[linux-audio-user] Best distro for Audio??

[LinuxMedia]

> I need to stretch my wings a little and try something outside of
> Mandrake 10.0...
> 
> Can I get some basic pros and cons of the different distro's you're
> using? And especially from previous Mandrake users.
> 
> Been thinking about CCRMA because I'm used to packages but I would build
> more stuff if it wasn't such a struggle every time I do it. Sometimes I
> just need to install stuff and have it work and not spend 20 hours
> sifting through Google hits, how to's, etc. I enjoy the learning and
> Linux; I just don't have a lot of spare time.

I feel the same way. I learned a lot using other distrobs. I already 
learned what I need to know to be an effective administrator for my 
system. But now that I use SuSE, I am able to focus purly on audio 
because the other important computer related things are taken care of. 
And it's allowed me the time to learn Tcl/Tk (scripting language and gui 
tool kit) while building my first front-end. And the rest of the time is 
well spent on things like writing scripts that tie things together and 
make audio programs more usable.

Somebody recently posted to this list to mention that the SuSE team has 
people that make sure that audio is working well. I knew that (must 
have) been the case, because I've never had to apply low latency patches 
or any tweeking of that nature to get audio to work well.

Installing has never presented me with a problem. And it also doesn't 
"get in your way" by not letting you tweek things. Although, I never had 
to use the "advanced" installer options, because the defaults have 
always been very well chosen. Of course, I wouldn't let it give Windows 
10 (or whatever) gigs of disk space. So I always do a manual partioning.

Alsa is properly setup... There's all the usual file systems (reiserfs, 
tmpfs, ext(this) ext(that))... Every gui toolkit you need to run 
front-ends... A bunch of different desktops to choose from. Development 
tools...

The package installer (Yast) never leaves you in the dark. It's strait 
forward and gives you different options (like "search" and "package 
groupings") There's a wide range of programs that one needs for the 
usual computer activities. And I like that fact that it always lets you 
know what other (additional) programs and dependencies are being 
installed (along with) the progam you're currently installing. And that 
it's a good way to get to know how everything works together in the 
linux/audio world. When a new version of a program comes out, I go to 
the site and see what dependencies are nessesary. Then I go to the Yast 
installer and check the versions that it offers. The version numbers are 
listed so I know immediatly if I need to get an updated versions. But 
that's not usually nessesay (If you have the latest release of SuSE).

Here's my usual pro/con... Audio programs tend to be several versions 
behind the latest versions. But the libraries, gui toolkits and other 
dependencies tend to be up to date. The "build environment" is set up 
and ready to go. So plan on downloading the recent versions of your 
programs and building them from scratch. I've also have succesfully 
installed several .rpm's. The manual was pretty strait forward about how 
to do it. But I've only done it several times (succesful both times).

These may be obvious... but if you  go the SuSE route, and you want to 
build a program that you just downloaded, make sure you install (in the 
Yast installer) the "(whatever)-devel" equivalents. In other words, if 
you're building an app and it says that you need libsndfile, then you 
probly need to install (in Yast) libsndfile *and* libsndfile-devel

I'm one (or two) versions behind the latest SuSE release, so I *did* 
have to build a my fist library since useing SuSE. It was the first time 
I had to do... configure --prefix=/somewhere/other/than/usr/local.

Good luck,
Rocco