[SLUG] I've just sent this out

[john at johnallsopp.co.uk]

Hi ppl

I've just sent this to the person who is teaching, umm, music and
production .. something like that, perhaps music technology, at
Yorkshire Coast College because he commented that his new students
can't afford to buy Apple software for use at home. I wrote it so he
could just distribute it to his students, but I don't know if that's
allowed.

Dave W, might something similar be useful to send to the Internet
Computing new intake? If you want me to draft something slanted to
them, let me know.

Otherwise, maybe it's just of interest. I must admit, I'm dying to get
to grips with the Agnula thing.

Free music software, introducing Linux

Linux is a computer operating system, an equivalent to Microsoft
Windows or Apple Mac OSX. Linux and OSX share a common core.
Underneath OSX is an operating system called BSD Unix. Linux is a Unix
copy. The two systems therefore share the same view of a computer ..
the same way of naming files, for instance. So Linux won't be entirely
unfamiliar and it's possible that software that works for one might
also be available for the other.

The key thing about Linux is that it's free, in both senses of the
word. Software is mostly free of charge (barring perhaps media or
copying charges), but it's also 'free as in freedom' .. free to use,
free to share, free to copy, and free even to alter and change to suit
your needs. That's a long way from the world of Microsoft.

Open source software, which is what this movement is called, is built
upon the goodwill of people. Of course, that's primarily the goodwill
of the people who wrote and tested the software packages, but in many
the fact that they receive so much for so little makes them feel they
should give something back to the community. When they do, it makes
the community better. It means the Linux community has a history and a
culture of helping each other, of giving back.

Part of that community is the worldwide Linux User Groups, where
people who want to understand more about Linux and to share their
knowledge and interest meet. There is a Scarborough Linux User Group.

Anyone can join, of course it's free of charge, and you can join the
mailing list and talk with us. Feel free to ask questions there. The
web address is <http://www.scarborough.lug.org.uk/>. There are also
monthly meetings, check the list to find out the next one and what
we'll be talking about. They're usually informal, and there's often
just a handful of people there.

Perhaps Linux isn't the easiest operating system to learn, and it's
possible not all peripherals will work with it, but perhaps the way to
look at it is that with Microsoft and Apple you pay all the time for
their software .. it's a never ending stream that adds up to
substantial amounts over time. With Linux, you may have to invest in
your brain, teach yourself some new things, learn a little about
computers, but in the end you'll know how to work a free system. You
give a little time to yourself, and you get a whole world of software,
for free, back.

Interestingly, much cutting edge software is written in Linux, perhaps
because many technical people use it, or maybe because it's a very
stable operating system.

As regards music, well, when you buy Linux you choose a 'distribution'
which is Linux plus more free software than you'll ever need (try
15,000 packages). If you want an attractive, easy to use personal
computer system, you might try SUSE, Mandriva, or Fedora. If you want
a computer that will quietly run a database server without fault year
after year, you might go for Debian. In other words, you choose the
distribution according to what you want to use the computer for.

The distribution that is geared up for musicians is AGNULA
<http://www.agnula.org/>. You get a realtime modular synthesizer and
effect processor, a graphical user interface for the sound synthesis
and sound processing package and programming language Csound, a
low-latency audio server designed from the ground up for professional
audio work, a visual programming environment for building interactive
real-time music and multimedia applications, the Nyquist language for
sound synthesis and music composition and the Ecasound multitrack
audio processing package among many others.

Perhaps it's not for the faint hearted, but if you're serious about
doing something different (and you have little or no money), there is
real potential here.

SLUG is your local Linux User Group, and there are people there who
are willing to help you get started, so before you buy another
software package or piece of hardware, get in touch by joining the
mailing list <http://www.scarborough.lug.org.uk/list.shtml> and saying
hello.

For the really keen, the group is a couple of months into a twelve
month process of self studying for a Linux exam. We self study for
four hours a week and then swap notes. Get in touch soon if that
sounds of interest.


Cheers
J