What DE is everyone using?

[Glennbo]

You need an OS that only offers two choices.

Expensive or double expensive . . . Like Windows!

[SmajjL]

Would not surprise me if Bill Gates is using Linux, eh-hehe
*high 5 - Slap!*
Ps: be nice to me now Canonical, p l e a s e
Ps2: Got my first U-he synth also

[SmajjL]

Ohh gimmi a break.. Ubuntu Cinnamon might have a bug like if i setup my calibrated.icc then i get thin horizontal discrete lines over the graphics, that's a new one at least.

Here we go again, next! *sigh..*
Back to K D E 1..2..3..
--

Bonus:

Was not Ubuntu Mate gonna have a wayland/mir thingie?
And so far it looks to me like KDE Plasma is the Only DE that can handle exotic media keys and gizmos as shortcuts..

[JamesPeters]

Re: KDE, see this post.

As for my settings of the OS and Reaper, see this post.

[SmajjL]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Re: KDE, see this post.

As for my settings of the OS and Reaper, see this post.

Baloo-whot? ahh, file index thingie.
I just tried having System Monitor on the side while loading up a project, then unmounting let it collect samples and baloo_file CPU-wize did not use anything, only 3296 K memorie nada/zip on CPU.

My first though was, is KDE supposed to have a Windows Vista thing?


Thank you for the information James
I must add that i have o f c also tried Ubuntu Studio and i am not sure one bit that low latency is helping Alsa for playback only in my case.
Since you were nice to post what exactly works at your place, i will try Xubuntu will your instructions right - now! thank you very much good .sir


Ps, i for one need ColorD

Maby one can make a script to turn almost everything off temporary when we are going to DAW? lol

[JamesPeters]

Xiccd may not have an impact on the performance now. It did when I first noticed it was on the system in the previous version of the distro. But I don't need it, so when I moved to 20.04, I disabled it again. I found this about it, a post on XFCE forum from a month ago:

There's a known bug in xiccd that's been there for years: if you log out and log in again (or switch user), the demon will take 100% CPU. It happens only with some DEs, including Xfce.

So I assume it's possibly still not so great to be using.

File indexer may not be much of an issue if you let all the files be indexed before you start working in the DAW (and that may take hours or days depending on your drives, number of files, how long you leave the computer idle, etc.) Also you won't notice it under normal use; you'd notice it when pushing the DAW to its limits. I did so with test projects in Reaper designed to show the limits of the system performance. KDE always lost by a significant margin no matter what distro I tried it in.

And of course "your mileage may vary" and all that. I just think that a lot of people saying you need to set your priority of this or that higher, maybe don't do that stuff unless you have a problem. Those things made Reaper's performance worse for me. I eventually realized the default settings of the distro were mostly fine, not just for the latest Xubuntu but also for several others going back at least a year. Perhaps when using multiple audio apps at the same time, and using Jack to connect them, you need to do other changes to the OS. I don't do that though.

[SmajjL]

Elo, Xubuntu speaking

So the thing is, for example, i don't have any issues at all on Manjaro KDE and with that i mean straight out of the box if i keep it at 128/3 straight ALSA and, i usually do my tests on Bitwig because REAPER is to stable

That said, i am hoping things can be a little better if i learn this stuff and i will check and add your settings now

[SmajjL]

So hmm, your very low settings i have no issues with REAPER at all, impressive! but Bitwig broke a new record in crackles lol specially when loading samples.
I guess i can get my ass back to Manjaro KDE or Cinnamon and also add your tweaks there anyway, and i do turn off printers, bluetooth, touch, eum, everything i simply am not using, no low latency there, only realtime and standard, and during install, i don't tick the install office stuff, allthough i do spell like a llama

Thank you for your tips!

I am on m.2. pcie, is there such a thing as maby format to a better filesystem other than ext4 *new thought*
This happy penguin switched to Manjaro also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgrqMv3Lzfk
I have had the most flighttime with Manjaro and the best luck/results with it also, what can i say?

[babag]

i can offer updates to the post i made early in this thread. i basically use ubuntu studio now pretty much exclusively but have added kde to it. reasons for that to follow.

originally, i ran ubuntu studio with kxstudio added and xfce. kxstudio seemed to develop issues in the updating process and i got tired of the deeply klunky nature of working with the xfce desktop. more on that in a minute.

owing to the above, i've reverted to a simpler setup of just ubuntu studio and kde. i've not had an issue with being underpowered or overtaxed. i try to have a computer that's powerful enough that i simply don't have to think about such things much. where i try to put my attention is workflow. omitting kxstudio simplifies my work environment by not giving me lots of applications i'll never use. i mostly just use reaper and davinci resolve and some other media-utility type apps that don't come with any distros and i add manually.

this gets me to the de. i use kde because it's the ONLY de that properly allows me to place shortcut/alias/link icons on my desktop WHERE I WANT THEM, the ONLY one. i tried at least six, probably over ten and, except for kde, they ALL were either incredibly cumbersome at making desktop icons or refused to let me put them where i wanted them.

