I've been working under Linux to do audio processing, e.g. DSP and loudspeaker crossovers, for some years now. The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) has always been interesting and I played around with previous versions, but the deal breaker was always that there was no (native) access to the audio devices on the computer. Evidently Windows 11 is changing that.
This is great news. Some things are just easier to do under Linux, and then some software is only available for Windows. Now I can get both, the best of both worlds so to speak, with one OS.
Supposedly Windows will create a Linux environment for the Linux app to run in, currently using kernel 5.10, which a very recent one. Not sure how they solved the audio link, but I hope to test it someday.
The only negative I see is that for Win11 to run on the computer, the hardware must include a type of security chip, the "Trusted Platform Module" (TPM) version 2.0. I doubt that my gaggle of Linux Intel miniPCs include it, which is kind of a bummer.
Anyway, I thought I would start this thread to talk about audio under Win 11 via the Windows Subsystem for Linux. If anyone does get some first hand experience with that, please post about it here.
This is great news. Some things are just easier to do under Linux, and then some software is only available for Windows. Now I can get both, the best of both worlds so to speak, with one OS.
Supposedly Windows will create a Linux environment for the Linux app to run in, currently using kernel 5.10, which a very recent one. Not sure how they solved the audio link, but I hope to test it someday.
The only negative I see is that for Win11 to run on the computer, the hardware must include a type of security chip, the "Trusted Platform Module" (TPM) version 2.0. I doubt that my gaggle of Linux Intel miniPCs include it, which is kind of a bummer.
Anyway, I thought I would start this thread to talk about audio under Win 11 via the Windows Subsystem for Linux. If anyone does get some first hand experience with that, please post about it here.
There are some suggestions that the TPM and UEFI bios requirements might only apply to clean installs and that upgrade installs over W10 waive that requirement... as always it will all come out in the wash once the official ISO's are available. No one knows at this point.
It looks like the leaked ISO's have been removed at this time.
It looks like the leaked ISO's have been removed at this time.
I've seen several reports that TPM 1.2 is minimum spec, though MS recommends 2.0. Since 1.2 is a 2011 spec, this may not be such a big problem. Oldest Intel CPUs that are supported are 2017 vintage. I didn't check AMD, figuring that anything pre-Ryzen's not a big concern.
That leaves out most of my computers, including this one that runs a Core i7-4790K with 16 TB of storage, 4K video and Focusrite audio hardware. It's been working fine for almost 7 years, so I'm not messing with success. I guess it will run W10 until 2025, or maybe longer.
I still have some vintage M-Audio Delta 1010 and Audiophile 24/192 hardware that needs a PCI (not PCIe) slot and drivers that were written for XP and Vista, but run fine on W7. They don't work on W10, so I still have two W7 boxes.
I could not get either card to work correctly under Linux, and I tried several distros. I did get both to give me two channel playback at 24/96 but no record capability.
@Tubelab_com
Most of the M-Audio cards are well supported in Linux with the Envy-24 mixer package if you are using a GUI.
I have a very low spec (single core 700-MHz and 3GB RAM )headless thin client running Ubuntu server with the alsa utilities and a ram-disk of 2GB memory...using an audiophile 24/96 card.
This is wired to an RIAA preamp for LP ripping using the arecord command.
records duration of 1680 seconds (most LP sides max) at 24bit 96khz sampling and writes to a temp (quick) ramdisk while displaying a dual vu meter.
I record a side at a time moving the recorded file to my main PC between recordings. Has worked faultlessly for last 3 years.
Most of the M-Audio cards are well supported in Linux with the Envy-24 mixer package if you are using a GUI.
I have a very low spec (single core 700-MHz and 3GB RAM )headless thin client running Ubuntu server with the alsa utilities and a ram-disk of 2GB memory...using an audiophile 24/96 card.
This is wired to an RIAA preamp for LP ripping using the arecord command.
Code:
arecord -d 1680 -c 2 -f S24_3LE -r 96000 --vumeter=stereo /tmp/ramdisk/test.wavrecords duration of 1680 seconds (most LP sides max) at 24bit 96khz sampling and writes to a temp (quick) ramdisk while displaying a dual vu meter.
I record a side at a time moving the recorded file to my main PC between recordings. Has worked faultlessly for last 3 years.
Maybe today? With your many mini-PC's surely one will run beta W11, which you can experiment on, obviously only using it for audio?
Intel CPU specs for the Trusted Platform Module check
Search - Intel.com
or to see if a Win10 PC meets the requirements to run Win11 via the PC Health Check app
Upgrade to the New Windows 11 OS | Microsoft
Win 11 Download Links
or early access to Windows 11 as an Insider running Win10:
Settings, Update & Security, then Windows Insider Program.
Tubelab_com: As Drone7 says both Delta 1010 and Audiophile 24/192 have been fully supported in linux for many years. If you want to, we can go through the configuration.
The ice1712/24 chips have a complex digital mixer which needs to be configured properly for the desired playback/capture paths.
The ice1712/24 chips have a complex digital mixer which needs to be configured properly for the desired playback/capture paths.
Do you have a redefined default device in .asoundrc? If not, your command is most likely using either dsnoop (and automatically converting from 48kHz unless configured differently), or on modern distributions from pulseaudio via the default pulse plugin, with PA most likely resampling to 96kHz too.
