Ubuntu 22.10 is making an enormous change to the way forward for the Ubuntu Linux distribution line, by switching the audio server setup from PulseAudio to PipeWire.
The information was confirmed formally by Canonical Worker and Ubuntu Desktop Developer, Heather Ellsworth, on the Ubuntu Discourse thread concerning the matter,
“That’s proper, as of as we speak the Kinetic iso (pending, not but present for the reason that adjustments have been simply made) has been up to date to run solely pipewire and never pulseaudio. So @copong, you’ll be able to look ahead to this for kinetic.
For Jammy, you may discover that you’ve got each pipewire and pulseaudio operating. It’s because pulseaudio remains to be getting used for the audio however pipewire is getting used for the video. (Pipewire is required for screencasting and screensharing on Wayland.)
I hope that clears up our plans concerning pipewire/pulseaudio however tell us when you have extra questions.”
Ubuntu at present for 22.04LTS makes use of PipeWire for screencasting, however remains to be utilizing PulseAudio for audio.
Different in style distributions that use PipeWire are Fedora, EndeavourOS and Slackware.
The PipeWire homepage says,
“PipeWire is a mission that goals to enormously enhance dealing with of audio and video below Linux. It gives a low-latency, graph primarily based processing engine on prime of audio and video gadgets that can be utilized to help the use circumstances at present dealt with by each pulseaudio and JACK. PipeWire was designed with a strong safety mannequin that makes interacting with audio and video gadgets from containerized purposes straightforward, with supporting Flatpak purposes being the first aim. Alongside Wayland and Flatpak we count on PipeWire to supply a core constructing block for the way forward for Linux utility improvement.”
There are directions for putting in PipeWire immediately on the entrance web page of the positioning, which is at all times cool to see because it makes it quite simple for customers. As properly, the PipeWire documentation appeared pretty thorough as I skimmed by it, so should you do wish to dig deeper past the set up directions, loads of data is accessible at their docs web page.
I can say that I’ve no private expertise that’s of notice with PipeWire. I’ve used and I like EndeavourOS, however I’m not sure if the final time I used it, it used PipeWire, and to what extent. So, I can’t give a private evaluation presently; nonetheless, I can say that after digging a bit deeper and researching into this matter extra for this text, I believe PipeWire does sound like the best way ahead, compared to PulseAudio. PulseAudio works…form of…till it doesn’t…And it’s served us for years, however I don’t assume I do know many Linux customers who would flip down switching to a distinct audio system if it meant extra stability, much less latency, and loads of customization and energy below the hood. I for one am trying ahead to the following Ubuntu launch, and I’ll you should definitely take a look at out and remark concerning the audio once I do a evaluation of it within the fall of 2022!
NOW YOU
What are your ideas on the change of audio programs from PulseAudio to PipeWire? Do you might have expertise utilizing it for audio in your personal configuration? Tell us within the feedback!
Thanks for studying..
