PipeWire 0.3.26 Released With Better Bluetooth Support, Up To 64 Channel Devices

[fafreeman]

been using pipewire on arch for a few months and absolutely no issues. ill never use plain pulseaudio again. unless you have some niche audio setup i don't see a reason not to use it.

[stalkerg]

It's still problems with KDE integration.

[BingoNightly]

I wonder why Debian and Ubuntu doesn't use it ?

lol those reasons are a good start

[Alexmitter]

It's still problems with KDE integration.

Nice, who cares? KDE sure is able to fix their own stuff.

[reba]

If it works so well for Fedora and the like, I wonder why Debian and Ubuntu doesn't use it ?

pipewire has been in Debian (even stable) for a quite some time: https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/pipewire
Some users here reported they are running a pipewire-only Debian system without problems (link), so it is possible.

Maybe Debian is a bit more conservative to give things time to shake out the biggest oddities.
Personally I am running Debian unstable, which is, after stable and testing, and before experimental, the most up-to-date Debian release and problems are officially not unheard of. Well, I never had any (non-minor) problems whatsoever, so they are doing their stuff quite well.

STABLE
|- stable (currently "buster", gets mainly only security updates, soon "bullseye")
|- testing (currently "bullseye", staging area for the next stable release)
|- unstable (always "sid", rolling release, packages get promoted to testing)
|- experimental (which is just a partial increment to sid to check packages and integration)
EXPERIMENTAL

[darkbasic]

unless you have some niche audio setup i don't see a reason not to use it.

You can't use it if you need echo cancellation, unfortunately.

By the way, do someone know how am I supposed to run pipewire from the build directory in F34? I can't manage to get it working: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipew...60#note_886932

[Gobelet]

I've been using PipeWire for some time now, and they support Bluetooth HFP without a mess of oFono and PulseAudio patches, which is nice; I have a much higher quality experience when I videoconference now.

I'd be lying if I said it was entirely painless, though; there absolutely were growing pains with lower versions (outputs switching order for no reason, Bluetooth HSP/HFP disappearing entirely for certain devices on certain versions, and so on), but the last 2 or 3 releases have been relatively flawless.

[jabl]

If it works so well for Fedora and the like, I wonder why Debian and Ubuntu doesn't use it ?

The upcoming Fedora 34 is the first mainstream distro that uses Pipewire by default. And Fedora tends to be the first to deploy new tech, so this is expected. Just give it time; if Pipewire lives up to its promises, I'm sure Debian and Ubuntu will eventually move over as well.

[caligula]

If it works so well for Fedora and the like, I wonder why Debian and Ubuntu doesn't use it ?

Isn't Ubuntu still developing their Native Interactive Hearing sound system? I just recently saw a commit in their Bzr repo with full Upstart integration.

[Mez']

The upcoming Fedora 34 is the first mainstream distro that uses Pipewire by default. And Fedora tends to be the first to deploy new Red Hat led tech,

Adapted.