Blog-of-gain

A tech-oriented blog from a Linux user


Latest blog updates

2025-12-06Keychron M6 (1K, PixArt 3311) review: New article.
2025-08-27Rant: loudness war, style over functionality, etc.: Add note about Dynamic Range DB website.
2025-08-06Happy Plugs Clip: New article.
2024-09-03Installing Microsoft Intune on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS: New article.
2023-12-06Alesis Turbo Mesh Kit review: Add instructions for macOS and MidiPipe.

Filtering by tag: Linux

How to join a Skype for Business meeting from Linux

Summary: use a Windows virtual machine

In a previous article I discussed KVM and its audio capabilities. As of now there still isn't a nicely working emulated audio device for Windows 10 guests let alone a working Skype for Business client for Linux. In my day job I have to attend Skype for Business (formerly Lync) meetings quite often but it was impossible using my work laptop, which has Linux. I finally took the time to check out how USB passthrough works in KVM and solved the problem. Read the article to see how.

Updates

2018-09-08A note about a new work laptop.

Easy acoustic tweaks for your room

Stopping flutter echo, equalizing with ALSA and gstreamer

Preview

Most mortals have to listen to music in a somewhat small room - a closed space, which will usually result in boomy bass at some frequencies, and terrible flutter echo in the upper end of the audible spectrum.

Read this article to find out quick and cheap tricks to remedy the problems.

Asus should focus more on ergonomics than style

An Asus UX305CA laptop review by a Linux user

Preview

The Asus UX305CA promises good features, nice display, great looks and very light weight. Find out from this article how it has delivered in practice, and how it has worked running Xubuntu.

Updates

2019-07-29Add note about fixed Wi-Fi.
2018-09-08Add note about broken Wi-Fi.
2017-05-18Add notes about use in practice.

Configuring ALSA for pro hardware setups

Advanced .asoundrc / asound.conf examples

Nowadays most Linux distributions probably use PulseAudio for audio. In my opinion, not that long ago it was completely unusable. I still do not use it on my main rig, and find it mostly an unnecessary piece of software that potentially creates latency or configuration problems. In most cases, you usually don't really need it. In this article I'll show some tricks on how to write a killer ALSA setup. Recommended for audiophiles, movie lovers, recording artists and other crazy folks.

KVM networking

Bridge setup and remote desktop connection

In this article we will setup a network bridge for use with KVM virtual machines and use RDP to connect to the guest for effortless workflow. We also discuss some problems you might encounter with the RDP connections.

Updates

2017-09-09Updated network script.
2016-10-11Add note about Windows RDP finally working.
2016-07-12Add bridged network instructions.
2016-03-25Add note about UTC clock in Windows guests.
2016-03-15Add note about Windows enterprise edition.

KVM audio with ALSA loopback

Getting audio to work with KVM might be a bit tricky, especially when KVM expects to have exclusive access to your audio hardware. This is a problem if one would like to keep on using the host system audio while a guest is running. In this article we solve the problem using ALSA loopback devices.

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