#For the love of god - how to stop audio breaking every time I change ANYTHING/Restart?

164 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

stuck iron
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Well I will never freaking understand linux audio. Plug in a wire, and all the sound setup you have done in OBS or pipewire volume control just breaks.
Spend 3 hours configuring my PCs to have the correct setup. Then needed to restart one PC and now the audio is broken on it and wont come back.

Now I fixed that and got everything working............. OR SO I THOUGHT!
OBS is working fine... i can monitor an input source, and the sound of it sounds fine......
But then I record a movie file with it, and that SAME sound source that works in OBS is stuttering, but only in the recording.
Used 3 different players and three different recording formats with the same result. And bizarrely... its just that ONE source thats stuttering. Other sources in the recording work fine.

Is there some program or version you can use to just have audio that DOESNT mess itself up all over at the slightest change? (i am on pipewire)

tranquil bison
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You neither need a different sound server nor different software

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If you want help getting it to work better it would be ideal to have more info about your hardware and software version inxi -Fxxxrzc0 works

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you can share the output here

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If you specify what you did and why during the 3 hours it may be possible to discern why rebooting undid it and effect the same fix in a more permanent fashion

stuck iron
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but here again... i've just rebooted it again, and the sound messed itself up.... how? Pipewire changed it from this....

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To this....

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i.e changed the long one to some weird setting and stopped the front speaker channel from working (am using that as sound output)

tranquil bison
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which version of mint?

stuck iron
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thats not the issue though, the issues are just constant. All the time, fix one thing another thing breaks.

stuck iron
tranquil bison
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any time the answer is I believe the answer is to go and check. The output of inxi -Fxxxrzc0 should show that and other info

stuck iron
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All I have tried to do is set up a new mixer between the PCs I have, the gaming one and the streaming one. The mixer device is an Behringer XR12 and the mic is output from that to the motherboard MIC audio slot via 3.5mm

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on the other PC (the streaming one), for absolutely no reason at all, the input sound of the audio from the other PC is FINE... until I actually record.

tranquil bison
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so it will automatically pick what appears to be the best profile which may be the cause of it switching profiles on reboot

stuck iron
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so how to stop that?

tranquil bison
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so you can either configure it not to switch profiles in it's config

stuck iron
tranquil bison
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honestly looking it up now I've never bothered

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so both PC have line out going to a device and that device is plugged into the actual speakers right?

stuck iron
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i have the input sound going into one device, and output on another device

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if I have them connected to the same device theres just problem after problem.

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usually mic audio sounds glitched and bitcrushed to heck, sometimes with a weird echo, sometimes theres just no sound at all from either the input or the output, and sometimes theres just phantom buzzing

tranquil bison
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you can if you like try reverting to pulseaudio

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especially if you didn't experience the same issues previously with pulse

stuck iron
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I didn't have the same hardware before with pulse

tranquil bison
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well its fairly trivial to go back and forth

stuck iron
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i bought this new hardware (like £300 including the connection wires) in the hope that the issues I was facing before (practically the same ones) would go away lol

tranquil bison
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just uninstall pipewire, install pulseaudio, then systemctl enable --user pulseaudio reboot

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if the problem can be fully fixed by specifying what profile and such is used you can just put that in a script and run it at login

stuck iron
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didnt work

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huh but i dont know if relevant but i tried this and it gave a weird message...

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tranquil bison
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that isn't how you run pulseaudio

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first stop and remove pipewire

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enable pulseaudio as a user service

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then reboot

stuck iron
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I uninstalled pipewire before running that

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and pulse audio was already installed

tranquil bison
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systemctl enable --user pulseaudio

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not systemctl enable --user pulseaudio reboot

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the latter is trying to literally enable a service called "pulseaudio reboot"

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disable or remove pipewire, enable pulseaudio and reboot and then please report the output of inxi -A

stuck iron
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ahh so after reboot, i dnot have any audio out from the PC at all+

tranquil bison
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please run inxi -A

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you should ideally have pulseaudio running

stuck iron
tranquil bison
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ok pulse is active can you run pavucontrol and ensure the devices are using the correct profile etc

stuck iron
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Yeah its set again to 2.1 + analogue

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but in output devices its showing

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so it fills the volume bar butnothing doing

tranquil bison
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notably have you set it to the correct profile in the last tab?

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output devices tab only lets you set port not profile

stuck iron
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yeah i screen shot the configuration tab above

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i dont see any button to set that audio device to the "default" or "main" one like in PW control

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wait wth... if i set it to just "Analog Stereo" it works, even though its plugged in the wrong socket

tranquil bison
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that is just a profile not a socket eg a port

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the profile is what should come out of the port the port is which literal port it should come out of

stuck iron
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no but I change it here...

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tranquil bison
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those are two different views of the same thing

stuck iron
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and the pc sound is still plugged into the "front speakers" slot and not headphones

tranquil bison
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you can use whichever pleases you

stuck iron
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but yet it picks up the sound from there somehow lol

tranquil bison
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headphone isn't really headphones its just normally the front port

stuck iron
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but all the other options are "analog surround ...." so it should really only output audio to those slots with those options selected

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but anyway it seems now like all the inputs and outputs dont have any corruption on them for one PC at least

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So i will restart and see if it forgets everything

tranquil bison
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so is this fixed?

stuck iron
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nope

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it seemed fix and the in game microphone was working, but after a restart it somehow changed audio devices even with lock profiles on and now the in game microphone doesn't work at all (but it's also a copy of the actual microphone which is perfectly fine in this video)...

