How do you determine what is compatible with Linux?

There are lists of Linux-compatible audio devices on ALSA Project and the FreeBoB Wiki. These devices are known to be supported by one of those drivers. I also spend a lot of time searching forums for regular users reporting their success with different devices. I do not gaurantee that anything you buy will work with your system. If you have trouble with some hardware that is supported by ALSA or FreeBoB, contact the developers of those drivers. Posting on an internet forum for your particular Linux distribution is most likely to yield success. Do not contact me for tech support because I don't have first-hand experience with most of the hardware on this list and will not be able to help you.

Why record with Linux?

This article gives some compelling reasons.

What is ALSA?

The ALSA Project (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) is a comprehensive set of sound card drivers for Linux. Any audio interface that connects to your computer via a PCI slot or USB port will be "driven" by ALSA.

What is FreeBoB?

The FreeBoB Project is a driver for FireWire audio interfaces that utilize the BeBoB firmware. What is that? I don't know, but I'm glad it exists. This project is no longer being developed but has produced excellent drivers for the hardware it supports.

What is FFADO?

The FFADO Project (Free Firewire Audio Drivers) is the continuation of the FreeBoB Project and touts a long list of devices it will support. They have not made an official release yet, and this site doesn't list any hardware they will support. This is something to watch, because they will be supporting far more hardware than FreeBoB.

Why don't you list devices supported by FFADO?

FFADO has not been released yet! This means we need to compile it from source and possibly deal with bugs. At the moment these drivers are only useful to users in-the-know or developers. Don't purchase a device because it looks like it will be supported by the FFADO drivers, because there is really no telling when they will be officially released. If you happen to already have a device that FFADO supports (or wishes to support), it would be very helpful to the devs if you tried out the development version and gave them feedback--otherwise the FFADO developers themselves would not recommend them yet.

What is zZounds?

zZounds is an online musical instrument and audio hardware distributor with which this site is affiliated. All of the products you see on this site are purchased through zZounds, not myself. zZounds is my favorite shop for audio hardware and boasts some great deals and no shipping fee on items above a certain price range.