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Thread: Anybody Using Linux For DJing?

  1. #11
    What exact i3 processor does your Linux laptop have in it? Look up the PassMark scores for it both per thread and all threads.. and that'll give you some idea which computers are probably disqualified and which aren't.. so far as CPU capability. I just recently got a little "dispensible" laptop for the lady and I because we were travelling in Japan for a couple of weeks and needed a small computer.. so I got a Thinkpad x131e for $100 shipped and set it up with all our remote emergency work vpns and all the other stuff I might want.. and what do you know it's a really useable computer and now we're home and I'm itching to see what our cheapo travel computer can really run, because it surprised me how capable it is But I'm pretty confident it'll have trouble with Rekordbox.. which is a real hog. But my point is, a used laptop that can handle mixxx might not be all that expensive.

  2. #12
    Moderator DJ Bobcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by light-o-matic View Post
    What exact i3 processor does your Linux laptop have in it? ...
    It’s a dual core 1.6MHz CPU. It’s kinda slow, and kinda old, but I try to use computers (for something) as long as I possibly can. It’s what I do. I have maybe somewhere around 30 computers and servers. I only own 3 laptops (not including my wife’s) though, because frankly I don’t like them... especially not for DJing. The screens are too small, and I generally use an external mouse and keyboard because I hate reaching across my controller to use the keyboard or mousepad... a PITA. Not saying I wouldn’t buy a used laptop to run Mixxx, but I have other computers that I’m not using, that will run Mixxx better than my old Acer laptop.

  3. #13
    Yea I hear that, I've got bunches of old computers too but they're all laptops! One old desktop remains that I am going to junk as soon as I get everything off its drive. I'm a computer programmer for a living and used to have bunches of computers and servers running in the house. But when I moved to NYC and got into the .com startup culture I learned to love having a single laptop as my main machine. For work I have a docking station. But right now I've got three laptops going.. a work machine which I only use for my day job, a peronal/work machine that I use for my music, personal stuff and any personal programming projects or side jobs, and a machine I take with me as a remote for my processor on the sound system and for stuff like that.. which is getting pretty old and slow so I am going to retire that one for the new one I mentioned It's really a lot different here, nobody wants to be chained to a desk, if you even have room for a real desk in your apartment. You can take your machine with you places (just don't lose it!)
    Last edited by light-o-matic; 08-06-2019 at 10:57 PM.

  4. #14
    I got curious so I installed the latest Mixxx for Windows on the travel laptop, which is an i3-3227U 1.9GHz with 4GB RAM and an SSD.. and while it was still analyzing my tracks I loaded one deck and started it, and loaded the other deck and mixed it (kind of ineptly, using just the mouse and keyboard), and it didn't glitch out at all. Impressive. This is really a pretty low spec machine, it is a student model.. designed for classroom use.. more like a fast Netbook.. its CPU is on par with a business laptop of maybe 9 years ago. So Mixx really is efficient with CPU! Meanwhile on my regular personal laptop, which is also about 8 years old but it's an i5 with 4 cores and 8G RAM.. it struggles with Rekordbox sometimes.. not DJing, no.. because I don't have that version of Rekordbox.. I mean, it glitches out just flipping track to track on the preview deck putting playlists together so that I can export them to the CDJ's.... So yea, my hat is off to the Mixxx team

  5. #15
    Every since I started shopping and banking online I'm scared to throw away an old computer.
    I suppose I could remove the ram and the hard drives and just keep those, instead of keeping the whole desktop or laptop.
    But the number of US Supreme Court judges was always 6.
    Then it was 5, then 6, then 7, then 9, then 10, then 7, and then 9.

  6. #16
    Moderator DJ Bobcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by light-o-matic View Post
    I got curious so I installed the latest Mixxx for Windows on the travel laptop, which is an i3-3227U 1.9GHz with 4GB RAM and an SSD.. and while it was still analyzing my tracks I loaded one deck and started it, and loaded the other deck and mixed it (kind of ineptly, using just the mouse and keyboard), and it didn't glitch out at all. Impressive. This is really a pretty low spec machine, it is a student model.. designed for classroom use.. more like a fast Netbook.. its CPU is on par with a business laptop of maybe 9 years ago. So Mixx really is efficient with CPU! Meanwhile on my regular personal laptop, which is also about 8 years old but it's an i5 with 4 cores and 8G RAM.. it struggles with Rekordbox sometimes.. not DJing, no.. because I don't have that version of Rekordbox.. I mean, it glitches out just flipping track to track on the preview deck putting playlists together so that I can export them to the CDJ's.... So yea, my hat is off to the Mixxx team
    Well this is really weird... I decided to try reloading this Acer Laptop PC one more time (this is the third try), so I loaded Ubuntu 19.4 and Mixxx 2.2, and IT WORKS!!!... No blips or glitches when analyzing tracks or switching tracks or any other time. CRAZY!!!

    I haven’t used it with the American Audio VMS 4.1 controller yet, but I’ll try that tomorrow. The down side is I’ll have to analyze the whole library again, since I completely obliterated my disk drive by installing Ubuntu over the Zorin install. That’s gonna take some time, so I’ll just start it tonight and let it run.

    I’ll be honest... I liked the UI of Mixxx 2.0 better than 2.2, but I like that it all runs smoothly even more.

  7. #17
    Moderator DJ Bobcat's Avatar
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    Anybody Using Linux For DJing?

    Quote Originally Posted by DJ Bobcat View Post
    Well this is really weird... I decided to try reloading this Acer Laptop PC one more time (this is the third try), so I loaded Ubuntu 19.4 and Mixxx 2.2, and IT WORKS!!!... No blips or glitches when analyzing tracks or switching tracks or any other time. CRAZY!!!

