[Consortium] Next item...

[Patrick Shirkey]

Now that we have firmly established the neccesity of having an official 
group that focuses on the professional representation of the Linux Audio 
community, I'd like to discuss some more points which should be added to 
the resources that are being provided for people to take home at the 
trade show. Also It would also be useful to identify some targets we 
want to promote to.

Obviously we are already being represented in SoS and other mags have 
started the process of representation too. That's very gratifying for 
the people who have been around for a while doing the hard work.


What are the main prejudices towards Libre audio software?

I can think of a few.

1. Not cool to look at
2. Too geeky
3. Difficult to use, "Complicated"
4. Unstable
5. Installation is difficult


1. We have come a long way recently with the looks of the GUIs. 
Unfortunately not many of us are grafik artists. That makes it hard for 
us to get da funky looks goin on. There have been a few people who 
offered to work on grafiks but so far they are mostly dead air. Still we 
have some great artists out there contributing. gdam, ardour, ssm, 
seq24, Jamin, RTMix, vstserver, hydrogen, MusE, rosegarden, jackeq...

2. Too geeky. We need more recordings to be released.

3. Difficult and complicated. Very true. It doesn't bother me, infact I 
think it is good for my DJ persona. (Apparently everyone in Korea thinks 
I play abstract music ;] ) Did anyone complain when they couldn't play a 
Jimi solo the first time they picked up a guitar????

4. Unstable. Not so bad these days. The team working on JACK has made 
huge steps in this field. I regularly play for many hours at a time 
while DJing. The only thing that stops me is unearthed mains (there are 
a lot of those in Korea :/

5. Installation: Maybe (for the trade show) we need a really big sign with:
		
--------------
		3 steps to Linux audio happiness

		 ./configure;make;make install

		   --- it's that simple! ---
---------------

Improving the ALSA install would be a big plus too. I've heard of OSS 
being very user friendly a few times in the past year.  The problem 
seems not to be installing ALSA but getting it working after install. 
The install process could provide a flag to write the /etc/modules.conf 
file and the .asoundrc for a start.

Maybe someone just needs to explain to me what the alsaconf utility does 
so I can write it up :)

<psuedo philosophical>

This is a very good opportunity to promote and Daniel should be 
commended for doing the hard yakka to set it up. Now we have the chance 
to capitalise on this. If history tells the truth, Messman and the 
Novell corporatists are muscling in to affect the direction. We have to 
dig in even harder now to make sure we don't get washed away in the 
tidal wave.

</phil>


Prevention is better than the cure - anon


-- 
Patrick Shirkey - Boost Hardware Ltd.
Http://www.boosthardware.com
Http://www.djcj.org/LAU/guide/ - The Linux Audio Users guide
Http://www.djcj.org/gigs/ - Gigs guide Korea
========================================


Apparently upon the beginning of the barrage, the donkey broke 
discipline and panicked, toppling the cart. At that point, the rockets 
disconnected from the timer, leaving them strewn around the street. 
Tethered to the now toppled cart, the donkey was unable to escape before 
the arrival of U.S. troops.

United Press International
Rockets on donkeys hit major Baghdad sites

By P. MITCHELL PROTHERO
Published 11/21/2003 11:13 AM