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Old 05-08-2021, 10:02 PM   #41
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Originally Posted by Charango View Post
And there we have Linux in a nutshell I'm sure many of us are like that, we just like trying out things because we get bored when we don't have a challenge. Life is about learning although the downside is that we have to use our time wisely as it's not infinite. I have learned so much by tinkering around, there is a satisfaction to be had in succeeding to do something we didn't know how to do before. It's just the way some people's brain is wired I suppose.
My biggest snag is that I want to have a new virgin M.2 to install Manjaro on where if I hit any snag, I can just revert to the current SSD with Xubuntu. I keep buying other stuff though, like most recently adding another 8 Midas mic pres to my audio device.

I was noticing last night that I could get a 250GB Samsung Gen4 M.2 for less than $80 on Amazon.
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Old 05-08-2021, 11:25 PM   #42
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Considering I'm considering doing this, just havent got round to it yet, I suspect this thread will be very useful Nice one!
^ ha ha, we can only hope... My guess is I'll probably give up pretty soon, though, finding it easier to either fix my W7 or ignore the issues as much as possible.


I got a chance to dig around some more - and actually found something. I used some of the terminal commands I've run into in threads trying to troubleshoot network and e-mu audio. I found e-mu info when I listed hardware and PCI stuff. I also found info for my network card.

Here's what I found for the e-mu. The first chunk is what I found when I ran lspci -v, the second is a truncated version of what I found when I ran sudo lshw.

Code:
Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs CA0108/CA10300 [Sound Blaster Audigy Series]
	Subsystem: Creative Labs E-MU 1010 [MAEM8982]
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 19
	I/O ports at dc00 [size=64]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel modules: snd_emu10k1
Filenames like "CA0108/CA10300" and "snd_emu10k1" match what I've seen mentioned in some of the troubleshooting threads I've seen, like the one Glennbo first posted. Note that, still, when I run cat /proc/asound/cards the emu card isn't listed...

Does anyone know what the above means/suggests? To me it seems Ubuntu does recognize the card, it's just not getting installed for some reason, or whatever, not being implemented...

This next chunk is basically the same info, but I thought maybe how it's represented might mean something to someone. For example, the indentation, it's characterization as "multimedia UNCLAIMED"??:

Code:
*-pci:4
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 4
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.3
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:28 ioport:d000(size=4096) memory:c0400000-c05fffff ioport:c0600000(size=2097152)
           *-pci
                description: PCI bridge
                product: PI7C9X111SL PCIe-to-PCI Reversible Bridge
                vendor: Pericom Semiconductor
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
                version: 02
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pci pcix pm pciexpress vpd msi normal_decode bus_master cap_list
                resources: ioport:d000(size=4096)
              *-multimedia UNCLAIMED
                   description: Multimedia audio controller
                   product: CA0108/CA10300 [Sound Blaster Audigy Series]
                   vendor: Creative Labs
                   physical id: 4
                   bus info: pci@0000:04:04.0
                   version: 00
                   width: 32 bits
                   clock: 33MHz
                   capabilities: pm cap_list
                   configuration: latency=64 maxlatency=20 mingnt=2
                   resources: ioport:dc00(size=64)

Although ultimately audio is the goal, getting the internet up and running is sort of job 1 at this point. This is what I got for network hardware info:

Code:
*-pci:5
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 5
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.4
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.4
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:29 ioport:2000(size=4096) memory:f9c00000-f9ffffff ioport:c0800000(size=2097152)
           *-network
                description: Network controller
                product: BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
                vendor: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
                version: 03
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
                configuration: driver=bcma-pci-bridge latency=0
                resources: irq:16 memory:f9ff8000-f9ffffff memory:f9c00000-f9dfffff

So again, here with the network adapter, it's apparently recognized, it's just not available anywhere else, to setup a network connection.

I ran a command about listing a 'blacklist' or something like that, I think I ran cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, that I saw in a thread about getting network going. It looks like this Broadcom BCM 4360 is indeed on the list - but I don't know what that means, in terms of functionality.

The blacklist thingy said this: "# replaced by b43 and ssb. blacklist bcm43xx".
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Old 05-09-2021, 07:10 AM   #43
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Originally Posted by eq1 View Post
So again, here with the network adapter, it's apparently recognized, it's just not available anywhere else, to setup a network connection.

I ran a command about listing a 'blacklist' or something like that, I think I ran cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, that I saw in a thread about getting network going. It looks like this Broadcom BCM 4360 is indeed on the list - but I don't know what that means, in terms of functionality.

The blacklist thingy said this: "# replaced by b43 and ssb. blacklist bcm43xx".
Depending on the version of Linux you are currently trying, there should be an icon for networking on the same bar as your menu button. In Xubuntu, it's at the top right by the clock. Clicking it like in Windows shows me my WiFi plus about ten of my neighbors WiFi. Clicking on my WiFi then asks for a user name and password to log onto the network.
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Old 05-09-2021, 10:59 AM   #44
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snd_emu10k1 is the name of your driver (also known as a kernel module). You already have it, but it doesn't look like it was loaded. It should have been loaded automatically when the card was detected. Try loading it manually: sudo modprobe snd_emu10k1

If this succeeds, the card should appear in /proc/asound/cards
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Old 05-09-2021, 06:11 PM   #45
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^ I'll try that, thanks...

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Originally Posted by Glennbo View Post
Depending on the version of Linux you are currently trying, there should be an icon for networking on the same bar as your menu button...
Yes, I saw that. I clicked that, navigated around what appeared, but as I recall it simply said 'no network device'. It seemed to be all about setting up a network connection, but without a controller/device showing-up, all that seems futile.
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Old 05-09-2021, 06:32 PM   #46
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Broadcom is the worst. If you’re on Ubuntu, look for Software Settings > Additional Drivers, and see if they list a Broadcom driver you can use.
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Old 05-09-2021, 06:34 PM   #47
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Originally Posted by eq1 View Post
Yes, I saw that. I clicked that, navigated around what appeared, but as I recall it simply said 'no network device'. It seemed to be all about setting up a network connection, but without a controller/device showing-up, all that seems futile.
The two machines I have with WiFi connections didn't need anything but me picking my WiFi router and signing on. The icon in Xubuntu is the one on the top row to the left, and clicking it will show WiFi networks that are in range.



