Ubuntu Studio and the Tascam US-122 USB sound card

Well, I've been working on recording a record ("Sooperchumpy") and I determined that the 16 bit recordings that I was doing were not of sufficiently high quality. I ebay'd my Fostex MR8 and bought a Tascam US-122. This is where the fun began. I bought this old USB 1.1 recording interface because it seemed to be known to work with Linux. It came the other day and I was anxious to try it out. Initially, it seemed to work great. It would record ten seconds of sound without mishap. Eventually I tried to record something longer and discovered that somewhere just past thirty seconds the device died.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the damned thing to work, and eventually figured out that this is something that worked well with Ubuntu Feisty, but was difficult to get using with Gutsy due to something called "ohci". A quick google tells me that this is the "Open Host Controller Interface". That's cool. Anyhow, to make a long story short, downgrading to Feisty made quick work of this problem. There wasn't anything I really needed in Gutsy anyhow. I'm posting links to the articles that were helpful.

Kjel

Mailing list detailing the fix for Gutsy:
http://www.nabble.com/jackd-watchdog:-timeout---killing-jack-t4528241.html

Same problem here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=30891&page=6

Holy Crap! I haven't posted in a year!

That's o.k. though because really, nothing happened. New job, same old same old. One thing that is different is that the Sooperchumpy brand that almost no one has come to know and rely on has expanded to included additional services. I am please to announce that my almost totally unanticipated new album "Sooperchumpy" will be released sometime in 2008. Currently, I have two songs that are done and ready to be mastered, one that is being mixed, and about seventeen more to go. I had hoped to complete this process by December but the outlook for that is as follows: Fat chance. Anyhow, if any of my non-existent readers would like to check out the results, demo versions of songs in production are now available here (MyFreakingSpace) and here (Garageband.com).

This album is being recorded in my studio (doubles as a bedroom!) and mixed and edited using open source software on the Ubuntu Studio Linux Distribution. So far all of my editing has been done in Audacity with Hydrogen being used for drum tracks. Eventually I will move production into Ardour once I figure out how the hell it works.

Peace!

Kjel Anderson

Life Size.

Life Size.
Originally uploaded by kjel_anderson.

In addition to flowers, there are also many, many insects.

Bigger Than Life Size.

Bigger Than Life Size.
Originally uploaded by kjel_anderson.

New Hampshire is no longer frozen. I took this photo with the new Panasonic camera. This flower was really, really small.

The Weather Has Been Too Nice...

...To waste time posting to my blog that no one reads. My old camera was killed on a geology field trip to Hawaii, so there is a new camera and new pictures. I will post some stuff once I get a little time. Getting ready for a big push on the first section of my book.

-K

O.k., so here's the deal...

• My laptop is out for repairs. I'm hoping that it will be back from the manufacturer soon.
• I've started writing a novel. So far it sort of sucks, but I know what the problem is and I am working on a solution.
  
• Going to Linux World Boston next week to geek out like there is no tomorrow. Excited that the Ubuntu folks will be there.
• Trying to find somone to play music with in the area. (Upper Conneticut River Valley).
• Trying to keep the house clean.
• Trying to eat right.
• Not running with scissors, much.

I'll write something that sucks less later. In the meantime, here are links to what are some very rough song demos that I have been working on.
This Old Road
First Date
Show Me The Door

Mildly embarrassing to have a tripod site, being a programmer and all. I guess it really is true about the cobblers kid having no shoes. Blah blah blah...

More Fun and Games with Kubuntu

I have been running my computer lately from a live cd while I wait for Hitachi to send my fscked hard disk back. This weekend I decided to install Linux to my usb 2.0 hard drive. This turned out to work fairly well, but it involved quite a bit of reseach. It was also complicated by the fact that the external hard drive was where all of my precious data from the afore mentioned Hitachi disk was. After lots of interesting reading at the command line and creative cussing, I mangaged to get this beast up and running.

In addition to geeking out, I have been doing some recording this weekend on my Fostex MR-8. Once I get it mixed down, I will post it here.

-K

Google OS

Today in the news, Google has verified that it has been working on a Google OS, based on Ubuntu. Ubuntu being the beloved cousin of my favorite Linux flavor Kubuntu.

I really couldn't be more thrilled about this. My sincere hope is that the following happens:

1. Google releases their Linux based Google OS and sells them vigorously through the standard retailers.
2. Hardware manufacturers begin to release open-source Linux drivers.
3. Game develpers begin to release Linux ports of popular games leading to:
4. I can finally delete my last ntfs partition and end my dysfunctional relationship with Microsoft.

Who knows if it will go exactly this way. I tend to think it will. Whether Google decides to get into the OS for sale business, or just gives it away, I think that days when the technical press can say that Linux isn't ready for the desktop with a straight face are numbered. Thank god.

-K

Frozen, dead pilgrims.

Frozen, dead pilgrims.
Originally uploaded by kjel_anderson.

I took this picture last week. It reminded me of my hard drive. R.I.P.

Live Via CD

I was going to make my next post regarding my choice to switch to
Linux on the Desktop full time. This post is actually on topic, but it
is a little different than I planned. Yesterday I decided to finally
remove the unused ntfs partition from my hard drive and to reinstall
Kubuntu Linux on the entire drive. I had stopped using Windows
altogether due to stability problems I was having. As it turns out,
the ntfs partition just happened to be sitting on a section of my hard
disk that was starting to fail. After about twelve hours of screwing
around with the system, I finally downloaded the drive verification
tool from the drive manufacturer. To make a long story short, by drive
is shot, but under warranty, and I now have three weeks of using a
laptop with no hard disk.

I took me a while to realize that there is a Kubuntu Live cd, which
would allow me to run my machine sans primary disk. In fact, that is
how I am writing this now. I had planned to write about all the
reasons that Linux was a good choice on the desktop. I think this
situation makes the case for me. In the past, when my Windows machine
stopped working, what choice did I have? Frequently I would have to
reinstall the operating system immediately so I could get back to
work. Thanks to whoever those really great guys were who put together
this live cd, things aren't so bad.

-K