[PlanetCCRMA] Re: Getting started, but getting nowhere

[D. R. Evans]

Getting somewhere now :-)

I went back to the beginning and spent quite a bit of time trying to figure 
out why I couldn't use the RT kernel, since that seems to be the preferred 
one, and I wanted to get as close as possible to the configuration that 
most people here seem to be using.

What would happen was that kudzu would kick in and give me a _very_ short 
amount of time to answer several questions -- and if I didn't get them 
finished, the box would continue to try to boot, but would come to a 
screaming halt after checking swap space -- it would just sit there after 
outputting "[OK]" after checking swap.

So after many attempts to boot, I finally succeeeded in hitting the right 
combination of Tab, space and Enter keys sufficiently quickly to keep kudzu 
happy. (Goodness knows what I would have done if I had been handicapped -- 
Kudzu didn't even allow one enough time to read and think about the first 
of several screens before moving to the next step in the boot process.)

Anyway, once I got past the Kudzu step successfully, the RT kernel booted 
and immediately I could tell the difference. The machine was far more 
responsive. I fired up the CD player and... I could hear the music! It's 
not immediately obvious to me why changing the kernel also made the music 
audible, but I'm happy enough not to question it. I tried Jack -- works 
great. And ardour (which is the most important application as far as I am 
concerned).

So it looks like I have a usable system. I'm now trying to solve an issue 
to do with gain levels; I'll work on that for a while and see if I can 
solve it myself.

Thanks, everyone, for your advice, both public and privatee.

   Doc