What WiFi adapter are you using and if it's a 3rd party USB thing, is it plugged in direct to the computer and not plugged into a USB hub or something?
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Old 05-09-2021, 07:03 PM   #48
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I found the 'additional drivers' tab in system settings and saw my network adapter listed there - with 'don't use this device' selected. There was another driver listed, I selected that, internet seems to be working - I'm typing this from Ubuntu Studio. Came back to report what i found and saw that rsntq said to do just that...

So at least i got internet going.

I tried to manually load the emu driver/module, sudo modprobe snd_emu10k1, but nothing happened after typing that command, the cursor just went to the next line after hitting return.


edit: Another quick question...
Is anything saved when using a distro from a USB flashdrive, 'live'? Like if I select the alternative network driver, will it be installed next time I boot from the flashdrive like this? My guess is no...

Similarly, I'm looking at downloading various software updates from the 'software updater', but it strikes me as being pointless if none of this is actually saved anywhere that will be available when re-booting from the flashdrive.

In other words, it seems like I need to really install the distro if any of this tweaking is to make a difference...

Last edited by eq1; 05-09-2021 at 07:16 PM.
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Old 05-09-2021, 09:07 PM   #49
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Originally Posted by eq1 View Post
I tried to manually load the emu driver/module, sudo modprobe snd_emu10k1, but nothing happened after typing that command, the cursor just went to the next line after hitting return.
Depending on the Terminal command and what the software is expected to do (especially if the command didn't include an option to report the results of the command), that might not be an indication that "nothing happened". You probably have to verify the change separately. You may also have to restart ALSA and/or Pulse Audio (search for how to do that and you'll find instructions; I've never had to do it).

Quote:
Originally Posted by eq1 View Post
Another quick question...
Is anything saved when using a distro from a USB flashdrive, 'live'? Like if I select the alternative network driver, will it be installed next time I boot from the flashdrive like this? My guess is no...
See post 26.
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Old 05-10-2021, 01:56 AM   #50
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Depending on the Terminal command and what the software is expected to do ... that might not be an indication that "nothing happened". You probably have to verify the change separately. You may also have to restart ALSA and/or Pulse Audio...
I had rechecked with cat /proc/asound/cards. Since then I also tried to restart ALSA. Still nothing.

And, since then, I ran through some of the manual procedures outlined in the article Glennbo linked to. Hard to understand what among those instructions still needs to be done vs. what can be skipped, but I think I was getting somewhere. For example, I downloaded alsa firmware, extracted, and found hitherto unseen emu-related files. I compiled and loaded, or whatever all the commands were supposed to do - but then on reboot, which is a step I was supposed to do, it's all gone.

From an article I just skimmed (*see below), it says normally the 'live' distro boot thing always starts from scratch, you can't save changes. You need to do something else to create persistent storage, and even then, you still can't make major changes, like most of the stuff I'm trying to do...


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Originally Posted by JamesPeters View Post
See post 26.
I read that, and the linked material. The USB flashdrive itself is formatted as NTFS...

* Here's a link to that article that says it's always from scratch, you need to create persistent storage layer, etc: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/1491...b-flash-drive/

From the article: "A Linux live USB drive is normally a blank slate each time you boot it. You can boot it up, install programs, save files, and change settings. But, as soon as you reboot, all your changes are wiped away and you’re back to a fresh system. This can be useful, but if you want a system that picks up where you left off, you can create a live USB with persistent storage... There are a few limitations. You can’t modify system files, like the kernel. You can’t perform major system upgrades. You also can’t install hardware drivers..."
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Old 05-10-2021, 08:42 AM   #51
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That's too bad. At least installing programs is a possibility, which is more than I expected for a live ISO.

I took the opposite approach you did when switching to Linux: I shopped for audio devices that work in Linux. There are a fair number of them, but proper functionality from a fresh install of a distro was another story. I decided to avoid the hassle you're enduring.

Plus I'd gotten rid of my 1616m PCIe years prior to that. And I was already considering getting another audio device. So the timing was good.
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Old 05-10-2021, 02:30 PM   #52
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^ Ah, I didn't realize you actually had a 1616m before...

I'm starting to get the idea that your approach is probably the more ideal situation. I'm sort of an edge case, or not "sort of," I am. I'm trying to continue to use a computer built in 2009, that probably wouldn't have been ideal even back then for Linux, with a ~2009 audio interface, a network adapter that's not good for Linux, etc.

My thinking up to now has been that I'd always keep my computer with W7, older programs (the few that I use), old audio interface - forever, basically. It's almost all from the same era, I've thought it'd be the most likely setup to remain stable - just don't try to update too much, or be careful with that, keep track of stuff. I've usually been pretty meticulous along these lines.

But now I'm getting some weird blue screens that i can't get rid of, and it makes me nervous. They happen on or just after start-up (the timing and exact nature has shifted over the past few weeks, as I've putzed-around with the computer). Roughly every other time I boot everything's fine, and if I keep the computer on I generally don't have any issues (at some point scheduled auto standby seems to fail - like it should go into standby after 20 minutes - but at some point it won't do that)...

Point is, trying to fix this W7 or try Linux - Which is the lesser evil? I'm always for finding alternatives, have a Plan B, so spending some time with the Linux is worthwhile.

I haven't quite given up. I need to try to do a real install of Ubuntu or some other distro and try the manual compiling or whatever of the emu/ALSA stuff. I'd like to at least find out whether I could get some audio going. Overall the Ubuntu Studio reminds me of a smartphone operating system, the organization, the look and feel of stuff, I'm not really liking that (I don't even use a smartphone, but I've had to tinker with friends' stuff to fix problems)... Eventually I'd like to find something really pared-down and just add the things I need, build from the ground up. But at this point I hardly even know how to install a new program.


Anyway, that point: IF I had to draw a conclusion at this point for beginners, based on my forays over the last few days, I'd have to say that you'd probably be fine if you have newer equipment, or if you're at a point where you need or want to upgrade hardware at the same time, things would be easier. If you're trying to use old stuff, like me, expect a lot of research, digging, trial and error, etc., and maybe only a 50/50 probability of coming out ahead..

