Back in 2007-2008, I came across a great article that suggested I start
installing all those Fedora packages I had formerly ignored:
Keyboard Magazine, 5/2007 p.30-31, "Linux: It's Not Just For Computer Geeks
Anymore"
http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/linux-its-not/apr-07/27458
We recommend Fedora (
http://www.fedoraproject.org ), because you can then
install the Planet CCRMA package (
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software ), which includes just
about every Linux audio application in existence.
As a long-time geek -- Redhat User (since 1.0) and long-time Fedora User
(also since 1.0), HPUX, SunOS, BSD 4.2/4.3 -- I second Keyboard Magazine's
recommendation! Now that I've got a stable qtractor (
http://old.nabble.com/Qtractor--0.4.5svn1517-td28566597.html#a28567324 ), I
can heartily assert there is no need for Windows or Macintosh platforms
anymore for music making. (IMHO, Until PlanetCCRMA and Fedora, Cakewalk
under DOS/Windows was the last time making music was any fun... and I'm very
glad I'll never even consider upgrading my long-lapsed Sonar
"subscription",
and leave my windows XP box powered down most of the time, powering it up
only to do my taxes or to see how my JavaScript and DOM AJAX gui code gets
broken and mangled by Internet Explorer).
I personally think "distro wars" are not helpful to the cause -- previous
"distro" wars (e.g OpenLook vs. Motif) have helped set Unix back against
competitors that offered worse-is-better solutions across-the-board. And if
you look at the fate of those leading distro wars -- it's death. c.f. Sun
Microsystems and SGI, which IMHO got killed by Linux and the fact that they
tied their OS to proprietary hardware, "RISC", that was ultimately a trendy
hack based on current fab limitations. I think it would be wise to take note
of the rotting computer industry carcasses and what got them there.... Too
many distros (of essentially the same thing) means we're divided and
conquered before we even get out the gate.... Perhaps if there was
binary-compatibility so that I can install "noobuntu" :-) apps in Suse or
Fedora, we could enjoy a wide ecology of distros and share all the latest
apps After all, applications, and not "distro" is what it's all about.
-- Niels.
http://nielsmayer.com