Windows or Linux

[SimonVann]

Am currently running Windows XP Pro but might consider installing (side by side) a separate Operating system (Ubuntu) depending on which of these is considered superior. Also, which version Audacity should I use? Any advice to get me started would be great.
thx,
Simon Vann

[kozikowski]

You should use Audacity 1.3.12. The earlier 1.2 is hopelessly out of date and is no longer supported or updated.

Do you speak UNIX? The graphic user interface in Linux will only take you so far and then you need to get into the command-line details.

...said the Mac user.

Koz

[SimonVann]

Koz,

Thanks for the info. Sounds like I'll do windows for now and download version 1.3.12. I started on a Mac in the 90's but needed to work with architects and engineers so had to go with what they were using. PC's...

At some point soon.... I'd like to give some older computers away to my penny-less musician friends - with efficient, light Linux Op systems and the appropriate version of Audacity. May I ask what you'd do in that situation?

Thx again for the help,
SV

[steve]

Do you speak UNIX? The graphic user interface in Linux will only take you so far and then you need to get into the command-line details.

That's a very outdated view.
Access to the command line is still readily available for users that prefer to use it, though virtually everything can be done through graphical interfaces if that is preferred.

The standard Audacity installation on Ubuntu is Audacity 1.3.12. It can be installed in just a few mouse clicks through the "Ubuntu Software Centre". This is possibly the easiest way to install software on any platform, and Ubuntu provides a huge library of software that can be installed in this way (for free).

[SimonVann]

apparently, I will have numerous systems... some on Ubuntu. some on Windows. 2 issues for me now:
1. For my Audacity projects on Windows - can I somehow open older projects from Vegas Pro to remix in Audacity? I'm thinking not only No but, hel NO!?

2. As far as setting young folk players up to do most basic tracking. My understanding is for a small, out-dated, putty-brown PC (in other words - free). Windows even old versions of it is too bulky. I'm told running a slim Linux OS I might be able to keep these old machines making art and out of the landfill.... All this as some sort of community service?

[kozikowski]

<<<All this as some sort of community service?>>>

I'm not going there. I'm tri-lingual as is the company. By far the worst problems we have are casual users trying to deal with Open SUSE.

Koz

[SimonVann]

So you're saying just recycle the old computers. There is no Audacity version I can use on them with Linux or say Windows2000 that's relatively trouble free?

Any advice on saving Vegas Pro files?

[kozikowski]

<<<So you're saying just recycle the old computers.>>>

Basically. Steve may have other ideas, but you're offering slow, outdated computers with an odd operating system. There are cellphones more powerful and easier to use than some of those older computers.

Yes, you can install a tiny linux OS on a very modest computer and it will run perfectly, but not for an actual user. I do that for servers and supervisory machines in the basement as do many people. Certainly not anything I have to actually type on.

That's where old PCs go to die. On a shelf next to the pickles and raspberry preserves serving web pages to your house network. We call them "headless." No keyboard, monitor and mouse. You go down with a flashlight every year or so to make sure they're still alive.

Koz

[SimonVann]

Well, all that's about the reaction I had when this was originally suggested. I wouldn't use one either and I can well imagine the hassle of trying to get inept users on lousy PCs moving toward even one single finished song. ....HOWEVER, I'm not going to abandon this sows ear solution altogether.

Consider this.... the suggestion came as part of the concept behind renovation of old Victorian houses for disadvantaged artists. I live in the 'artists incubator' in our fair city. My experience is mostly in architecture.

The concept is all about reuse of all available 'energy in place'. If an old computer can be easily refurbished to work dedicated solely to the recording of a single song.... that's a small success.

As far as my own recordings, I have plenty of good options for all my art, architecture and music on dedicated PC stations - with decent equipment. I don't know if I want to use Audacity for my projects or not. It's a big transition..... Maybe the windows version but I have an awful lot invested in Vegas Pro and I have a blanket copy of that.

[steve]

By far the worst problems we have are casual users trying to deal with Open SUSE.

I would not personally recommend Open SUSE for casual users. From my experience of Open SUSE (about a year ago) it is a very large distribution with a huge repository that contains a lot of experimental software that requires a reasonable level of expertise to get running properly. I think the intended audience is corporate environments where the installation would be set up by an IT professional that knew what he/she was doing. Ubuntu (LTS) is probably a better option for beginners, especially as it has one of the easiest installers for beginners - a clean install without dual boot (no other OS) could probably be done by a trained chimpanzee. A lighter version (better for old machines) is Xubuntu.

Windows even old versions of it is too bulky.

If the machines will not run XP then they are probably too old and slow to run Audacity very well. If I recall correctly, Audacity will be dropping support for pre-XP Windows versions in the near future, though the current 1.3.12 version still supports Windows 98 (not the Unicode version - ensure you select the appropriate download). Help on the forum with Windows 98 will be limited because there a few people here that use it or have it installed.

Windows XP can be made lighter with programs like XPLite (I use this in a Virtual Machine and it's very quick).

can I somehow open older projects from Vegas Pro to remix in Audacity?

Audacity (and virtually every other audio application on the planet) support WAV files. Transferring from one program to another is (almost) always possible by exporting tracks in WAV format and then importing them into the other program. This may not be very convenient.

There is no Audacity version I can use on them with Linux or say Windows2000 that's relatively trouble free?

Does anything run trouble free on Windows2000?
If the computers will run a slim install of XP, then that should be reasonably trouble free. If they won't run XP then you may run into problems due to hard disk access speed (I presume the computers have hard drives?) and recording to RAM will probably not be possible as there will probably not be enough RAM to do so.

To run XP the machines will need at least 512 MB of RAM. If they have less than this then Windows 98 may be an option (but I've not used Win 98 in years).

The concept is all about reuse of all available 'energy in place'. If an old computer can be easily refurbished to work dedicated solely to the recording of a single song.... that's a small success.

I quite understand and applaud the intention (my partner regularly complains about my "computer graveyard" of obsolete machines ). If the computers have at least 512 MB of RAM, then a slim version of XP should run reasonably well. If not, then it may be worth trying Windows 98. I've still got a Pentium II 500 MHz with 512 MB of RAM and it runs Audacity fine (I think it's still got Audacity 1.3.4 on it, but it should be OK with 1.3.12).

As Koz has said, very meagre hardware can live out its final days serving web pages to a network, as a firewall, or similar.

With a suitable sound card, such as the old SoundBlaster AWE 32, an old machine can be used as a "MIDI module". Some old sound cards have a MIDI synthesizer built into their hardware, and have MIDI ports. These can be connected via MIDI as "slave" modules to a sequencer running on another (more capable) computer.