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Thanks. Yeah, the other was light weight, but not like DietPi. I'm using LXDE....it's supposed to be "Highly optimized, ultra lightweight".....I rekon they mean kinda smallish. I'm also setting it up with Plex media server. Kinda going overboard since I can just ssh to a RPi that contains music files and then play them with mocp.....which is what I've been doing, but Plex can do more....I can also store my photos. Access Plex from my SmartTV ....kinda cool.

EXCELLENT Sunrat....TY! Maybe the biggest take from all that information is that "A few xruns are to be expected, mainly just when loading files or plugins. Should be minimal or zero when playing or recording." I have that now, in my current setup, using DrumGizmo to capture MIDI and convert to analog prints. I guess I was spoiled with my old setup, which was a stock Lubuntu that I added KX Studio Repos and configured to taste. That setup never had xruns, with no tweaking. So for me, THAT was the expected behavior; but you're telling me that was exceptional behavior. And the xruns I'm noticing now aren't showing up during playback/recording runs.....they're showing up during Plugin loads/activations and change of settings. Sounds like IF that's the case, THAT is somewhat to be expected? My CPU is a Ryzen 5, with a discrete ATI soundcard. I can't remember, but I may be bypassing that soundcard for the onboard with the Ryzen 5. Nevertheless, I'll run down some of your suggestions because I do want it to be the best it can be...even if tests confirm it's already there, I'll want to know that! Since I'm using Ryzen, sounds like I can skip the C-states, and focus on threadirq and mitigation. I am using the PA > Jack > ALSA setup...no pipewire (although looking forward to the day when it's the default in Debian!) Since all hardware is IDENTICAL (remember, I just pulled my OLD drives, put new drives in and reinstalled, with no hardware changes whatsoever!) I made my Cadence settings in the new Debian exact clones of my old settings in Lubuntu. Those Cadence settings include default settings on the Engine tab, and the Network tab isn't being used. My Driver tab uses ALSA, with settings of 44100 sample rate (good enough for CDs, good enough for me), buffer of 256, and 2 periods/buffer; collectively yielding 5.8ms of latency. BTW....this matches the latency on my dedicated drum station/windows laptop using ASIO driver. My MIDI driver is ALSA Raw-MIDI. Any settings that catch your eye that COULD be better? Reading forums, I'm seeing suggestions that 3 periods/buffer would be better, but I'm not clear WHY. What are your thoughts and advice? TIA Sunrat!

Excellent! so much for the "not enough RAM" theory, though. what desktop did you install? That start menu icon looks like LXDE, but i thought you said LXDE wasn't an option?

Greetings all. I finally got a desktop installed on the Dietpi. I put it on the one RPi4 that has only 1gb of ram. The problem I was having was, one of the sites it goes to when getting packages for a desktop, would always leave me with an error: I should have done this before, but with a simple google search, I found the simple solution. On the Dietpi, I had to $ sudo nano /etc/hosts then add the following at the end of the line 185.199.108.133 raw.githubusercontent.com That did the trick. So now I can use this RPi4 with the radio stuff and the RPi4 w/ 4gb, I'll find something else to use it for.

Very cool Sunrat

Tuning for optimum audio performance is a rabbithole I've found myself in many times. The best guide is https://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/system_configuration A most helpful script is rtcqs (formerly Realtime Config Quick Scan) - https://codeberg.org/rtcqs/rtcqs . Run it and implement its recommendations until everything shows as [OK]. I set frequency scaling governor to Performance. For Liquorix you need to add kernel option threadirqs. I also disable mitigations with mitigations=off and disable C-states. GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_idle.max_cstate=0 processor.max_cstate=1 threadirqs mitigations=off" The c-states is for Intel, and there are security implications disabling mitigations; for my Haswell CPU it can improve performance up to ~30% What audio server do you have? I still use Pulseaudio > JACK > ALSA. Some DEs eg.GNOME now use Pipewire which I know very little about so far. A few xruns are to be expected, mainly just when loading files or plugins. Should be minimal or zero when playing or recording. You can run specific tests for xruns with xruncounter from https://github.com/Gimmeapill/xruncounter I think it is worth paying a few bucks to get the latest Ardour rather than the old repo version. I paid 5 bucks and have v.8.6.0 and it covers updates until v.9. The KX repo is less useful than it used to be as the devs focus mainly on their own projects and quite a few 3rd party plugins are now a version or more behind upstream. I get LSP from upstream and contribute to his Patreon. I use Qjackctl in preference to Cadence (setup of rncbc repo shown in attached guide). I wrote a guide for setting up my system with KDE Plasma, on Intel and Nvidia hardware. Some of it may be relevant for you. File attached. bookworm-setup.txt The easiest way however to have a functioning audio production system is to use a dedicated distro. AVL-MXE is excellent; the latest version uses Enlightenment desktop which is very lean. It's based on MX which is based on Debian Bookworm. Lotsa luck, and say hi to the rabbits!

