What He Thinks, He Becomes

Another episode from your friendly neighborhood Ubuntu Studio project lead discussing more Fun Facts, future plans for Ubuntu Studio, and more Meet the Team. Let's rock it...

Oh, also I'm going to try to rock some new headings that I hope play better with Planet Ubuntu. Blogger likes to set the font-size for headings, but I'm going to use HTML h1 tags.

Ubuntu Studio Fun Facts

Just one fun fact this time because I'm going to explain it a bit. Plus lobby for avoiding Personal Package Archives (PPA's). I realize there are people who may think I'm a heretic for even suggesting such a thing, but read on before trying to crucify me.

Ubuntu Studio Fun Fact #4
If a package is not in the official repositories it cannot ship on the ISO image, and
PPA's are not the official repositories.

I get questioned quite often why isn't package foobar including in the Ubuntu Studio image because "there's a PPA that has it built already! And {insert favorite Ubuntu Studio derivative} ships it!"

The Ubuntu Studio ISO image is built using the automated Ubuntu buildd system, and as far as I can tell it can only pull in packages that are in the official repositories. This automated system cannot pull in packages from any of the legion PPA's available.

Note that your favorite Ubuntu Studio derivative does not use the same build system. I believe that most of them build their ISO images from a working installation. This allows them to install anything they want and then build their images...if they can install a package, they can "ship" that package in their image.

But beyond providing information about why every package ever written simply cannot ship with Ubuntu Studio, I want to make a plea.

Instead of only getting that package into a PPA, why not take the extra time and effort to get the package into the official repositories?

Anyone could install that package without having to add a PPA (I know it's easy to do so, but some people aren't/don't). The package could be included by default and ship with the ISO then. People would admire you from afar. Some might worship you from anear. It might even reduce the effect of global climate change. Maybe.

Please. Think about it. Help.

Improvements

The discerning reader would notice that I usually label this section as "Natty Improvements" and might ask, "Where's the Natty, mate?". The answer is that I judiciously removed it because I wanted to talk about generalized improvements for Ubuntu Studio.

We are looking to develop an art team around Ubuntu Studio. The purpose of said art team would be to artfully create art for Ubuntu Studio. Right. That explains it.

Well, actually there's more than just that. What I envision is that the team would help develop a cohesive art concept for Ubuntu Studio and create the artwork and themes in alignment with the concept. Sounds brilliants!

Nothing is written in stone at this point and it's all in the embryonic stage.

Ideally we are looking for artists but also for an art lead/director-type person who would have experience with developing and packaging themes.

If you are interested please contact me at scottalavender@gmail.com about it or email the ubuntustudio-devel mailing list.

Meet the Team

The next person I would like to talk about is ailo. He is another one of the people that I blogged about before mentioning that vast coding or development experience is not necessary.

Much like Mike, ailo has jumped in feet first and is making major waves. Originally he started with helping to test real-time privileges with the new kernel stack, then he moved on to help update the ubuntustudio-controls package which is long overdue.

Researching -lowlatency kernel development, creating alternate icon sets, and walks on the beach are some of his other interests as well. I kid about the last one...maybe.


Okay, I'm late with this post and I'm out of time today as well so this one is going to press as is.

I'll follow up next time with more RPM Challenge information (because I know everyone is disappointed this week) and also follow up with more information about the Ubuntu Studio art team.

One Should Look for What Is (Not What One Thinks Should Be)

Continuing previous discussion about Ubuntu Studio improvements for Natty and beginning a new section of discussion.  But first, more Ubuntu Studio Fun Facts!

Ubuntu Studio Fun Facts
Ubuntu Studio Fun Fact #2
There are two commonly preferred ways to install Ubuntu Studio.

Many people start with a regular, vanilla Ubuntu installation and "upgrade" their package selection by installing the Ubuntu Studio meta-packages.

Others prefer a fresh installation from the Ubuntu Studio DVD.

Ubuntu Studio Fun Fact #3
There are many way to contact other users or the Ubuntu Studio developers.

The ubuntu-studio-users mailing list and the ubuntu-studio-devel mailing list are two of the most popular ways.  But if you prefer IRC you can find #ubuntustudio and #ubuntustudio-devel on the Freenode servers as well.

