How to set up the Presonus Firebox with Fedora

[rokit]

If you want to get your Firebox working with Fedora, this is how I was able to do it. This may also work with other Presonus audio interfaces.

First of all you need to install the CCRMA repository for your version of Fedora. Here's a link to the CCRMA Fedora index. Since I'm using FC 11 x86_64 I used this one. This is a well known repository for audio work.

If you have jack installed already, then you'll need to uninstall it. Open add/remove software, search for FFADO and install it. Basically, FFADO is Freebob under a different name. One difference is that FFADO uses the new firewire drivers and Freebob uses the old ones. As of this writing, it's still in the experimental stage, but in my case it works. Now, install jack2 (which I will just refer to as jack). You can't just do a search for jack2, it's called the-jack-audio-connection-kit-1.9.x.x. Don't get this confused with jack1, which is the-jack-audio-connection-kit-0.116.1. Be sure to install FFADO before you install jack. I also recommend installing qjackctl because it will make your life a lot easier when configuring jack.

Now, you need a real-time kernel. I could not get any of this to work without one. Do a search for kernel-rt and install the real-time kernel. In my case it was kernel-rt-2.6.29.6-1. I also had to install the kernel-rt-devel because I'm using akmod for my nvidia driver. Now just reboot and you should be able to boot into your real-time kernel.

Now, to configure jack. Open qjackctl from applications>sound and video. Click setup and you'll see several options. For driver select "firewire" and under parameters check "realtime". Server path should be "jackd". The rest of the settings should be fine, but I have frames/period set to 128. If you're having trouble, you might want to set this to a higher value. Don't forget to start jack.

Now, you should be able to play some tunes! Just make sure that whatever media player you are using outputs to jack. In my case, I'm using the qmmp media player and it works flawlessly.

That's it for basic sound. This will probably be enough to get you up and running with Ardor as well. You might also have to configure the patchbay, but that is easy enough.

Unfortunately, these steps will not get you system sounds or sound from YouTube videos. I'm still working on a solution for that.

I hope someone finds this guide useful. If I missed anything, or if you have anything else to add please do.

Regards,
rokit

[fusionstream]

jack keeps on crashing or failing:

Linux coldstream 2.6.30.5-43.fc11.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Aug 27 21:39:52 EDT 2009 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

JACK server starting in non-realtime mode                    
00695405008:  (ffado.cpp)[  92] ffado_streaming_init: libffado 1.999.40- built Jun  9 2009 21:07:00                                                                                       
00696241724: Debug (bebob_mixer.cpp)[ 126] addElementForAllFunctionBlocks: Adding elements for functionblocks...                                                                          
firewire ERR: Could not start streaming threads                                              
Cannot start driver                                                                          
JackServer::Start() failed with -1

I can't install the realtime kernel because something about 2.6.29.x works very badly with ati drivers.

previously, with freebob (and the much older jack that came with F11), i managed to connect the firebox on 2.6.30.x but there was no sound in ardour. I looked at the meters in the mixer but nothing rised or fell. I also was not able to record. Pressing the record button, I was then unable to start the recording as pressing the play button did nothing. Recrod was enabled for the tracks.

Any ideas?

[rokit]

Unfortunately, I don't think you'll get it working without the real-time kernel. Did you specifically install a driver for the ATI card or was it just plug and play? If it was plug and play that might be why it's not working with the rt kernel. The only thing I would recommend is installing a driver for it. I use akmod for nvidia and I see an akmod-catalyst for ATI which might work. I would take a look a look at this thread first though.

[fusionstream]

I gave up.

64 studio failed due to a cd problem. (live usb doesn't work either. same issue. yea, i know, but it's usb.. bleh)

ubuntu studio jammed on boot.. no idea why and to be honest, i don't quite care for it anyway.

So installed F11 in another partition.

Pure with no graphics drivers and only the RT kernel.. sucks but had to be done.

Just wanted to let you know it works. Thanks for the thread =).

JACK will sometimes get thrown for a loop with syncing errors and I have to kill qjackctl and jackd from bash.. I notice that ardour also jams up at this period. Killing qjack and jackd and then restarting it will not unfreeze ardour (so I can't reconnect from there). The mouse and keyboard will also sometimes jam up, sometimes for a bit but it always will resolve itself after a while. I'm guessing the to the RT kernel.

I'm using my firebox for recording only.

I'm trying to get ardour/jack to monitor on the pc's soundcard and not through the firebox. I'll update if I get this done.

[fusionstream]

Solved... somewhat...

Thanks for your thread. If not for this, I'd probably be committing adultery with windows. =)

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showth...69#post1267469