[linux-audio-user] Setting up linux computer

[tim hall]

Last Tuesday 24 August 2004 00:38, John Check was like:
> On Monday 23 August 2004 09:22 am, tim hall wrote:
> > Last Sunday 22 August 2004 18:59, Austin was like:
> > > Debian has a great package manager, but crappy installer.
> >
> > Never having used any other distro recently, I can't say I'd noticed that
> > there was a great deal wrong with Debian's installer. AGNULA is a good
> > distro for musical first timers these days.
>
> AGNULA... I thought having gparted for partitioning in the installer didn't
> help. Otherwise it wasn't too painful.

I don't really have anything to compare it with. I assume that people have got 
soft and assume[*] it's not very good because the installer uses a 
text-based / ncurses interface or because the last Debian install they did 
was Debian Potato. Dunno, it worked fine for me ;-)

I would now seriously recommend Agnula's DeMuDi distro for musical / Linux 
newbies, I fully admit to being a Debian chauvinist, so I have to 'fess up to 
the fact that all these distros are using Linux Audio software and therefore 
they Rock in much the same way. My experience is that the Debian Sarge 
installer, which A/DeMuDi uses, does it with less fuss and in under an hour.

Configuring it can be a pig, but much of it, like X and ALSA now 
autoconfigures along with hardware detection, something else people didn't 
used to associate with Debian. So you actually end up with a recognisably 
useable system without too much pain, assuming there are no major hardware 
issues. It's certainly no longer the case that distros like Mandrake are some 
kind of 'soft option' for people who aren't ready for Debian. In fact I do 
think Debian could be a reasonable soft option for people who don't have the 
time or patience for Gentoo tho' ;-]

It is probably more a case of style, ethos and personal ergonomics. Debian 
adheres strictly to GPL rules, being quite a purist GNU system and is slower 
to release packages, partly because it covers a greater range of hardwares.
Installing and upgrading packages is something that Debian excels at, I've not 
come across anything easier or with greater choice of packages. Plus, by the 
time the packages do appear in the repository, you'll have had time to read 
all the emergency bug reports and gotchas on this list and be ready for them.

Just to make it absolutely clear, no disrespect to any of the other multimedia 
distros - anyone working to promote these tools is an absolute flippin' star 
in my estimation, whose hard work currently provides an amazing selection to 
choose from. Big up to you all!

cheers

tim hall

[*] Yeah, I assumed you would think that ;-)