Well I was referring to what applications he would use for certain things and such. I don't think he is running different kernels and such but he might be. He is a computer guy and hasnt asked me any questions about linux in years but I know he still runs linuxmint.

By all means, please do! I'm not picky about where the knowledge comes from, only that the information is good! I'm sure there are others who can educate me, but Sunrat is the only one I know of?! LOL!

So I know absolutely nothing about music production but I turned my boss onto Linuxmint years ago and he does. I can run something across him if you like when I get back to work Monday. Just let me know

Was gonna send Sunrat a direct message, as I think he & I may be the only ones posting in this thread. But then I realized, I learn stuff from other folks' threads that seemingly have nothing to do with me....until it does, at a later date, and I remember that thread. So if mods think this should be a private discussion, let me know, and I'm happy to take it there. Otherwise, here goes: Sunrat, I'd like to pick your brain regarding Linux Audio, Ardour, Jack, Plugins, and xruns. Since about 2017, my Studio Machine was running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, with KX Studio repos, and Ubuntu's low-latency kernel (4.x series, if i recall correctly). I was running Ardour 5.12, and whatever dependencies got installed from that package, including Jack, Cadence, default plugins, etc... ALL from KX. Worked like a dream with my audio card (a Behringer Uphoria 404, if it even matters), but was getting long in the tooth. It was time to upgrade and bring things forward, even though this setup worked PERFECTLY. No issues, no xruns (EVER!), everything detected as expected, etc... Fast forward to 2024. I've switched to Debian as my preferred OS, currently running Debian 12 Bookworm. I've added KX Studio repos, but KX doesn't provide DAWs anymore, just the KX-brewed audio apps (cadence, carla, catia, etc...) and a host of plugins. So I've installed Ardour from Debian (v7.31 i think?), and the base packages from KX (I pretty much only use Jack and Cadence, that I can see); and I've installed the plugin packages that look familiar to me, i.e. Calf, gxstudio, Robin Gareus (x42), in addition to the community supplied ACE defaults. Based on the advice of others, I've also installed Linux Studio Plugins (LSP) and am in the process of migrating from Calf to LSP (so far, so good....I'm liking the LSP plugins!). Debian doesn't have a "low latency kernel", so I've installed the liquorix kernel (v.6.7.12-1). Pulling my previous workflow forward, I have typically used DrumGizmo to capture MIDI from my e-drum kit, simultaneous with analog (a reference audio track only). I then took the MIDI file and pulled it into a Windows laptop and imported to EZDrummer3 to convert to audio; which was then exported as *wav stems and imported back into my Linux DAW as separate tracks. This has worked just fine for me, but has become a PITA.... Recently discovered Ugritone Drums as a native linux plugin; i LOVE the sounds and the ability to work completely from within my Ardour DAW on my linux desktop! But I have noticed MANY xruns registering in Cadence. Can't hear them when audio is playing, but they're accumulating. After much experimentation, it seems these xruns are occurring when the chosen kit in Ugritone gets "loaded", and when the preferred "routing" is selected. If I'm correct, is this a problem? Are xruns in Cadence an issue if they're not occurring during playback or record? I've cruised forums and many users (on Windows, Mac, AND Linux) are reporting similar issues....lots of xruns with Ugritone plugins. I have messaged Ugritone and they're aware, but point out the drum VST is a "beta" and they're working on improving it. In the meantime, I'm left wondering....is what I'm experiencing even a problem, if it isn't happening during playback or record, or it can't be heard? Alternatively, I've started learning to use the DrumGizmo kits (I've downloaded the Crocell), and use it for capture AND audio processing. And I've got a setting that sounds VERY much like my EZD3 kit....very happy with it! But I've noticed that DG produces xruns on occasion also. Not nearly as many as Ugritone; maybe 1 or 2 or 4(?) if I leave it open a LONG time. Haven't been able to isolate when the xruns occur, but have eliminated that it does NOT occur during playback/record. So with ALL that background, here's my question: Is this a problem, is there anything I can do on MY end to improve things? Maybe I'm spoiled by my old setup, where NO xruns were ever experienced, but that's my frame of reference. Is that unusual, or is that the standard? I have changed so much in my software that I can't possibly isolate what the culprit MAY be. What I can say with 100% certainty is that it isn't the hardware. It's the exact same hardware....I just pulled the old disks, installed new disks, and installed all new software and re-built the system from there. NO HARDWARE has been changed. Summary of changed variables: Ubuntu 16.04 swapped for Debian 12 Ubuntu low-latency kernel swapped for Debian liquorix kernel Ardour 5.12 swapped for Ardour 7.31 and any upgrades of KX dependency software between 2017ish and 2024! Can you educate me a little on xruns? I know they're bad, but maybe not fatal? Is there a way to determine what is causing them, and when they occur? Do you see anything in my software choices that causes concern? Any advice on the best way to move forward and restore my "0 xruns experience", or is that unrealistic? TIA for any advice you may offer!

