hello Franck and Jose, I've been using a delta 1010 (LT) and can testity that it has worked great with pd (midi as well) (one config with 6 channels and one config with 4 channels+spatialisation). Sound quality is good (analog outputs are non-symetric though). And well, i was using ubuntu - that i would recommend for its simplicity (i found it quite easy and reliable to setup a debian-like install this way).

Frank, could you may be explain a bit more what were your thoughts concerning this distro? Is it related to the kernel realtime-capabilities? or some more general flaws?

by advance thanks, vincent

Frank Barknecht wrote:

Hallo, jose manuel berenguer alarcon hat gesagt: // jose manuel berenguer alarcon wrote:

...

I am considering the possibility of running some multichannel pd
patches in some machine running some linux distribution. The patches
would reach some complexity and address sound over 6 independent
analogic audio lines. Could anybody give me some advise about which
linux distribution and hardware setup (computer and sound card)
should be needed for such a project?

If you just need 6 channel audio out, than most soundcards can do this in these days of "surround sound". If you want good quality you may want to buy something like the M-Audio Delta 1010(LT). Many cards based on that chipset (ICE1712/1724) are supported well by ALSA, they have great sound quality and lots of channels. If you need more than 12 mono channels out, you will need to buy a RME card.

Regarding Linux: just install Demudi or Debian with the Demudi kernel. I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu for your setup.

Ciao

ok thanks for all these remarks, then if i understood you well, you point out pbs with gnome/kde and upgrades in Ubuntu (by the way installing kde from (G)Ubuntu is a one step process: apt-get install kubuntu-desktop).

may i just add that my experience of Ubuntu showed me that :

• it is easy to set-up fluxbox (which might be preferable for

performances reasons and provides a clear interface :-).

• if you stick to universe and multiverse sources (in

/apt/get/sources.list), it is quite sure that you won't end up with an unstable system.

finally, i would just like to say that Ubuntu is a good choice for debian/linux beginners (like me). I would agree with you Frank, that one would probably get more freedom with a genuine debian install or a gentoo for example, but still, it seems to me that it requires a substantial extra-amount of knowledge and time.

best, vincent

Frank Barknecht wrote:

Hallo, vincent rioux hat gesagt: // vincent rioux wrote:

...

And well, i was using ubuntu - that i would recommend for its simplicity (i found it quite easy and reliable to setup a debian-like install this way).

Frank, could you may be explain a bit more what were your thoughts concerning this distro?

Maybe I'm just spoiled by the recent upgrade of my Ubuntu laptop, where a lot of stuff broke, like all fonts were displayed way too large, I got german menus instead of english ones, and when I changed the locale, I couldn't type umlauts anymore etc. Everything was really annoying, because I already had configured all that to my liking months ago and now I had to do it again.

Worse yet: Configuring something on (G)Ubuntu means using Gnome, which often doesn't let you configure everything you want, at least not, if it's considered to be esoteric like using a german keyboard with an otherwise english-language desktop.

So I'm pretty disappointed with the upgrade behaviour, which seems to work flawlessly only, if you're a typical Ubuntu/Gnome user. And I think, many Pd/audio users are not typical Gnome or KDE users. A machine, which will be used in performances or installations with Pd probably won't have (to have) Gnome or KDE installed at all. That's why personally I wouldn't recommend to use Ubuntu on such a "performance" machine, but of course, YMMV.

Additionally it seems, that cross-upgrades from Ubuntu to Debian are very tricky. I'm currently trying to do that to convert my laptop's system to a real Debian again.

Ciao