Audio recording control surfaces already have the tactiles that you would want. All you would really need to do is to subvert its core purpose to your needs. This is a somewhat pricey but very popular device: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/mackie-control-universal-pro

I wanted to try recording under Linux (Slackware and Ubuntu), but my hardware (E-mu 1616) doesn't support Linux. The patch that's been written for Creative/Emu products is spotty as hell and most of the time just doesn't work, so I gave up the idea. Besides, like Microsoft or not, it's still the most flexible platform available and is supported by far more software and hardware developers than any other platform. I won't ever own an Apple product. Period. Not worth the money you have to dump into the whole proposal of changing systems. It's not just about buying a new computer: It's about changing a way of doing things with which I've become very comfortable. That said, I wish MS would follow Apple's lead in the pricing scheme department, but I guess as long as there are people like me for MS to depend upon, they won't be changing their philosophy any time soon.