A Good Linux Distro For Music Production?

[BBFG#]

A "walled garden" is a closed system that anything they do is only for that system. "Suffocation" is how they suck the air out from everywhere they can. Usually indoctrinating their users to do it for them with a belief their doing it by their own will. I'm amazed how the pat vernacular takes hold on an almost predictable timeline without being able to pinpoint the exact source of it. It's almost like a subliminal "blipvert" burned into the system itself.

While I've not felt "walled' or "suffocated", I have seen more infantilizing techniques by Apple than other companies. However, MS seems intent on catching up to them on this regard. Linux/BSD is the only current option to keep from letting them do that for some of us.

Apple software works (until it doesn't.) The hardware is okay, although always underpowered compared to PCs I deal with, but the company is atrocious in so many ways, personally, socially and psychologically. MS is showing signs of becoming the same. JMO.

[audiojunkie]

felt suffocated by Apple walled garden

This is a common refrain from Windows and Linux users that I have never understood. Specifically how were you imprisoned by Apple?

I can buy or download Mac software from anyone I want, last time I checked. I just did yesterday. I can also install all the FOSS I want. Where is this mysterious walled garden? Are you mad because you can't install a new kernel or something? Don't like their nice free development tools?

Also, do you have *any idea* how much easier it is to provide tech support to family members using macs instead of PC's? If that's a consequence of the walled garden... bring it on Apple, I will be your willing thrall just for this alone

And I say that as a software developer that works on linux frequently. For years I was exclusively a unix developer, actually, often on linux.

I can answer this. Apple is famous for its ecosystem (which was originally evolved from the idea of Linux Repositories). It is a huge, beautiful ecosystem--possibly one of the biggest and best in the world (especially on the iPad/iOS side of things). Once you buy into the ecosystem, you want to stay there so that you don't lose your apps investment. However, it is a cleverly planned trap. Apple's business model is based on this ecosystem, and the planned obsolescence of their hardware. An apple device is seldom very relevant after 3-5 years, even if the hardware is perfectly good. Once your system is deemed too old for OS updates (usually by around the 3 year mark), the number of apps available to that system are reduced continuously from that point on. However, you've invested a lot of money into buying all of your apps, so you feel impelled to once again invest in a new model of Apple device so that you don't waste your investment. You then happily repeat the process again until, once again, your system can no longer be updated. You must then repeat the process again, all the while adding money to Apple's coffers. It's really a brilliant business plan, and if I was the business owner, I'd be quite proud of myself for inventing a way to continuously sustain my business.

The walled garden is a trap.

Apple is in no way alone in doing these things, but Linux is very unique in its ability to completely avoid any such walled garden. In fact, Linux continuously benefits from business decisions like these. Take Microsoft, for example. Microsoft's Windows 11 has brought more people to explore the world of Linux than almost anything else recently, I'd suspect. Requiring TPM 2.0 and other things on perfectly good system boards has caused numerous Windows 7 and Windows 10 users to explore Linux because Linux is flexible enough to handle the smallest SBC with tiny SOCs to the most powerful super computers in the world, with varying levels of system requirements. All of those people with perfectly good systems are either going to have to throw away their perfectly working systems, or move to an alternative OS that will still work on their hardware. Linux is the perfect OS for this.

Linux is getting more and more polished as each year passes. Gone are the early days where everyone had to use the terminal to get anything done. There are GUI front ends for almost every tool you can imagine. Those who fear the command line need not fear Linux any further. There are now so well made open source applications available for anything that you can imagine, that one need not question the usefulness of an OS without applications. Microsoft applications can now work fine in Linux as well. Linux is getting easier and easier each and every year that passes. And there's no walled garden for any of these apps.

As for support, I have raised my children on Linux. My son, who turns 18 in two months, had his first Linux system when he was three. I set up a system with educational programs and games, and the system couldn't be broken. It was essentially treated as a kiosk full of apps and games and the internet for him. My two girls have also followed suit and used Linux, because I set up a Linux system for them to use. The only people that truly break Linux are those with a little knowledge and a desire to change things. But those are the people who learn and improve their Linux skills. I'll give an example. To a Windows user, there isn't much difference between the desktop metaphor of Windows and KDE's desktop environment. The start menu is in the same place. Icons are on the desktop. You can install software with a GUI. etc, etc.