A couple other things:

-The flashdrive 'live' thing seems best for simply trying/seeing different distros. But if you have to actually make major changes to get stuff to work, you have to do something else. I'll know more about that, hopefully, by the end of the day, as I'm going to try a real install and the changes I need to make.

-If you're moving from Windows to Linux, don't expect to easily find all the standard GUI-based tools that have allowed you to tinker with your Windows system. Expect to use the terminal. The terminal command sudo lshw seems like the easiest, straight forward way to see how the distro is interacting with the hardware, listing all the hardware and the drivers/modules - or absence of them - in play. I think the label "UNCLAIMED" is a good indicator whether you have issues. For example, my emu card is "UNCLAIMED" - no driver or module is claiming it. I actually have a few other things that are 'unclaimed'...

There's a lot of "settings" like things in the Ubuntu Studio start menu. "System," "settings," "settings manager," I really hate that. That's one thing I really hate about W7, too - it's like, 'Can't you just put all the settings and configuration stuff in one place?' In Windows it's like "system tools," "computer management," "control panel," "activity center," and on and on. Drives me nuts. I guess the point here is simply, don't expect to find any one place in any of these pre-installed 'settings' locations to figure out what's going on. Probably best to take some time to decipher terminal and terminal commands.

I guess that's about all I can say at this point.
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Old 05-10-2021, 03:23 PM   #53
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I know what you mean.

A computer from 2009, yeah that's pushing it a bit, but it should still work if your audio device is compatible (and the EMU may not be).

Gnome does look like it's trying to be Android. That's one reason I don't use it. I've stuck with XFCE since it's very fast/responsive without trying to look "too fancy". Also I've read about memory leak issues with Gnome and KDE which have remained unsolved (even if most people won't notice the issue), whereas XFCE seems to not have that issue.

Windows 7 though? Ditch it! Your choices are Windows 10 or Linux, and if Windows 10 won't work on the computer that leaves one choice. IMO of course. I wouldn't use Windows 7 on a computer that goes online, these days.

The EMU was good for the time but I don't miss it. I remember being surprised by its low noise output until one day I realized it "cheats". If playback is stopped, then the noise floor drops significantly. If playback is simply paused though...lol. The noise floor is higher. Plus the mic preamps sounded fine to me, but a bit rolled off in the lows and highs if I remember correctly. My next device as a Steinberg UR22 and it felt like a good upgrade for the headphone amp and preamps. I used onboard audio for a while with an external mixer and now I'm using a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen which is very low noise, with good preamps and a good headphone amp.
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Old 05-10-2021, 06:39 PM   #54
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One thing linux definitely deserves credit for is its ability to keep old machines running and useful, so if that's part of your quest I think you're on a good path.

IMO, to do the kind of tweaking you are doing I would just install it to a spare partition... it will be faster and you won't have to monkey with the flash drive questions. The main reason to use the flash drive method is to "kick the tires" as a previous poster said, see if it basically works, how much tweaking you might be in for, etc, but you're past all that and I think you'd be better served with a real install. You save time booting from flash because you don't have to go through the install process, but it's not worth it after a while.

However, going in to a "dual boot" setup with windows can sometimes be a bit dicey, as windows is a jealous mistress that can be a pain in the ass, in conjunction with annoying BIOS issues and so forth. Most of the time it "just works" but understand that there is some risk of pain if things get messed up. Don't do it right before an important project, for example. Back up windows beforehand, too, and have some way to access the internet for research help besides the computer you are working on.

Actually, before you install, run the command "lsblk" in a terminal (from a flash boot) and tell us what it says, just so we have an idea of what you're working with.

You said you had an extra partition "on your C: drive" -- just being pedantic here, but C: is itself a partition, so hopefully you meant "an extra partition on the same disk that my C: partition is on".

Doing the kind of stuff you are doing (configuring an old PCI card) is going to require some sysadmin-type tinkering, and the sysadmin learning curve can be a little steep with linux, but if you have a DIY spirit it is, IMO, a far nicer world to live in than windows. There are lots of frustrations and quirks and so forth, but things make some kind of sense more often than not, and at the end of the day there is a knowable answer somewhere to be had (as opposed to closed systems like Apple/Microsoft where sometimes things are out of your control.)

The modprobe command you issued sounds like it worked -- you can find out by running it and then using "lsmod" which lists the active modules and 'piping' (using the "|" character) the output of lsmod into a command called "grep" which limits the output to only what you are seeking. E.g.

lsmod | grep -i "emu"

That means "list all the active kernel modules (there are many), but filter them so I only see lines that have "emu" on the line, and be case-insensitive (that's the "-i" option)." If the emu module is active it should show up from that lsmod command. That doesn't mean it's going to work, necessarily, but it might be something.

You can also run the command "journalctl -xb" in a terminal. This will go into a "reader mode" of the system logs. Hit "G" (capital G, not lower case) to go to the end, then use the arrow keys to scroll up and look for emu-related chatter. It will mostly be gibberish but you might find some clues. "b" to go back a page, space bar to go forward a page. "g" goes to the beginning. "/" starts a search: type "emu" then hit enter, then "n" and "N" to go to next and previous matches, respectively (match will be at the top of the screen and highlighted). This search is case sensitive, so you might want to try "emu", then "Emu", then "EMU". Hit "q" to quit reading the logs.

In terms of plugins, my experience has been that they run significantly slower in linux when using Wine or the associated compatibility layers, though I haven't heard a lot of other complain about that. I would not switch to linux for audio if there are plugins in the windows world you can't live without, unless you can confirm that they run well in linux. Typically, the bigger the brand name, the more involved the DRM scheme, the less likely the thing is to work in linux. That said, there are lots of great native plugins in linux, so at least for the basics you'd be well covered.
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Old 05-10-2021, 11:17 PM   #55
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...However, going in to a "dual boot" setup with windows can sometimes be a bit dicey...before you install, run the command "lsblk" in a terminal (from a flash boot) and tell us what it says...You said you had an extra partition "on your C: drive" -- just being pedantic here, but C: is itself a partition, so hopefully you meant "an extra partition on the same disk that my C: partition is on".
^ That's what I meant... Funny, "C drive" must be some circa 1998 jargon lingering in my psyche.

I realize the dual boot thing has some risks, though I can't say i really understand them all. I've backed up that drive, don't have any major projects going on, etc. But I'm really expecting no major problems. I hope not.

