           | using a Linux distro.
        
         | ihatepython wrote:
         | You're better off running Snow Leopard on an old mac mini for
         | pro audio, unless you really just want to play with FreeBSD
         | (you'll spend more time configuring your system rather than
         | making music)
        
           | frankzander wrote:
           | That's often also the problem with Linux and audio. The
           | easiest way is to connect Ardour directly through ALSA to an
           | audio interface . The second easiest way is IMHO jackd and if
           | you want to get in some trouble it's Pipewire (at least
           | within the development state mar 2023).
        
             | jeroenhd wrote:
             | What's the current problem with Pipewire? Pulse (for simple
             | audio stuff) and Jack (for low latency stuff) integrations
             | both work fine for me, so I'm wondering what problems
             | you've run into recently are.
        
               | bandrami wrote:
               | In my recent experience the problem isn't pipewire per se
               | but rather how it interacts with rtkit (it's particularly
               | bad with the FocusRite interface recommended above for
               | home users). You can set it up to request realtime
               | capabilities directly but you're going against the
               | workflow and at that point you might as well use jack
               | since you're going to be fiddling around anyways.
               | 
               | Though honestly, on Linux I just use ALSA for everything
               | and don't think about it after that. By definition
               | neither Jack nor Pipewire can be faster than the ALSA
               | they are talking to.
        
               | smoldesu wrote:
               | You're not wrong, and I suspect it has something to do
               | with hardware. My Behringer U-Phoria worked fine on
               | Linux, then my Scarlett shit itself, then I replaced it
               | with a MOTU M2 which does just fine. If you interface
               | isn't USB-class-compliant, don't expect it to work on
               | Linux.
               | 
               | > By definition neither Jack nor Pipewire can be faster
               | than the ALSA they are talking to.
               | 
               | Sure, but that's like saying that you don't need an
               | operating system when you can compile to baremetal. Both
               | Jack and Pipewire _are_ slower, but offer pretty
               | substantial routing options on top of that. Furthermore,
               | I believe _both_ protocols support ALSA connections too.
               | 
               | I use Bitwig on NixOS and it's not too bad with PipeWire.
               | Latency and routability generally rivals CoreAudio, which
               | is good enough for me.
        
               | bandrami wrote:
               | IME Bitwig is heavyweight enough it doesn't _really_
               | matter what you 're connecting with, plus it "wants"
               | Pipewire (IIRC that's the only thing CLAP will work
               | with?)
               | 
               | And I don't want to sound like I'm dumping on Pipewire; I
               | think the work Wim has been doing is absolutely awesome
               | and (unlike a lot of what FDo puts out) actually solves
               | existing problems rather than hypothetical ones. It's
               | just not quite (yet) what I need as a DJ and looper.
        
               | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
               | Plugin APIs like CLAP have no connection to platform
               | audio/midi I/O APIs.
        
           | Applejinx wrote:
           | I actually develop modern-day plugins on an old Snow Leopard
           | macbook pro, before porting them to other systems and making
           | the more modern, signed, M1-enabled versions. I've not run
           | across anything that the Snow Leopard box can't handle, at
           | least without expecting to run lots of instances of it.
           | 
           | So if you went for a Snow Leopard audio/music machine you'd
           | be in good company :)
        
             | LeFantome wrote:
             | What are you running for an OS? If it is MacOS, how do any
             | of your apps work? I would not think that even recent web
             | browsers would install on Snow Leopard.
             | 
             | I put Linux on old Macs precisely because I cannot go a day
             | on older MacOS without hitting 10 applications whose latest
             | versions I cannot install on MacOS.
             | 
             | If you are not having that problem, I would like to know
             | more.
        
               | mixmastamyk wrote:
               | One is able to have more than one computer these days.
               | Not required that an old one do everything.
        