Yes
all good here. ( I have followed and implemented your good advice as well as the arecord read-me and can confirm that all as is I have indicated ) No Pulse and alsa only 24/96 as reported by both Audacity and Media Info...Your teachings have been my goto for some time now....
wave2:grasshopper 
)Cheers, Bob.
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That's not a bad idea, actually. I hadn't thought about it. What's a good VM under Ubuntu? Also, I suppose I have to purchase a copy of Windows to load in the VM? Sorry I am not really up to speed on how to bring it all about. I guess I have used Wine before, but that is not the same thing.
I would love to slither out from under MS for my main OS. I have a machine that I could use for this. I recently put together a fanless mini-PC in the mITX form factor to test out the sound quality of the onboard codec. It uses a passive heatsink (Alpine 12 Passive) on an I5-10400 in an Asus ROG STRIX B460-I. I can power it with a Meanwell LRS-150-12. Threw on a small SSD for storage. All 100% silent! It's a kind of test bed, just sitting out in the open with some frankenstein wires connecting AC/DC PS to DC-ATX Pico style PS to motherboard. Fun!
Setting up a VM is not that big a deal but when I first started looking at options I got the feeling it would take me a fortnight to get off the ground. I tried VirtualBox and I had a windows system running in just a few days. Things just seemed to come together with it.
The repository deb package versions are behind the ones found on the Oracle website. The newer version supports seamless drag/drop and copy/paste between systems. When you run your mouse outside the boundary of one OS, the other OS gets mouse and keyboard focus. You can optionally run each full screen on a dual monitor setup, or in a window. The VM controls cut in at the edge of the screen when you move the mouse there.
I'm running a later kernel backport to support a recent processor. Now and then I'll get a kernel update. Then I have to spend about 1 minute to get the corresponding headers and reconfig VB, after spending another minute scrolling back to remember the two commands that do that.
The repository deb package versions are behind the ones found on the Oracle website. The newer version supports seamless drag/drop and copy/paste between systems. When you run your mouse outside the boundary of one OS, the other OS gets mouse and keyboard focus. You can optionally run each full screen on a dual monitor setup, or in a window. The VM controls cut in at the edge of the screen when you move the mouse there.
I'm running a later kernel backport to support a recent processor. Now and then I'll get a kernel update. Then I have to spend about 1 minute to get the corresponding headers and reconfig VB, after spending another minute scrolling back to remember the two commands that do that.
Check out Jim Salter's how-to for KVM in Ubuntu. This includes good TPM info as well.
You can install Win10 as a trial without activation for 30 days. For Win10 Home, leave the network disconnected during installation unless you're okay using an MS account. With Pro, you should be able to create a local account by reading the small print carefully enough during setup.
I really hope you are right. Over the last couple of years I upgraded the old machines for the PCI based E-MU 1616 and 1820 systems. I upgraded to HP Z400 and Z600 workstations which are more than powerful enough for the job. (I am using X5680 quad core and X5687 hex core Westmere processors. The Z600 can run two sockets while the Z400 is one.)
So after getting them all running and all the software licenses I find out that Windows 11 wants TPM 2.0 and UEFI. The Z400 & Z600 don't have UEFI and they are TPM 1.2. HP support has nothing to download for TPM firmware updates to TPM 2.0
I believe the Infineon chip soldered to the motherboards could run TPM 2.0 but no one is interested in making the firmware updates available from v3.16 TPM 1.2 to the current (v7.63?) TPM 2.0. I think the Infineon chip has not changed but only the firmware. But even if they do this the BIOS is still not UEFI.
And of course all of my EM8810 and EM8960 cards are PCI, not PCIe...
I wonder how much e-Waste Windows 11 is going to generate? Maybe obsoleting 200 million otherwise still usable machines that don't have UEFI and TPM 2.0? Maybe 40 pounds per desktop? So 8,000 million pounds of e-Waste to enrich Microsoft some more with this obsolescence requirement? And no one will upgrade the BIOS and TPM firmware to avoid all that pollution while they all talk non-stop about their commitment to the environment.
You don't pay for windows any more, you're no longer the target audience..
One wonders why the wsl exists, as Linux is less known for the mainstream programs it runs and more for the OS itself, windows should be running on Linux instead. Ms however has a rich history of playing hard-ball with other OSes, including the Unices. When the term 'Linux box' was beginning to get widespread use, ms appropriated the term 'Xbox'... Where the wsl could make a lot of sense to them is that people who are sitting on the fence about changing their OS could play around with these things without actually changing the drive or leaving windows. The learning curve could be shed on a whim with the user returning to windows. (If you can't beat 'em....)
One wonders why the wsl exists, as Linux is less known for the mainstream programs it runs and more for the OS itself, windows should be running on Linux instead. Ms however has a rich history of playing hard-ball with other OSes, including the Unices. When the term 'Linux box' was beginning to get widespread use, ms appropriated the term 'Xbox'... Where the wsl could make a lot of sense to them is that people who are sitting on the fence about changing their OS could play around with these things without actually changing the drive or leaving windows. The learning curve could be shed on a whim with the user returning to windows. (If you can't beat 'em....)
Then they remembered that obsoleting all the Windows machines in the world means that they can sell a bunch more licenses... Not just the O/S but also the office software, etc...
Plus they want to kill all the perpetual licenses they sold in the past. They want everyone to switch over to subscriptions that they have to endlessly pay for and never own.
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