this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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So my intuition and guesses from what I've heard is that Fedora might be the best for you.
Here are some links:
https://labs.fedoraproject.org/jam/ https://linuxmusicians.com/ https://archive.ph/hYxrO
Not sure if oudated:
https://jfearn.fedorapeople.org/fdocs/en-US/Fedora_Draft_Documentation/0.1/html/Musicians_Guide/index.html
https://fedoramagazine.org/configure-fedora-to-practise-and-compose-music/
If you want to use NixOS, the one I recommend elsewhere, I'm not sure what your experience will be whether good or bad. Probably more fiddling, but more flexible/stable in the long run.
Here is a matrix room if you are interested in asking more knowledgable people about that path:
https://app.element.io/#/room/#audio:nixos.org
Writing music and making files for my 3d printer is most of what I do with a computer anymore. What I'm not trying to do is make a separate hobby of OS trialing. I'm worried I won't be able to find drivers for my audio interface, hell I'm running it on an old Win7 driver in Win10 now. Payday is Friday, and I will be ordering a second SSD to quarantine this experiment on. For now I read and pester random folks on the Internet for opinions. I appreciate your suggestions, for sure.
What you need to do is install Oracle Virtual box on your pc.
Then download a Linux distribution: I'd recommend Linux Mint
Install it virtually on Virtualbox.
Then connect your audio equipment to the pc and in Virtualbox use the menu to send that device from Windows to Linux.
Look for the menu called devices or something like that. It will just the various inputs it sees eg. Usb, SCSI, aux etc and you can select that and then select the attached device. That will send the device signal to Linux.
Then see if you can see the device in Linux.
If not research whether you need a driver or a particular application. The best place to ask about drivers is from the device manufacturer. If they don't exist anymore then Google it. Eg Linux driver for [device name] or Ubuntu driver for [device name]
If you can get it to work then you're set and you can install Linux as your main OS. or just use it in the VM. If there are no drivers and it doesn't work, stay on Windows.
Just be aware it's the device manufacturer that should make the driver, whether for Windows or Linux. Sometimes the Linux community will make their own driver if the OEM doesn't. I haven't seen that happen on Windows. On Windows if the OEM doesn't make one, you either use an old one or get a new audio device 🤷
I'm not as familiar with music/audio production, but I've done a lot of 3D printing from a Linux system.
For slicing, you're spoiled for choice. The only one I'm aware of that doesn't at least try to support Linux is Formlabs; Slic3r, Cura, PrusaSlicer, even Simplify3D offer Linux versions.
For modeling, Blender runs well on Linux if you're of that persuasion. For engineering CAD, pretty much the only first-class citizen is FreeCAD, which is powerful if a bit of a pain in the ass. You can also use OnShape because it's browser-based, but they're trying to be Solidworks especially in price. I have seen Fusion360 in Ubuntu's Snap store, but haven't tried to use it.
I run blender and cura, so it sounds like I'm covered there and that's encouraging.