               | Applejinx wrote:
               | Followup post has it figured out. I code initially on the
               | SnowMeow laptop, so I can have retro AUs and VSTs: that
               | also runs an old Parallels which runs a Windows VM and a
               | Linux VM, where those VSTs are made.
               | 
               | All that stuff is old, the laptop's air-gapped and never
               | talks to the internet, and I bring the code over on an SD
               | card to the Mac Studio where I do the signed versions of
               | AU and VST, make the videos, etc.
               | 
               | I also resist 'latest versions' of things quite hard.
               | Generally that's not what I want. I want stuff where it's
               | working consistently. Even my web browser is a Chromium
               | picked specifically so I can be sure it will get old and
               | go out of date until _I_ have a reason to change it,
               | which will doubtless happen but it'll happen when I want.
               | 
               | I can't imagine running Snow Leopard but also feeling
               | like you have to run the newest of everything. It can't
               | even run a remotely current web browser. You have to
               | already have programs that will be exactly what you want
               | and need. Then, you use those and get used to them, like
               | cooking with an old chef's knife you've had for decades
               | :)
        
       | jna_sh wrote:
       | Contents of the article aside, I'm intrigued by that Thinkpad
       | with what appears to be a graphics tablet in the palm rest.
       | Anyone know what model that is?
        
         | ianai wrote:
         | It's labeled W701. Probably from quite a few years ago.
        
           | NikkiA wrote:
           | From about 16 years ago, it also has a slide-out second
           | monitor on the side that was an interesting idea, but
           | effectively useless.
           | 
           | Here's an image of one with the monitor slid-out:
           | 
           | http://www.tabletsnlaptops.com/laptop-images/lenovo-
           | thinkPad...
        
             | Pfiffer wrote:
             | Thats only the DS variant of the W700/W701, some of them
             | are just normal workstations, too.
        
             | voxadam wrote:
             | Out of curiosity, what makes the second monitor
             | "effectively useless"?
        
               | larrywright wrote:
               | It looks tiny. I would guess that it's just not enough
               | usable screen real estate.
        
         | cyrialize wrote:
         | Looks like a W701 or W701ds. The W701ds had the graphics tablet
         | and pull out screen. Very rare, I wish I had one just for the
         | novelty!
        
         | voytec wrote:
         | Two pairs of physical "mouse" buttons - one for the touchpad
         | and second for trackpoint (red "dot") - look quite unusual.
         | 
         | Especially in comparison to the new Z13 model[1] in which
         | Lenovo has ditched buttons-buttons on top of the touchpad in
         | favor of an area of touchpad acting as buttons for both
         | trackpoint and touchpad. My T-series has physical buttons-
         | buttons for the trackpoint on top of the touchpad and bottom
         | area of the touchpad acting as buttons for the touchpad. I
         | haven't tested neither Z13 model (not yet released) nor the old
         | W-series but I think Z-series may be a downgrade.
         | 
         | Seriously, the trackpoint/touchbar from MacBooks is the only
         | thing I miss after switching to ThinkPads.
         | 
         | [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34954787
        
           | goosedragons wrote:
           | Lenovo keeps trying to kill the trackpoint. With the T440
           | they also killed the trackpoint physical buttons but people
           | HATED it so they brought them back for future T series
           | devices. The Z line is their attempt to do it again. I hope
           | it stays contained there.
        
         | Pfiffer wrote:
         | The W700/W701 had an embedded Wacom tablet option
        
       | partomniscient wrote:
       | From the article:                   jackd_args="-r -d oss -r44000
       | -p1024 -n2 -w16 -i4 -o8 -C /dev/dsp0 -P /dev/dsp0"
       | 
       | I'm presuming the rate _" oss -r44000"_ should actually be _" oss
       | -r 44100"_ for normal audio (or 48000 for audio to be embedded in
       | video output, 48000 also appears to be the default rate).
        
         | vermaden wrote:
         | Fixed. Thanks.
        
       | grepfru_it wrote:
       | I really support FreeBSD whenever I can, but not here. Linux,
       | ubuntu specifically, out of the box can have an audio workstation
       | ready to go within 10 minutes of installation. Not to mention you
       | get a much larger array of software and VST plugins. When you
       | consider hardware support, its almost a nobrainer. However
       | FreeBSD is probably a bit more stable with jack in realtime mode.
       | 
       | 10 years ago, I used to run Linux as my effects processor for my
       | guitar and keyboard synth when I was in a band. That same laptop
       | also ran projectm to display realtime visuals on our backdrop.
        