The Ubuntu Studio forums are also another great resource for contact and an incredible repository of knowledge as well.  Thanks to Autostatic for reminding me :) 

Additionally, I would like to add another IRC channel that is not dedicated to Ubuntu Studio but is chock full of amazingly experienced and knowledgeable people: #opensourcemusicians.  If you have a linux audio question there is a good chance that someone in the channel will have an answer for you.

Natty Improvements
Another thing we have done already for Natty is create a new plymouth theme.  I think it looks really nice and it based on work that Cory Kontros did.  And just in case no one has told him lately, Cory, you rock!

While Ubuntu is moving towards Unity as the default xsession, Ubuntu Studio plans on remaining with Gnome.  We currently believe this is best for our user's work flow.  To this effect the ubuntustudio-default-settings package has been updated.

It should be noted that this does not automatically establish the gnome-classic xsession as default for users who "upgrade" from a regular Ubuntu installation to Ubuntu Studio.  However, these users can set it easily.

Upcoming improvements will including updating the menu to include new packages, updating the ubuntustudio.org website, and a revamp of the ubuntustudio-controls package.

The last item really needs its own section to properly explain what is happening.  Perhaps next time :)

Meet the Team
This is a new section to get people familiar with who is helping with Ubuntu Studio development and give them credit for their hard work.

The first I'll mention is Alessio Bogani.  If you have rocked a -lowlatency or -rt kernel in Ubuntu Studio then chances are you have experienced his work.

Alessio has been a anchor for the tuned kernels in Ubuntu Studio and many, many users have benefited from his work.  Indeed, some people would not have been able to achieve viable low latencies without his kernels.

Alessio deserve a huge salute for his contributions to Ubuntu Studio and Linux audio. 

The second person I would like to mention this time is Mike Holstein.  Mike habitually rocks the #ubuntustudio channel answering users questions.  Indeed, Mike is a force majeure and has practically brought that channel back from life support into a thriving place.

Additionally, Mike is a huge help with development.  Even though he doesn't know how to code and didn't have prior developer experience he routinely rolls up his sleeves, digs into a problem, researches, and helps find solutions during development.  When I mentioned "tenacity, inquisitiveness, and initiative" in the previous blog...he is one of the persons I thought about while waxing poetic.

Both frequent #ubuntustudio-devel on Freenode IRC so come say hi.

RPM Challenge Update
Four new demos up at my RPM Challenge artist page.  The first two songs were mentioned in the previous post.

An interesting thing to mention is that the latest songs were done in Qtractor rather than in Ardour.  I know that Ardour typically gets all the publicity as the flagship for open source Linux audio applications but I've really had a good experience with Qtractor.

I choose Qtractor because I wanted to delve into using sequencers and synths (and not just Hydrogen drums) for making music.  What I found is that I have also greatly improved my work flow as a result!  The time to realize a song from scratch riffs to songs has decreases significantly as well.  But this probably deserves it's own space in a later post.

Again, please feel free to make any comments or critiques about the music...even to say it sucks.

Amicable Antidisestablishmentarianism

Kicking some knowledge about Ubuntu Studio and talking about where Ubuntu Studio is heading with Natty.

Ubuntu Studio Fun Facts
I think there are a lot of misconceptions and generally an anemic amount of factual information about Ubuntu Studio.  So I thought a silly and fun way to address this issue would be to start publishing Ubuntu Studio Fun Facts.  They're fun!  They're facts!

Hey!  You got your fun in my facts.

No!  You got your facts in my fun!

Hmmm, delicious.

Ubuntu Studio Fun Fact #0:
Ubuntu Studio shares the same repository as vanilla Ubuntu.  Crazy, huh?

Ubuntu Studio Fun Fact #1:
The Ubuntu Studio developers don't general code much.  This means you don't have to have mad coding skills to help with Ubuntu Studio development; generally I suggest that tenacity, inquisitiveness, and initiative will serve you well.

Natty Improvements
Natty is the first release where I felt effective as project lead as defined by being proactive rather than reactive.

Notably we took a good hard look at what packages were being shipped with Ubuntu Studio.  In some cases it seemed that some packages didn't support a viable work flow.  Perhaps there weren't enough packages to provide a complete "tool chain" for a particular task or a random and isolated package was included "just because".

So, I started a work flows page to help coalesce some of our ideas on pertinent and desirable work flows.  Once we could develop a complete, supportive "tool chain" of applications to support a particular task, and we deemed a task currently desirable to our users, we could validate the necessity of those packages and they would be included in the ISO.