    I haven’t used it with the American Audio VMS 4.1 controller yet, but I’ll try that tomorrow...
    Tomorrow... well, that’s today and I DID hook up my Acer Laptop to my American Audio VMS 4.1. It worked, kinda. I could set up the Audio and play music through the attached EVOX8, but the MIDI controls never worked right. I thought this part would be easy because it was when I was using Zorin. Zorin is an Ubuntu derivative, so how much difference could there be? After combing through the forums trying to troubleshoot the problems, I finally decided to try something else. I figured if the audio worked with a new version of Ubuntu and Mixxx 2.2, and the MIDI controls worked with Zorin 12 and Mixxx 2.0, why not try newer versions of Zorin and Mixxx together. So I reinstalled Zorin (but used version 15) and then installed Mixxx 2.0, but turned right around and upgraded to Mixxx 2.2.1. And IT WORKS!!!... Everthing works... audio, midi, everything. This worked out GREAT, because I preferred Zorin all along, but would have been willing to use something else if it worked right. Looks like now I have the core of a nice little system... NO Windows, no OS X; ALL FREE!😊
    Last edited by DJ Bobcat; 08-08-2019 at 08:55 AM.

  8. #18
    The first release of the Final Scratch only ran in Linux system. So our PC back then (2002) in the club had a dual OS boot, Windows and Linux. The FS program was also very picky. It wouldn't run in several PC brands like Compaq/Presario but ran smoothly with IBM and Dell. FS wouldn't also read MP3s so all files were in WAV. We had to rip our CDs to WAV just to be able to play them in vinyl (time code). Then Stanton bought FS and Traktor came in and the DVS system changed the game of DJing. Then followed by Serato, Torq and a few other DVS knock offs.
    Works1200 - the Technics 1200/1210 specialist - FB page
    Nicadraus' mixcloud page

  9. #19
    Nice, glad you got it going. Audio is tricky and when people spin different linux distributions there are a lot of decisions they could make that affect it.. just because for example Zorin is a derivative of Ubuntu which in turn is derived from Debian, does not mean they are the same. Probably the most of the packages in a Zorin release are identical to those in the Ubuntu release it was based upon, and then most of those are identical to the ones from the Debian release that Ubuntu was based upon. But not all of them, obviously, because all these systems feel very different. Most of those changes are in the desktop environment but some could also affect the sound and MIDI systems. Not just in the sense that they are using different software, but in how that software was compiled and the settings used.

    I work programming on linux systems every day but I don't use audio in my work, so I haven't had to deal with it much in linux for many years now. It used to be a real mish-mosh of solutions, a real mess. But I understand that things have stabilized a lot now. Definitely you want to use up to date versions of things as you have seen. You can actually update your whole OS right from within the system, you don't have to install from scratch. But if you're several versions behind then possibly it was faster anyway.

    Anyway, glad you got it going! Interested in hearing more about how it goes... For future reference here's an article about linux audio and various tuning you can do to improve audio performance. It's from 2018 but probably still relevant. And another one explaining how distributions inherit from each other.

    http://tedfelix.com/linux/linux-midi.html
    https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...ased-on-debian

  10. #20
    Moderator DJ Bobcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by light-o-matic View Post
    Nice, glad you got it going. Audio is tricky and when people spin different linux distributions there are a lot of decisions they could make that affect it.. just because for example Zorin is a derivative of Ubuntu which in turn is derived from Debian, does not mean they are the same. Probably the most of the packages in a Zorin release are identical to those in the Ubuntu release it was based upon, and then most of those are identical to the ones from the Debian release that Ubuntu was based upon. But not all of them, obviously, because all these systems feel very different. Most of those changes are in the desktop environment but some could also affect the sound and MIDI systems. Not just in the sense that they are using different software, but in how that software was compiled and the settings used.

    I work programming on linux systems every day but I don't use audio in my work, so I haven't had to deal with it much in linux for many years now. It used to be a real mish-mosh of solutions, a real mess. But I understand that things have stabilized a lot now. Definitely you want to use up to date versions of things as you have seen. You can actually update your whole OS right from within the system, you don't have to install from scratch. But if you're several versions behind then possibly it was faster anyway.

    Anyway, glad you got it going! Interested in hearing more about how it goes... For future reference here's an article about linux audio and various tuning you can do to improve audio performance. It's from 2018 but probably still relevant. And another one explaining how distributions inherit from each other.

    http://tedfelix.com/linux/linux-midi.html
    https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...ased-on-debian
    Back in the 90’s, I was the Applications VP of a software company. We developed the first Windows client/server application for our market. The back-office database was on Linux servers. There were few Linux distros back then, and the GUI’s were pretty raw. I was a command line guy at that time, and thought nothing of it. Now... I have trouble remembering syntax, so I use a GUI most of the time. Even my home servers have Web interfaces for most of the functions.

    A distro like Zorin or Mint can be used by pretty much anybody. They’re still not QUITE as easy to use as Windows or OS X, but not as far off as they once were.

    I’m hoping some of the major DJ software developers will create Linux releases. Microsoft is heading down the path of subscription software, and their Update policy and security flaws are almost too much to deal with. Apple is really the only other option at this point, but it can be price prohibitive for new young DJ’s. We really need a reliable and inexpensive alternative. The one I’ve come up with works. It works just as well as my much more powerful computers running Windows 10 and Traktor, and it was all done with stuff I just had around, and a couple of open-source software packages.

    Now that I have this Linux System working, I might acquire a newer laptop and try it out with my Denon MC6000KK2.😊

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