Q Light Controller+

Hey all,

Simple question. What is the best linux distro to use for running QLC+? Specifically, what distro has the best reliability for working with QLC+? I will be running QLC+ almost exclusively on this computer.

Preferences:
Lightweight (for best speed/performance/reliability)
That's about it...

I've got experience with everything from Arch to Fedora, and generally I opt to use CentOS (mainly for servers). A Debian based distro will probably be the way to go, and I am willing to bet everybody and their brother will be recommending Ubuntu. If that is truly the best (and I am aware that it is all subjective), then that is what I will use.

However, Massimo, what is your goto OS when using QLC+?

Probably needed: DON'T LET THIS TURN INTO A OS RELIGION WAR. I just want to hear what has worked well for others.

I use Lubuntu if that matters. I suppose the actual distribution doesn't matter much (unless it installs lots of unneeded stuff). Use the one you are most familiar with.

Alright, I'll try it out with Lubuntu and see how it goes.
Thanks for the input Jano!

At the moment I use Mint 17.2 KDE on a low budget laptop.
I have also Ubuntu 14.04 on a high end desktop PC.
For some shows we used QLC+ on Ubuntu 12.04 and Lubuntu 10.04 as well.

In general Ubuntu is the most "out of the box" solution at the moment. It has pros and cons as usual.
Since when I was 16 I went through RedHat, Slackware, Knoppix, Gentoo, Kubuntu and Ubuntu but I'm getting sick of my current choice...again.

As far as I can tell, a few people in the forum use Arch, others openSUSE. I think I will give Arch a try too.
As a developer I like to stay on the bleeding edge, but for a production use with QLC+ I suggest a totally vanilla Ubuntu LTS with no crap installed.

Disable all the indexing/scheduling daemons (cron, anacron, nepomuk, baloo, etc..)
Do not even connect it to the internet.
Unless you use Ardour or some audio DAW, a real time kernel is not needed.

Hope it helps

[EDIT] Oh, and as a Desktop Environment...KDE forever. I definitely hate Unity and all the GTK family.
LXDE is not bad either. Essential and clean.

Awesome advice Massimo.

Mint is not a bad distro, so I will consider that as well.
I am actually building a setup consisting of 3 or 4 computers, so I will probably try a different OS on each so I can compare. However, I have a show Saturday I am doing, so I am just looking for something reliable for the time being.

Haha, that does seem to plague many linux users... and I am the same way. I've only been using llinux for 3 years or so, but I've tried dozens of different distros. It can get pretty time consuming! I am thinking I may use Arch in the end, only so I can have as much control as possible. I've never used Gentoo, and I don't really feel like I have time to learn it right now :/

The real time kernel is something I am thinking about, so I am glad you mentioned it. I have done some minor research on RTOSes, and I might try one out. I feel like it would definitely be beneficial once I get to the point of controlling a lot of fixtures on several universes, with multiple input sources (joysticks, buttons, faders, etc.). As far as audio goes, I am hoping to get a beat detector working in/with QLC+. I tried following the guides I was able to find, but they didn't work right away. Since I've been developing my QLC+ setup on a Windows computer, I really didn't bother to figure it out, but I am about to convert everything to a barebones linux build, so I may need to think about that again. Do you think, for "simple" beat detection, that I should use a real time kernel?

...You just had to start some mess, didn't you? Everybody knows that GTK is far superior to KDE! Haha, I am only joking. I don't mind Unity on a touchscreen, and I have used Gnome on the majority of my OS setups, but I have always wanted to make the switch to KDE. It just hasn't clicked for me yet. I also agree that LXDE is not bad at all.

Thanks for your input, and I will probably begin installing Lubuntu now!

Real time kernel: we used it cause we had audio and videos synced via Jack, so we needed a perfectly timed system.
I don't think you need it with QLC+, even if you use many universes. The QLC+ engine problems are elsewhere and I'm trying to figure them out.
RT kernel eats 5-10% of your CPU constantly (depending on your CPU), so keep it as your last option.

Beat detection: I wish days were made of 72 hours, so I can find the time to implement native beat detection in QLC+....maybe sooner or later...

DE: I don't want to start a DE war either...BUT...the guy who designed Unity must be using heavy (and bad cut) drugs !
I'll tell you just 2 things that made me sick:
- hidden scrollbars. You need to hover with the mouse to see the cursor and if you hover at the bottom of a window, you are not able to scroll to end of the list ! This is really bad design: http://www.jijokjose.com/wp-content/upl ... llbars.png

- Nautilus showing list of files. Copy one file from a directory, go to another directory and...tada ! You will not be able to find a place to paste the file cause each entry of the list will take the whole width of the window. You need to go to the "edit" menu and select "paste"
Another example of a design made under the usage of bad drugs: http://wiki.redpitaya.com/tmp/Nautilus_root_fs.png

And a more radical comment: try to do with GTK what I am doing with Qt on QLC+ 5...and then tell me how many years it will take
(and by the way AFAIK GTK doesn't build on Android or iOS....)

