Originally Posted by Jim Fogle
❓ Would one version of Band-in-a-Box for Linux work with all Linux Distros or would the program need to be Distro specific?
Mostly not other than for the different CPUs, mostly x86 and Arm. The OS architecture remains the same, so that should mostly be a build. A number of applications have targeted installer to suit specific distributions, but just about every distribution supports both .deb and apt. Some applications use an install script, which allows making decisions about the specific distribution, e.g., do you want this installed for just you, or for everyone, installed in home, or in /opt or in /usr/local. Some decisions can be automatic, e.g., if I'm installing as root, then this is likely an install available for everyone on the machine.

Originally Posted by Jim Fogle
Also, wouldn't the audio and midi settings be complicated since each Distro has a unique set of features?
There is a bit of an issue on Linux in that there are several audio-handling systems around, those intended for serious use and those aimed at naive users and they don't always work together as seamlessly as one might like. That said, I think the low-level drivers now are probably always ALSA, to which one can always connect and the "serious user" layer above that in the Jack Audio Connection Kit, which links all the audio and midi signals via a patching system. There are software bridges between things so the applications don't have to worry too much, though sometimes the users do.

The layers for naive users are PulseAudio and PipeWire. The are for the "I want it to just work" users.
Generally there are bridges between those and Jack, so serious audio applications probably ignore them.

Reaper Audio is Jack or ALSA or PulseAudio or "Dummy Audio" (I presume the latter is a fake audio port).
Ardour/Mixbus is Jack or ALSA or PulseAudio
My older Renoise is Jack or ALSA
MuseScore Studio uses "System Default"
PianoTeq is Jack or ALSA

There's a quite helpful explanation of Linux Audio here on YouTube (from 4 years ago and fairly techy).

It explains some of the complications of audio on Linux.
Against that, it shows things that simply can't(?) presently be done at all on Windows.

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
.