Having said that, I already tried to install Ubuntu once, and the install failed, just some error message toward the end. I tried to find a log or something but couldn't. After reading a bit about Linux partition options, I tried another install, got to the partitioning part, and realized I must not have read very well - cuz the partitioning GUI was hard to understand. I had to go do something else and just abandoned the install at that point.

I have a 120GB ssd, half devoted to W7, the other half is unallocated space. From my reading it seems I should be creating three or four more partitions for the Ubuntu install, 1 for the boot, about 100MB, one for the OS or root or something like that, about 20GB, one for /home, the rest of the space minus whatever I want for a swap partition. Does that sound right? It probably doesn't really matter much at this point - cuz I'm probably not keeping this install, it's more for trial and error, experimentation, to kick the tires some more. But, I figured I should go through what I'm presuming is about the right process, the partitioning scheme...

Anyway, I ran that command, lsblk, here's what it shows:

Code:
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0    7:0    0   3.4G  0 loop /rofs
sda      8:0    1 111.8G  0 disk 
└─sda1   8:1    1    50G  0 part /media/ubuntu-studio/Dsk0 Samsung 840 EVO
sdb      8:16   1 465.8G  0 disk 
├─sdb1   8:17   1   128M  0 part 
└─sdb2   8:18   1   430G  0 part /media/ubuntu-studio/Dsk1 Samsung 860 EVO
sdc      8:32   1 931.5G  0 disk 
├─sdc1   8:33   1   128M  0 part 
└─sdc2   8:34   1 870.1G  0 part /media/ubuntu-studio/Dsk2 Samsung 870 EVO
sdh      8:112  1  29.2G  0 disk 
└─sdh1   8:113  1  29.2G  0 part /cdrom
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom

Quote:
Originally Posted by clepsydrae View Post
The modprobe command you issued sounds like it worked -- you can find out by running it and then using "lsmod" which lists the active modules and 'piping' (using the "|" character) the output of lsmod into a command called "grep" which limits the output to only what you are seeking...
Thanks for all this. I'll be copying these commands into my running list of commands... That's a very nice description, BTW, I wish they all came like that.

Thanks to all of you. Very grateful for the help. It makes all the fuss much more bearable.
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Old 05-11-2021, 01:02 AM   #56
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I got through the partitioning and install, rebooted, and Ubuntu won't boot. I get an error message that says, in part, the following:

"KERNEL panic - not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown-block (0,0)." And somewhere else it said: "...Please append correct "root=" boot option."

I tried to boot 3 times, no go. I could boot into the W7 still, though (albeit, it blue screens every other startup).

The last couple days, after these W7 blue screens, I've noticed that the time on the clock has been wrong once I got W7 up and running again. I'm thinking that could be just a result of the blue screens and weird termination, not a cause of the problem but a result... I guess I'm vaguely aware of CMOS issues, of dying CMOS battery, that could result in clock error, but a couple times probably isn't such an error - I'm thinking...
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Old 05-11-2021, 09:05 AM   #57
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The last couple days, after these W7 blue screens, I've noticed that the time on the clock has been wrong once I got W7 up and running again. I'm thinking that could be just a result of the blue screens and weird termination, not a cause of the problem but a result... I guess I'm vaguely aware of CMOS issues, of dying CMOS battery, that could result in clock error, but a couple times probably isn't such an error - I'm thinking...

I've been having that problem in W10 on my dual-boot machine. Driving me crazy (I boot into W10 only to play Black Mesa!). I replaced the battery, and it's still happening.
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Old 05-11-2021, 11:46 AM   #58
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The last couple days, after these W7 blue screens, I've noticed that the time on the clock has been wrong once I got W7 up and running again. I'm thinking that could be just a result of the blue screens and weird termination, not a cause of the problem but a result... I guess I'm vaguely aware of CMOS issues, of dying CMOS battery, that could result in clock error, but a couple times probably isn't such an error - I'm thinking...
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I've been having that problem in W10 on my dual-boot machine. Driving me crazy (I boot into W10 only to play Black Mesa!). I replaced the battery, and it's still happening.
This one sounds like you guys may be seeing the difference between the way Linux gets it's time vs. Windows.

Windows uses local time and Linux uses UTC. Back when I dual booted Win7/Xubuntu I forced Windows use UTC and then the clock stayed in sync booting back and forth between OSs.

https://www.howtogeek.com/323390/how...-dual-booting/
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Old 05-11-2021, 01:28 PM   #59
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^ Ah, that sounds like the issue. Pretty sure it started only after I started messing with Linux.
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Old 05-11-2021, 07:09 PM   #60
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Spent a few hours trying to find something that helped me understand what's gone wrong with the install, never really made much headway. I tried rebooting the Ubuntu live USB stick and that didn't work, either. All sorts of stuff isn't working now. For instance, try to boot into a Windows 7 install/repair disk and no matter what I kept getting the grub boot menu, which is odd because I booted into/with other disks fine... Ultimately I had to delete the Ubuntu install partitions, fix the Windows MBR, booting to a recovery disk, etc etc. So now I should be back to square 1, though my computer's startup is even more sketchy than it was before...

I'm thinking I might have done the partitioning wrong when I installed Ubuntu. The main thing I was trying to do today was simply find something that told me how the disk to which Ubuntu was installed was partitioned. I should have written it down. I think I might have chosen 'logical' partition where it should have been 'primary', for the /boot and / partitions, or maybe just the root. I've been trying to find exact info on that, too, but it's surprising how little there is, just doing searches.


If you create a separate boot partition, does it have to be primary?
Does the first partition have to be primary?
Does the root always have to be primary?
Is the root or boot partition the first one, or does it matter, or?