Now, based on what you wrote above, it sounds to me like you have a lot of experience with the various systems, but prefer Apple devices. That's OK. No problem with that. I don't want you to feel like I am bashing on your preferred operating system of choice. There are pros and cons to all three of the major OSes (Microsoft, Apple, and Linux). It just depends on what it is that appeals to you that determines what OS you prefer to use. So, I hope you don't take anything that I'm saying as bashing you or your opinion. I just want to explain to you what a walled garden is for us, and why we (Linux users) prefer to use Linux. Best!

[vlaad3]

felt suffocated by Apple walled garden

This is a common refrain from Windows and Linux users that I have never understood. Specifically how were you imprisoned by Apple?

I'm in no way a Linux evangelist here I still use my iphone and ipad as there's no better audio platform for touch devices (at least AFAIK). There are beautiful and affordable experimental audio apps which I couldnt give up or replace. MacOS is still a great OS and Apple is making great hardware (taxing though). Also I like building and upgrading my desktop systems.
So my experience with Linux is there are many distros that'll serve your needs well, but there's an effort involved in learning and administration (fun as well). AVLinux and Ubuntu Studio are purposely built for multimedia and I checked them, but PopOS was visually appealing and worked as well so I made my choice.

[BBFG#]

Just wondering how many Apple owners are running Linux on their Macs?

[GaryG]

Just wondering how many Apple owners are running Linux on their Macs?

I didn't know it was a thing till videos like this popped up in my feed:

I've done this with old Windows laptops, too old for a secure version of Windows but run linux for daily stuff fine.

[kvotchin]

I will second/third(?) the recommendation of Mint. Was always the least hassle for me, when I returned to Linux for a while in more recent years.

[stoopicus]

Just wondering how many Apple owners are running Linux on their Macs?

I've done it but only to make a headless server out of an old mini. Not for actual desktop use, that would not make sense until past EOL.

[BBFG#]

Begs the question of whether it's easier to put Linux on an Apple machine or put a Mac OS on a PC!

(Rhetorical, but help points out the "walled garden" problem.)

[stoopicus]

I've done that too. Initial Hackintosh install is not bad if you have supported hardware (which was easy for me). The only problem is that OS updates are all basically like a new install as well. But getting it working (assuming you don't have a crap BIOS) was not bad.

There's this one lone dude named Tony that has made this his passion and really helps pave the way for others, as well. Check out tonymacx86.com if interested, thriving community of hackintoshers there.

Actually if anything, that site embodies the good old spirit of old school FOSS hacking more than the current linux megacorps. And I like Ubuntu as much as the next guy

[Guenon]

Actually if anything, that site embodies the good old spirit of old school FOSS hacking more than the current linux megacorps. And I like Ubuntu as much as the next guy

I've found my Linux home with MX Linux ... which has plenty of that non-megacorp atmosphere left, with its antiX collab and MEPIS background and so on.

Although yeah, to be fair, what I'm using is a private custom distro, based on Debian (now version 12) and MX (now version 23). So not really a "distro", as it's not for distribution, eh.

Things I use from MX are, hmm, the underlying SysV stuff they have, generally their repos, and their MX toolkit, which allows doing things that I haven't seen in any other OS quite like this - and in the recent years it has (really, no hyperbole) changed the way I might use computers. With this toolkit, it's not like doing install image / ISO customization, it's literally... custom configuring and 100% running a "master installation" of your whole environment - on bare metal or in a virtual machine, mine is the latter - with all aspects of it set up as you like, and then creating a live-bootable system image from that, an actually identical system that can be USB-booted on dissimilar hardware.

Annnd then, if you so wish, while booting some random computer - which you can routinely do, and just work using using your personal work environment (I have actually done this in a pinch and edited a bunch of vocals on some random system at a certain office, using a memory stick on my keychain and just booting from it, lol) - you can also install this system 1:1 on bare metal from that live session, on the fly, assuming the computer does even have an ssd/hdd . The installation will have everything already in place as in your master installation.

