4 Jun
2003
4 Jun
'03
9:55 a.m.
Knowing that you know the APIs of Mac OS X too,
do you still see some things lacking in the current
Linux APIs ?
I think that the low-latency work being done in the kernel, the
latest LADSPA work, and Jack work by Paul D, pretty much levels the
playing field technology-wise. Same with driver design, although OSX
user-space driver support is pretty bitchin' when it comes to doing
things like USB i/o and such. (I'm sure there's something similar
for Linux, though...)
I will say this: it is possible to target both OSX and Linux
platforms at the *same* time when doing audio app development as long
as you're not doing any fancy OSX-specific GUI stuff. The API's for
audio processing are compatible enough to where a decently organized
source-code project could use CoreMIDI on OSX, or MidiShare under
Linux (by way of example), and still have a lot of common code
between them. Just look at Audacity for an example.
The ability to deliver both Linux and OSX versions of an audio app
should not be underestimated, also...
Interestingly enough, I think both OSX and Linux are about at neck
and neck in the apps department. The ability to port Carbon apps
gives OSX an edge, but the fact is all the pieces are in place now in
Linux for some seriously productive tools to be written. Same as
OSX. If Paul Davis and crew can build Ardour out of the API's
they've forged for Linux, then so too can Digi build a Pro Tools for
Linux... not that they ever would, but the fact is: Linux can do it
now.
I must say I really like the jack api and ladspa.
One thing that is unfortunate (others would call it
a strength), is the lack of a unified set of widgets we
could use to build plugin guis from (or any application
for that matter).
I don't know what you're talking about. It is very easy to write
cross-platform GUI widgets which can be used in both Linux and OSX
... whats hard is implementing GUI widgets which work within the
relative frameworks imposed by both environments if you stick to the
"Developer Way in OSX", but what I'm finding is that its possible to
maintain complete API compatability between Linux and OSX and still
write powerful audio processing apps that work well in both
environments.
One thing to be careful is the blindness that can occur when
searching for GUI toolkits - the most obvious ways of doing it
cross-platform will be hidden from you in your search for "complete
GUI toolkit"... any "complete" GUI toolkit will probably end up
enforcing its own architecture on you, and that's just the wrong way
to look at it if you want to maintain Linux/OSX compatability.
When I look at OS X I see consistency all the way
(besides the high price which is also hard to ignore ;).
Consistency in a user interface is one thing. A user interface which
works very well and which becomes popular overnight is another thing
entirely.
Whenever I think about GUI toolkits, I always try to learn the
lessons which Kai's Power Tools taught us in the early 90's.
Consistency in a GUI is no substitute for a well done task-designed
GUI.
Yes. I was amazed with Stanton pioneering their Final
Scratch on Linux,
but coming to think of it, it is all about total control.
Using some sort of live cd distro, you can avoid a tech support
hell supporting operating system bugs, while you should only
be giving support for your own bugs.
Linux is ideal for this sort of thing.
What I really crave for, is a affordable general
purpose
DSP card, with a decent driver for Linux, to experiment with.
They are out there. You can find DSP cards for Linux, quite easily,
if you do a bit of searching. There's an Extended CSound DSP adapter
which works quite well with Linux.
In summary, from a professional audio developers perspective, I'd say
that Linux is nearing readiness for prime time, and all it will take
is one or two pretty heavy apps to be released for folks to realize
this ... I watch Ardour with baited breath, anyway!
--
;
Jay Vaughan
r&d>>music:technology:synthesizers - www.access-music.de/