[LAU] OSS tweaks redux

[Kim Cascone]

I'm glad to see the blog post regarding OSS has elicited some strong and 
informative opinions

I've recently switched from OS X to Linux for sound work in my studio 
for a multitude of reasons which I'm sure I don't have to enumerate.

I'm a laptop musician/composer, writer and a founder of the .microsound 
community (come visit us > http://www.microsound.org) which will be ten 
years old this October.

I've worked in Silicon Valley for Beatnik and Staccato Systems back in 
the late 90's where I oversaw the creation of content for web and video 
games.  I've worked in Max/MSP on OS X since 1998 after a brief stint 
with Csound and an even briefer stint with SuperCollider 1.0.

So although I'm no stranger to computer audio (on Mac and PC) I have 
been wading thru the muck that Linux audio is with alternating bouts of 
enlightenment and confusion -- although I have to admit audio on Linux 
has improved vastly since I tried to get audio working in Ubuntu on a 
PPC back in 2006.

But it can be extremely confusing and byzantine to musicians approaching 
it in a manner  deeper than just playing mp3s while surfing and doing 
email. Imagine a newcomer wanting to untangle the mess of ESD (old, I 
know), OSS, ALSA and now PortAudio in order to tweak their computer for 
creating music? Then - add to that getting certain audio hardware to 
work properly? Not for the faint hearted.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but at some point someone with 
some clout in the Linux world is going to have to read the riot act to 
kernal developers w/r/t audio.

But it is also lists such as this one that make a huge difference in 
educating musicians just coming to Linux and helping them to separate 
the hype from the reality when it comes to OSS, PortAudio and Firewire 
audio and drivers etc etc.

I just wanted to introduce myself and say thanks to all those who took 
the time to send me an email about the OSS blog post :)