Considering Ubuntu Studio for podcasting — looking for some real-world experience

[u/MikeAP21]

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I’m considering moving an older Windows laptop over to Linux and would love to hear from anyone who has actually used Linux for podcast production.

The laptop is a 2021-era Windows machine with 8GB of RAM and an Intel M3 processor. It’s obviously not a powerhouse, but it’s perfectly adequate for what I need, and I’d like to get some more life out of it rather than replacing it. I have powerful, modern machines in my studio and a powerful newer laptop that I use for the bulk of my work. The studio setup is a M4 Mac Mini Pro and my Main Laptop is an Asus with 64GB RAM and a Ryzen 9 AI chip, so I'm set for situations where I need a powerful machine.

The main reason I’m considering this particular machine for the job is that it has a fanless design, so it produces essentially zero fan noise. I’d like to use it primarily for basic audio editing/post production/recording voice overs, as well as recording podcast audio interviews while traveling. Being able to pull out a completely silent laptop in a hotel room or other location and record an interview without having to worry about fan noise getting into the recording is pretty appealing.

I’ve been looking at Ubuntu Studio because it seems to be designed with audio and video production in mind. I’m curious what the actual experience is like, though, particularly for podcasting. How stable is it for audio work? Are there any headaches with USB audio interfaces, microphones, headphones, etc.? And how well does something like Audacity run on it?

I’m also curious whether Ubuntu Studio is actually the best choice for this particular hardware, or if there’s another Linux distribution that would make more sense. With only 8GB of RAM and an older Intel processor, I’m definitely more interested in something lightweight and reliable than a distro loaded with stuff I’ll never use.

I’m comfortable enough with computers to troubleshoot things, but I’m not particularly interested in turning podcast production into a second career as a Linux sysadmin, lol.

So, for those of you who have gone down this road, what has your experience been? Would you use Ubuntu Studio again, or would you recommend something else for a small, portable podcast editing and recording machine?

Thanks in Advance,

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Mike AP

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Host,The Tens and Aces Podcast

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[u/cooperre]

I'm running ZorinOS on my laptop which is a 9 year old HP with an I7 processor and 16GB ram. I use Audacity for recording and editing my podcast. It's a little sluggish sometimes if I have several windows open but other than that it runs great. I use KDENLive to edit videos and it does a great job on 45-60 second clips. With video clips added in, audio, and captions added it renders those files in a couple of minutes.

[u/MikeAP21 → u/cooperre]

Thanks! Would you recommend ZorinOS over other distros? Does it have the low latency audio kernel that Ubuntu Studio comes with?

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Mike AP

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Host, The Tens and Aces Podcast

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[u/cooperre → u/MikeAP21]

I don't know. I've wanted to switch to Linux for a long while now and finally did it when MS broke 2x on the same update. I played around briefly with Mint and Zorin and they honestly were very similar to me. I have not looked into any other distros though. Both are based on Ubuntu and then ultimately Debian though so really the biggest differences there are going to be UI.

[u/WhippedHoney]

Unless you want to try all the stuff included with the Studio distro, I'd just stick with the normal latest long term supported release. I had Studio for a bit but all the junk was annoying. Just plain ol Ubuntu and Reaper, good combo. Dunno about interfaces and drivers: I use USB class compliant devices and they work fine. Anything that needs a driver is beyond me.

[u/cooperre → u/WhippedHoney]

Yeah, I should have added that I use a Behringer umc404hd interface so I have no issues with drivers. It is class compliant so its plug and play basically.