[SLUG] Linux for artists, feedback request

[john at johnallsopp.co.uk]

Hi ppl

My first draft of Linux for artists. I'd send you the Office file so
you can check the format of it but I haven't tidied that yet because
I'm out of ink, but here's the initial text anyway.

All input appreciated.

Cheers
J


Linux for artists

Don't you feel closed in? Don't you feel limited by commercial
software applications, cajoled into paying for the software the
magazines tell you about, and held back by your ability to pay both
for them and for a fast enough computer to run it all on? Do you feel
like you could do better work if only you had this application or that
plugin? Don't you feel like you're being coralled into buying
particular software packages rather than exploring the margins as an
artist?

As an artist, are you not supposed to be dealing with the human
experience? Are you not supposed to be free to express yourself, to
connect with people, to create without boundary?

That's the promise of Linux. That's the theory. Whether it works for
you in practice is down to you. Linux isn't easy, especially if you're
not technically minded, but it is free.

Free software

Let's start from the beginning. Linux is an operating system that
replaces Windows or OS X. It's part of a growing movement (with many
exciting social implications) called Free/Open Source Software.

Free software is software that is generally available free of charge
or for just the cost of the media and the postage and packing. More
importantly it's software you are free to use, to copy, to give away,
and which you are free to amend and improve.

Open Source software provides not just the computer readable binary
files, but the source code, the original human-readable program, too.
You can change the software to do what you want.

That's the theory. In truth, it's not easy to amend software, you do
have to know what you're doing. So if you're a digital artist
specialising in graphics or sound manipulation, maybe you really can,
but what does that mean for the rest of us?

It means there are many people who do make those changes. Every day.
Open source software can be very nimble indeed, so while you can wait
a year or more for a new version of a headline product, a new feature
that you want might be added much sooner to an Open Source package.

With an up to date version of Linux, you can even set it up to keep
those packages up to date automatically, so you're always on the
cutting edge.

And you can help with the software development process even if you're
a novice, simply by being a user. Open Source software is robust (it
crashes less often) because, rather than being developed behind closed
doors and then launched like a commercial software package, each tiny
incremental development is generally released to those interested in a
package's development. This means it's tested on real world machines
throughout its development. You can help by being one of those early
adopters, sending bug reports back to the developers.

But that's enough technology for now, let's look at what it all means
for you.

What software is available?

There's generally an open source software package to rival any of the
big name products. The Gimp is a raster image (photographs, etc.)
manipulation tool. Inkscape is for vector graphics. Kino is for
digital video. All this is robust .. the big Hollywood digital studios
use Linux for digital graphics, for instance in The Two Towers.

For music and sound, there's a Linux distribution especially for you
called Agnula. There's the audio and MIDI sequencer Rosegarden, the
Alsa modular synth, and Cecilia with Csound which gives you the
ability to create pretty much any sound you can imagine.

All your normal applications are covered too, with Open Office
providing word processing, spreadsheet and presentations, and Gnu Cash
covering standard book-keeping.

All of this is (I believe) available free of charge.

What are the bigger issues?

A growing number of people believe the Internet has provided us with
an advanced tool for co-operating between many dispersed people.

The Open Source community is developing advanced tools for
collaborative software development.

What will happen if Free and Open Source software wins over commercial
software? Software will become free, like conversation. Access to
information and to software capability won't be limited by wealth.

What will happen when the tools Open Source developers use to
co-ordinate software development are changed to allow co-operative
development in other areas, perhaps artistic, perhaps political or
religious?

The Free / Open Source Software community is mostly against software
patents and usually issues software under a licence called the GNU
General Public Licence.  There's an equivalent in the music industry
called the Free Music Philosophy which allows derivative works. What
if this were applied to visual art or to the written word? If you like
the idea, perhaps you can be at the forefront of development.

How do I get started?

Because the Free / Open Source Software movement is about people
co-operating (rather than a commercial exchange), there is a lot of
help available, mostly online.

Most population centres have a Linux User Group. The Scarborough Linux
User Group is your local one. We meet once a month for a presentation,
a debate, or to play with some new software, and we have an online
mailing list on which you can ask questions.

You'll need a computer to run Linux on. You can set it up so that when
you power-up it gives you the choice, Windows or Linux.

You need to get Linux installed. You can do that yourself or ask SLUG
if we'll help.

You'll then need to put some time aside to learn your new system.
Perhaps buy a book for your version of Linux and learn just a little
each day. Before you know it, you'll be moving over permanently.

http://www.agnula.org/
http://alsamodular.sourceforge.net/
http://cecilia.sourceforge.net/
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/philosophy/fmp.html
http://www.gnucash.org
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
http://www.openoffice.org/
http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/
http://www.scarborough.lug.org.uk/