I've read and seen seemingly contradictory things. At this point, if I install again, I'll skip the /boot partition thing. But, from what I can tell, it sounds like the partition scheme should be something like this:

/boot, primary
/ ,root primary
/home, doesn't matter
swap, not applicable

And I'm not sure if /boot has to come before the /, or if it doesn't matter or what...
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Old 05-11-2021, 07:28 PM   #61
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I'd let the installer format it for you. If you are doing this on one single physical drive, use the Windows disk management tool to shrink the Windows partition and create some un-allocated space, then let the installer format that for you during the install.
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Old 05-11-2021, 09:33 PM   #62
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One partition with root (/) on it is all you need.
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Old 05-12-2021, 10:29 AM   #63
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If you try to install again, one thing I would check for is BIOS stuff. E.g. my laptop won't boot to linux unless I find the startup options in the BIOS and enable "legacy boot". There are a few things like this ("secure boot" and other windows drm-related BS) that can interfere with a successful boot. Similarly if you boot UEFI to non-UEFI or vice versa it can fail (this stuff confuses me, so take this with a grain of salt.) The error you posted reminds me of the kind of things that happen with this. (I once had an issue where the wireless would not work on my laptop. The issue ended up being UEFI vs non-UEFI -- for some reason that was the only symptom.)

Frankly IMO the whole BIOS/grub/partitions/dual-boot-with-windows/UEFI domain is the biggest headache when it comes to linux. Lots of complication, lots of vendor-specific BS, lots of stuff that is partially documented or documented with out-of-date info, lots of stuff that is supposed to work one way but just doesn't for some reason, obscure terminology, etc. I was a CS major and worked as a programmer and sysadmin type person for a couple decades and I still get glassy eyed when I start reading through grub and boot-related documentation. It's a mess. But don't despair, because you can get through it.

The boot-repair utility can be a life saver. Don't use it without further research -- for all I know it may no longer be appropriate. But it has helped me out of some jams after I had the hubris to think I could solve things manually. E.g. you could install as you did last time to where you get that error trying to boot linux, then boot to a live USB and install/run boot repair from there.

An important tip with linux is to make sure to check the date of whatever advice you are reading. Look for something written in the last year or two. Things change quickly with linux, but blog posts are forever. :-)

I treat Windows like a nest of deadly hornets and do my best never to poke it unless absolutely necessary, but at least in theory I like the idea of Glennbo's -- install via the installer's defaults and let it figure it out. Just make sure that it doesn't want to wipe out your existing windows install in the process, which can happen if you're not paying attention. And AFAIK don't try to move windows off the partition it is on.

There are linux nerds on this forum, but you might have better luck sorting out install questions if you seek advice on the forum for whatever distribution you are installing.

Some info on primary vs logical: https://superuser.com/questions/3371...ical-partition

Personally I don't use a boot partition... it's not clear to me if such a partition is even used with the older-style MBR/msdos partition tables (as you seem to be using, and which I use). As you say, it's hard to find clear information on any of this, which is frustrating. Everything I ever find answers only half the questions and brings up new ones.
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Old 05-12-2021, 11:07 AM   #64
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I vaguely recall doing a dual-boot system with Windows 7 and some Linux distro, possibly Mint, 10-ish years ago. I had to use some kind of boot repair. I remember it was a fairly specific setup that had to be done to allow both OSes to boot, and I think I had to use Windows' boot menu.

When I revisited the idea of trying Linux a couple years ago, I decided to avoid that and only have Linux on the computer. I kept Windows 7 on an old laptop just in case though.
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Old 05-12-2021, 12:06 PM   #65
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I've run a dual boot Win7/Xubuntu setup as recently as a few months ago when I built my Ryzen 3700X machine and found that Windows 7 will not function properly on new hardware.

Up until then I had been running dual boot on a 2009 Intel i5/Asus machine and had moved each OS on their own 250GB Samsung SSD.

Prior to that I only had one 250GB Samsung SSD that only had Windows 7 on it, so I used the Windows Disk Management tool and shrunk my Windows 7 partition to half the drive.

Then with half the drive un-allocated, I booted from an Xubuntu DVD and ran the install. The installer informed me that there was a Windows install and it recommended installing on the un-allocated space, which was the option I took. I let the installer format the empty space how it wanted to and the machine dual booted perfectly from then on. I later added the second SSD and cloned the Linux partition from the other drive so that each OS lived on their own physical drive.
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Old 05-12-2021, 01:14 PM   #66
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Originally Posted by clepsydrae View Post
If you try to install again, one thing I would check for is BIOS stuff. E.g. my laptop won't boot to linux unless I find the startup options in the BIOS and enable "legacy boot". There are a few things like this ("secure boot" and other windows drm-related BS) that can interfere with a successful boot. Similarly if you boot UEFI to non-UEFI or vice versa it can fail (this stuff confuses me, so take this with a grain of salt.) The error you posted reminds me of the kind of things that happen with this. (I once had an issue where the wireless would not work on my laptop. The issue ended up being UEFI vs non-UEFI -- for some reason that was the only symptom.)

That reminds me... with my current dual-boot setup, I could not install W10 until I updated the BIOS from ASUS. And since I wanted to install Windows before Linux (so that Ubuntu Studio could take care of the boot manager), I was stuck until I realized I had to run that update. That might be something the OP will need to check as well.
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Old 05-12-2021, 04:21 PM   #67
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^ Unfortunately Dell hardly updated the BIOS even for W7 (my computer originally shipped with Vista, I bought it right when W7 was just coming out), and it's a thin, crappy BIOS to start with, not a lot of options. I updated it a long time ago to the last available one.

And actually, I've always been concerned that the BIOS is part of my long running problems (mostly long, drawn-out lags during startup, during the Windows 'splash screen', intermittently, like every other startup). For instance, the BIOS doesn't offer an AHCI option, only IDE and RAID, but supposedly I need AHCI for the ssds. RAID supposedly implements/includes AHCI support or something like that, but it's implemented in a weird way, all my drives become SCSI and characterized as 'removable'. I don't actually setup any RAID (like RAID0,1, etc.), but the controller is RAID, drives are SCSI...

The scenario Glennbo describes is about what I've got.

I've looked at BIOS options and have tried one or two things. For example, I read that you should disable fastboot. It didn't make a positive difference, might've made things worse... A lot of the things clepsydrae describes are things I've had in mind. For example, I figured I might be able to boot back into the live USB with Ubuntu Studio to try to fix booting issues - but I wasn't able to boot back into that, either. In fact, after I wiped the Linux stuff from my ssd, I still couldn't boot the USB. That's about where I am now: I replaced Ubuntu Studio on the USB with Mint, booted that and took a look, then decided to go back to Studio. And when I tried to put the Studio image back on the USB - it was taking FOREVER. Something got messed up, somewhere, with the USB flashdrive or the USB device/controller. When I inserted the USB the last time, with W7 booted, W7 said 'there's something wrong with this thing, should we repair it?' I said 'go ahead' and after that it seemed to work fine. I haven't fully tested stuff yet...

