A Good Linux Distro For Music Production?

[THE INTRANCER]

What's a good Linux Distro for music these days? Windows 10 is giving me BSODS every time there's an update? Used to use Linux Mint 18 but had that wiped when installing Win10 a few years back. With Studio One 6.5 reportedly supporting Linux now, doors have potentially opened up in providing a more stable environment than what seems to be a recurrent issue with Windows every few months. Windows 7 was great... it's been all downhill since then stability-wise.

[Boone777]

http://www.bandshed.net/avlinux/
New version coming up in november or something when dev has the time.

[jinotsuh]

There is no such thing, Good and Linux are diametrically opposed.
You should find out the cause, if it was the updates or Windows everyone would be screaming.
I'll go for hardware, have you run (Good)tests on your RAM and hard drives, if they pass the standard tests go for the advanced/long tests. I forget the names of the tools but . .

I remember going to Linux many years ago for a few years, it felt good, you were together with a group of 'believers', you were sticking it to the man (Microsoft), yeah life was good, except for the actual computing experience, but you kept on. One day you actually escaped and went back to Microsoft/Windows and it hit you like a brick in the face, how easy things were, they weren't convoluted procedures to achieve the same thing, you were no longer limited to what Software and Hardware you could use, you weren't presented with these dinky little replacement apps, you could use the real thing, and all you can think is 'never again, never again'.

I'd seriously think twice and try and find the issue on your end, but if you choose to go it will certainly be an adventure, and if you are lucky enough to escape its clutches (It's like a Cult or a Clan or something) don't look back.

[flugel45]

I've had Win 10 for years, fairly loaded up with apps and VSTs (as a dedicated DAW machine), and get regular updates while connected to the internet -- and can't remember the last time I had a BSOD.

Have you tried to investigate, say, taken a look at your Win error logs? BSODs are usually caused by hardware issues. Jumping over to Linux seems like a drastic move when the problem might be as simple as an outdated video card driver...

[THE INTRANCER]

I've had Win 10 for years, fairly loaded up with apps and VSTs (as a dedicated DAW machine), and get regular updates while connected to the internet -- and can't remember the last time I had a BSOD.

Have you tried to investigate, say, taken a look at your Win error logs? BSODs are usually caused by hardware issues. Jumping over to Linux seems like a drastic move when the problem might be as simple as an outdated video card driver...

There is nothing wrong with my hardware or drivers. Everything is up to date including my graphics card. Updates are being forced on Windows Home versions. I know it's the updates because it eventually repairs itself after several reboots (rolling back the updates). It's been documented here about the problems caused in the past month.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/m ... e-screens/

[flugel45]

There is nothing wrong with my hardware or drivers. Everything is up to date including my graphics card. Updates are being forced on Windows Home versions. I know it's the updates because it eventually repairs itself after several reboots (rolling back the updates). It's been documented here about the problems caused in the past month.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/m ... e-screens/

One other thing I should have mentioned... I don't allow Windows to auto-update. I'm always a few months behind, so as to allow others to be the beta testers (and experience the weird behavior and god forbid, BSODs). Waiting, of course, allows MS to patch any reported bugs by the time I install an update.

I only mentioned the video card drivers as one possible example... but being "up to date" doesn't mean you necessarily have the best driver. For example, letting MS handle all of your drivers isn't always the best strategy; for one, I get my video drivers from the manufacturer.

You don't mention checking the Windows error logs, so I'm going to assume you haven't bothered. The other poster, jinotsuh, offered similar advice as me, but if you're that determined to blame Windows, hey, ignore the users who AREN'T experiencing BSODs, and I wish you luck with the "greener pastures" of Linux.

[FrettedSynth]

There is no such thing, Good and Linux are diametrically opposed.

I remember going to Linux many years ago

And that would be the problem IMHO.
Many things have changed in the past couple of years. More DAWs and plugins now support Linux. AV Linux 21.1 has been the most stable system I have ever used for audio. YMMV?

[? ? ?]

Many things have changed in the past couple of years. More DAWs and plugins now support Linux. AV Linux 21.1 has been the most stable system I have ever used for audio. YMMV?