Goes without saying, with possibilities like this, transferring a system from one computer to another is a breeze. And you start thinking of random laptops as "husks" which you can trivially boot into, and might have a couple of those just lying around without any OS installed on their drives that you would actually use, as... you really didn't have any need to install a system for use there.

(Regarding bare metal installs, most recently I got an X series Lenovo laptop, booted into my Linux environment from USB, checked that everything is in order, and then just installed my system from there. Everything, and I mean everything, already installed and immediately ready to work.)

Running my personal Linux audio environment on this, and determining it works so well for this use and custom building, I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that AV Linux has switched to being MX-based as well since then. The toolkit is just soooo good for doing stuff like this

[FrettedSynth]

Like Guenon above I'm running MX Linux, actually AVL 21.1 with openbox. The system is very stable and the remaster feature is incredible. After 40 years of install (OS and applications) machine dies, reinstall new machine, OS updates etc. I now have a .iso image of my full install that has not failed to run on any machine I've tested. Latency is the lowest I have ever achieved! Have a box running as compressors\eq's for the inserts on my mixer at 16 samples 48khz. Another box running delay\reverb on the mixers sends running at 32 samples 48khz. For DAW work I run at 64 samples 48khz and unless pushed really hard none gives xruns.

At 60 years old I'm tired of spending so much time on the computer\OS when all I wanted was to play some music So machine dies no biggie! Get another computer and less than an hour later I have everything fully installed. Disclaimer: gave up on any C\R or crazy licensing schemes long ago, don't have the time. Yep miss out on some great DSP but it's not like there are not alternatives for basically everything. And theses are some of the reasons I switched to Linux.

[Guenon]

After 40 years of install (OS and applications) machine dies, reinstall new machine, OS updates etc. I now have a .iso image of my full install that has not failed to run on any machine I've tested. Latency is the lowest I have ever achieved!

This! Sooo much thisssss !

I mean, I do work a lot in Windows, and probably will keep running my Kontakt rig on that for the foreseeable future and beyond (not to mention being a part of development projects heavily in the Microsoft ecosystem, in any case), but YES.

The environment I have in Linux is such a joy to use, from the actual feel to the technical aspects of it, and it's just so nice to have all that in a known-state immutable form. Bootable into a working state on a random x64 computer, installable from there, and... no matter what happens with Windows (both locally and as an OS in the general sense), no matter if some of my hardware dies, this thing will still be ready to boot, in its known state.

[FrettedSynth]

This! Sooo much thisssss !

I mean, I do work a lot in Windows, and probably will keep running my Kontakt rig on that for the foreseeable future and beyond (not to mention being a part of development projects heavily in the Microsoft ecosystem, in any case), but YES.

The environment I have in Linux is such a joy to use, from the actual feel to the technical aspects of it, and it's just so nice to have all that in a known-state immutable form. Bootable into a working state on a random x64 computer, installable from there, and... no matter what happens with Windows (both locally and as an OS in the general sense), no matter if some of my hardware dies, this thing will still be ready to boot, in its known state.

Gave up on Apple when they killed the nubus slot for my audiomedia II card. So happy I did or would have been chasing their changes ever since. Unfortunately I see Microsoft doing the same thing eventually? I'm guessing arm processors, but could be totally wrong?

So yeah! having an install that just works is great. Windows plugins VST, VST3, 32bit and 64bit. Linux native VST, VST3 and Lv2 all running in harmony. Who would have thunk it

[Trensharo]

Complaining about Apple killing the Nubus slot is like complaining about Windows PC OEMs killing serial and parallel ports, because you still want to use an Ancient Printer or Modem.

[FrettedSynth]

Complaining about Apple killing the Nubus slot is like complaining about Windows PC OEMs killing serial and parallel ports, because you still want to use an Ancient Printer or Modem.

Not a complaint! Was just enough to say goodbye Apple. With the changes since I'm very happy for the decision. Have Windows software from the late 90's that still runs great. Yep old but so am I still running great In Linux/WINE.