[PlanetCCRMA] newbie: installing non-planet software

[Marv Smoak]

Fernando said (and I snipped):
> > 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'm not sure where I fit as a user.  Running Planet circa 200303.. 
RH8.0.  Very satisfied;  planning to go to Fedora and latest in May.

I'm a sax/flute/keyboard player/student wanting to play better; have
a room that supports keyboard, bass, 2flute/sax, 2+guitars and ...
regular group meets here weekly. Realbook, blues, ...

Also, I'm an old serious techie; math, physics, statistics; touch type
APL2 (still using msdos6.0 for apl2), into modeling, computation and all
of that.  I read sax lists and subscribe to lau, pccrma, and oldtools.

audio: low tech but functional;  support for midi keyboard in
the music room and cd playing and internet radio (listening to Jazz After
Hours right now)  The music room is for playing; space/mics for kb, base,
2 guitars, 2 horns, congas.  It works for our group. Looking forward to
using more of the function available later.

> >
> > 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.
What he said, but I need APLX, all of KDE (and Gnome) ... And I'd really 
like to learn enough C and Unix stuff to be more functional in linux, so 
I'll need the compiler ....

>
> On the other hand I would be interested in "beefing up" what is
> available through Planet CCRMA so any suggestions of open source
> software packages will be considered ...

As I said above, KDE/Gnome ... (in Fedora???) plus the ability to for 
apt/synaptic (or some dependency handler) to add user specific rpms, ...
from other collections, smoothly.

Also, some mechanism for allowing pccrma users to contribute more to 
documentation of this fine collection and how to use it.  I'm enjoying
my system so much that I'm feeling somewhat guilty about not "helping"
more.  

Perhaps all of the above, except ccrma needs, should be in fedora or 
...  Where does what fit?  User needs: audio + other -- user-environment 
-- system -- distribution -- os.  

One thing I know is our keyboard player now has pccrma at home on his system. 
Fernando, thanks very much for what you are providing.  It's being used.

Back to flute now ... and listening. 
Marv          in Lexington, KY where spring is here ...