Etc etc. It's been like 1 step forward, 3 steps back, at almost every juncture I reach... Can't get audio going? Well, have to do a real install to make changes. Can't get the real install going? Well, have to fix the boot manager, or whatever. Can't fix the boot manager or whatever? Well, need to boot back into the live USB. Can't boot the live USB? Well, have to redo the live USB... And on and on...


I'm about to try another install of Studio to the ssd, I'll just install it "along side W7" rather than trying to do manual partitions... I guess at this point I have no real intention of actually using the Linux, but I want to at least follow through with what should be an OK install and making those changes that are supposed to allow my audio interface to work. In theory, if it does work, I'd then be able to try to install REAPER. I have a hard time believing, at this point, that that time will ever arrive though.

Basically, my expectations are pretty much rock-bottom at this point. Everything I'm doing now is purely educational, I'm not expecting something I'll actually be able to use, but rather, perhaps something I can tinker with for a while, off and on. Going through the processes, becoming familiar with some of the Linux stuff, etc., is a form of insurance I guess, that Plan B... I'm basically expecting to go back to W7 and try to fix that, do a clean install or load a saved image from a while ago.


-also want to note that I've run the OEM 'Dell diagnostics' on my hardware, most of the tests (memory, drives, etc), and everything passed. I've run Windows repair stuff, too, it never finds any problems. That's actually kind of baffling: last time I had W7 startup problems - after I deleted the partitions that held Linux and the grub bootloader - I ran the Windows startup repair and it couldn't even tell that the bootloader was messed up. I had to open a terminal and manually command the bootloader fix thing - and then it worked fine. So, I don't know, I don't have a lot of confidence in the Windows repair thing...


edit:
Don't mean this to be a chronicle of the pain, but figured I'd jot down the latest issue in case someone reading this happens to recognize the problem.

I loaded Ubuntu Studio from the USB flashdrive, intending to install it, but when I went to install it, each step in the install 'wizard' was taking forever, like 15 minutes or more. I have a hard time sitting there watching the screen not really knowing if it's working or not.

It seems like the USB speed is operating really slowly. I opened a terminal and listed the hardware, looked for the USB port that the falshdrive is plugged into, and it said it was operating at 480MiB/sec, which is what it should be. Or maybe not "operating," but it was seemingly configured to operate at 480. Weirdly, I have a lot of other USB ports or devices or whatever, that are seemingly handled by a Linux host, and the speed for those are listed as 12 MiB. One is a keyboard bluetooth dongle, which might make sense, I don't know what the others are for...

So I went back to W7 and I guess now I'm going to try a different medium, an SD flashcard in my card reader (not having high hopes for that, though). Not even sure if I can 1) burn the Ubuntu ISO to that, with boot, and 2) boot from that card. Pretty sure I have that option in BIOS, though - can pick the SD card to boot - if it's bootable...

Other than that, it's really frustrating: When I flipped back to my W7 install, the thing boots and starts in like 10 seconds, without a hitch. When it works it works seemingly so well, but when it's hanging during startup it's just misery, particularly when it all ends in a bluescreen.

Last edited by eq1; 05-12-2021 at 05:43 PM.
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Old 05-13-2021, 12:05 AM   #68
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Was able to install Ubuntu Studio without too much trouble. The SD card thing worked OK, still pretty slow but not crawling.

A couple things:

-I began by trying the default 'install beside Windows 7' option, but when the summary displayed, the info looked like it was trying to install to the wrong disk. It was hard to decipher just what it was telling me, as it was calling the drives "SCSI1," SCSI2," etc. But, it said it was going to change "sdc" not "sda". My understanding is that "sda" is the first drive, the first disk... So I bailed on that and just did the manual partition thing. It works, so...

-In the live USB trial I was able to go to "settings" and select "additional drivers." There were two options, one for my graphics card and one for the network card that wasn't working. I'd select the optional driver for the network card and then it'd work. But now that option isn't there, I can't get network going.

I'm going to try to track down 'that driver' and figure out how to install it. If anyone has pointers for that I'm all ears. I hardly know where to begin... I tried finding it on the Linux install, using locate and the letters I recall were in the name (something like 'BCMA...' - edit: I think it's this: "bcmwl-kernel-source"), didn't see it listed.

The driver that's assigned to it is something different, BCMA-PCI-xxxx. The device itself is 'blacklisted' - broadcom 4360, or 43xx.

That's all I know.
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Old 05-13-2021, 12:46 AM   #69
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Feel for you.
I`m almost embarrassed by how easy it was for Ubuntu studio to install and run on my i3 25xx series from about the same era as yours.

Mostly I suspect it`s down to using a new, clean drive for the install and of course using my Mk1 Babyface interface.

I have some spare time coming up where I will be seeing if I can get the whole Windows VST/i thing going, so I expect I`ll be joining you in the head-scratching.

Still can`t believe how much faster that little laptop is now it`s running Linux.
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Old 05-13-2021, 01:45 AM   #70
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^ Thanks for the...moral support.

I thought I had something, found a webpage that seemed to describe how to get the network going, tried the steps but it didn't work. So I'm back to W7, with internet, looking for more answers. Here's that page, BTW, in case anyone's interested. It basically describes how to find and install drivers (modules, packages - whatever) for Broadcom wireless cards:
https://itectec.com/ubuntu/ubuntu-in...eless-drivers/

There's a sub-link that describes how to do it offline, that's what I tried.
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Old 05-13-2021, 01:58 PM   #71
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I fiddled around a few more times with the 'B43' network card driver install, such as adding commands that I think were supposed to unblock the blacklist, and trying to uninstall and reinstall again, which was one thing that those instructions said might be needed. No go.

