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First of all, this may have already been mentioned, but there's an excellent linux audio site here.

As for soundcards, I'm not heavy into PC-based recording, but I know names like Creative and Turtle Beach are NOT the choice picks.

There's a report on PC sound cards at PC AV Tech that does some real quantitative comparisons, and includes some pro cards. The summary is here.

As for brands, start with

• Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU)
  
• Yamaha Although I can't seem to find the popular DSP factory in a few minutes of looking on the site.
  
• Echo Audio make the Gina, Darla, and Layla cards that used to be distributed by Event Electronics
  
• Aardvark Audio
  
• Digidesign
  
• Sek'd
  
• Soundscape Digital Technologies
  
• DSP FX makes an effects processing card
  

Somebody mentioned older Pro Tools hardware available cheaply, but I don't know if that's usable without the Digidesign software.

I think most pro applications and users would be covered by the brands above. I know the basement hobbiest may not go for those cards, but I think most people coming from a music/studio background will.

Are these brands supported under *nix? It's hard enough getting stable drivers for some pro cards for NT or 9x. I don't imagine that there's the audio equivalent of the gaming industry pushing manufacturers to release hardware specs so that open drivers can be written by the community.

I have to think that driver support for the pro audio cards will be a critical issue in the near term... I would even consider getting involved in this type of project over the summer once I'm finished school (12 days until I finish classes for my EE!!).

Still, I'd love for somebody to correct me.

Christopher