Hi Ivica, I'll rant on this for awhile. I guess it all depends on what you require. There's little doubt in my mind that the alternatives to linux based audio production will have to take very serious measures to compete with a looming problem. That being pro audio tools that are free from monetary costs and also developed in an open community that hinges its entire interest on intellectual freedom and are technically equal to or superior to their products. I don't see the 970 64-bit CPUs and built in optical audio i/o as being much competition. Hardware performance capabilties improve with the dawning of each new day. About a year ago I began to feel a good deal of anxiety about my decision to pursue a linux based professional audio solution. I make my living as an engineer/producer and need a working solution not just a philosophical day dream. I asked a couple guys what they thought about my concerns. They convinced to hang in. Mac has a new OS and it's a good one. They've got a DAW that runs natively and it's a good one. But that's still not enough draw for me because they're closed source cultures. I believe that if developements continue as they have during the last couple years the LAD community will win a big battle. I think many musicians feel no need or appreciation for the intellectual freedom that the linux communities thrive on. They simply want to swing the hammer and hit the nail. On one hand I can sympathize with that circumstance. But on the other hand it's depressing. I believe these people can't call themselves poets. How can anyone consider themselves an artist while choosing to support intellectual slavery? It's rediculous. They're not artists, they're misled apprentices at best and perhaps no more than monkey see monkey do automotons. A studio owner friend came by the other day. I gave him the LAD, jackd, ardour, jamin pitch. He proceeded to sing the praises of everything else. I accused him of living on self pride, magazine advertisements and of being afraid to admit that his protools investment was a mistake, etc, etc. He walked away angry. I thought good, get out of here. He came back 30 minutes later and said, "Ron, Ardour looks great but not everyone can be you." What he meant by that is Linux looms as a large learning curve and that unlike me, he doesn't have time to figure it out. It's very interesting that he became honest and admitted his investments and best effort are a mistake. Perhaps more importantly he came to terms with the fact that he's about to commit another large error by investing further yet into that proprietary world. Small studios like mine and his can't afford not to adopt the Linux solutions. After the financial benefits are realized we can learn to appreciate the intelectual opportunities. One problem I became aware during the exchange with my friend is that Linux is percieved as a technically difficult solution. That's an interesting perception and the LAD/LAU communities can deal with it. The larger Linux community has made a great deal of progress with this. How hard is it to install Red Hat? Maybe it's more difficult to configure linux. But it's alot less painful to purchase and configure x86 hardware, rme cards, and a $2,000.00 digital mixer than it is to invest in a $15,000.00 Protools setup. OK, I'll shutup. ron --- Ivica Bukvic <ico@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi all, > > Just heard the news (rumors) of new Macs that are > going to hit the > streets on Monday. Seems like Apple is finally going > to catch-up with > the PC world: there's talk of using IBM's PowerPC > 970 64-bit CPU's. > Makes me wonder what repercussions this will have on > the whole LAD/LAU > community, considering that they supposedly will > have built-in optical > audio I/O and with the recent announcement of > Trolltech to make OS X Qt > GPL-ed, leaves less and less advantages in Linux's > favor (apart from the > obvious untouchable open architecture and perhaps > faster growing > user-base -- according to recent news, can't > remember where I exactly I > read it tho, sale of factory-built Linux boxes > should surpass Apple's > this year, and that does not even include people > with home-built > machines and dual-booters). > > Please don't get me wrong. I am still in favor of > Linux, obviously due > to its open architecture. But at the same time I am > becoming a bit weary > of having to "hack" my advanced audio settings > rather than use > user-friendly tools. That, coupled with still anemic > direct vendor hw > driver support has really made me pay closer > attention on Macs (as scary > as that sounds). Yet, I feel such a sense of > accomplishment when my > Linux purrs just right with my desktop being > uniquely configured and > tailored to my needs. After all, I am a geek. :-) > And the inner struggle > goes on... > > Anyone care to comment or (please) dissuade me from > potentially making a > costly mistake? ;-) > > Ivica Ico Bukvic, composer & multimedia sculptor > http://meowing.ccm.uc.edu/~ico > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com