I ran that dmesg command to see what the logs said, here's the snip pertaining to the original failure to load the network device - maybe someone can recognize something in this. Since emu audio is the ultimate objective here (OK, REAPER is, but audio device obviously comes first), I'm also including the stuff pertaining to loading of the emu 1010 device. In theory I should be getting to that soon:

Code:
errors found with "dmesg":
[    0.830933] bcma: Unsupported SPROM revision: 11
[    0.830938] bcma-pci-bridge 0000:02:00.0: bus0: Invalid SPROM read from the PCIe card, trying to use fallback SPROM
[    0.830940] bcma-pci-bridge 0000:02:00.0: bus0: Using fallback SPROM failed (err -2)
[    0.830942] bcma-pci-bridge 0000:02:00.0: bus0: No SPROM available

for emu:
[    3.976719] snd_emu10k1 0000:04:04.0: emu1010: Special config.
[    3.976822] snd_emu10k1 0000:04:04.0: emu1010: EMU_HANA_ID = 0x3f
[    3.978491] snd_emu10k1 0000:04:04.0: Direct firmware load for emu/emu1010b.fw failed with error -2
[    3.978500] snd_emu10k1 0000:04:04.0: emu1010: Loading Firmware failed
[    3.981350] snd_emu10k1: probe of 0000:04:04.0 failed with error -2
They actually both seem like similar faults/errors.

I thought I had copied the errors for when I tried to load the alternative 'B43' driver/module, but I guess I didn't. The errors above are just for the original failure, I think.

Last edited by eq1; 05-13-2021 at 02:04 PM.
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Old 05-13-2021, 03:43 PM   #72
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This has reminded me that I think the last time I tried Linux, which was many years ago, I was using an EMU 0404. I'm pretty sure this has the same chip, the 10k1 or whatever its called

I didnt have any joy with Linux back then, sadly.

I cant imagine its been updated for a looooooong time, but would the KX drivers be of any use I wonder? I used to use them in Windows for the EMU card (I think)...

https://github.com/kxproject/kX-Audio-driver-binaries

"kX Audio Driver is a free audio driver for all Kx-compatible sound cards. It supports all EMU10K1 and EMU10K2-based sound cards from Creative and E-mu Systems manufacturers."

I think its more of a windows thing but maybe... just maybe...
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Old 05-13-2021, 03:50 PM   #73
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^ I think the main problem with my emu device is that the correct firmware isn't being installed automatically, that I'll have to edit something and/or install manually. At least, that's what the dmesg snip above seems to suggest, along with some of the stuff I've read.

Once I get this network thing figured out I'll be able to move on to the audio device...
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Old 05-13-2021, 07:17 PM   #74
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I think it was JamesPeters who said "rabbit hole." I said "black hole."

Those instructions for getting a Broadcom network card going emphasized that you should find some alternative network access for the computer. It never said why, and the instructions included offline methods. Those seemed easy enough at face value - and if you don't have network access, that seems like the obvious way to go.

Not really. I spent my afternoon in a total cluster trying to find and download the correct packages/drivers for my network card. I'm telling you, it was total insanity. Forget all the initial stuff - just figuring out the device and the needed driver. After that you need to find that driver/package, and then find the packages on which it depends, that you don't have. So you do that, but then you find those packages have dependencies, and you need to find those, and on and on. In the end I had to install something like 12 packages, over maybe 3 or 4 iterations of installing, running into dependency problems, deciphering what else was needed, finding what else was needed, installing again.

And, remember: I'm trying to get back functionality that existed on the live USB, that disappeared on the hard install.

Utter nutterness.

Anyway, I did get network going again. In the end I loaded a different driver than what's listed in 'the table'. It wasn't 'B43', it was the other one...

Network access and a 'package manager' are close to absolute necessities if you want to install stuff on a Linux build, it seems, or at least when it comes to drivers for hardware and the like.


I don't think I'm ready to tackle audio interface at the moment. Maybe I'll make a little headway later...
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Old 05-13-2021, 08:51 PM   #75
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One of the reasons I use Manjaro is that it's more up-to-date than a lot of distros, which can often mean I'm avoiding problems that have been solved already. Ubuntu isn't far behind Manjaro, but Mint lags behind Ubuntu. For each release of Mint, they wait for an Ubuntu release and then Mint is based from it. I give Mint credit for how "easy" it is for an average user, but Manjaro isn't much more difficult anyway; the most "difficult" thing about Manjaro is that it's Arch-based which leads to come confusion about package names/types, since so much is Ubuntu-based and Debian-based.

I don't know if your issue is related to something the Mint team did or not, anyway.
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Old 05-13-2021, 10:51 PM   #76
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^ I know I mentioned I tried Mint, but I went back to Ubuntu Studio. I figured I had already kind of found my way around so that would make it easier, plus, at this point it might be good to see the variety of things that are available, just so I know what's out there, and Studio has a ton of stuff already loaded...

I was thinking that I'd move to Manjaro - like you and Glennbo (Glennbo says he'll probably move to that). But given how much work this is taking - who knows where I'll end up. I was thinking that'd I'd be able to get my audio device up and running on Ubuntu, figure out the general procedures, and then try to translate all that into something fit for Manjaro. But, by the time I get to that point I may have burned-out...

It's nice though, now, being able to type this from Ubuntu, rather than having to go back to W7. IF I can get that audio going, load REAPER, I could easily see myself slipping over to this.
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Old 05-13-2021, 11:10 PM   #77
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Yeah, you never want to get into the business of installing packages and their dependencies manually.

I might have some good news though. I think you're just missing the firmware, which is in the package alsa-firmware.

I don't know if you've figured this out yet, but if you know the exact name of the package you need, using the package manager is easy: sudo apt install alsa-firmware

This also installs any dependencies. I would reboot after this, and hopefully it'll be loaded on the next try.
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Old 05-14-2021, 12:19 AM   #78
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^ To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I understand what is the 'package manager' on my Ubuntu... I can't really find anything called "package manager." The closest I seem to get is "software updater" and "software and updates." I don't really get it.

