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Since Linus Torvalds first began to develop the Linux computer operating system in 1991, until about three or four years ago, it was an operating system used mostly by techies and geeks.
However, in the last few years, it suddenly seems to have become a threat to the proprietary operating system world. Why? Because it has become useful to the everyday computer user. That?s because Linux has taken on a powerful new, evolutionary (or even revolutionary) dimension in the last few years with desktop distributions that are a wonderful combination of beauty and function. The pool of developers has grown like a snowball rolling down a slope, meaning more, and better applications are created every day.
A little more than a year ago one might have seen the potential of free and open source multimedia applications running under Linux. However, the potential was still hampered by bugs, and applications that were featureless or difficult to use as compared to the commercial enterprise applications for the proprietary operating systems. That has all changed. Open source software has even taken some of the top spots in multimedia producer?s toolboxes.
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| Cinelerra is a Linux NLE |
In fact, a Linux distribution was released June 7, 2006 by its developers at dyne.org ( http://dyne.org/software.php ), that includes a powerful selection of the best stable multimedia software for each phase of multimedia, and it?s all on one CD. It is called dyne:bolic 2.0. http://www.dynebolic.org/index.php?show=available
One can run this as a live CD (without installing to a hard drive) and save your settings to a ?nest? file on removable media, or install it to a Linux formatted hard drive just by copying the /dyne directory over from the CD.
Here is a list of the features:
- Either Window Maker, or Fluxbox window managers
Video Applications
Vjay applications:
- Freejay
- Xaos
- EffecTV
Playing Video:
- Xine
- XawTV
- Mplayer
- MP4Player
Record (DV capture)
- Kino
Edit
- Avidemux
- Transcode
- Cinelerra
- Seven Gnomes (media organizer)
Stream
- MP4Live
- HasciiCam
Audio Applications
- Playing Audio
- Xmms
- Amarock
- Timidity
- MikMod
Performing
- Hydrogen
- Mixxx
- Jamin
- Jack Rack
- Freewheeling
- Recording and Editing
- Ardour
- Audacity
- ReZound
- TimeMachine
Stream
- Muse
Image Applications
- Gimp
- Inkscape
- Blender
- Xsane
- Glito
- Gqview (image browser)
- Image Magick
Text applications
- Scribus
- Lyx
- Ted
- Nedit
- Nano
Internet Applications
- Firefox
- Links 2
- Links
- Nvu
- Thunderbird
- GPA (encryption)
- Mutt (another email client)
- TOR
- Privoxy
File Sharing
- Bittorrent
- Nicotine
- Gnutella
File Handling
- K3b (CD/DVD burner)
- Samba (Windows Share level program)
- xFE
- Midnight Commander
Development
- Glade
- Fluid
- Vim
- Adie
Utilities
- MrXVT
- XvKbd (virtual keyboard)
- Xkill
- GkRellum (system monitor)
- Qps (process manager)
- Foxcalc (calculator)
- Xclock
- Wmagn (magnifier)
- Xfontsel (font manager)
- Xeyes (creepy screen animation)
In the scope of this short review there is not space to cover the details of each of the applications that are included in the dyne:bolic distribution. As you can see, it?s quite a long list, and not every one in the distribution is included here. I found the whole distribution to work well with few problems. Some of the packages are bleeding edge beta versions, so are not stable, technically speaking, but the ones the developer included seem to be very solid. There is a PDF format users manual included on the CD for those that need to read the instructions first.
Many of these applications are familiar to knowledgeable multimedia producers already because there are versions available for other operating systems that they may be using. This writer has been using some of them in a professional setting for a couple of years. However, here is finally the opportunity for everyone to try all of them, all in one place, on the Linux operating system. You will be surprised, and maybe even electrified at how far open source software has come in a very short time. It is certainly worth any multimedia producer?s time to download and boot up the live CD to try it out.
http://dynebolic.org/index.php?show=available
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Dan Conklin is a multi-media producer with 20 years of experience in broadcast, commercial, and corporate video and audio production. He is currently employed at Food For The Poor, in Deerfield Beach, Florida, the fifth largest relief organization that operates in the Caribbean and Latin America. There he enjoys being an idealist and a producer at the same time.
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