My recent Linux installments: LineageOS for smartphone and UbuntuStudio for laptop

Recently I’ve succesfully made installations for some difficult platforms: smartphone and a modern laptop. For guides in Finnish, there are my relevant topics about these here (LineageOS) and here (UEFIgate).

If I’m conservatist about something then it is about “security features” restricting OS installations in modern hardware which purpose is protecting proprietary software. There are more and more devices having either closed source drivers or protectionist software making Linux installations more difficult nowadays. But don’t get me wrong, the options might give some real additional security in some cases, but large companies aren’t providing these just because of divine charity for customers. As a private business they’re ensuring their profits by limiting open source alternatives and forcing customers to buy new machines if something goes wrong with the software. Ironically, the same set of these new tools that enable personal protection against hackers (crackers) also enable backports for companies to spy and send personal information for advertisers. So, this is not about fighting against hackers, it is about establishing a hierarchy of hackers.

As Microsoft and other manufacturers are still placing their own spy malware in the system, development towards embedded systems justified with security is such hypocrisy in this sense. Okey, maybe I don’t have much merit to talk since I’ve still stuck to use Windows with dual-boot option anyway. (Game Maker is my only reason…) But this rant being said, let’s get into the installation overviews with my additional notes.

LineageOS
I had to install LineageOS since I noticed that OMG, support for CyanogenOS ended last year! All in all, this gave me a chance (or rather a necessity) to install purely sneaky Google-app free system. LineageOS was a natural choice since it continues where CyanogenMod/OS community left. All in all this was probably the most complicated IT process I’ve ever done. But even as a noob, it is possible to install OS into smartphone as long as you’re being careful. In my case (OnePlus One phone) I followed these steps. However, as a dumb proof method I recommend install adb and fastboot via command line:
sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb
sudo apt-get install android-tools-fastboot

Also, I recommend to NOT install SuperSU rooting software, since it might get the booting stuck in zero. Here’s also some additional helpful sources:
https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/like-a-boss-how-to-root-your-oneplus-one.58493/
https://twrp.me/Devices/ (select your device for specific info)
https://www.reddit.com/r/cyanogenmod/comments/3v5gfy/how_long_to_boot_after_first_cm13_flash/

Installation for UEFI laptop
At first, there are nowadays many different laptops with many different restrictions, because of the reasons I pointed on earlier. My new laptop is Acer Swift 5 and I installed Ubuntu Studio 16.04 LTS along with the preinstalled Windows 10. When installing Linux, one must handle the BIOS options quite carefully, for example: enable separate boot menu (in my case F12), enable secure boot. If one doesn’t need Windows, the most simple way is to enable Legacy instead of UEFI. Then the installation should roll quite easily. However, when installing Linux on modern Acer laptops or such, this guide might be really helpful and solved many things for me.

Music production with Linux: 5 rules

Many people have fought with Linux setups (including me). Some of these keyboard warriors give up but I haven’t. Originally I came up with these tips in a reddit discussion but I thought I could share this knowledge here as well. These tips are only based on my experience when setting Linux up. If you’re planning on making music on Linux you should at least consider these rough guidelines presented here. (This post is exceptionally now only in English because without basic knowledge of English I’m sure you can’t always find the solutions anyway if/when problems occur.) Linux is profoundly a community driven project: everything isn’t setup for you as a default. As it might be seen as a big downturn of Linux it’s also the same thing that gives Linux its wide customizability. In order to use Linux you should probably agreed with this philosophy (at least I think so). As this view of Linux is now briefly covered we can now move on setupping things.

I’ve setup Linux audio systems since 2011 (including different Ubuntus and AV Linux). Couple years ago I finally figured out how to make a stable system without having any fatal problems anymore. Here’s my five rules. (For simplicity these tips are excluded to Ubuntu operating systems but could be applied at least on Debian systems. Ubuntu is generally the best alternative for getting things done without much hassle.)

Rule 1)

Ubuntu Studio and other similar distros get broken easily by updates -> Just in case you should make a regular Ubuntu install or such (I use MATE nowadays) with Ubuntu Studio extensions:

sudo apt-get install ubuntustudio-audio
sudo apt-get install ubuntustudio-audio-plugins

Rule 2)

The two main audio platforms for Linux are Pulseaudio (for basic audio input/output) and JACK (for deeper audio work). Pulseaudio and JACK do NOT work together unless you setup them to do so following e.g. these pulseaudio-jack-sink instructions.

