The linux DAW thread
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- KVRAF
- 9520 posts since 6 Oct, 2004
On behalf of audiojunkie, I'll pass on his discovery that the Ardour 9 daw version has been relesed. Here is a video, some nice new capabilities
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- KVRAF
- 9520 posts since 6 Oct, 2004
https://www.bandshed.net/2026/03/01/av- ... -released/
Improved releases of the AVLinux distro have been released, standard, and one with the Moksha system gui. Notable improvements for musicians include Cable, the patchbay gui for the pipewire audio system in linux. It's become friendlier, prettier, and with more useful options.
AVLinux is close to a turnkey system, including a working wine and windows-plugin wrapper. Make a folder like .761 in /home/you and drop in a Reaper download. ...then unarchive the Reaper download and move the content up to .761 Start Reaper with a terminal command:
.761/reaper
Using linux is so hard these days
Improved releases of the AVLinux distro have been released, standard, and one with the Moksha system gui. Notable improvements for musicians include Cable, the patchbay gui for the pipewire audio system in linux. It's become friendlier, prettier, and with more useful options.
AVLinux is close to a turnkey system, including a working wine and windows-plugin wrapper. Make a folder like .761 in /home/you and drop in a Reaper download. ...then unarchive the Reaper download and move the content up to .761 Start Reaper with a terminal command:
.761/reaper
Using linux is so hard these days
- KVRian
- 718 posts since 17 Aug, 2015 from Finland
Oh, tell me about it. I've been using different flavors of Linux for nearly 4 years at this point and I still don't know what I'm doing. /s
My solo projects:
Hekkräiser (experimental) | MFG38 (electronic/soundtrack) | The Santtu Pesonen Project (metal/prog)
Hekkräiser (experimental) | MFG38 (electronic/soundtrack) | The Santtu Pesonen Project (metal/prog)
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- KVRAF
- 2772 posts since 28 Mar, 2007
In the early days (early 1990's) we had to feed in floppy disks to start Slackware. And then it became "easy" from 1994 or so onward when Slackware started to be distributed on CDROM. As far as my memory serves, there was no GUI unless you loaded X11 from a command line. Later on, (pre 2000), Linux magazine cover disks with CDROM's became available that had the GUI pre-installed ready to go. Happy days.
- KVRAF
- 8351 posts since 18 Apr, 2004
IIRC the CD was a bunch of installation floppy images that were loaded into a virtual drive automatically.dellboy wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2026 1:17 pm In the early days (early 1990's) we had to feed in floppy disks to start Slackware. And then it became "easy" from 1994 or so onward when Slackware started to be distributed on CDROM.
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- KVRAF
- 2772 posts since 28 Mar, 2007
I just downloaded the 1996 Slackware CDROM and can confirm that it does contain floppy disk images. We are presented with a choice of 1.2 floppy size or 1.4 floppy size! circa 30 megabytes worth! Version 3.1 had a GUI that could be invoked with "startx".farlukar wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2026 4:14 pmIIRC the CD was a bunch of installation floppy images that were loaded into a virtual drive automatically.dellboy wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2026 1:17 pm In the early days (early 1990's) we had to feed in floppy disks to start Slackware. And then it became "easy" from 1994 or so onward when Slackware started to be distributed on CDROM.
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- KVRAF
- 9520 posts since 6 Oct, 2004
I try to keep things simple. I'm not a power user who creates scripts, and knows all the oddly named utilities and how to make them do cool things.AsPeeXXXVIII wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2026 9:59 amOh, tell me about it. I've been using different flavors of Linux for nearly 4 years at this point and I still don't know what I'm doing. /s
I respect those who do, and who love mastery, but my interest is creating music as efficiently and peacefully as possible. I don't battle tools I don't understand, and choose what new horizons to explore carefully. So far, the diversity of the 12 note western scale, a few hundred plugins, and a handful of actual instruments is plenty to keep me motivated. If life adds inspiration, and I connect the cables correctly, all the better.
- KVRian
- 975 posts since 21 Feb, 2015
That was a nice one, cool post. I think we should just keep promoting the OS. 
- KVRian
- 718 posts since 17 Aug, 2015 from Finland
Well hey, more power to you. Me, I actually lean a little towards being a power user - not to the extent of automating everything with scripts, but I have replaced my distro's default terminal and done some light customization and config writing. That's why I included the sarcasm tag.glokraw wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 2:58 am I try to keep things simple. I'm not a power user who creates scripts, and knows all the oddly named utilities and how to make them do cool things.
My solo projects:
Hekkräiser (experimental) | MFG38 (electronic/soundtrack) | The Santtu Pesonen Project (metal/prog)
Hekkräiser (experimental) | MFG38 (electronic/soundtrack) | The Santtu Pesonen Project (metal/prog)
- KVRAF
- 7012 posts since 19 Apr, 2002 from Utah
Great article!!
The rise of Linux desktop is inevitable — it’s time music software developers got on board
https://musictech.com/features/opinion- ... -on-board/
The rise of Linux desktop is inevitable — it’s time music software developers got on board
https://musictech.com/features/opinion- ... -on-board/
Vendor‑Dependent Copy Protection: Customers lose. Pirates win.
(Also: I'm Accused of lying about Linux—it boots, runs my pro audio workflow, stays stable, updates--though yearly dismissed as “niche”. Yet I'm the deluded one.)
(Also: I'm Accused of lying about Linux—it boots, runs my pro audio workflow, stays stable, updates--though yearly dismissed as “niche”. Yet I'm the deluded one.)
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- KVRian
- 799 posts since 26 Aug, 2005 from Oregon, USA
Linux on the consumer desktop is a meme. Linux on the professionals' desktop might happen sooner than later.
- KVRAF
- 7012 posts since 19 Apr, 2002 from Utah
Here's another interesting article:
Which operating system is best for music-making in 2026?
https://musictech.com/guides/essential- ... g-in-2026/
Which operating system is best for music-making in 2026?
https://musictech.com/guides/essential- ... g-in-2026/
Vendor‑Dependent Copy Protection: Customers lose. Pirates win.
(Also: I'm Accused of lying about Linux—it boots, runs my pro audio workflow, stays stable, updates--though yearly dismissed as “niche”. Yet I'm the deluded one.)
(Also: I'm Accused of lying about Linux—it boots, runs my pro audio workflow, stays stable, updates--though yearly dismissed as “niche”. Yet I'm the deluded one.)
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- KVRian
- 814 posts since 15 Jun, 2018
Very Linux beginner's question: is there a way to put a Linux distro on an old macbook and run a DAW in that? I'm just wondering if even researching that is worth the hassle.
- KVRAF
- 8098 posts since 13 Jan, 2003 from Darkest Kent, UK
Oh definitely worth looking into.jules99 wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2026 10:23 am Very Linux beginner's question: is there a way to put a Linux distro on an old macbook and run a DAW in that? I'm just wondering if even researching that is worth the hassle.
Start with this vid, installing something like Ubuntu on a macbook is totally do-able. I've never done this so can't vouch for running a DAW but see no reason for it not to work, I'm running Reaper and Bitwig fine on UbuntuStudio.
This guys whole channel is pretty much running things on things you shouldnt so...
