[ardour-users] CCRMA vs. AGNULA

[Esben Stien]

lewis.jon at att.net writes:

> What I really need to figure out is which combination is best for my
> situation.

What you really need to do is crop your lines and stop top-posting;)

> I have a high technical aptitude and no problem with (or fear of)
> learning the most complicated compiling procedures if need be.

Then I would recommend nothing else than LFS (should be called
GFS;)). You will know your system intimately and all of it's
components. If something fails, it's most likely your own fault. Any
software will at times have bugs and you must be sure to use the
software that you trust. You will have to work with the software and
get to a point where you trust it for your needs. You must follow the
mailinglist for each project and be weary of the changes that occurs
so that you may better predict where a breakage is and if the
possibility of failure rises.

This of course requires technical insight, but to get a system you
trust wholeheartly for a particular purpose, you really need this, in
my opinion. You will undoubtly find bugs, but then you will be able to
pinpoint the problem fast and accurate. You'll then report the problem
and help fix it. You must work intimately with developers.

> My main reasons for trying Linux are: 1) I do not have the $$$ for a
> ProTools/G5 rig

The driving force for me is the freedom and the possibility to work
closely with developers to nail bugs and get the features it needs to
do the job.

> What I need is the most tried and true, stable and streamlined
> configuration without all the extras

Only you can, for your particular purpose, after using it, verify that
it does the job you intend to do.

> I don't have the liberty of having a machine that is in constant
> need of tweaking

If you're going this route, the initial phase will need more tweaking
that you could ever imagine until you know how to work the system and
make it do what you want it to.

> stability is my major issue 

Security is mine; stability is a part of security. 

> I don't care how hard or time consuming it is to achieve.

That's the spirit. 

> Which configuration (distribution, kernel, packages, file system,
> etc.) should I use?

Your own distro, your tried out kernel, your tried out packages, your
tried out filesystem. 

Each filesystem has it's strengths and weaknesses. I personally use
reiserfs, but maybe I should have sticked to ext3 (I'll never go back
though). I'd really like to try xfs, but I haven't done so
yet. reiser4 looks very promising, but it's not ready for prime
time. I'm lurking on the mailinglist to get an idea of when I might
try it out.

As a final note, always track down the bug and understand it. And for
you to do this, proprietary software is not an option.

-- 
Esben Stien is b0ef at esben-stien.name
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