Hello community,
I am tired of windows slowing down my laptop, and I tought I’d give linux a chance. So I learn, that there are many linuxes, and I wonder if it really matters. which one to choose. Can all linux apps be run on all distributions? Is it just a matter of the ‘app store’ supporting them or not?
I am producing media art for theatre plays. So I have to rely on a stable system as well as the following tools:
- Blender 3d
- a DAW
- Design Software (adobe alternatives)
- Video Editing & compositing
- Projection mapping (I fear, there is just mapmap under linux)
- audio cuing (linux show player)
- maybe also light show programming (artnet / dmx)
The machine would be a Gigabyte Aero 15x with a dedicated nvidia gfx card, and 8 gigs of ram.
What would you recommend me?
The choice of distro isn’t too important, you can usually run any software on any distro. The installation process varies a bit by distro because they use different package managers, but they generally all have all the software you need
The most important choice for the start is your desktop environment. I’m partial to KDE and can highly recommend it for linux beginners because it’s a lot like windows by default and extremely customizable. There are also XFCE (very light and fast, not too many features), Gnome (some people swear by it but it doesn’t let you customize much), cinnamon (no bullshit, fast and windows-like) and a bunch of others.
Then pick a distro based on that. The popular ones are usually also the best ones to start with, with one notable exception (in my opinion): Ubuntu.
It uses snaps, which are an alternative way to install software that’s made by canonical (the makers of ubuntu) and generally disliked among the linux community because it slows down application startup and causes very weird issues that are hard to figure out. Ubuntu will install some applications via snap instead of the package manager (which is apt for ubuntu) even if you specifically invoke apt instead of snap.
You can sti use it and probably be fine, but you’ll have to endure snap problems or go out of your way to avoid using it. Picking a different distro from the start is easier than that.
Ubuntu LTS
You seem to have actual work to do on Linux and a large suite of software to get working. This will be your most significant challenge. Ubuntu is one of the default targets for nearly all software projects, open source or proprietary and if there’s any documentation or information, Ubuntu will be in it. This alone will give give you a ton of mileage. You probably don’t want to add the difficulty of figuring out why something written and tested for Ubuntu doesn’t work on another distro. Resources like wiki.ubuntu.com, help.ubuntu.com, askubuntu.com and discourse.ubuntu.com are there to help.
I agree with this, but Debian is closely related to Ubuntu so most guides will work. I am just throwing this out there because I don’t personally like a lot of the proprietary stuff Canonical has added to Ubuntu.
This is true, but there’s still a bit of a gap between the two such as versions and or the existence or lack thereof of some packages here and there, along with default packages and configs. It’s why I wouldn’t throw a complete novice on a productivity mission at Debian. If they’re able to get productive on Ubuntu and learn to use it, the switch to Debian is easier.
There already good recommendations, so i’ll just add that you shouldn’t make your work life harder for the sake of running Linux.
Definetly give it a go, and see if it fulfills your needs, but maybe hold off on nuking your Windows install until you are satisfied.
I use my Linux computer for personal stuff and some work stuff (web-browsing, email, office suite) and i have a separate Windows PC just for running applications specific to my field, which don’t have Linux versions or alternatives (or where it makes the most sense for me to use the industry standard)
I’d also recommend Ubuntu LTS or Linux Mint. You may need to add a startup flag or swap to a low-latency kernel but since the mainlining of some features, a special kernel is rarely needed. Basically, keep an eye out for latency-related audio issues and take action, if needed.
For DAW, if you’re not already using one that has a Linux release, you might check out Ardour.
For video editing, check if KDenLive covers what you need.
For design software, it really depends on the type of design work. There’s options for about every niche, from FreeCAD to Inkscape (vector), and Gimp/Krita (raster). Figure out what your need and find the project that best suits.
Now. With all that said, I will add another thought. I’m not a fan of Apple but, if you find that you’re having too much trouble getting what you need working, I would seriously contemplate a Mac Mini or MacStudio, if you don’t absolutely need a laptop. I switched my spouse to a Mac Mini w/ an M2 from Costco for her studio because of the constant instability and system-breaking “updates”. It’s less tinkerer-friendly but that’s not its purpose. It is there for DAW and related duties, nothing else and it works great for that use case, letting me focus on FOSS stuff elsewhere.
EDIT: To clarify, it was MS causing the instability.
Thanks for the great advice. I have been thinking of moving to apple a lot, but actually I am very tempted to the open source ideology that’s so strong in linux.
Absolutely agreed. I use an Apple laptop for work, myself, because it’s a company machine and the only manufacturer that consistently offers support contracts on a unix-like OS. I do most of my work on a Linux VM via the terminal so, it’s largely a glorified SSH terminal.
Windows now has WSL built in but the base OS is just too fundamentally understand and update QA too poor for me to want to touch, beyond the fact that I’ve been using Linux as my main OS for over a decade and the ads.
Please post an update with your experience, if you’re so-inclined. I really want to see more “real” use of Linux in AV, especially, as I feel it’s a very strong OS for such use that is mostly ignored.
