[LAU] Introduction

Hello, I'm brand new to the list. About me: I'm trying out Linux audio because all the marketing in the mainstream pro-audio market makes me queasy. Also I'm interested in getting into development (when my coding gets up to par--long way to go, and then knowledge of DSP--fortunately I have a natural interest in mathematics as well as music) and getting familiar with open-source programs seems a good route. But more than anything I love making recording music (electronic and acoustic)and have been doing it off and on for well over a decade. I started out recording with 2 tape recorders, bouncing back and forth...then bought a four-track, a year later I discovered that editing with Cool Edit Pro was much easier than a 4 track, even though Cool Edit didn't actually have tracker...even mix pasting wavs is easier to do than using a fourtrack. Eventually I moved on to Cubase, Reaktor, and other VSTs (I also used Reason for a while, but eventually came to disdain it). I'm hoping Linux will workout, and that it can eventually come to be a good platform for audio if its not already (I dont know, because I'm just starting out). So I guess I'm going to start with Rosegarden...that seems to be where to start right? I've also I'm a novice at Linux (used to prefer to do my school C++ programmig assignments using emacs and GCC, so I had a machine for that). But never used it for audio. I'm working on a machine with the Debian Studio 64 setup (is this a good place to start?). But I havn't got an audio-card yet (I was using a M-Audio Delta 1212 on my win machine but it broke so I'm in the market for a new card). I've been trying to find out which mid-range pro-audio cards are stable in Linux (as a coworker at an internship I had would call it: a "pro-sumer" audio card). I've done a couple searches of the archives, and no specifics came up. Just a post about there being support for high end stuff, but no midrange stuff. Is this still true? Did I miss any postes with up-to-date specific audio card recommendations for a mid-range set up (seems like it might be a question that might be asked often enough). Something under $200 preferably. Is this doable? Looking forward to engaging the list, and constructively contributing when I get up to speed. I would rally like to see Linux Audio platforms take-off.