NB All are encourage to add their thoughts to the work flows wiki page.  Please be courteous, however, and do not remove or delete another person's work flow, but please append yours as an alternate.

Justifying package inclusion is a good way to make Ubuntu Studio leaner, yet more functional at the same time.  Brilliant!

Another thing we did was look at the installation tasks (also known as tasksel), which is where the choice of installing audio, audio-plugins, graphics, and/or video applications during a fresh installation from the DVD occurs.

I felt that the audio tasksel option could be better effected by dividing the proffered audio applications into two subgroups; sequencers/synths/MIDI and recording instruments/vocals.  This was a direct result of the work flow exercise.

The benefit to this is that those who want to record audio, i.e. the "I want to record my band" crowd, will probably not want all the sequencer and synth applications.  Likewise, those who do not play instruments will probably not want additional applications crowding up their menus.

Of course, those who want both can easily (it's an additional spacebar away!) get them all.  Sounds like a win-win to me.

What Say You?
I have other ideas for Ubuntu Studio topics to discuss but I would like to hear your suggestions.

Probably topics like the various ways to install Ubuntu Studio or why certain packages are included would be worth the discussion.  But I'm sure there are others that would be just as extremely beneficial.  Help me identify those subjects.

RPM Challenge Update
Two new demos up at my RPM Challenge artist page.

The first is an instrumental while the second will have vocals, but I am still working on lyrics and plan to record to vocals during the last week.

Please feel free to make any comments or critiques about the music...even to say it sucks.  I have thick skin.

Temporal Anomoly or Death Rays of Life

Greeting and Salutations Friends,

I am tempted to start this blog with a joke about this being my quarterly blog post, but I shan't.  Indeed, if the date of my last blog post were any indication it would not be a joke, but reality.

Nonetheless, I plan on making more blog posts from this point forward, although I expect them to be shorter and more direct.

I should also note that this isn't because of some silly New Year's resolution.  I don't do those.  New Year's day is a day just like any other day.  I could argue that all the other days are more important simply because there are 364 other individually unique days in the year (discounting leap year), and the weighted average clearly shows that the rest of the year is more important and special.  Getting older gives one a surprisingly clear perspective on some things.  But then, so does believing in ruthless aliens abductions.

I mentioned a format change and I have now mentioned it again.  It must be important.  My previous posts, and generally most of my other written work, tends to be rigid, verbose, and organized.  Good traits those.  But it also has become a paralytic construct from which my posts cannot escape due to lack of time.

Therefore, I am hoping to make my posts more informal, shorter, and spontaneous.  Hopefully, this yields a secondary effect attribute; more frequent.

Obviously I want to continue to discuss Ubuntu Studio ad nauseam, however I would also like to talk about some other topics that interest me and might interest, even surprise, you.

Like using Blender for video editing and compositing.

I expect that surprised you.  Well, not unless you have been around me for any given length of time on IRC.

Blender has been a stable and powerful video editor and compositer for a long time and I want to share the things I've already learned about it and the things I hope to continue to learn.  Remember, don't let the those kids skipping class, hiding in the bathroom, and smoking cigarettes to you differently, learning is cool.  And fun.  Don't forget the fun.

Finally, I want to mention that this is the first day of the RPM Challenge for 2011.  I've done it two years running and have rough and loose plans for continuing the traditions.  Happy recording!

Advocacy Revisited

In an earlier post I discussed advocacy. It is past time that I further that discourse with additional anecdotes, examples, repercussions, and prognostications. All without winning an Emmy.

Experiences Past
The previous advocacy meeting did not go as well as expected; only one person attended of the various co-workers and friends that had been invited.  Granted, I have no one to blame but myself since I failed to remind them properly.

However, this yielded an unexpected benefit of minimizing pressure and I viewed this meeting as a practice. You can view the video here.

Additionally, after post meeting reflections I decided to make adjustments to the presentation and slides to improve the experience. The updated slides can be found here.

I now felt better prepared for the following meeting.

Expectations, Both Big and Small
Obviously, one of the goals of the advocacy presentation is to introduce Ubuntu Studio to an unfamiliar audience. But this goal only illustrates just how available and powerful the operating system and applications are.  Only.

