this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It's more like JACK for desktop. PA was never good, just obvious bad design.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'd have to disagree with that. It wasn't perfect and there were issues for many people at the beginning, but it united everything properly.

Before then (in xmms days), don't forget that audio in apps constantly didn't work, and the sound servers often conflicted. It was far from a seamless experience.

But, pipewire I agree doesn't seem to have any downsides and finally fixes from what I felt was the last major issue (low latency)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

PA works on most case tho. Can't deny all the good it did.

Also, is JACK any good?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Pipewire replaces the need for jack, which was low latency audio routing between audio components. Pipewire even has jack compatible interfaces so you can use jack based apps with it.

Then there's the bit most people skip over. Pipewire does the same thing for video!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Didn't work on my last two sound cards, and always had latency problems for many people.

JACK is for profesionals. If you need to take an input from an instrument, run it through a software filter, and output it immediately. Or if you need to output from one program to another to another. Etc. Usually that means small buffers and a lot of cpu usage. Not really for normal desktop users. Grab a specialized distro like ubuntu studio and try it, if you want.