A note on the usability of Linux for Windows denizens: We run RDAirplay/Rivendell as our main (and only) play out system for a community/college radio station. Our DJ staff is comprised of about 200 students and community volunteers (of which about 50 roll over each year). This means we see a lot of individuals moving through our station, and 95% of these individuals have never touched Linux before they walk in the door. Using a modern Linux distro like Ubuntu with Gnome or KDE, the system is Windows-like enough that we don't have to do any special Linux training for our DJs. We just have to teach Rivendell (which we would have to do anyway), not the non-Windows OS. The only other Linux app our users touch is Firefox/Chrome, and those look the same regardless of the underlying OS. The added complexity of training our staff to use Linux over Windows is negligible at worst and simpler at best.
Yes, the engineering staff needs to be Linux savvy to get Rivendell setup and running on the back end, but we have had no issues with Linux vs Windows usability constraints for our DJs. And that's saying something considering it's a non professional staff for whom this isn't even a full time job. As far as the primary air-talent user base is concerned, I have seen no reason to pick Windows over Linux. Yes, you have to know Linux on the engineering back end, but if you take a little time to learn it (and leverage the massive resources available, including this list), you may find you like it from an engineering standpoint. I think the bias toward Linux as being difficult to learn or hard to use is far greater than the actual experience proves to be. As far as Linux vs Windows for audio work in general, I think it's telling that large AoIP and broadcast tech companies like Axia and Logitek run Linux on their embedded audio devises. Try getting a Windows based AoIP node to stream your 5.1 HD audio 24/7/365 without skipping a beat... Cheers, Andy Sayler WMFO 91.5 FM Medford On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 19:40, James Harrison <ja...@talkunafraid.co.uk>wrote: > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > As Tim has already mentioned- why Windows? > > I just recently stepped down as engineer of a station which started out > 100% Windows two years ago and is now 90% Linux (switching to Rivendell > for main playout was judged too dramatic a change - the station was just > granted an FM license, which is a big deal here, and management didn't > want to change playout at the same time- possibly they'll move in a > year's time). Rivendell is used there for backup playout and outside > broadcasts, though. > > Windows has a multitude of downsides when it comes to audio, management, > stability and reliability. For instance, our main playout box has a big > of a snag in that you can't install Windows Updates without it > bluescreening next time it reboots, and we have to reboot everything > every month or two just to keep things running smoothly. Not great from > an engineering standpoint. Then there's the issues with security, user > accounts, remote access, time synchronization, system updates (that > don't break everything), and so on. There's no real upside! > > The amount of work required to port things like the core audio engine, > interprocess communications daemon and other services would be > nontrivial, and with Windows being such a huge step backwards from Linux > on nearly all important points from the perspective of radio stations, > where's the point? The only benefit of Windows is familiarity, and it > doesn't take long to get familiar with Linux. We transitioned most of > the desktop stuff without any training whatsoever and everyone picked it > up fast enough. > > But as mentioned already- it's open source software. If you can write C, > get porting! If you really had to have Windows for your frontends, you > would only need to port (I think) rdairplay, rdlogmanager, rdlogedit, > rdcatch and ripcd- you could remote the rest to a Linux hosted audio > engine/import system... in theory at least! Still going to take you a > long, long time. Perhaps better spent learning Linux? :) > > Cheers, > James Harrison > > > On 05/10/2011 02:25, Logan Corliss wrote: > > Hi, I am currently running Rivendell on ubuntu and its ok and all but I > also am really looking for a Radio Automation program that runs on > Windows. I was wondering if there was any plans to make this working on > Windows or if there is a code in progress that would allow Rivendell > with all of its features to run on Windows. This would be really great. > > > > -- > > Logan Corliss > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Rivendell-dev mailing list > > Rivendell-dev@lists.rivendellaudio.org > > http://lists.rivendellaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/rivendell-dev > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (MingW32) > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ > > iEYEARECAAYFAk6LtakACgkQmJV2s0zjsDhrUwCfbownaEhcEmogFtAV8PWaB7Tw > 8QAAn10VHl0O9DbhJlElZFBqkgbsZw8S > =JqrV > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > _______________________________________________ > Rivendell-dev mailing list > Rivendell-dev@lists.rivendellaudio.org > http://lists.rivendellaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/rivendell-dev >
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