pbear, there is lots of excellent freeware.  Open Office, AVG, Commodo Firewall, Zone Alarm, Avast, Firefox, Thunderbird, ect.

I don't leave the pc on at night, so defragging, would be done when I'm trying to use it.  Same with virus scans.  If you really need to use your pc dude, a virus can totally wreak havoc, depending on what it is. 

I am starting to get bored with this Windows vs Linux crap.  Again, this thread was about how those who would like to use Line 6 with Linux are unhappy with the lack of support.  I don't know with absolute certainty, but I would bet Line 6 would require the use GPL licensed code to properly intergrate with a Linux system.

I like the stability of Linux.  I like the low latency kernel in Ubuntu Studio.  And I like that I don't have to maintain the system with defragging and constant virus scans. I am primarily a Debian user, Ubuntu I am just beginning to use for audio.

And yes, I know that OSX and beyond are based in part on BSD.  BSD is licensed differently than Linux.  Windows contains some BSD code. Some will undoubtadly dispute this.  Don't bother..      Its perfectly legal under BSD's license.

Well the problem wasn't a stability issue.  The Jack server was buggy in the 8.04 release.  They fixed that in subsequent releases.  The other problem was my sound card wasn't properly detected.  Another bug.  Version 9.04 has no bugs I can see.

For a free system, installed on a computer built from spare parts, its not a bad set up.  For home use, you cannot beat it for that price.  I am not going to compare Ardour to Sonar that I have installed on Windows 7, but so far, its doing everything I need it to do.  I'm happy with it.

And no, on XP, I had an app called Win Patrol, and with that I could limit the start up programs.  When I recorded I even shut down the firewall.  I still experienced crashes.  Dispite backing each session up to usb, {finally I learned the hard way..} when it crashed, I would lose what I was working on. I don't blame crashes only on a viral load.  I mostly blame them on the unstable and flakey nature of Windows.  Even my new Windows 7 installation locks up when I use Adobe InDesign.  But 7 is much better at unlocking itself than XP.  What can I say?  I'd like to run Adobe on Linux...

Linux is stable.  I like it.

fblamaur,  thats right.  Hollywood uses Linux extensively in movie production.

I cannot even tell you how many times I've called the insurance company, or some city dept, and they tell me I have to wait, because their computer is acting up.  I always ask them, "Is it Windows?"  and the answer is always yes.  These lockups kill production time.  How much money in license fees are city, state and federal government agencys paying Microshaft  to run all those pcs using Windows?   Thats a lot of wasted money at a time when they are telling us they are doing all they can to cut budgets.

The new owner of our printing company comes from the IT world.  He is a Windows programmer.  He bought our company as a side investment. We were running Macs under the previous owner, but the new owner hates Mac.  I asked him why, and he just said because he doesn't know Mac. He also told me he hates Linux, because in college in the 90's he fooled with it and didn't like it.

So he's another one, he bases his beliefs on Linux from an experience with it he had 15 years ago. He told me Linux was hard to install.  Really?

But he hates Mac too, because he doesn't know Mac, thats the reason he gave.  I suspect thats where a lot of resistance toward Linux comes from, people don't like what they are not familiar with.  Anyway, so our new owner replaced all the macs with brand new HPs.  The first round of new computers came with Vista installed.  The second round of new pcs came with Windows 7 installed.  I'll walk into the graphics dept, and its common to see someone sitting there staring at the floor.  I ask, Whats the matter?"  and they tell me, The computer is locked up."  Brand new Vista, brand new Seven, installed by HP, maintained by an IT pro with a degree from MIT...locked up.  I'll go to use the pc at the customer service desk...locked up.  Windows fans can deny there are major issues all they want, but we all know these problems are very common place.

There was a time when the horse and buggy was more reliable than the new invention called the horseless carriage.  Things change, not always right away, but they change continuously.  A unix style platform is far superior to a Windows platform, and as these alternative systems develop further, they will become more popular.

Lastly, when talking about stability, my primary computer is running Debian Squeeze.  Squeeze is the testing version of Debian, and because its in the testing phase of development, its considered unstable.  Debian Lenny is the current stable release

Squeeze is so stable, it runs without a hickup, never a single problem with it.  Everything works flawlessly.  And running on top of my Asus/Corsair/ AMD 64 bit hardware its incredibly fast too.  It never gives me the problems with lockups that I get from Seven, and its faster.  And after I lost electric power one day at home when I was using Windows 7 and Debian at the same time, Debian recovered and started right up.  Seven, floundered and had to go into recovery.   There are better ways of doing things.

You da man' Insidian

Well Mikey, I used XP for a long time too.

If you are happy with it and are getting the results you want, thats the only thing thats important.

I mean, thats what a computer is for, its just a tool.  If that tool works for you, then use it.

I really only get down on Windows when people who have no real Linux experience trash Linux in favor of what they know, Windows. Technically Linux is better, but its a steeper learning curve to sometimes get what you want out of it.  Musicians are usually artistic types and not technical geeks.  Musicains are usually end users, but not in every case.  So I do get it.  You just want a system that works, and not have to spend weeks configuring and learning.  I get it.

I have been using Linux for 5 years, I have toyed with the audio programs in the past and felt they really weren't ready.  I think they are ready now, and I think things will improve rapidly from here on out.  Its been proven to me that it works.  Hopefully in the future they can put out steady reliable releases.  Aside from that, I am new to recording with Linux myself.

I understand too, that most musicians are end users, not computer programmers.  They want to set up their system, then focus on music.  It makes sense.

Me, I don't mind that its sometimes more of a challange to get Linux up and running.  I like it, it makes me think, it helps me learn.  But thats just me.

I understand too, one of the major roadblocks holding back Linux from going mainstream, is that its simply not as easy to configure as Windows.  You have to know some things. Microsoft busted the home pc market wide open when they introduced the low cost easy to use pc.  People got comfortable with it, accepted the security vulnarbilities as just the way it is,  and have been using it ever since.  Microsoft will not be dethroned anytime soon.  They are firmly entrenched.  But there are challengers.

I say good for you.  You got a good system running, and I don't blame you for defending what you use.  XP can be excellent.  I recorded many cds worth of great material, all on XP.  I feel now, I am ready to take on the challenge of moving a step up.  Not only to Linux and its low latency, real time kernel, but also to better hardware,  and a few other upgrades. Sometimes you just gotta put your nose to the grindstone, learn, and move up.  For me, its a new way of doing things.

For Windows fans, Seven will be better than XP, once the slackers finally put out drivers.