From the latest version release notes: Who coulda seen that coming? Even Blind Freddie I reckon! Also : Coming soon - Not ESR any more. I have Floorp, FF-ESR, and FF 126.0 installed currently. And Chromium. Considering ditching Floorp if it's monetising and just do some tweaks to FF 126. I've only really been using Floorp for one website which is not working in FF-ESR and that's likely because of all the tweaks I have done. I can't work out which tweak is the culprit - it just makes Google login fail. Note to self - document all the tweaks in future.

Agreed wa4chq

I've been using i3 for many years....it's nice and simple and can be tricked out if you want....so I'm good in that department. Regarding WM's....when I first started my Linux journey, I tried Blackbox but went with Fluxbox. Used it for several years.....had that lookin' sweet. No wallpaper, just a solid color.....and I'd have xsnow running in the background...

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well there ya go...problem solved! I never mentioned i3 cuz I have no experience with it, but I think that qualifies as a low-overhead WM. Added bonus, I think that is SBs preferred WM, so I'm sure he can help you configure it! Question on the failed Pi installations....I'd be curious to go back and install Alpine with terminal/CLI only (no DE, despite the choices), and then add the xorg and WM packages you like. Getting a GUI DE running on a 4GB Pi seems to suggest your theory is correct. And if your theory is correct, you've got some Pis you can install minimalist WMs on for your various projects. Just thinking out loud... Congrats on solving that. Learned a LONG time ago...when using Linux, sometimes the solution is simply the hardware.

Now let's see how long it takes for me to blow it up! lol

Excellent

So, that was what was causing my problems.....1gb of ram was not enough. Install went just fine....no error messages noted.

Yep, I think think once everything is up and running, as long as the repositories are updated I think you could install anything you wanted. I really don't care for any we've mentioned. I use i3-wm 98% of the time. BTW....the new RPi4 w/4gb of ram arrived and I've got Alpine up and running with XFCE!

Gotcha....I only referenced LXDE because I thought you mentioned it earlier. And it is probably the BEST choice for a DE. But it looks like you're correct, no LXDE in Alpine. According to Alpine Wiki, here are your choices: https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Desktop_environments_and_Window_managers I note the verbiage "many are available and are attempted to be listed...", which suggests to me that others are available, and the list isn't comprehensive. I note that all the WMs i mentioned are absent from that list, except OpenBox. I find it hard to believe that Fluxbox isn't available. It's not as popular as OpenBox, but it's still probably the 2nd most popular WM, and I have yet to come across a distro that doesn't have Flux in the repos. Of the choices listed, I'd suggest LXQT and XFCE are similar with respect to resource usage. LXQT will pull in OpenBox as a dependency, while XFCE will pull in xfwm4. For that reason, I'd choose LXQT, as you'll be able to bypass LXQT at login and just choose OpenBox as a desktop session; I'm not sure xfwm4 will allow that. OpenBox will allow you to modify the OpenBox start file to only include what you want (I'd suggest lxqt-panels to make it look like a DE....until you get used to the default look of OB with no other GUI elements). I'm not a fan of OpenBox's syntax, which resembles HTML, but many folks like OB for that reason. I prefer the plain english of Fluxbox, if available in the Alpine repos. And OpenBox and Fluxbox are nearly identical in behavior, appearance, and features; so what applies to one, usually applies to the other. the biggest differences, IMO, are that Fluxbox files are configured in plain text; Fluxbox has "tabbed windows" feature, which allows drag & drop windows to group them in same window (say 2-6 applications running displaying in ONE window, with tabs to choose what you want to see); and Flux has a "taskbar" to show system info and open windows/desktops configured (I disable this feature, but it's a +1 compared to OB). Other than that....nearly identical. You probably saw this already, but here's the LXQT installation: https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/LXQt If that works for you, happy to help you get setup to bypass LXQT at login and just start your WM. EDIT: Found this regarding Fluxbox on Alpine https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Fluxbox I'd suggest following that tutorial, and if you want a desktop that LOOKS like a DE, just install lxqt-panel separately, and autostart in Flux. I can help with Flux, if you choose to go that route. If you prefer OB, I can still help, but I'm a little weak with HTML syntax. Either way, I'll do what I can for you.

Thanks for the reply and info, HJ....when configuring Alpine, they offer kde, gnome, xfce...might be one more but that's it. Maybe after you get it up and running you could switch over to something slimmer... I'll see what happens with more ram. I'm also having problems getting DietPI working. Maybe it's my mojo....or lack of....lol