- Ubuntu Linux is the most popular variety of Linux in use on desktop - and laptop systems. It has the backing of a for-profit corporation - (Canonical Inc.), a defined philosophy and a huge and - worldwide user base. As a result, it is a common platform for people - who want to use Ardour and other tools for music creation and - pro-audio work. -
- -- Currently, installing pro audio applications on vanilla Ubuntu requires - some configuration, in order for the user to gain realtime privilege - (read below). - Ubuntu Studio, which is an official flavor of Ubuntu, and thus shares - the repositories with Ubuntu, has this already configured. - Other distributions, such as KXStudio, and Dreamstudio are largely based - on Ubuntu, and like Ubuntu Studio, has these settings preconfigured, while - also containing customized versions of Ubuntu packages, which often are - more up to date. -
- -- There may be unintended differences, and even bugs in Ubuntu native - packages, as a result of a different building method. For this reason, - Ardour developers highly recommend you to install the official - ready-to-run version of the program that you can get from ardour.org, as Ubuntu native - packages are not supported in official Ardour forums or other - support channels. -
-- Follow these steps to install the latest version of Ardour. -
- Like many distributions, Ubuntu has decided to use PulseAudio as the - default audio system. PulseAudio is a rich and capable system that - provides excellent services for typical users of Linux on the - desktop. However, it is not capable of the type of performance that - tools like Ardour require and in particular does not offer the - possibility of sending audio between applications that can make the - Linux audio environment a very interesting one. -
-- This would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that JACK - will not run correctly (if at all) if it needs to use the same - soundcard/audio interface that PulseAudio is using. And since on - Ubuntu, PulseAudio is configured by default to always use the - (typically single) audio interface on your computer, this is a bit - of a problem. -
-- The developers of JACK and PulseAudio got together in 2009 and - agreed upon a mechanism by which PulseAudio and JACK could cooperate - in their use of a single soundcard. Whether or not PulseAudio is running by - default, when JACK starts up it sends out a request to use the - soundcard. If PulseAudio is running, it will give up its use of the - soundcard to allow JACK to take over (and can optionally be told to - route its own audio through JACK). When JACK finishes, it sends out - another message, and PulseAudio can once again use the soundcard - directly. -
-- The specific issues known at this time for all flavors of Ubuntu - 12.04 and 12.10 are: -
-- Cannot start JACK (though see the next section for other - causes of this) -
- -- These bugs do not affect releases from 13.04, and earlier releases - (12.04 and 12.10) are in the process of being fixed. -
- -- To function as intended, JACK needs to run with access to two - operating system facilities called realtime scheduling and - memory locking. This means that you, the user who starts JACK, must be - allowed access to these facilities. By default, Ubuntu does create a - user group that has this permission but — it does not put new - users into this group by default. Read more about why here. - Consequently, you will not have permission to run JACK in the way you should. -
-- A message like Cannot lock down memory in the output from JACK as - it starts up. This output may be hidden in the Messages window of - QJackctrl (aka JACK Control), so you should check there. -
- -- Make sure the file /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf exists. If it is - named /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf.disabled, rename it to the former. - Run the command -
- sudo usermod -a -G audio - YOUR-LOGIN-NAME -- Then log out and log in again. On Ubuntu Studio the user is a member of audio - group by default, but not on other official flavors. -
- -- Given the difficulties in supporting Ubuntu and the limited time/resources - of the Ardour team, the Ubuntu Studio Project has requested that - issues and bug reports related to Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and other - derivitives be directed to them. -
-Information on the Ubuntu Studio Mailing Lists.
-Information on the Ubuntu Studio IRC channel. #ubuntustudio on irc.freenode.net