Whats your current computer setup like?

[Ashe37]

While Mac OS is hardly perfect, the last few iterations of Windows have been progressively worse than each previous. Such that most manufacturers are still offering their Windows products with Win 7, and a coupon for 'upgrade' to 8.1.
Mavericks and Yosemite had minor glitches, but nothing as bad as 8 or 8.1. People hate those OSes.

Personally I feel that creatives are stuck in a wasteland. Apple is leaving us behind to sell shiny trinkets. Microsoft is determined to make their OS hipper and more interesting, and more useless.

Yep, all the workstations I review still have win 7 on them. I surveyed friends still working in VFX, including people who are actually in the IT offices, and the response was similar to 'we have one windows 8 machine for testing'.

[Stab Frenzy]

Personally I feel that creatives are stuck in a wasteland. Apple is leaving us behind to sell shiny trinkets. Microsoft is determined to make their OS hipper and more interesting, and more useless.

I would love to see Linux fill the void but am not holding my breath. (Linux can run Reaper, but not a lot of plugins by third parties, and driver support for stuff like Motu, Apogee etc?).
Times like these I wish we still had BEOS.

Yeah I'm not a fan of the way Apple are going at the moment, I'm still on 10.8, although really I wish I was on 10.6.8 still, that was a great OS.

I've heard the RME interfaces run well on Linux, I should try out my Fireface on my little Linux laptop to see. Personally I'd love to see a purpose-built distro for creative stuff. Bitwig runs on Linux too by the way.

[calaverasgrande]

While you are able to run Bitwig, Reaper and a couple other things on Linux, it is still a PITA for ordinary folks to use. Just the way that mundane things like updates and hardware are handled in Linux can be pretty opaque to most people. Even an easy to use distro has a learning curve. It is easy to use until you try to do anything interesting with it, then it is just the same as all other Linuxes with chains of dependency that reach from here to Mars.

I do agree that Snow Leopard was the benchmark for stability, ease of use and flexibility.

[silikon]

While you are able to run Bitwig, Reaper and a couple other things on Linux, it is still a PITA for ordinary folks to use. Just the way that mundane things like updates and hardware are handled in Linux can be pretty opaque to most people. Even an easy to use distro has a learning curve. It is easy to use until you try to do anything interesting with it, then it is just the same as all other Linuxes with chains of dependency that reach from here to Mars.

I do agree that Snow Leopard was the benchmark for stability, ease of use and flexibility.

Fedora and Ubuntu have really done major improvements (as well as other distros I haven't mentioned) to keep things simple. The idea of GNU/Linux being obtuse are sort of out the window now because, for instance, Ubuntu - you can either do a simple (extremely dumbed down version) install, or tailor it to what you like, as complex as you like.

Either way, the interface is dead simple, and there are choices if you're so inclined. Same for Fedora, it's dead simple to get running; and in the case of Fedora Studio, there's nothing an end user needs to do to other than log into their machine after the install is complete (which if you can install windows or MacOS, you can install fedora) and go. Installing 'third-party' stuff is as simple as double-clicking these days. The OS recognizes things that come packaged in .rpm or .deb -- and most installers are as simple as a double click.

Even hardware these days I'm hard pressed to find a machine that doesn't boot directly into the window manager, right out of an install. Of course, if you're the type that wants the 'higher performance' nvidia or amd drivers, you'll also likely be able to navigate the web where there are literally hundreds of tutorials that break these things down in a very simple fashion.

Updates are most always auto-configured to check as per the installation, and an applet will notify you when new updates are released -- your job would be to simply open said applet and click 'update' or something very close -- essentially what you'd do in Windows or MacOS.

It's no longer as obfuscated as it once was many years ago (or even just a couple years ago). The larger configuration of a linux desktop machine is most always relegated to the 'control panel' as one would find on Windows or MacOS. It's dead simple to configure even things like compiz and all the crazy graphics additions one can tack onto their desktop. The default Ubuntu (and Fedora) desktop is quite similar to the paradigm that Windows and MacOS have taken on.

