Which is easier to run Linux Red Hat, or Windows XP? ?

Question

I'm on my other computer while my old computer's hard drive is being wiped, and I'm unsure if I want to stay with Windows XP. Now I'm a musician and record my own music using my old laptop Dell Pentium 4, so would changing to Linux Red Hat be bad since I use programs such as M-Audio Fast Track USB with Session (which states in it's owners manual that its for windows) and Guitar-Pro.com said that windows guitar pro will also work on Linux Red Hat.

I know Mac uses a thing called Garage Band so would I have to use that instead? (M-Audio's Session is like the windows version of garage band). Windows in general basically frustrates me to no end and I'd like something different but only if it's worth it.

Also I have an Iomega hard drive that stores all my music and pics for my iPod and iTunes, and is just a back up for all other items so would this work right in Linux? I understand that Linux like Mac uses OGG audio files more so than MP3 files.

I also use a iBook G4 with the previous OS X on it i think it's called Leopard, but I'm not to sure. So I'm not sure whether or not just to go full time Mac and install XP back on my Dell or what to do really.

Thanks for your operating system help I have no clue what the pro's and cons that Linux Red Hat has with Windows XP as researching online has led me to several dead ends since I have no clue where to look for the right knowledge that can be trusted.

Answer 1

Windows XP, but Red Hat isn't that bad if you're not opposed to reading a couple pages of info.

Answer 2

l was going to switch to Linux but gave up on the radically simple because it's anything but simple. l don't know why you'd trust us. Type linux os in any browser and you'll find it all and when l say all, l gave up when l found out that there was no driver's for my canon printer. The big issue with windows is malicious software. Alot of people are losing their hdd's over malware etc.  

Answer 3

First since you are starting out with Linux i would recommend Ubuntu over fedora (redhat). Ubuntu is a much more user friendly version of linux then fedora for beginners.

There are some very good programs for recording music on linux but you would have to learn how to use them and that may take sometime. The windows app that you listed may or may not work you would have to look at the wine database located here.

http://www.winehq.org/

the hard drive will work fine with linux but if you download your music from itunes i don't believe it will work on linux but that just mean you will have to use that music on your mac. If some one knows for sure please correct me. Your ipod will work fine as well there are many app that will let you sync it with new music.

Linux will support all the same file formats as windows mp3, ogg, mp4 and so on.

Linux can still be a bit buggy when it come to wireless drivers and it can take some time to get everything working but if you don't mind spending it, it is well worth it.

I would suggest downloading a live distro (aka boot cd) and trying before you install it. I think it will give you a feel to how it works you should also keep in mind boot cds are much slower then having the os on the hard drive.

I would have a look at Ubuntu and Ubuntu studio

http://ubuntustudio.org/home

http://www.ubuntu.com/

I would just like to comment on one of the posts below that people should be worried about malware, if you use the internet for web banking, credit card purchases, any private data at all and there is malware on you machine there is a good chance that data is no longer private. I don't know about you but I like my identity just the way it is.

Answer 4

i prefer windows xp.. with different versions of Linux, you can encounter bugs. its open source and i find it is more for a computer programmer. many programs you want to use and may want to use in the future will not be compatible. there are ways around alot of things but expertise is important when it come to Linux. i don't like mac's but for music and art I'm told by my friends in the business there the way to go. I use ACID pro for recording and editing music on my xp os. I'll take xp any day (especially over vista.)  I'm setting up a server with linux and apache.  I think Linux would be a learning curve, eventual let down and reformat. that my opinion. so linux..=server & programming open source (unix based)  Mac= art and music media (unix based) and windows xp = whatever