Just to wrap this up. I'm going back to Ubuntustudio -- I've already installed 20.10 and started on a new song. I hope to also do a dual-boot with Fedora Jam before long because the changes you're suggesting sound really interesting.

Your comments about the different visions for Fedora Jam and UbuntuStudio definitely influenced my decision. Can I share a short excerpt with the Facebook LinuxMusicians? Something like this:

"Planet CCRMA At Home was discontinued after Fedora 30, which is EOL. That said, many of the tools that were in Planet CCRMA At Home are now in Fedora (except the RT kernel, more on that later).

My visions for Ubuntu Studio and Fedora Jam are quite different, yet intertwined.

Ubuntu Studio is an all-in-one content creation studio. It targets streamers, musicians, audio engineers (like myself), video producers (like myself), graphic designers, photographers (like myself), and publishers.

Fedora Jam targets musicians and audio engineers who are okay with experimenting with the latest audio technologies in Linux."

And thanks for all your hard work on both of these projects. I'll be contacting you via Ubuntu channels about helping soon.


On Mon, Nov 2, 2020 at 4:01 PM Erich Eickmeyer <eeickmeyer@fedoraproject.org> wrote:

Hi Steve,

On 11/2/20 3:01 PM, Steve Batte wrote:
Hi Erich, 

I know this chain is getting long, but I have a big decision to make and need advice. In terms of best functionality, most users, best support, would you recommend:
  1. Ubuntu Studio 20.4 LTS 
  2. Ubuntu Studio 20.10
  3. Fedora Jam (32 or 33) 

I'm partial to Fedora, maybe because I've been using it with Stanford's CCRMA repo for 20 years or so. But I get the impression everyone else is settling on Ubuntu as the standard. I also prefer KDE and stability, so last week I installed Kubuntu 20.4 and U-studio on one hard drive, and Fedora 32 Jam on another. I didn't find much difference, so settled on Fedora and spent a few days correcting Carla plug-in paths, compiling WhySynth 2017 and OxeFMSynth etc. But it's not too late to change.

My day job is stressful but pays well. Music is keeping me sane. I would love to contribute to one or both of these projects.

Thanks
Steve

When it comes to changing the subject, you really need to start a new thread. So, I hate to say it, but this is a little off-topic.

That said, this is one of the oldest questions ("Which is best?") as it's very subjective. As for me, I dual-boot both, but that's mostly because I'm in charge of both projects (Ubuntu Studio and Fedora Jam). However, if you had to choose just one, I can't answer that question. What works best for one person won't necessarily work best for everyone. But, I do have a few things for you to consider.

Planet CCRMA At Home was discontinued after Fedora 30, which is EOL. One thing I've been considering doing was emailing the person in charge of that to see if he wanted to get it going again. That said, many of the tools that were in Planet CCRMA At Home are now in Fedora (except the RT kernel, more on that later).

My visions for Ubuntu Studio and Fedora Jam are quite different, yet intertwined.

Ubuntu Studio is an all-in-one content creation studio. It targets streamers, musicians, audio engineers (like myself), video producers (like myself), graphic designers, photographers (like myself), and publishers.

Fedora Jam targets musicians and audio engineers who are okay with experimenting with the latest audio technologies in Linux, such as pipewire. With Fedora 34, we're hoping to get Pipewire mainstream, and I'm one of the people doing the testing and, quite possible, will be authoring a system-wide change proposal for all of Fedora to switch to Pipewire as the default audio server, if I can get a few ducks in a row in those regards. My rationale is that Pipewire will be a drop-in replacement for both PulseAudio and JACK and will make applications that target both completely interoperable without bridges. This, quite literally, is the dream for audio on Linux that we've been waiting for since ALSA.

Another thing to consider: Ubuntu Studio was neglected for 2 years (2016-2018) before I came along. Fedora Jam was neglected for much longer: 7 years (2013-2020). The longer a distro, or in these cases spins, is neglected, the harder it is to pick-up the pieces and get it moving again. Ubuntu Studio is *finally* where it needs to be, but Jam, partially because the KDE spin went a couple years with a lack of leadership, and partially because Jam itself went 7 years until this past January, is still suffering. I've slowly been introducing new packages with plugins and other software to Fedora. For instance, JACK Mixer had been a thing in Ubuntu (and Debian) for a very long time, but was never a part of Fedora until just recently.

While I have been introducing items formerly in Planet CCRMA and rolling-in other items, we cannot bring-in an RT kernel, nor would I want to. I made a huge write-up on the Ubuntu wiki (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/RealTimeKernel) as to why RT kernels this day and age are a BAD idea. TL;DR: They're full of security holes, and most modern hardware, with a current Linux kernel, doesn't need them anyhow. The Ubuntu Lowlatency Kernel and the Fedora kernel are already lowlatency-enabled. In Jam and Ubuntu Studio, we add an additional kernel boot parameter, "threadirqs", which activates the already-configured "CONFIG_IRQ_FORCED_THREADING=y" kernel flag (the code for that flag doesn't work without the "threadirqs" boot parameter). This allows for more IRQ threading and lower latency, albiet at the expense of power usage, all while keeping your system secure.

So, I hope that helps you in your decision. Either way, I'd welcome contributions to either or both of these projects. :)

--
Erich Eickmeyer
Maintainer         Fedora Jam
Project Leader     Ubuntu Studio
Council Member     Ubuntu Community Council

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