my environment may be unique so i'll briefly describe: four monitors, three across my workdesk and the fourth, a 4k tv is up on the wall above and in front of me. i have my display geometry set to reflect this arrangement, with the large monitor above the other three. the 4k is not as wide, pixel by pixel, as the sum of the three desktop displays so de's like xfce have a problem with empty space to the left and right of the 4k and above the three lower displays. xfce seems to calculate its desktop space by taking the full width of the sum of the three displays and the full height of the lower and upper displays. unfortunately, it also seems to ignore the empty space at the sides of the 4k. that became a huge problem because, when adding new desktop icons, xfce wants to put them at the upper left of the desktop. that, of course, in this case, is empty space that is off-screen. took me some time to figure out that my icons actually were there, just in places that were invisible and inaccessible. i found that i could find them by opening the display properties and moving the 4k to the left so that its left edge matched the left-most edge of the lower three displays. that revealed the, otherwise hidden, icons.

to get around the above issue, i was told on the xfce forum that i could use panels and populate them with icons. that worked but, once again, is way too cumbersome when all you want to do is drop a shortcut on the desktop. after lengthy discussion on the xfce forum, it seemed like there was no interest in addressing this issue so i had to move on. too bad as i really wanted to use xfce.

after the xfce experience, i found that kde had no problem AT ALL letting me place my icons on my lower-right display. problem solved. i've also been pleased that i've had no power issues either. kde has been very solid.

for me, it's been all about the workflow and kde has been the only de that lets me work how i want to work. i've been using daws pretty much since they appeared and have MY workflow and expect my os and de to let me work it, not to conform to their shortcomings. kde has done that for me.

i should add, though, that i do very little recording or midi. my workflow is almost exclusively audio editing and mixing, often to picture. that, along with the unique display configuration, will likely impact the relevance of my experiences to most reaper users. i think it's important to convey this, though, as it was a huge hassle and long process of discovery to find that only kde could meet my requirements.

thanks,
babag

[SmajjL]

Ubuntu Studio is going to drop Xfce and going KDE by default also, KDE! i might get a KDE tattoo
Hope Ubuntu Studio chose softer icons by default, way to sharp! is my almost only KDE-critique, round them off a tad at least, yes yes yes, .svg cool, c'mon now

--

In the case of Bitwig, i now have my eye on the CPU Performance Graph and i can say having that hyperthreading ON in this case made a big positive difference!
This fact may disqualify any comments i've had on a distro if this thing was OFF..

Also tried USB2 vs USB3, nah, nothing to comment about.

[SmajjL]

Originally Posted by SmajjL

Ubuntu Studio is going to drop Xfce and going KDE by default also, KDE! i might get a KDE tattoo
Hope Ubuntu Studio chose softer icons by default, way to sharp! is my almost only KDE-critique, round them off a tad at least, yes yes yes, .svg cool, c'mon now

How much coffee is in you anyway? aaaanyway, good news buddy

"As of now, as per the latest news shared by them on Reddit, Ubuntu Studio’s transition to KDE is nearly complete. They also showed a screenshot with the same theme (Materia) and icons (Papirus)."

https://www.reddit.com/r/ubuntustudi...ess_on_plasma/

Great minds think alike

Ohh, http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/dvd/current/
Hopefully with KDE, off to try *PjofF!*


==

Since i am a crackle expert now i just knew, ohh sht, their default is low latency isnt it, yup, it is.. ohh well
The drivers place to install Nvidia was buggy

Other then that, so cool KDE will get creative and music peoples Devs eyes on it

==

Back to Manjaro KDE doing the Eeexact same thing and DPS Performance graph is calm..
So maby it is the newer kernel, or the whole updated Manjaro thing, iiii dunno but it shows KDE is good &
*oo00oo sht, meep! meep!

[SmajjL]

Surprice of the day:

Manjaro Gnome did even pass loading samples While! playing without crackles and after many ahh-ha's & where is what, i can get a good flow with Gnome.

It even reacts on exotic media keys and the Gnome extensions i like that actually works and is maintained *helps*

The flow of "activities"menu / search that Also search the software repo
The thing can have Arc menu and others as a combo and ofc dockers.
1 GB is noooothing
Have to try all this on Ubuntu also.. because who-ho!
And, i OSB'ed that if i close Firefox, bam! the memorie went down instantly.

I Need to be with-in "beyond 2000" in Linux tech

==

Ubuntu GNOME works very well also actually! GNOME likes my computer?
But compared to Manjaro i do miss QOL stuff, updated system, like open folders as temp root/permission-stuff
Ubuntu GNOME provoked me so i just dragged install-reaper.sh into the Terminal and Ooops, it worked

-
Edit: one solution is to install Thunar, also, and then run it from terminal, sudo thunar

[SmajjL]

Now when i know how to update kernels myself and grub customizer, know about Liquorix kernel (that actually seems to have solved the short annoying crackle issue i had) and we have appimages/snap/flatpak etc, i have to start over, re-think.. *sigh*

Haveto try this on a Kubuntu.. why? because i gaddah! *no, i'm not related with J.Carrey..
Forgot to slam the door, sowwy Carrey.. but anyway, it worked great on Kubuntu also, smooth Graph/sea without wierdo peeks for PppPlayback
Cinnamon/Gnome/KDE who knows, KDE today though but i read QT licence differs abit from GTK

[s wave]

I3 is amazing - but not for my everyday driver though... that is QUICK!!!