[LAU] legacy equipment for a user who does not "program"

[Simon Wise]

On 17/03/14 16:17, Brian Hagen wrote:
> Hello,
> Although I was a programmer a long, long, time ago in a
> company far, far away, I cannot seem to get the hang of complicated
> Linux packages which require complex actions just to get an
> "app installed" on a Linux machine.
>
> I have an Ensoniq ESQ1 which just seems unable to interact
> with any WIN/OS-based software, despite what people tout
> as easy-to-use programs. I have tried to download and install
> Linux MIDI items, and almost all of them require complex configuration
> even to get them into the system. All I really want to do at this
> point is get an application running which will upload and download
> patches; nothing yet in the way of realtime operations such as recording.
> A big part of this appears to be the MIDI hardware used as an
> interface; most of those "apps" expect to find the classic
> Roland MPU401, and those are scarce as could be these days.
> The old apps apparently cannot recognize anything based
> on USB ports.
>
> Yes, I can do a make/install sequence, but those resulting
> error messages usually point to matters beyond my understanding
> such as GTK+ levels, " missing [.so] files", etc. Those usually stop me
> in my tracks, and then things don't go any farther.
>
> Ideas, anyone?

Before trying to compile anything it is much easier to start with packages 
already prepared for your system. Depending on what Linux system you have then 
there are in most cases a wide range of ready-to-use apps available for 
installing via a system that downloads the binary already compiled for that 
system along with the library objects it uses (the .so files). This is by far 
the easiest way to try out different programs, and a lot easier than downloading 
code or binaries then trying to make them fit your particular setup. That can 
come later, if you wish. Which Linux system have you got?


Simon