On Thu, 2007-04-12 at 11:32 +0100, Daniel James wrote: > Hi Herman, > > > Like most other users, creators want their stuff to "just work". > > I don't think those connecting a cheap USB MIDI keyboard to > > their Linux box deserve to be considered pioneers or freaks. > > I completely agree, and we do support that kind of device in 64 Studio. > However for the free software purist, this expectation cannot always be > satisfied, because of the need for binary firmware to be uploaded to the > device.
However, that is not part of the usecase I hinted above. USB MIDI is generic. Soft synthesizers using jackd as audio transport are already in Debian. Sequencers and digital audio workstations are included, too. However, fluidsynth/timidity and jack are infrastructure, yet they are packaged and presented as applications. You don't think of X or DHCP as applications, do you? I think Freedesktop.org is poised to play a role here, as the sound subsystem _is_ part of what X calls a "display". The configuration and status UI for the sound mixers/daemons/synths ought to be found in System|Preferences and/or System|Administration, and not tucked into Application|FunnyName. > One of the things we realised early on, was that it is impossible to be > all things to all people. So we try to make the best possible free > software experience for creative people, but our distro would probably > never be endorsed by RMS, or others like him. Can you enumerate the most important non-free pieces of software, firmware and drivers, so we can figure out what is missing to from a completely Free music- and audiovisiual workstation? -- Herman Robak -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
