What HW/SW do people have working?

[Gustin Johnson]

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Larry David wrote:
<snip>
> 
>>>> figure all this stuff out - I like the FOSS philosophy, and really
>>>> hope Linux keeps growing - but it sounds like it may be a bit early
>>>> for the humble user to try doing music with it.  Am I wrong?
>>>>
> Probably :)  In all seriousness, you will be as successful as you want
> to be.  As you say in a later post, you get what you pay for, in the
> FLOSS world what you pay is your level of personal responsibility.   
> You
> may have to go and find solutions to your issues, you may even have to
> submit bug reports.
> 
>> Interesting way to look at it.  I am really drawn to the FLOSS thing,  
>> but its all new to me and I'm just getting my bearings.  I can't tell  
>> yet whether as a "working musician" it will be better or worse in  
>> terms of getting things done - which at the end of the day is what  
>> its all about for me.
> 
> - From my own experience, there have been many hours of frustration (I
> switched to Linux as my Desktop OS about 10 years ago, and as my DAW
> about 6 years ago).  Things have gotten a lot better over the  
> years, and
> I expect them to improve more in the future. In the end I have found
> solutions or workarounds to almost all of my problems.  Something that
> cannot be said for the other two OSs that I have used over the years.
> 
>> Hmm, I have been fortunate enough to have not owned a Windoze machine  
>> since 96 or 97, so I don't have recent experience with it.  DP with  
>> MOTU hardware on my Macs however has been really solid - almost  
>> completely plug and play - and certainly very useable.
> 
I have used Macs since the 80s, Windows since the early 90s, and Linux
since ~98.  I can say that Apple and Microsoft gave the personal
computer a jump start, but all they have done since is hold us back.

> The biggest challenge for me, was that I had to change my  
> workflow.   I
> was used to doing everything the Cubase way (ie. inside of Cubase).
> Once I was able to get my head around jack and what it allows you  
> to, I
> have not looked back.
> 
> Anyway, my current setup is this:
> AMD 64 (939) 4400+ X2, 3 GB of RAM.  Standard SATA hard drive.
> RME 9652 + RME ADI-8 DS + Alesis XT ADAT for 16 channels of  
> simultaneous
>  input.
> M-Audio Axiom
> 
> I like the RME PCI/PCIe stuff because it sounds great and is well
> supported under Linux (ie. I do not have to do anything to get it to
> work, it simply works).  It is a shame that their firewire stuff does
> not work, but RME is to blame for that.
> 
> Before making a hardware purchase, do your research.  I put this at  
> the
> end so that you would remember it.  Do your research!
> 
>> Thanks for the info, that's really helpful.  My next machine will be  
>> a laptop for work, that I will play with at home for music (I'm an  
>> independent contractor so I buy my own computers...).  I've heard  
>> that Linux DAWs on laptops can be real buggers, if you get bad  
>> interrupt/bios something or other going on.  Also I have 2 FW  
>> interfaces (though most Linux laptops I've seen - or Windows for that  
>> matter - no longer come with FW ports so I might have to switch to  
>> USB 2.0), and those aren't very friendly with Linux either (MOTU 828  
>> mk II which FFADO website says is basically not supported, and the  
>> above mentioned Onyx 400F, also unsupported by FFADO).
> 
For now, I would stick with Intel based machines.  Your best bet would
be to get Intel graphics, chipset/CPU, and Wifi.  All of these should
work out of the box.  Very recent ATI video adaptors supported by the
RadeonHD driver may be OK as well.  I am a big fan of the Dell Latitude
series.  They are money but more solidly built than their other lines,
and most of their competitors.  They are also better bang for the buck
when compared to Apple laptops at the same price point.  My next laptop
will be a Latitude E6400.  I am currently using a Latitude D830.  The
one thing I dislike about the 830 is the nVidia GPU it came with.

>> So does anyone have a Linux DAW running well on a laptop?  I want to  
>> do my research before I buy!  (Somehow that sounds vaguely familiar,  
>> like I've read that recently somewhere....  it'll come to me later...)
> 
I do some work on the laptop, mostly mixing and editing stuff.  I do
actual recording on a Desktop PC with the 9652.  I have not really
messed with the USB devices too much so I cannot provide much help
there.  I am a big fan of the 9652 but you probably already knew that :)
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