The issue is finding audio interfaces that work with Linux out of the box. Last I checked there is only one by Focusrite iirc.
Things do change fairly rapidly in computerl land so if at least Zoom would support Linux Id be tempted to switch from Windows.

[FrettedSynth]

I have have a first generation NI K6, behringer UMC204HD, old Lexicon alpha and Maudio Mtrack. All work perfect using alsa both audio and MIDI. Any class compliant interface that does not need the control panel for setup should work.

Forgot to mention, can run them all at lower latencies while pushed then on Windows without xruns. Again YMMV

[? ? ?]

Any class compliant interface that does not need the control panel for setup should work.

What do you mean by control panel? Do you mean those control panels that comes with an interface for setups?

[BONES]

There is nothing wrong with my hardware or drivers. Everything is up to date including my graphics card. Updates are being forced on Windows Home versions.

Well, if you're too stupid to keep your system up to date, what do you expect? My laptop is bang up to date and I don't think I've ever had a BSOD under windows 10 or 11. Not once. Like Jinotsuh said, if it was a Windows or an update problem, it would be affecting everyone, not just you.

I know it's the updates because it eventually repairs itself after several reboots (rolling back the updates). It's been documented here about the problems caused in the past month.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/m ... e-screens/

If you think that's a problem with Windows, you'll quickly discover that you're going to have an order of magnitude more similar trouble with Linux. If Windows doesn't properly support your processor, the chances of Linux doing so are much less. Unless someone who knows how to make it work has the same processor as you, you might not be able to fix it at all.

That's the problem with Linux - unless you have a pretty standard install, you may have a lot trouble getting things to work. e.g. It took a team of three Linux IT experts a week to get the Quadro graphics on my Dell M90 to work at the proper res, where it was smooth sailing all the way in Windows because I had nVidia's own drivers for that.

One other thing I should have mentioned... I don't allow Windows to auto-update. I'm always a few months behind, so as to allow others to be the beta testers (and experience the weird behavior and god forbid, BSODs). Waiting, of course, allows MS to patch any reported bugs by the time I install an update.

OTOH, I have been a beta tester since Windows 8 beta and the biggest problem I have ever had was a beta build that re-assigned a drive letter to my SD card. Hardly the end of the world and fixed in a week or so. There are more than one million Windows beta testers, so the chances of real issues failing to be spotted are miniscule compared to Linux.

[Saffran]

Maybe, ooooh i don't know, change the topic title to "Pros and Cons with Linux OS."

[BBFG#]

What's a good Linux Distro for music these days?
Used to use Linux Mint 18...

Please keep the title as is. There's more of us interested in that than some want to admit.
I've been using Ubuntu Studio 16/17 but after going through 19/20 found they flipped certain things that aren't as flowing for me. Been reading spot comments of what some are using but it would be nice to see this thread discussing the different distros.

And maybe just ignore the neigh sayers trying to make Windows issues always a users fault.
BTW, I have no problems with Windows other than their attitude of increasing BS and control. It's simply a time to be done with them for me. I've downloaded the current Ubuntu Studio today and have been running previous versions on extra computers I have in a strictly experimental fashion, but since some companies are actively making sure they won't work with Windows 7 or 8.1, I'll be running the next distros on my Studio computer. Mint keeps popping up in other threads too so I'm hoping others might be willing to share their opinions on that also.

[dellboy]

What's a good Linux Distro for music these days? Windows 10 is giving me BSODS every time there's an update? Used to use Linux Mint 18 but had that wiped when installing Win10 a few years back. With Studio One 6.5 reportedly supporting Linux now, doors have potentially opened up in providing a more stable environment than what seems to be a recurrent issue with Windows every few months. Windows 7 was great... it's been all downhill since then stability-wise.

No need to install Linux Mint on an internal drive,up until a few months ago I had Linux Mint installed on an external SSD drive,just plugged it into a USB port and it booted as if it was installed on an internal hardrive. Once it was set up and Bitwig or Reaper installed it was easy to forget that you were using Linux.

[AdvancedFollower]

BSODs are not "caused" by Windows. They're usually caused by faulty hardware or drivers.
If you switched to Linux, you wouldn't get BSODs any more, but instead you would get "Kernel Panic" errors, the Linux equivalent.