Ubuntu/Ubuntu Studio questions

Nyarlathotep · #1 08-09-2009, 01:37 PM

Yes. I tried out Ubuntu on my laptop. It seems quite awesome, and since I use my LT mostly just for surfing and recording the Studio flav would seem to be a good choice.

I really like the layout and "multiple" desktop features, and having to "mount" drives was really easy to get used to.

I do have some questions tho:

1) Ubuntu comes with a firewall right? is it any good?

2) Ubuntu Studio comes with a multi track recorder. I also noticed that in the volume controls of Ubuntu that you can "activate" what you want to record from. Say I wanted to record separate signals from both the line and mic ins on my laptop, would I be able to do so?

3) Can I unpartition/change the partition of my HD? Currently my 80G drive is set to 2 40G sections. I wouldn't mind at least changing the partition to make the non system one bigger.

4) Currently my LT runs XP home. Will Ubuntu be smaller/more efficient? (It seems faster even just running off a CD)

5) I have 4 buttons above the KB for things like e-mail and the net. How do I reasign these in Ubuntu?

daystcity · #2 08-10-2009, 12:43 AM

1.) type in a teminal: sudo apt-get install gufw
then type: gufw
and you can set up your firewall, you might already have it installed, but doing this will make sure

2.) my soundcard is crap and can't record, sorry I can't help you there, I do know that you can just use synaptic to install the programs on ubuntu studio with plain ubuntu, don't bother doing a reinstall.

3.) yes, if you try to do it with your drive mounted, well, you can't. Plug in the live CD you used (on 9.04, maybe others) and use their partition editor, then exit(be careful and don't install or delete your partition!) and reboot.

4.) Short answer, yes, it is smaller/faster/more effecient than windows from personal experience switching from xp to ubuntu on an 8 year old laptop. Long answer, decide if it's worth it to you. Do you want to lose your ability to play some games? That's basically the only downside, that and photoshop.

5.) I'm not using ubuntu right now, but I rigged those same buttons you talk about to run moc (check it out btw, better than it seems at first[mocp in synaptic package manager]). Go to the control panel (or center, whatever) and go to the the keyboard layout, think it's somewhere near the top, gahh! Can't remember! Fool around with that, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out, google could also be your friend here. The hard part is going to be finding the commands for e-mail and such. Feel free to PM some requests and I'll help you out with those!

Good luck and have fun with your new operating system!

crispygoat · #3 08-10-2009, 05:17 AM

Unless you're speaking of partitions you made yourself, when installing, Ubuntu creates 3 partitions. One for the OS, one for your files and another one for - I can't remember.

As for games, you can play some old games via Wine (Windows Emulator). I get to play Roller Coaster Tycoon and Duke Nukem 3D throughout my classes. ID Software (Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein...) often come out with a patch to play their games on linux.

Armbruster · #4 08-10-2009, 06:55 AM

Can't you run Steam over Crossover Games?

I'm a Windows to Ubuntu to OSX convert. I hack the crap out of OSX.

DerHoggz · #5 08-10-2009, 04:41 PM

I think I've seen a photoshop add-on for play on wine, a wine add-on.

ThatGermanDude · #6 08-10-2009, 06:23 PM

Ubuntu has a built in firewall called 'iptables' which is probably enabled as default but you can make sure from a terminal. I forgot the command to do that but it's an easy google.

I don't know if it will be faster than XP but it definitely won't be slower.

About the recording thing, it took me a while and lots of searching to figure how I needed to set the options in the Volume Control. To use the line-in on the front of my Dell XPS M1530 the settings are:
Options tab -> Digital Input Source set to 'Analog Inputs'
Input Source set to Front Mic
Recording tab -> Capture slider set to volume I want

I don't know if your sound card can handle two inputs at once.

The buttons on top of your Keyboard will be hit or miss I think. On mine the music player controls work fine with Rhythmbox and the volume controls work as well. The CD eject button however doesn't.

Nyarlathotep · #7 08-10-2009, 06:33 PM

I must say Ubuntu Studio is faster by far over windows one my laptop

Im seriously thinking of just going with basic Ubuntu and just loading Audacity/Opera/etc, unless I can figure out this JACK thing.

EDIT: I can record in audacity fine, but JACK should allow me to set channels for the Line and Mic ins separately. If I read thing correct.

Thunderscreech · #8 08-10-2009, 06:35 PM

No offense, but Ubuntu sounds like some sort of illness.

Nyarlathotep · #9 08-10-2009, 06:37 PM

If its an illness, what the hell is windows? LOL

crispygoat · #10 08-10-2009, 08:51 PM

You can always try Linux Mint. It's based on Ubuntu but the interface is much more friendly. If you need help on Linux Mint you can ask questions on the Ubuntu forums since it is based on Ubuntu and ask your question on the Linux Mint forum in which the developers are active.

Quote:

The CD eject button however doesn't.

When you put in a disk, the OS mounts it (like flash drives, music players, external hard drives etc.). The reason the eject button does not work is because the CD is "mounted". Right click on the CD icon, select "Unmount" then you can use the eject button. But then again, it's easier to select "Eject Disk". Whenever you mount an Application file from a CD on Mac OS X the same thing occurs, you have to unmount the Application in order to eject the disk. I assume it's some form of protection?

kiwlm · #11 08-10-2009, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crispygoat

When you put in a disk, the OS mounts it (like flash drives, music players, external hard drives etc.). The reason the eject button does not work is because the CD is "mounted". Right click on the CD icon, select "Unmount" then you can use the eject button. But then again, it's easier to select "Eject Disk". Whenever you mount an Application file from a CD on Mac OS X the same thing occurs, you have to unmount the Application in order to eject the disk. I assume it's some form of protection?

It depends on what applications are accessing the CDROM, with the recent Ubuntu (since 8.04), if I just have nautilus opened when the Data-CD is in the drive, I can press the EJECT button on the CDROM and it will eject, and nautilus will behave properly and show an empty list. If openoffice is running and accessing a file in the CDROM, then the EJECT button on the CDROM will not eject.

crispygoat · #12 08-10-2009, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwlm

It depends on what applications are accessing the CDROM, with the recent Ubuntu (since 8.04), if I just have nautilus opened when the Data-CD is in the drive, I can press the EJECT button on the CDROM and it will eject, and nautilus will behave properly and show an empty list. If openoffice is running and accessing a file in the CDROM, then the EJECT button on the CDROM will not eject.

Haha okay you win, but I'm pretty sure back then (7.10) even if only nautilus would access the files it wouldn't eject. College made me use a Macbook for the past year, I've only been back on Linux for two weeks and haven't even bothered trying the eject button. Nonetheless, it's nice to see they have sorta fixed the issue.