# 64 Studio vs. Ubuntu Studio



## af3 (Jun 18, 2008)

Have you tried either? Please share your opinions and experiences. They look the same to me, so I guess the only way to find the best one for me is to try both.

I value any input from others who have experienced either or preferably both. :grin:


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## DigitalRazor (Dec 27, 2008)

I have both distros.. Both have their pluses and minuses.But first let me address the main question. 
I prefer (and use) 64 studio and would recomend it in a heartbeat to anyone wanting to move away from windows for audio. Now I do like Ubuntu studio as well. 

Where I think Ubuntu may suit the users of today is in its installation. If you want to set up your system where it has RAID-0 or RAID 5 out of the box Ubuntu can do it as long as it supports your chipset.
Personally I dont really want my file system on a RAID-"anything" a single fast PATA or SATA is fine for me. Now for my data - I do alot of audio and video work - I want my RAID-0. I know about the data risks thats why I back my projects on DVD/BluRay or on a separate server where I have RAID-5 or RAID-10 available. I did setup Ubuntu as a RAID-0 install on an old Athalon XP system and it ran sweet! Fast considering the technology. 

Now you are asking: "If its so great why didn't you keep it?" My hardware. I had to fight it tooth and nail to install and use my Mia Midi and get freebob to work with my Firewire ports for my two FA-101s I own. I am not a stranger to config files or permissions (although I am a bit rusty these days from being brainwashed by some windows programs) But I am here to create not configure. Thats where 64Studio just made my day. Out of the box Mia Midi support. FreeBob ( now FFADO ) works with Jack. nicely now Ubuntu uses slightly newer versions of the programs, Thats where I think I got bit since the latest and greatest don't always mean the best. ( Im sure if you are thinking "Why in lords good name are you still holding on to a Athlon XP ? well .. for what it does its reliable and for me its fast enough.) 

Raid setup:
This is where I had to do a crap load of research: out of all the programs I loaded and unloaded mdadm is the best raid setup utility I have came accross. the only way to get it ( besides download and all the other tricks.) is download the Debian Etch distro that 64studio is based on ( not the OEM which is based on Ubuntu - which is a Debian dirivative) take the time ... download all 4 DVDs worth of material and add them to your repositories. You will be glad you did. 

Speediness of the GUI. I tried both on my faster SOYO board and was not impressed with the responiveness of the GUI that don't mean it isnt fast but tells me there is some bloat somewhere that doesnt need to be. ( it could be I did not scour the install enough but like I said.. I am here to create not reinvent the wheel. 

all that said ( thanks for the patients by the way.) I would say use 64Studio if you have any professional sound cards that you want to work right now and stalling on a raid is not important.( RME is supposed to work with both out of the box.. don't have one yet to test out.) 

I have read where you can install Debian in raid then "upgrade" to 64 studio .. I didnt try it.. have no desire to.


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## af3 (Jun 18, 2008)

64 Studio sounds pretty good. Thanks for your input!


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## wavesound (Dec 6, 2009)

DigitalRazor said:


> .( RME is supposed to work with both out of the box.. don't have one yet to test out.)


I can confirm all rme cards work in 64studio.
I have been using this set-up for over 3 years now.
I have a multi-track machine using RME HDSP with 3 adats running into 2 DDX 3216 giving 27 tracks to play with.
I then master to another machine using spdiff from the DDX to an m-audio 2496 which again is fully supported in 64studio.

makes for a nice system for making music. ray:

Cheers
Bob


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## DigitalRazor (Dec 27, 2008)

Update: I have been playing with Lucid Lynx Alternate amd64 (Ubuntu Studio 10.04) and 64Studio. Since they are both based on Ubuntu and is a Debian derivative I will say this. Some one at the UbuntuStudio plant has done their homework. 8 seconds from after BIOS hands off the computer to logon - very very impressive.
I would still recommend 64Studio over UbuntuStudio due to a few quirks that Ubuntu studio hasn't quite worked out yet. Out of the gate if you have FireWire permissions set so Jack will start without an error saying it cannot access the device Start Ardour or Jack Client of choice and off you go creating music. With Ubuntu you have to tweak a config file or two to set the proper permissions its an inconvenience and lack of common sense to not have that set up at the git go but its a two-line-fix so not much of a pain in the underside. There is a nifty GUI for setting up your harddrive so you dont have to manually edit your /etc/fstab file all the time. however if you have a raid and you need to set it up again, remember to instal mdadm! .. It is not installed by default therefore will cause some minor irritation when trying to get things up and running .. my opinion now is that its a wash ... But if I was stuck somewhere with less than stellar hardware... 64Studio. More to come when LucisLynx Studio comes out of Beta.


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

This thread is five months old and the last post was on 12-06-2009. Please try not to bring up old posts.

This thread is closed. If there is a problem please send me a pm, and we can discuss it.

Cheers!


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