Linux operating systems may not yet be the dominant choice for audio and music production workstations, but over time the emergence of sophisticated free and open source sound server software and music and audio production applications (sound and notation editors, digital audio workstations, plugins, music trackers and software synthesizers) has made the Linux desktop a viable and dynamic environment for making music. Even some popular proprietary software now runs on Linux desktops and benefits from this underlying free software ecosystem. We will explore the music production tools and workflows available to the Linux desktop user and conclude with a demonstration of signal processing and software synthesis in a Linux environment.