Hey ive been obsessed with linux for the last two weeks. I cant remember what sparked the initial intrest to check out linux but after I started poking around the web I fell in love with linux. Ive tried installing a few diffrent distrobutions but slackware was the only one I could figure out. Honestly im happy about that becouse I think using slackware will be helpfull for me to really learn to use linux and not depend on a gui to do everything.

My experience with linux so far has convinced me to switch over from windows. Something Ive been wanting to do for quite some time. However Im also into experimental electronic music production and im not quite comfortable enough with linux to convert that aspect of my software needs. Ive been looking around and ive come up with a few questions that I need answered:

is audioslack permenitly down? ... the website seems to be under construction and I wasnt sure if anyone here knew weather or not it was still being worked on. Is there anywere i can get archived information from them and what not?

is there anywere online to purchuse audio cards supported by linux?...ive read teh compatibility list and such but not very thouroughly. Im in the market for a decent sound card for midi and some light audio recording. cheap as possible really!

Does slackware 10.2 have all teh libraries included that are needed to run rose garden 4 ?... if not where can i find these?

I really apreciate any help anyone here has to offer ... Im still learning linux so I would probably figure alot of this out on my own over time .. but who has any of that.

I do not know of any place that specializes in linux and audio cards.
I would buy from a place that sells music gear:
musicians friend
music 123
same day music
unfortunately you won't get any linux support from these places. You have to search out the community for that.
From my own searchings, the M-audio Delta series PCI cards seem to be well supported, and you can find them at decent prices. You can get an audiophile 2496 for about $100 which has two channels analog I/O, plus 16 channels midi I/O, and spdif (digital) I/O. I've learned a lot from the ardour website ardour.org

welcome to linux. It's a great OS

http://linux-sound.org/ is a good source for sound and midi software available. Could help you figure out what's out there. As petespin27 mentioned, you're typically on your own for figuring out compatable hardware. A good start is to hit the HCL here, and also just do google searches for "linux" + "model name of hardware" to gauge Linux support for it.

Thanks guys I really apreciate it .... Ive been poking around and Ive found that what I need is Available software and hardware wise... the m-audio cards look like there perfect for what I need and I guess with a little learning I can get a fast linux setup going. Its just like learning to use my computer all over again : ) It all makes sense so far and I feel really good about using "free" software, and not just becouse it doesnt cost me anything. Id still like to audioslacks website back up and I guess It will be eventually. Ive read that mandrake is supposed to be a good distrobution to use but Ive kinda grown attached to slackware, so Ill just struggle throught the tutorials in my spare time to make the transition. oh another question : ) If I use one sound card for audio inputs and another for midi would there be any conflicts with alsa? is it possible to use more than one sound card at a time?

Yes it is possible. You will have two audio devices, ie: /dev/dsp1 and /dev/dsp2
I believe alsa can support up to 8 cards. Here's some docs:
http://alsa.opensrc.org/MultipleCards

you guys are awsome ... linux just keeps getting better and better : )