         | erybodyknows wrote:
         | Would love to see a write up with more detail on this! I love
         | Ableton but it does not play nice with Linux.
        
           | grepfru_it wrote:
           | Wonderful idea, I shall commit to a blog post about it and
           | share it this week. I will note that oss apps do not hold a
           | candle to most professional apps. That said, you can make all
           | of the popular effects yourself, you just really need to
           | understand your synth/vst/daw
        
         | bluGill wrote:
         | I have a machine running ubuntu studio. While it is easy to get
         | up and going, the upgrades over the years have not been smooth.
         | I'm thinking about going back to FreeBSD because long term it
         | is easier to upgrade. pkg is an amazing system that beats dpkg
         | or rpm (it took 10-15 years to get ahead though)
        
           | voytec wrote:
           | > pkg is an amazing system that beats dpkg or rpm
           | 
           | What's your reasoning for this statement? I find poudriere[1]
           | handy for compiling one's own packages from ports configured
           | to fit one's goals, but I see nothing outstanding in plain
           | pkg.
           | 
           | It has issues when there's an IPv6 address up (even link-
           | local) but no egress v6 routing. It would hang and wait for a
           | timeout when an IPv6 address is selected from resolved
           | addresses. After a timeout - pkg connects to v4 endpoint but
           | if there's several packages to be downloaded, it can fall
           | back to trying to connect to v6 with the next package.
           | 
           | On the other hand, I've recently had Ubuntu 22.04 register
           | Python-related packages which were not successfully
           | installed, resulting in all dpkg/apt/apt-get commands failing
           | due to py3clean script throwing tracebacks, until
           | /var/lib/dpkg/status was edited and these packages were in
           | fact installed and then removed.
           | 
           | [1] https://github.com/freebsd/poudriere/wiki
        
             | asveikau wrote:
             | Not op here, but: I think the philosophy of ports and
             | packages (shared with other BSDs) has an upside over dpkg
             | and rpm in that you can customize options when you build
             | from source. The downside is that building from source
             | takes a long time.
             | 
             | If you follow Debian testing or sid, you will experience a
             | lot of dependency breakage that I've never seen on a BSD,
             | but that may not be dpkg or apt's fault so much as ongoing
             | package maintenance causing those issues.
        
             | ArchOversight wrote:
             | > It has issues when there's an IPv6 address up (even link-
             | local) but no egress v6 routing.
             | 
             | I have multiple FreeBSD machines, all of them with IPv6 up
             | on link-local, and pkg doesn't hang at all. Even without
             | valid globally unique IPv6 addressing, but valid ULA
             | addressing (unique local address) and valid routing for
             | IPv6 on an internal network, no issues.
             | 
             | It sounds like you've got some globally unique IPv6
             | addresses assigned to an interface somewhere and address
             | selection (and thus the addresses returned from
             | getaddrinfo) will return IPv6 first and try that before
             | falling back to IPv4.
             | 
             | You can configure this address selection by using the
             | ip6addrctl tool which will allow you to validate and change
             | that address selection.
             | 
             | It is based upon https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3484
             | 
             | FreeBSD also has predefined policies you can set in
             | /etc/rc.conf:
             | 
             | ip6addrctl_enable="YES" # Set to YES to enable default
             | address selection ip6addrctl_verbose="NO" # Set to YES to
             | enable verbose configuration messages
             | ip6addrctl_policy="AUTO" # A pre-defined address selection
             | policy # (ipv4_prefer, ipv6_prefer, or AUTO)
        
             | bluGill wrote:
             | That you can mix ports and pkg is a big deal. 99% of the
             | time the default binary pkg is good enough, but that last
             | 1% I can get the exact options I want.
             | 
             | I haven't used IPv6 with pkg though. (stupid ISPs).
        
         | p0w3n3d wrote:
         | I have very bad experience trying to run windows VSTs on Linux
         | with wine - since then (2011) i switched to windows. Is it
         | better now?
        
           | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
           | If you actually _need_ Windows VSTs in your workflow, then it
           | would still be best to run Windows. However, yabridge is
           | pretty amazing these days (still, however, utterly dependent
           | on the ever-shifting sands of what Wine does).
        
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