"LIVE" Linux Recording

So if you read through my recent post on free/cheap recording, you'll know I focused on my fave computer operating system for doing so. Now hear me- I'm NO mechanic so when people start talking about fixing a car engine I get lost and want to stop trying to think it all through... intimidated with what sounds complex, daunting- so I fully understand when I'm talking what sounds like tech as a foreign language if some folks bail on it real quick. I truly get it!! BUT...

One major factor with the Linux operating system (and this includes a lot, though not all versions of the recording app-loaded free distros you can freely download and use) is there are quite a few "Live" Linux systems. "Live" simply means once you download the distro to your computer (regardless of what os is already installed in your machine) there are a couple ways you can then put a usb stick in your machine and via any one of several free apps "burn" the entire Linux system onto your usb stick -and make it able to boot up from there.

NO hard drive even needed to use it. A live Linux will NOT affect your computer, mess up your already-loaded Windoze of Apel/Maac... at all. When you're done with the system, shut the machine off, count to 10, pull the usb stick out and re-boot your old system which is still very much on your hard drive!

As always there's a learning curve, but once you learn how to do this... -some- of the smaller, lighter Linux distros if installed to a bootable usb stick can even run well enough to use 'em to record (via, for example, Audacity) and then once you're done you can save the final mix onto another usb or hard drive. Think "portable recording studio on a usb stick" because that's what you then have.

Just back the song up on the second usb or hard drive regardless of the operating system because saving it as an Mp3 or .wav file will allow it to be played on any computer system.

IF you begin loving a Linux os that contains recording apps and such you might consider learning how to install the particular live Linux onto a second computer and use it primarily for recording. There are a TON of 'nix systems freely available via DistroWatch.Com which I often check out at least once per day.

Again, there are tutorials and videos that can teach you how to do all this -so if free or super-cheap recording is something of interest to you, have a go!

As always, thanks for stopping by :) -Glenn