Which distro? (live music graphic effects)

hi everyone - I'm new around here, and an RPi just landed on my doormat ...

... so, other than to say hi <waves> I'm after just a little advice as to where to start ...

some relevant info :

I'm total linux-noob, with a bit of experience in c++ mostly through making VST (audio) plugins on ... and I'd like to explore using the RPi for some basic VJ'ing (I'm a recent vvvv convert on pc) blending static video files with live-generated animation elements, sprites, swipes and so on ...

I'm not expecting to replace my windoze boxes, rather to supplement my live setup with a couple of switch-on and run graphics effects running from a couple Pi's ... with power somewhere between a PS2 and a PS3 ...

but at this stage I've yet to even plugin and power-up my Pi - so the pertinent question would be ::

which distro ?

I like what I've seen of the nokia qt stuff, but I have to confess I find it utterly inpregnable from a basic getting-started point of view -- can I go with the stock distro and still get to roll-up my sleeves with some graphical goodness ?

oh, and on a (slightly) unrelated point - what's the deal with RPi vs MIDI ? can I just use a 'standard' ('driverless') usb>midi 'converter' cable to realise I/O or do I have to start melting my finger tips and swearing at a soldering iron ?

thanks in advance

daz

To start off with you'll be best going with Debian, as provided on the Download page. Once you're comfortable with finding your way around, if you want to squeeze a bit more performance out of your Pi, you could try Raspbian http://www.raspbian.com

Did you try the forum search? search.php?keywords=midi
But yeah, RPi is "just linux" so it works out-of-the-box with lots of different USB devices.

I'm total linux-noob, with a bit of experience in c++ mostly through making VST (audio) plugins on ... and I'd like to explore using the RPi for some basic VJ'ing (I'm a recent vvvv convert on pc) blending static video files with live-generated animation elements, sprites, swipes and so on ...

I'm not expecting to replace my windoze boxes, rather to supplement my live setup with a couple of switch-on and run graphics effects running from a couple Pi's ... with power somewhere between a PS2 and a PS3 ...

but at this stage I've yet to even plugin and power-up my Pi - so the pertinent question would be ::

which distro ?

I like what I've seen of the nokia qt stuff, but I have to confess I find it utterly inpregnable from a basic getting-started point of view -- can I go with the stock distro and still get to roll-up my sleeves with some graphical goodness ?

You certainly can code up graphics stuff in the stock distro - either using X or SDL. It should also be possible to write (or run) all the qt stuff without using the qtonpi distro. I would go debian all the time.

oh, and on a (slightly) unrelated point - what's the deal with RPi vs MIDI ? can I just use a 'standard' ('driverless') usb>midi 'converter' cable to realise I/O or do I have to start melting my finger tips and swearing at a soldering iron ?

Haven't done any midi stuff but the midi support for linux is pretty good and the raspi doesn't do anything special in that regard. Your best search results are going to be from using linux instead of raspi when googling.

thanks for the quick replies chaps. I'll crack-on with stock-imaging a card and take a look around then ... I'm in no particular rush.

I looked for pi-specific midi, got some pcb layouts and some guesswork around usb-cables - so thanks also for the verification - I'll give it a whirl just as soon as I've figured-out how ...

good tip re googling linux over Pi

cheers

MIDI support in debian is pretty good, but it comes in 2 flavours: ALSA, which is the latest version and supports most USB<=>MIDI adapters, and the earlier OSS which doesn't support so much but has a more powerful collection of MIDI utilities.

To try out MIDI support install the ALSA package and try 'aplaymidi' with your adapter attached.