[LAU] OSS tweaks redux

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 :)