...the Linux eco-system takes more end-user attention than Windows, which takes more than MacOS...
Depends a LOT on which distro you pick:
- Slackware, for example, makes you build absolutely *everything* yourself! So you end up with a system that is *exactly* how YOU want it to be, because YOU made all of it and know it inside and out. Not for the feint of heart at all!
- Ubuntu has pretty much become "the standard" for casual consumer use. It covers pretty much everything that a non-techie might need, and has a well-stocked app store that works like it's supposed to, for things that it doesn't come preinstalled with. And it has a HUGE support community. Lots of places to ask for and get help.
- Lubuntu is a resource-light version of Ubuntu, so it runs well on older hardware, and still has all of that support.
- Ubuntu Studio is a media- and creativity-centered version of Ubuntu. It comes with a TON of things preinstalled and already working, to support serious creative types, and also has all of that support.
- Manjaro (I believe) has continuous updates with no periodic steps, so you always have the latest version of everything.
- Debian has discrete steps, so things stay the same until the next step. I consider this to be important for anything live. Nothing like having it work perfectly in rehearsal, and then an update kills the show!
- Ubuntu and all of its versions are derived from Debian, and continue to pull from it.
- Raspberry Pi OS is also derived from Debian, with the same meaning.
For OBS, I strongly recommend Ubuntu Studio.
...like OBS Studio, with power and flexibility, comes end-user self-service responsibility...
Yes, regardless of what it runs on. Windows, Mac, and Linux all have that. Any time you set up a new rig, you need to look through ALL the settings, EVERYWHERE, figure out what they do, and make it work for you and not the other way around. For me, I:
- Auto-login.
- Crew's panicked power-on at the last minute, and go straight into a show. Yes, it should have been on sooner, but things happen...
- Plus, I grew up on Windows 98 and XP, that were single-user systems and had that behavior by default.
- Yes, I know XP (sorta) supported multiple users, but not really...
- Turn off all of the power saving, screen saving, auto-lock from inactivity, etc.
- If I forget and let it sit while I go on vacation, I want it to burn my desktop into the physical screen.
- Don't lock out the crew just before a show, and don't take away a live audience's display.
- Turn off all automatic updating, and replace it with a script that I optionally run on shutdown. If I still have some show to do later, I don't. If I'm done for a while, I do. And I train the crew that way: don't after rehearsal, do after service.
I haven't really needed anything else on Ubuntu and its derivatives, or the Raspberry Pi.
...Linus's comments on end-user desktop Linux...
If you're talking about this video:
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Yeah, he does have a bunch of valid points. But I think the better way to think of it, is to define an OS by how broadly the same binary package can run. So if something works on Ubuntu, then it can probably be used as-is on Lubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Raspberry Pi, and a bunch more that are all based on Debian. (with the ISA being the only reason to recompile a different binary: x86, ARM, etc.) Manjaro and Arch are distinct operating systems from that, even if they use the same kernel.
So the "Linux" subforum here, actually supports a wide variety of operating systems, while the Mac and Windows subforums only support one each.
If you're going to learn something beyond the big two, I'd recommend sticking with Debian, in the form of Ubuntu and Pi. Don't have Arch on one, SUSE on another, Red Hat somewhere else, etc., because they're practically all different *operating systems* and require different understandings and packages on *that* level.