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The "echo microphone" always on option is supposed to play an output of the microphone so you can test it is working. And again... this was all working perfectly before a restart fucked it up

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but i had the pulse audio lock profile buttons on so NOTHING should have changed

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lol the buzzing is even worse when I plug the input into the same sound device as the output

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ima go to bed i have been trying to sort this stupid audio for about 8 fking hours now

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and been struggling with audio issues on mint for three and a bit goddamn months

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I'll see if windows has the same problems tomorrow. If not, I guess linux just isnt ready enough yet to be used by normies.

woven path
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Okay so

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Good sir, what the hell are all these devices I am seeing here

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little nest
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all the enabled "sound cards"

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which would all be listed in the config tab

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and only the top one is unmuted

woven path
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I reckon the software messes something up and throws the audio in one of those outputs

little nest
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I'm a normie. this OP is not a normie. The OP is a person who uses way too many devices, and expects them all to work at once n such

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I've used HDMI-out on occasion, and usually line-out to an amp. simple af, and always works a treat.

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Zero hassle.

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So yes, Linux IS ready for normies.

woven path
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I reckon this is a case with too many devices yes. This is the amount of output devices on my end

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little nest
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yeah with the analog set as fallback (default) simple as pie.

woven path
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@stuck iron What devices can you select in this option?

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Because there was a noise I could hear when the mic echo was turned on but I reckon the game used a different device as microphone.

tranquil bison
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There is no such lock profile button

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Its just setting this as default there is no such concept of locking

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I think normies mostly just have one computer with speakers and headphones and maybe zoom all of which work advanced usage could be tons easier to configure thought

stuck iron
woven path
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Audio of the monitor you mean?

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Why is this an option for microphone, it is not correct

stuck iron
woven path
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Wait

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Do you have a virtual cable installed?

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That routes input to output?

stuck iron
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I dont

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Unless there's a default one

woven path
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Afaik there is not. What does not make sense is that these input devices show up in the output list

tranquil bison
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There is input from a second machine to output of current

stuck iron
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Even with that other machine off the problems still occur.

tranquil bison
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Not an issue with this case but upmixing is an example of another feature not supported by the gui

stuck iron
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They don't directly connect either to each other.

tranquil bison
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Like turning off auto switching profiles its excessively complicated

stuck iron
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Dunno what upmixing is.

woven path
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@stuck iron So you have two PCs connectd to eachother. Is it for streaming? How did you connect them?

stuck iron
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But like I say, the pcs audio isn't directly connected. The mixer doesn't even connect to either via usb.

tranquil bison
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What is the name of the mixing device?

stuck iron
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It's a behringer xr12

woven path
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Something does not make sense to me

stuck iron
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Setup like this. But even with PC 2 not in the equation, the problems still happen .

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well there is also headphones from behringer xr12 to my head, but maybe i should just shove em up me a** in case that fixes it

woven path
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In that case the Behringer is the problem

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To make sure, connect the XLR mic to PC 1 and see what it does

stuck iron
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but I had most of these problems before I bought the xr12

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And tragically bought it in the hope it would fix them by having things mixed together outside the pc and getting rid of things like easy effects for tidying up audio.

woven path
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Okay

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In that case I say this list of devices is the issue, this is not normal.

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stuck iron
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whats wrong with it? it's always looked like that to me

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if I have the mobo device on, it'll show each of it's slot as an output device (for some reason it calls the motherboard stuff "usb audio device"

woven path
stuck iron
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yeah theres no option to just set one as default

woven path
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Yeah you gotta fix it. You should just have a couple of outputs and one input device for audio, idk what devices you're all using

stuck iron
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And just for no reason now the Soundblaster would not make output noise. until i swapped it round and plugged it into the motherboard instead.

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I got it down to this. not much more i can do... 3 of the outputs are different slots on the motherboard...

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woven path
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Okay so does the audio work?

stuck iron
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Audio out is working again but not the mic... whether plugged into line in or MIC output (on the motherboard slots as well) the meter has barely any input. This is me blowing on the mic...

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oh god the mic is fucked i didnt notice that

woven path
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LOL

stuck iron
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thats the bitcrushed mic audio

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fix one damn problem another appears

woven path
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Okay this is because you connected the mic to the sound card

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It is an analogue microphone, yes? One with 3.5mm audio jack?

stuck iron
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yes

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but i either have the mic in slot on the sound card or 0.1% audio volume on the motherboard one.

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I think at this point, its probably best to try the setup on windows see if the same problem occur... if it is, more likely its a hardware issue

woven path
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I do not know if sound cards work well on mint. But plugging the 3.5mm connector to your motherboard should pop up a new device in the output thing

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That is what i have on my computer

stuck iron
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No i locked the sound profile to stop it changing every reboot

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I'll check on windows and report back. I have been kind of assuming it is a linx problem and windows would fix it but maybe not, but maybe that is a useful datapoint to have.

woven path
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See this for reference. Matisse HD audio controller is the analog one on my pc

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I think your mobo should have the same but i am not sure

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I am off to sleep. I will check up tomorrow.

stuck iron
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So would seem somehow its a linux audio miscongifuration issue but i have freaking clue

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so still need help if anyone finds this

stuck iron
woven path
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Okay soooooo @stuck iron you found anything new?

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Any updates?

stuck iron
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Nope still not working

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Tried Ubuntu studio today but also the same problems

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Now just trying Debian but this has even more fundamental problems than even the audio

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But I'm just too depressed with the issues now to do anything constructive.