[ardour-users] CCRMA vs. AGNULA

[Aaron Trumm]

> > CCARMA and AGNULA are modifications to the Linux kernel (Red Hat/Fedora
and Red Hat/Debian respectively) which are customized for low-latency audio
and video. Is this accurate?
>
> Again, it has a grain of truth but it's very incomplete.  PlanetCCRMA
> and AGNULA are "meta-distributions". That is, they don't provide you
> with a whole linux system; they provide you with a convenient set
> of extra packages that you can layer on top of another linux
> distribution.  So for example, if you use PlanetCCRMA, that means you
> have a RedHat or Fedora system providing most of the base system -
> utilities, libraries, and non-audio applications such as web browsers
> etc. On top of that, you install PlanetCCRMA which provides a whole lot
> of audio and midi applications and libraries that may not be in Fedora
> or RedHat at all or, if they are, the versions there may be old or
> otherwise lacking in some way.  In addition to that, PlanetCCRMA
> replaces the kernel with a low-latency-optimized kernel.

Yes, what he said.  What I'd like to add is that I don't think of
PlanetCCRMA as any kind of distribution, really, the planet is really just a
repository and a website with very detailed instructions.  The only thing
that the planet provides, when you get down to it, is a kernel that "they"
built and a bunch of really good instructions and a single place where a
WHOLE BUNCH of applications are kept (this simple combo is damned useful).
But really, to be "planetCCRMA" just means you followed their path, and the
whole thing is based on having a Red Hat (now Fedora) system.
Theorhetically you could use the planet flow on any RPM or APT based distro
or any really because the sources are there too, but in practice it doesn't
really work, especially the part about using the planet kernel.  And
actually, the planet flow includes installing APT so you end up using that
when you do the planetCCRMA thing.

ps:
soon I bet I'll know a lot more about the Planet since I'm going to CCRMA in
the Fall!!! YAY!  *dances*


> > Am I missing something? Are there more options? Again, I am looking for
stability. What is the best combination to use?

You'll get a lot of different opinions.  I used the PlanetCCRMA flow my
first time through, because it was easier to get started that way, and given
that I knew nothing about linux audio, Fernando's instructions REALLY helped
and taught me a lot.  Then when my harddrive crashed (my bad - power surge,
no protection *sigh*) I rebuilt my machine with Gentoo.  Gentoo took longer
to learn and it was definitely more involved, but doing gentoo installs has
made me a LOT LOT more comfortable with Linux in general, and I like my
Gentoo system better.  I still refer to the Planet website instructions as a
reference but I like gentoo better than red hat.  Once running, I've found
them both pretty stable.  I like to say Gentoo is more stable though. :)
There are some key things that work well on my gentoo box that I could never
get to work on my red hat box (cd burning with xcdroast was one - never did
figure that out)

Since this is the Ardour list, I'll mention that Fernando at the Planet is
quicker getting the latest versions of Ardour into the repository than
gentoo is at getting them into the ports.  Or at least he was for a while.
I spent a few months moving, and stranger things have changed! :)