Re: "yum install ...." based instruction on building a RT kernel.

[Daniel James <daniel@64studio.com>]

Hi John,

> There is something called Planet CCRMA, which is a set of
> repositories for audio packages that run on RedHat, Fedora and CentOS.
> They also package the real-time kernel in rpm form.

Ready-packaged RT kernels make sense for JACK users with generic PCs,
who may not be all that interested in optimisation (at first). They just
want to be able to install a program like Ardour and have it run
glitch-free.

Being a release or two behind the bleeding edge is no bad thing for that
type of user either - if (for instance) 2.6.31-rt works fine in a
production audio system, there's no big hurry to change it and
potentially break stuff. For that sort of user, high availability is
much more important than squeezing every last drop of performance out of
the hardware.

In audio recording, we're potentially capturing once-in-a-lifetime or
one-time-ever events, particularly since the industry focus has shifted
from the studio to the live stage - whether TV, stadium or festival,
that's where the artists are making their living these days. Even
festivals run to tight schedules, with only 15 minutes allowed to switch
between acts, including moving all the gear and repatching it. You can't
ask the band to go and get a beer while you recompile your kernel :-)

Cheers!

Daniel