I have an old powerbook g4 that I want to upgrade with Linux and run ardour to use as part of a new recording set up. Is this possible? Also, does ardour support mackie 1640?
Ardour doesn’t support any audio hardware at all. It doesn’t care what you have. All of Ardour’s audio and MIDI I/O is done via JACK. JACK works with any device that has a working device driver on your platform. If there is a working CoreAudio driver for the Mackie 1640, then you can use it with JACK and thus with Ardour. (Note: this will change in a future version of Ardour where direct use of CoreAudio is possible, but even then the same rule applies: working CoreAudio driver - it works with Ardour)
A Powerbook G4 will be a little underpowered but you should be able to get something out of it. Be aware that there is still no release of Ardour3 for OS X - you will want to get Ardour 2.8.16 for OS X if you want to avoid beta state software.
paul,
Read again…
the OP wants to run Linux on the powerbook… and yes with a recent Linux distribution with FFADO firewire drivers a Mackie 1640 will be well supported assuming you have the optional FireWire card installed in the Mackie…
oops, my mistake, sorry.