[linux-audio-user] New hardware choice

[Noah Roberts]

On 5/12/05, Lee Revell <rlrevell at joe-job.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 2005-05-12 at 06:44 -0400, lanas wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> >   I'm plaaning to get a new home PC that could also be used (along with
> > software development) for creating and recording music.
> >
> >   What I'd like to do: sequence MIDI external sounds (synth module(s)),
> > add accoustic guitar and flute, record everything to wav and/or Ogg
> > Vorbis formats (using original external synths sounds).  Optionally, to
> > be also able to choose from a palette of SoundFonts (as I did with
> > my current PC, using a SB Live! card and MusE).
> >
> >   What I'd like to get as PC: an Athlon 64bit based mobo, 2 GB RAM, some
> > 250 GB disk storage. graphics card not that important as it's not used
> > to play games (why not on-board graphic ?).  Operating system: in the
> > end most likely handmade Linux based on LFS (Linux From Scratch) but for
> > starters SuSE 9.3 64-bit, or any other that's good enough.
> >
> >   Now, is there some strong allergic reaction between a Linux Audio
> > setup and 64-bit CPUs ?  Are 64-bits platforms recommended for audio
> > purposes or is it better to wait a few more years ?  If it's OK, which
> > mobo would you recommend ?
> 
> If you want it to Just Work I would say wait a year or get a 32 bit
> system.  Many people seem to buy x86_64 systems and expect it to be 100%
> as reliable as a 32 bit system.  But of course this will not be so, as
> 32 but x86 has been around for 20-25 years, and x86-64 came out what, 6
> months ago?
> 
> I would recommend avoiding 64 bit systems until there is a mature
> pure-64 distro to run on it.  AFAICT it does not exist yet.

You can get a 64 and run in legacy mode.  The 64 is not much more
expensive than the XP counterparts.  I have been using 64 for quite a
while now...between 1 and 2 years somewhere.  Some stuff is not as
stable and my DVD burner just now started working with the newer
kernels.  I run into few problems really though.  There are several
full fledged distributions for the 64.  I use Gentoo myself and they
now have a GRP for the 64 (when I installed stage3 was most pre-built
you could get).