Move over, Adobe — Ubuntu Studio, due in April, promises to put a full, completely open-source graphics package together for Linux. The OS and apps will all be bundled together for easy installation. We recently covered pure:dyne, a high-performance visual OS. Ubuntu Studio looks a little friendlier and broader for newcomers; it’ll be interesting if it can make Linux installation and configuration easy even for the truly lazy — to make Linux graphics an impulse install. (I can test that, certainly.) pure:dyne I’m expecting will remain the best choice for Pd, but Ubuntu Studio looks like it may be promising, as well.
In a single install for PCs and Macs, Ubuntu Studio packs a lot of firepower:
- kino, for non-linear video editing
- Stop motion and animation tools
- Inkscape and GIMP, for vector and bitmap editing
- Blender, for 3D
- F-spot for image management
- Wacom tools
Pd is included, but not with all the goodies in pure:dyne, so if you’re interested in patching, that’s still the way to go. In fact, I notice this is generally missing tools for live visuals. We’ll have to keep an eye on this, though, as plenty of VJ/visualist/video tools are on the wish list, like gephex and freej. Most promising: veejay for dyne. Anyone who might be able to help contribute and put that together, I’m sure they’d love to have you!
Full list of packages
Ubuntu Studio Wiki
Analysis for music from Create Digital Music