Snakeoil Installer - 1.2.0 (Gear Isolation)

[emptor]

Morning everyone, I absolutely love Snakeoil, been using it for the past 2 years in my 10th gen NUC, thanks to @Snoopy8 help back in 2020.

I'm still on 1.1.11 (Blind Testing U11), it took a bit to work with Agent Kith to get it working as I'm using M.2 SSD so in the end had to use a specific kernel during install. Has been working beautifully since. I use the highest MPD version for 1.1.11 which is 0.21.25

I know there is 1.2.5. Would you all recommend I upgrade from a sound quality point of view?

I've been holding off as I'm looking forward to results of the great work that @agent_kith is doing with the kernel builder.

Please don't worry about the FW upgrade, you can downgrade it with the same way.  Enjoy.

Only thing I'm thinking is it's a bit of a move from 1.1 to 1.2......is the sound quality much better to do the move now before kernel builder is completed?

[Snoopy8]

Only thing I'm thinking is it's a bit of a move from 1.1 to 1.2......is the sound quality much better to do the move now before kernel builder is completed?

Good to hear you are still enjoying SnakeOil.

I believe 1.2 does sound slightly better. I did not have 2 boxes side by side to compare, but used backup and restore of instances in the comparison.

Is it worth it? If you have the time and can put in the effort, then go ahead. Before you upgrade, suggest you use Clonezilla to backup your instance. You have a unique kernel based on an old unsupported Linux release, and it will be difficult to rebuild from scratch.

 However, if everything is working well, you can defer...

[emptor]

Only thing I'm thinking is it's a bit of a move from 1.1 to 1.2......is the sound quality much better to do the move now before kernel builder is completed?

Good to hear you are still enjoying SnakeOil.

I believe 1.2 does sound slightly better. I did not have 2 boxes side by side to compare, but used backup and restore of instances in the comparison.

Is it worth it? If you have the time and can put in the effort, then go ahead. Before you upgrade, suggest you use Clonezilla to backup your instance. You have a unique kernel based on an old unsupported Linux release, and it will be difficult to rebuild from scratch.

 However, if everything is working well, you can defer...

Yep, really loving it...am so grateful for yours and agent kiths help to get it going for me.

great advice, i reckon i should do a clone backup anyway.

If i was to try 1.2.5, do I just stick with the default kernel for now @Snoopy8 ? I still have the i10 with M.2.

[Snoopy8]

If i was to try 1.2.5, do I just stick with the default kernel for now @Snoopy8 ? I still have the i10 with M.2.

When you change to 1.2.0, you will be installing Ubuntu 20.04 which will support M.2. Unless you are willing to build your own real time kernel (with a lot of pain!), use the default kernel that comes with Ubuntu. You can then apply 1.2.5..

[emptor]

If i was to try 1.2.5, do I just stick with the default kernel for now @Snoopy8 ? I still have the i10 with M.2.

When you change to 1.2.0, you will be installing Ubuntu 20.04 which will support M.2. Unless you are willing to build your own real time kernel (with a lot of pain!), use the default kernel that comes with Ubuntu. You can then apply 1.2.5..

Thx heaps snoopy!!!

[hkphantomgtr]

If i was to try 1.2.5, do I just stick with the default kernel for now @Snoopy8 ? I still have the i10 with M.2.

When you change to 1.2.0, you will be installing Ubuntu 20.04 which will support M.2. Unless you are willing to build your own real time kernel (with a lot of pain!), use the default kernel that comes with Ubuntu. You can then apply 1.2.5..

Thx heaps snoopy!!!

Furthering your information, 1.2.0 installer only works with "Ubuntu 20.04" & "Ubuntu Studio 20.04", not the latest 22.04.  And Ubuntu Studio is real time kernel, just as Snakeoil original kernel you're using, while the Ubuntu 20.04 is not real time kernel.  FYI, I used 1.2.0 installer on Ubuntu Studio 20.04 and it works perfectly.

Ubuntu Studio 20.04.4 LTS (Focal Fossa)

Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS (Focal Fossa)

[Snoopy8]

Furthering your information, 1.2.0 installer only works with "Ubuntu 20.04" & "Ubuntu Studio 20.04", not the latest 22.04.  And Ubuntu Studio is real time kernel, just as Snakeoil original kernel you're using, while the Ubuntu 20.04 is not real time kernel.  FYI, I used 1.2.0 installer on Ubuntu Studio 20.04 and it works perfectly.

Thank you. I learnt something new today !

It was painful and very time consuming to learn how to build a RT kernel. It could take a hour or more (because I did not know how to do it properly) to compile a kernel and sometimes it would not run. If only I knew about the Studio kernel... 😭

[emptor]

If i was to try 1.2.5, do I just stick with the default kernel for now @Snoopy8 ? I still have the i10 with M.2.

When you change to 1.2.0, you will be installing Ubuntu 20.04 which will support M.2. Unless you are willing to build your own real time kernel (with a lot of pain!), use the default kernel that comes with Ubuntu. You can then apply 1.2.5..

Thx heaps snoopy!!!

Furthering your information, 1.2.0 installer only works with "Ubuntu 20.04" & "Ubuntu Studio 20.04", not the latest 22.04.  And Ubuntu Studio is real time kernel, just as Snakeoil original kernel you're using, while the Ubuntu 20.04 is not real time kernel.  FYI, I used 1.2.0 installer on Ubuntu Studio 20.04 and it works perfectly.

Ubuntu Studio 20.04.4 LTS (Focal Fossa)

Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS (Focal Fossa)

Thx heaps for the advice!!! I would have gone 22.04 without your experience!

@hkphantomgtr what is the benefit of agent_kith kernel builder when complete vs the Studio kernel?

[Snoopy8]

Thx heaps for the advice!!! I would have gone 22.04 without your experience!

@hkphantomgtr what is the benefit of agent_kith kernel builder when complete vs the Studio kernel?

This is answering as a poor amateur kernel builder vs the uber pro Agent Kith! AK will know how to fully optimise the kernel, making it as small as possible and stripping out unnecessary functionality. My kernels are many, many times bigger in the file size compared with the kernels that AK released previously.  

Note that Ubuntu Studio is low latency, not real time.  There is a switch in the config file to set this.  I suspect there is little difference in practice for SnakeOil.  And Studio is more likely to have better SQ than the standard Ubuntu release because of lower latency.  Having said that, @hkphantomgtr prefers the sound of using HPET clock which has a much larger latency than the TSC clock.  So, lower latency is not everything...

[emptor]

Thx heaps for the advice!!! I would have gone 22.04 without your experience!

@hkphantomgtr what is the benefit of agent_kith kernel builder when complete vs the Studio kernel?

This is answering as a poor amateur kernel builder vs the uber pro Agent Kith! AK will know how to fully optimise the kernel, making it as small as possible and stripping out unnecessary functionality. My kernels are many, many times bigger in the file size compared with the kernels that AK released previously.  

Note that Ubuntu Studio is low latency, not real time.  There is a switch in the config file to set this.  I suspect there is little difference in practice for SnakeOil.  And Studio is more likely to have better SQ than the standard Ubuntu release because of lower latency.  Having said that, @hkphantomgtr prefers the sound of using HPET clock which has a much larger latency than the TSC clock.  So, lower latency is not everything...

Thanks Snoopy! I use HPET in my 1.1.11 also. Does it default to TSC if I turn off HPET in bios?