Rule 3)

If you’re for example using Ardour and doing some realtime stuff, install cpufreq to switch into performance option during music sessions to prevent xruns and such (lowlatency/realtime kernels are also installable but I won’t cover them here):

sudo apt-get install indicator-cpufreq

Rule 4)

Problems with MIDI devices? Make sure a2jmidid is installed and running. For example in JACK setup (script after startup) you can set it to start automatically: a2jmidid -e &

Or just launch manually:

a2jmidid

Rule 5)

Also before doing anything else make sure your hardware is actually compatible. Otherwise look for class-compliant interfaces for example (or about supported interfaces check this list out).

An idiot proof solution is of course to make an installation that will not be updated, but with these tips it should work (at least for me…), and if something gets broken usually some of these fixes the issue. This is not a thorough list but interwebs offers more info about those mentioned things if you handle the search engines…

Motherboard driver issues in Windows

My whole day went reinstalling Windows XP and finding a right ethernet driver to get internet working. (I use mainly Linux distros, but in a few cases Windows is still unfortunately essential.) I got a new (but already used) motherboard MSI P965 NEO without any driver cds or such, so I had to download them from the internet. (With my laptop of course.) Everything seemed fine, but internet didn’t work in Windows of my desktop pc. Problem got solved when I downloaded drivers from Realtek instead of what msi provided.

So, the lesson: if drivers don’t seem to work, don’t trust the motherboard manufacturer’s lists. Look for the detailed specifications of the motherboard and use the found model names as a source to search drivers from the original manufacturers of ethernet adaptors and other such specific devices.

This took me many hours to learn. Same thing still works in Linux right away out of the box without any need to hassle with driver installations. Sigh…

Video-ongelma selätetty | Video problem surpassed

Olen viime aikoina säätänyt teknisiä juttuja. Minulla on semivanha DVD-kamera. Siitä lähtien, kun levyistä tuli epäluotettavia, ostin tuon interfeissin. Voin nyt myös nauhoittaa videoita suoraan tietokoneeseen ilman, että tarvitsee viimeistellä, konvertata ja editoida kaikkea.

TEKNISTÄ SÄLÄÄ: Videossa on vain vasen audiokanava asetettuna. Käyttöjärjestelmä on Ubuntu Studio KXStudio laajennuksella. Softa on guvcview ja sen ääniasetuksessa valitsin kohdan “system”. Vain se näyttää toimivan ehkä, koska käytän JACKia ulkoinen äänikortti valittuna. Toisessa tietokoneessa muutkin äänilähteet toimivat kuitenkin.

Interfeissi käyttää RCA-kaapeleita, jotka ovat analogisia. Laatu ei ole loppujen lopuksi kummoinen, mutta kamerani ja tietokoneet eivät tue HDMI:tä. Joten siksi tämä on tietääkseni paras ratkaisu tarpeisiini.

I’ve been lately setting some technical things up. I have a semi-old DVD video camera. Since the discs have been unreliable, I bought that interface. Now I can also record video files straight to the computer without having finalizing, converting and editing everything.

TECHNICAL STUFF: In the video, there was only left audio channel set. Operating system is Ubuntu Studio with KXStudio extension. Software is guvcview and in the software’s audio options I chose “system”. Only that seemed to work maybe because I use JACK with external audio card selected. With my other computer other audio sources worked though.

Interface uses RCA-cables that are analog cables. Quality isn’t very good at the end, but my camera and computers don’t support HDMI. So, that’s why this is the best alternative for my purposes, as far as I know.

Työasemani | My workstation

Otin yksi päivä kuvan työasemastani, jonka äärellä taika enimmäkseen tapahtuu. Näytönsäästäjät Matrixin digitaalisateesta kuuluu luonnollisesti asiaan.

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One day I took a picture where’s my workstation. By that the magic mostly happens. Screensavers of the digital rain of The Matrix is naturally a part of the thing.

Mini-laptop, desk computer, scanner/printer, virtual-analog synthesizer (as MIDI-keyboard), tablet for digital painting etc. etc…