7mo ago

Should I use a rolling distro?

Currently, I use Debian on my server. I have an Intel Arc GPU that I use for transcoding, however hardware encoding doesn't work. I am able to get a slight performance benefit from decoding, but encoding would be much better. I have an A750 in my desktop (not server), and was able to get hardware acceleration working, but only with openSUSE Tumbleweed with the stable kernel (6.9.4). While I would love to have encoding, (I am limited on upload speed and av1 encoding isn't practical on the CPU for multiple streams), I doubt it would be stable using a rolling distro and non-standard kernel. Has anyone else tried anything like this? Are there any arc + jellyfin users out there who know any way to make this work, or any openSUSE self-hosters could vouch for its stability? I am willing to try almost any distro (except ubuntu) to make this work.

Edit: fixed. There was some firmware I needed to work on debian. I will link and such in a bit when I have time.

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16 comments

You can use slackware current
- Serious question - does Slackware offer any special features that make it more attractive?
  I stopped using Slackware back when Corel Linux released, and when CL died I switched to Debian and never looked back.
  
  I find building packages from source to be easier cause thats their preferred method for third party software.
  i treat it as a stable base that i can build on top of.
  
  Sounds like they've stayed much the same.
  There was a time when I enjoyed that kind of effort. Now I have a job in I.T. and a toddler that I want to spend my free time with. When I use my personal/private computer, I just want my software to work and I want to be able to keep it patched with minimal effort.
  In a way I'm glad Slackware has kept to the original ideals. I enjoyed using it from the 3 series through 7 at least. I remember people getting their knickers in a twist when he jumped version numbers. In those days I had a custom kernel that I wove patches into. Big O scheduler, usb support, agpart support, some other stuff I can't remember. I remember wanting low latency because MP3s skipped otherwise.
  It was fun, but back then hacking on Linux kernel patches and building things from source was my hobby. I remember loading Linux into a powermac 4400 because I could, and I used it as my always-on IRC machine.
  Ahhh Slackware.
  
  Oh yeah you dont need to do all that anymore. Most things work easy. I find that better cause i dont want to run anything outdated or unpatched in my local network. The stable base helps with that. My issue is when i need someone else to compile new version of software to create a package. I find that method on debian and ubuntu to be tedious.
  i think of slackware as a distro that gives you the tools to build your own distro. Every slackware user seems to have their own unique workflows which is a double edged sword.
  also yeah sometimes you wanna spend time with people i feel that. Congrats on the toddler!

16 comments