[linux-audio-user] Re: prebuilt tools (long!)

Reuben Martin MartinR at jbu.edu
Thu Oct 9 10:33:01 EDT 2003


>i don't think anybody in *my* immediate 
>working environment (band, studio, college) would be able to do it**. 
>that combined with learning the new structure of the file system 
>(where is this app? where are its libraries? where are the 
>files/patches for it kept? how do i make it work?) make it a daunting 
>task for any lay user of the more popular windows/mac 
>softsynths/sequencers etc. to navigate.

To be quite honest, unless you have a technical background you probably won't ever get very involved in Linux as an OS of choice for media production. I was a computer science major before I changed to a digital media major, so I have somewhat of a background to fall back on when using Linux. (Not enough of a background to contribute as a developer, but enough to at least understand what is going on... at least _most of the time_)

Even though Linux has made great strides in becoming an end-user OS for server and office use lately, it is still a hobby OS as far as audio, video, graphics etc are concerned. You're not going to have much success convincing people to use it for media purposes unless they are eager to get their hands dirty. Many of the DM students argue constantly over Win vs. Mac and when I tell them I use Linux I just get this really weird look. (At least from the ones who even know what Linux is.) I would never convince any of them to try Linux and I'm not going to try. It has to be something you're already interested in.

BTW: I would personally recommend giving Gentoo a try. It takes some work, but the end result is a system that is _much_ more responsive when doing audio work. Even when compared with something like planet-ccrma. Plus the Gentoo community is amazing.

Reguards,
-Reuben



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