Hey! Just a quick hello from Arthur (our fluffy team member), he’s here to wish you a Happy Bank Holiday!
He’s been doing absolutely nothing all day and insists that you should do the same :)
To make the weekend a little sweeter, we’re giving you free worldwide shipping on laptops. Use the code ARTHUR25 at checkout. Valid from Saturday 3rd May - Monday 5th May.
Hope you get some time to chill, get outside or just treat yourself to something nice.
#Linux #linuxgaming #linuxtablet #developers
Using a decommissioned work laptop to install @EndeavourOS to see what a Linux foldable laptop would be like. I like the idea of it replacing my tablet, which is a Huawei and is now about 4 (5?) years without update.
If it is a good replacement, I can look at finding a cheapish foldable laptop (this work one is a Dell 5290 2 in 1) online and finally retire the excellent but now flawed Huawei.
Lichee Pad Max 4A is a 14 inch RISC-V tablet with a detachable keyboard (and removable processor-on-a-module) #LicheePadMax4a, #LinuxTablet, #Lm4a, #Modular, #RiscvTablet, #Sipeed, #SipeedLicheePadMax4a, #Tablet
Purism Librem 11 is a $999 Linux tablet with a 2.5K AMOLED display and Celeron N5100 #JasperLake, #Librem11, #LinuxTablet, #Purism, #PurismLibrem11, #Tablet
StarLite Mk V is a Linux tablet with Intel N200, 16GB RAM and a keyboard cover #AlderLakeN, #LinuxTablet, #StarLabs, #StarLabsStarliteMkV, #Starlite, #StarliteMkV, #Tablet
PineTab2 and PineTab-V tablets available for pre-order for $159 and up with a choice of ARM or RISC-V chips
Pine64's PineTab2 will be a Linux-friendly tablet with an RK3566 processor
https://liliputing.com/pine64s-pinetab2-will-be-a-linux-friendly-tablet-with-an-rk3566-processor/
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio One thing I learned is that pipewire’s concept of what a session is and does is different from JACK’s concept. #wireplumber, the current #pipewire session manager does not include the ability to save and restore audio applications (along with their jack connections. This is the whole point of #jack session management—to easily come back to a project later and not have to hook everything up again before starting to work on a project.
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio Pulseaudio & JACK are audio servers with completely different purposes that have competed for the same space just above the ALSA layer in the audio stack. Conflicts between these two servers, as well as other issues (outside of the scope of this discussion) made this a less than ideal situation. Pipewire is a new replacement for these servers that solves several problems, including allowing functionalities of both to peacefully exist within in a single secure server.
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio I’ve been studying pipewire (with emphasis on its uses within the realm of Linux Pro Audio) to see if it offers any relevance in the post “host as session manager” linux audio world.
As a quick refresher, Jack Audio Connection Kit ( #jack ) was created as a form of low latency inter-app audio&midi communication. This, along with JACK session management, was the original foundation of Linux pro audio—prior to the existence of audio DAWs that host VST or LV2 plugins.
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio It occurs to me that with the continuous work of mainlining the real time kernel patches, there will soon be little need for custom kernels (outside of the compile-time configuration options like the hertz of the timing scheduler), to achieve good low latency operation. In fact, since the majority of the RT patches have already been mainlined, the generic kernel can already do quite well now. The future of Linux continues to look brighter and brighter every day.
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio The things I like about the Debian and Arch distro families are:
* Both have large repositories
* Both are independent distros, free of corporate influence
* Both have huge support communities
* Both have excellent wiki documentation
* Both are very flexible—can be as minimal or as full featured as I want
* Both offer numerous Desktop Environment choices
The only major differentiating feature is that one is bleeding edge, and the other is 2 years behind and stable.
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio I realized that I can utilize the contrasting benefits of my two favorite distro families: the Debian & Arch families. Both of these distro families have the largest repositories, so software is not likely to be a problem. I can continue using EndeavourOS for my laptop, but for my desktop, I can use Debian. Debian is ultra stable & requires very little maintenance. It only needs updates occasionally. This is a perfect example of playing to each distro’s strengths.
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio I’ve got my laptop that I use & update almost daily. I’ve also got a desktop that I use occasionally. While Arch & EndeavourOS have worked well with my laptop, I know that I won’t be able to give the desktop nearly as much attention, & certainly not the amount of constant maintenance a bleeding edge distro needs. It occurred to me that I don’t have to use just one distro for both machines. This is where the contrasting benefits of Bleeding edge vs Stable distros come in.
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio Well, to bring everyone up to speed... I learned more about doing maintenance on Arch based systems—particularly pacnew files. I think I made a wrong choice or merged something backwards. Long story short, I messed up my system & reinstalled. EndeavourOS released “Apollo” just the day before, so I got to try the new install. This is the best EndeavourOS release yet! I had zero problems and the entire re-installation took only a couple of minutes. I’m back in action!
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio I do admit though, that I wish a lot of this pacman maintenance was automated. Somehow APT on the Debian family of distros manages config file changes & updates very well. I wonder if there are additional helper apps out there for pacman that might further automate the management process.
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio Well, amazingly enough, I ended with relatively few pacnew and pacsave files. The ones I had were mostly about updated mirrors. Only one had any significant importance, because it allowed me to put a setting that I had changed in GRUB back into my config file that I wasn’t aware gad been changed. Over all, pacdiff and meld work satisfactorily.
#linuxtablet #linuxaudio Every time I start to think I’m finally approaching the Linux summit, the fog clears just enough for me to recognize that I’ve barely set foot out of base camp.I just learned about pacnew & pacsave files. How in the world did I miss this in all of my reading?! During my entire process of testing audio apps for high resolution support, I’ve probably installed, upgraded, & uninstalled hundreds of apps—never once managing my pacnew & pacsave files. My OS is probably a mess!