[PlanetCCRMA] newbie: installing non-planet software

[Benjamin Dembroski]

Hello.

I am a visual artist who became interested in Linux a little over a year
ago, mostly due to the ethos of Open Source software. I soon discovered
the planet, and I have to say, I am quite impressed.

I use sound and video in my work from time to time, but the majority of
,y practice involves building kinetic sculptures / installations as well
as doing some animation work with flash.

Up to now, I've been using OSX for the majority of my work (before that,
OS9).

I am now in the process of migrating to Linux almost completely for
computer work, for a number of reasons. (Both financial and
ideological).

After much experimentation, I have decided to base my system on the
Planet (Red Hat 9).

However, I am not what i think is a typical Planet user in that my
computer needs to be a general multimedia workstation, as well as being
a general admin tool. I don't see any live performances in my immediate
future and the emphasis of my work is on the visual rather than the
audio.

My question is (sorry it took so long to get to this) What are the
potential pitfalls of installing various non-planet software on this
system? I am under the impression that I am not supposed to use multiple
repositories in my apt sources list, but I really need software like
Open office 1.1, a Java SDK, Qcad, Blender, and Scribus and the like to
successfully migrate to Linux.

It's just a shot in the dark, but up to this point, I've been installing
this software in the /opt/ directory. So far, so good.(touch wood).

Is the Planet a bad move for me or will this be no problem? Any advice?

Many thanks in advance...

Ben Dembroski