KDE FOREVER !

Haha, KDE! KDE! KDE!

Yeah, I doubt I will try out a real time kernel anytime soon. It sounds like a good idea to use it, but, like you said, there are not enough hours in the day to figure everything out.

As far as beat detection goes, I would really love to have that feature, so I might start trying to include that myself. If I have any luck with it, I'll let you know!

KDE! KDE! KDE! KDE! KDE!....

Native/easy beat detection:
one is the sensivity, maybe frequency ranges,too to catch a Snare-Drum - but also a "hold" threshold can be beneficial - to calm down staccatos & before you tip all over the edge, gotten sensory overloads!
Most of all I'd like to have it together (RadioButtons) with Timed Beat and possibility to manual Stepbystep...

Which Distro?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... meline.svg
Big range of choices, on distrowatch Mint is still the actual leading
Why not Gentoo ("only" Place 42)?
Compared to openSUSE 13.1+KDE on another partition, this penguin (or cow or whatever) is really fast. If I were in position, with 2 identical machines - I'd like to see the results in the race...
It isn't as complicated as it may look like. Ya don't need extra devel packages, too - as you have it all in sources available.

Some Sizes:
1.9M /boot/System.map-genkernel-x86-4.1.5-gentoo
3.5M /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-4.1.5-gentoo
3.5M /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-4.1.5-gentoo
32M /lib/modules/4.1.5-gentoo (oSL13.2: vmlinuz-3.16.7-21-desktop 5.4M / modules 195M)
perhaps there are still some corners left, which can be cut...

/: 5,82GiB used - 3,16GiB free ( + whole portage: 4,5G)
but also within QT-Creator, Filezilla, Bluefish, QLC+ last 3 compiled versions...

xorg-server only + drivers & some additive (not the big xorg-x11 - meta! My last Larry was grown too fat of that...)

LXDE would be enough to cover your needs as you primary said - faster, more stable than KDE+Plasma (which has much bells and whistles to deactivate)

RT Kernel? Didn't try - Mixxx runs fine, too so far.

One weakness recent detected: in Audio-Trigger I have no signal while I get already feedback with the mic.
Perhaps pebck or not enough "Gain" in QlC? - do I need Jack to use the mic? - But as others said about similar problems here, I'm now more about waitin' with patience than experimenting ...

Enough patience you should always have w. Gentoo, but you can let it compile over night...
I think you need 2-3 whole days, if you know about your hardware. It isn't so hard to build the right kernel, on beginning you can risk for once a total freeze - But then once done right, you can impart the config mostly blind to the next version...
If you're about to try the venture and need assistance, I can shure guide you.
Perhaps we could raise an ebuild then, but with me alone this isn't economic...

Last not least:
If you don't want only to bring some light into churches,
but have to go there, where darkness is, really bad things like Redbull are served, Open-Airs with dust or showers impend
-- even the whole rock 'n' roll --
Than it is very nice, to have QLC+ on sth. like an Itronix Gobook: shockstable, almost watertight, save of sudden power loss...

Hey TazteTheLightz,
hopefully not shot off Internetconnection...
The best way to predict the future is to invent it. (Alan Curtis Kay)
- I'd like to emerge -avuND world, but there are no news in sync for stable updates
old ebuild QLC(/HJ) is so outdateted.
33 seconds between GRUB "GentooGo" and LIGHT, beat it!

20 seconds with a Debian Wheezy on a Raspberry Pi 2 with my image

47.52 sec. power button to lights on. Not a record breaker but as a reference to others, just a plain old second had laptop makes a great light controller.
And it also does everything else, nothing striped down from standard install, except a few un-needed apps and services.
FTR i'm really liking Mint disro's.

DISTRIB_ID=LinuxMint
DISTRIB_RELEASE=17.3
DISTRIB_CODENAME=rosa
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="14.04.3 LTS, Trusty Tahr"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS"
VERSION_ID="14.04"

System:
Host: Kernel: 3.19.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
Desktop: Cinnamon 2.8.8 Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa

Toshiba Satellite Laptop C655D-S5133
CPU: AMD E-240 Processor 1.5Ghz
AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics chipset
Mem:2GB DDR3
MemTotal: 7763588 kB
Drives:120GB Corsair Force 3 SSD

major minor #blocks name

8 0 117220824 sda
8 1 109250560 sda1
8 2 1 sda2
8 5 7967744 sda5
11 0 1048575 sr0