[calaverasgrande]

I'm familiar with Suse and Ubuntu. Used Ubuntu to roll up a Clonezilla server last year when I imaged all our new Avid desktops. I still found Ubuntu to be kind of a bear. Not so much for my use. But I was trying to imagine a normal, non IT person deploying it to do something. It seemed easy enough to get around in, and all I just cant imagine it as a desktop OS.
I guess I kind of see Mac OS as the friendly Unix variant. It provides most of the features except you can't really break off stuff the way you can in Linux (say to run without a GUI for instance). And you dont use MK or TarGZ files for software.
The place I see Ubuntu is slightly more powerful than Chrome OS. With the ability to host a SQL database if that strikes your fancy.

I really wish someone would make a distro for content creators. Hardware has gotten powerful enough that it pretty much gets out of the way. It is the OS and software we are still fighting.
Even on the Mac side when was the last time anything was updated on 'Audio/Midi' the IO control panel for, uh audio, and midi?

[Ashe37]

You likely would have laughed if you had been in the editing suite when i was in college and saw/heard the shock of people when i opened a command line to copy some footage (file sequences) over in OSX... "It has DOS?"

[calaverasgrande]

yeah it is shocking to me that I still need to open terminal to get things done in OSX.
Firs that they do not have graphical equivalents for some of these tasks. And that you eve need to do such lame things as chown and chmod in 2015!
Still I am happy to still have terminal. Apple keeps moving and hiding network utility for some reason.

[Ashe37]

well, it was a clip of like 1400 frames and the editor/director tried to drag it to an external drive, and well, OSX didn't like that. they ended up on the desktop, and OSX was trying to draw every single icon...

[silikon]

I really wish someone would make a distro for content creators.

Fedora Studio: https://spins.fedoraproject.org/jam-kde/

Ubuntu Studio: http://ubuntustudio.org/

It seemed easy enough to get around in, and all I just cant imagine it as a desktop OS.

But Ubuntu Desktop is exactly that. Fedora Desktop. Give one of the distros above a try. It might be quite alarming to you, the amount of things that 'just work' without any intervention whatsoever, as well as the ease of use factor.

It provides most of the features except you can't really break off stuff the way you can in Linux (say to run without a GUI for instance). And you dont use MK or TarGZ files for software.

You can run pretty much anything in the terminal as you'd expect any normal 'unix variant'. And most people don't use 'make' or '.tgz' files on normal instances for most Linux distros, either -- Unless you're building software from source...which you'd have to do on MacOS as well. They use modern package managers, arguably better than MacOS - most installable packages on MacOS don't have an 'uninstall' (some do) -- so you're left with remnants of stuff lying dormant on your machine unless you download yet another piece of software to 'somewhat intelligently' remove those pieces. It's rarely ever all located within the package that gets dropped into the Applications directory.

[Soul_Processor]

^well, the way I see it, software designers at Cubase, Ableton, you name it, are also more keen on making their product shiney and full of "features" instead of putting their products out for Linux... it might be still a very small niche, but I feel that more and more people seem to be interested to get into it.

[DLovas]

Currently updated to a Win8.1 Intel i7 @ 4.32 Ghz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 1TB HDD. Was not happy with Logic Pro X or Logic's handling of files in general - then again at the time of using Logic I was on a 2010 Macbook Pro.

Currently (have been) using FL Studio 11. Great software for the price - lifetime upgrades - full functionality!

Win 8.1 is not all that bad if you install classicshell. You get the start menu back, feels just like a faster 7. Boots up in seconds - I've had no issues.

[Stab Frenzy]

Boots up in seconds - I've had no issues.

That would be the SSD rather than the OS.

[Ashe37]

Boots up in seconds - I've had no issues.

That would be the SSD rather than the OS.

Part the OS, too. Windows 8 was designed to boot faster than Win 7.

[piRoN]

It seemed easy enough to get around in, and all I just cant imagine it as a desktop OS.

I didn't really gel with Ubuntu until I installed Lubuntu and Xubuntu on a couple of machines. Putting a lightweight desktop environment on top really makes it a much more pleasant, responsive, and familiar system to use. Xubuntu is now my go-to for a quick "I just need this to work" OS install.

[briandc]

There are also other linux distros that are geared to audio production period, such as AVlinux and Studio 1337. AVlinux works nice as a live USB distro, so you don't even have to do a full install if you prefer.

Some distros are useful for audio production too. Some people use PClinuxOS; I use BodhiLinux on a laptop, the thing shuts down faster than my stereo!
And yes, it's possible to tweak your entire system just the way you want, nothing more, nothing less. (Most VST's I've tested work fine on it, too.)


brian