I was thinking about finding and loading something called "Synaptic Package Manager." The website says it's available "in the Universe repository in Ubuntu," but I don't understand how to search for that particular software in that repository - there's no search feature in these 'software manager' things. I do realize there's different potential 'repositories' from which things can be downloaded, or found, or whatever. That's about it, though.


edit: OK, I sort of figured it out, not what the package manager is, but how to find and download 'Synaptic'. You just use a terminal, enter a simple command (sudo add-apt-repository universe), and URLs are listed that can/will be used. Then you can download and install from the terminal (ex. sudo apt install synaptic).

edit2: I'm not able to find "alsa-firmware." I do see two emu-related items, though:

1) "ALSA emu10k1/2 patch loader
A patch loader for use with the emu10k1 ALSA driver. Supports Sound
Blaster Live!, Audigy and Audigy 2. It includes:
ld10k1 - server to store the driver state
lo10k1 - control tool for the server
dl10k1 - dump loader"

and 2) "ALSA emu10k1/2 patch loader library
This is the runtime library for the ld10k1 patch loader for use with
the emu10k1 ALSA driver. Supports Sound Blaster Live!, Audigy and
Audigy 2."

I tried downloading and installing these but got an error message the first time, and nothing changed. The second time it seemed to work, downloaded, installed, said it was successful, but then, after all that, I got this error message:

"W: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '/root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_sh' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)."

Don't know what that means. Have to poke around now and see if these files loaded and worked...

[bit later...]
Nope, no emu card loaded. Same error messages as earlier.

Last edited by eq1; 05-14-2021 at 01:47 AM.
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Old 05-14-2021, 12:56 PM   #79
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Quote:
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"W: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '/root/.synaptic/tmp//tmp_sh' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)."
You can safely ignore that. "W" is a warning, not an error, and it's just alerting you to a security thing relating to the install process that shouldn't affect anything in terms of success/failure of package installation.

Linux installs software via "packages". On Ubuntu, which is a downstream fork of Debian linux, use the ".deb" package format (different distros will use other formats). You get .deb packages built for Ubuntu and you can install them.

As you have seen, they can (and usually do) depend on other packages to be installed.

"Apt" is the package manager used on Ubuntu. You can call it from the CLI directly ("apt") or using wrapper scripts (e.g. "sudo apt-get install blah"). It maintains a notion of what packages are available in the repositories it knows about, monitors dependencies, calls other utilities to install the .deb files, and so forth.

What you experienced is known as "dependency hell" and it's annoying. Usually this is handled by the package manager being told to install dependencies. E.g. if you say "sudo apt-get install gimp" it will likely prompt you with all the other packages it wants to install in order to install gimp so you can review to make sure it's sane to move forward.

But dealing with packages without an internet connection can be a pain because the package manager can't figure things out for you. Unfortunately you won the lottery with one of the few internet setups that linux can't just make work automatically. These days things are usually pretty smooth in that regard, but on an older system and with the wrong card you can have troubles. Kudos on sticking it out and getting through the forest! Take copious notes in case you have to reinstall and can't remember what you did.

When you install a .deb file manually (meaning, not through a package manager but using "dpkg" or similar), dependencies may not be handled, necessitating manually traversing the tree yourself. Being stuck without a net connection makes this more likely.

Usually users will use some higher-level app to install packages, rather than apt on the CLI. Sometimes these higher-level apps is what people are loosely referring to when they say "package manager". Synaptic is great, and is my preferred package utility. It has traditionally been smarter and more effective than the built-in apps distros use, like "Software Center" or "Software Manager" or "Muon Package Manager" and so on. I avoid those. There are lots of these cases in the linux world, unfortunately, where things are put together in a nice well-intentioned GUI in an attempt to make it user-friendly, but it's half-implemented under the hood and doesn't actually work sometimes and you wonder why it's even included. (Then 5 years later it finally works fine and has to shed a bad reputation.)

I'm afraid I can't help with your card-specific stuff.
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Old 05-14-2021, 03:27 PM   #80
eq1
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^ Thanks for all that, very helpful... There's a lot of conceptual, contextual-like things I'm trying to understand. A lot of that goes unmentioned in this or that instruction on how to do something, the knowledge is just assumed to be understood. Explanations like yours help a great deal, and I'm reading other stuff here and there, trying to put the pieces together... It's just hard, just understanding the basic conventions, there's a lot of them, and they seem quite different from what I'm used to with Windows.


Here's one thing I'm struggling with at the moment, maybe you might have a few words to say:

I'm not quite understanding what packages are appropriate for my system and what aren't. I'm kind of shocked that it seems like I have to be super-specific when it comes to finding the right package. For example, it seems like, say, I not only need "ALSA-firmware," but I need ALSA-firmware from a 'download' meant for, I guess, Ubuntu 20.04 'focal'?? Is something like that the case, or not?

When I was doing the network package thing manually, I ended up finding a needed module that was like version 9.0, I had version 9.02 already installed, and that tiny difference made a huge difference in the process of getting the network card going...

In Windows 7, I'd just find the device driver for a particular device, for example, load it and that was that. In Ubuntu Studio, it seems like I have to find a module or whatever that's particular to my version of Linux - Ubuntu 20.04 (and possibly or ideally from only one, established repository, a 'Canonical' repository?), and that that might entail changing a bunch of other stuff as well. Does that seem like an accurate assessment?

Something I downloaded and installed yesterday, maybe Synaptic, resulted in a line in the dmesg log that said something like 'kernel tainted' - because I was running a mixed proprietary/open source module or something like that...


In any event, I'm trying to find Alsa-firmware for my Ubuntu install. I'm using Synaptic. It doesn't show it anywhere. I'm not sure where to go from here, whether I can just go anywhere and find something called "ALSA-firmware" and install it, compile it, download it, whatever's necessary to get it on my computer. I went to an ALSA webpage that had stuff, but I'm not sure if alsa-firmware is alsa-firmware, regardless of where it comes from, or whether there's alsa-firmwares plural, and I need something specific to my Ubuntu install, Ubuntu 20.04 I guess...


I've looked in my system files and I don't see any folder named ALSA. I don't see anything named alsa-firmware. I don't see anything with emu either. But, from what I can tell, there IS a thing called alsa-firmware and it does have an emu firmware folder with emu stuff in it. I am pretty sure that's what I need on my system - just not sure where to get it from, if there's one-size fits all or variations. I think I can muddle my way through an actual install, though, if I do find it...

Those two things I installed yesterday, pertaining to emu - it strikes me that they seem like 'patches' to an already existing firmware file or configuration file. But, I probably don't even have the base file, there's nothing to patch, plus, from what I've read, any emu firmware file I do find probably already has the patch - so those two things were probably unnecessary, and un-implementable as-is anyway.
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