But a secondary, and almost equally important, goal is to show just how accessible Ubuntu Studio is.

Huh?  You just said it was available, isn't accessible the same thing?

No, not at all and to address this point let's discuss the computer used in the presentation.

I purchased a very select and specific computer for this advocacy project for two reasons.  Firstly, from a logistical standpoint I wanted a machine that I could transport without having to disassemble my recording setup.  This aspect isn't necessarily pertinent to the project other than as a practicality however.

The second reason, and arguably more important one, addresses the accessibility aspect mentioned above.  This robust and vitalic Dell machine boasted a P4 2.8 GHz processor with 512 MB of memory (later appended with an additional 1 gig) and on-board sound.  Such a beast!

And this beast successfully handles recording and multitracking audio, including significant digital signal processing with Rakarrack.

I used a computer with such low specs that you cannot buy it new but yet contains more technology than the Beatles used to create most of their albums.  Additionally, most people already have computers more powerful and I purchased this one for less than $150 including shipping.

How is this anything but accessible?

Experiencing the Meeting
This time the meeting experienced a significantly larger audience.

I made a flier to give them as a tangible reminder and I reminded them in person in a timely manner.  While I tried to avoid being a nuisance I made sure that the date was in their collective consciousness.

By the way, the flier isn't terribly pretty (I've never considered myself a graphic artists either) but it was made with Inkscape (which inescapably rocks) and you can see the .pdf file here.  To be honest, I'm a little embarrassed by it (although I learned loads about using the Open Clip Art Library) but I want transparency in what I did.  If other see what I did then I hope to encourage others to do the same, especially considering how low I set the bar :P

The meeting went swimmingly and I even had a additional and unexpected attendant; Peter, the thirteen year old brother of one of my co-workers.

Brother Can You Spare A Computer?
I mentioned that I had two reasons for purchasing a computer, but I also had two purposes as well.  The first purpose, coincided with the first reason; I needed an easily transported computer for the presentation.

The second purpose had far more import; to demonstratively till and sow the field of advocacy I would be giving this computer away.

Originally, I had been deliberating between two of my coworkers, but young Peter was chosen to receive the prize computer.

He is younger (and I expect less biased and more likely to attach himself to this), of limited budget, and a member of two bands.  I believe I would have been hard pressed to find more fertile soil to plant a seed for germination.


Future Enterprise
The following week in the office there was significant talk about the advocacy presentation, enough that two additional computers were donated to me. These computers will therefore go to the two coworkers that I had first considered.

The first computer should be completed this weekend and after testing I should deliver it next week.  The second should follow shortly thereafter.

After the second computer I don't know that I will continue this advocacy at this time.  Although, I do have an idea or two for the future.

For some time I have seriously considered trying to form a LoCo in my area.  The Houston LoCo [1] [2] is pretty active but meets usually on the south side of town.  There are many other smaller cities to the north to draw from and I think a LoCo north of Houston has a good chance to be successful.

Also, I have considered setting up a demonstration booth at some of the local music stores.  I believe seeing a live showcase of both Ubuntu Studio's power and accessibility would extremely powerful to introduce Ubuntu Studio to new potential users.  Especially when it can operate on what many affluent Americans would consider a "throw away" computer.

But there are other project and efforts to be surmounted first.

The State of Ubuntu Studio 2010

This blog post is going to be little different from others in my blog.

Normally, I like to discuss positive changes and how things are improving within Ubuntu Studio.  However, due to recent experiences and to address some issues I would like to share with you some of Ubuntu Studio's deficiencies.  And more importantly, ask for help to fix them.

All in less than 1100111110101 characters or less.

But first I would like to explain some history and clear up at least one misconception.  And if you don't want to read the wall-o-text below, just skip the the Summation below for bullet points.

Explaining Why I Ask
When I started helping the Ubuntu Studio developers I had no previous developer experience (this is an important point).  However, Ubuntu Studio was without active leadership and within a year I decided that I would provide that leadership.  Ubuntu Studio was too important to me to stand by idly as it decayed and slowly died.

The lack of leadership did not preclude others' involvement including some who have had long associations with the project.   Although Ubuntu Studio is not necessarily their priority they are still improving the systems and foundations upon which Ubuntu Studio is built.  Examples, oversimplified as they are, include crimsun and TheMuso working on the audio stack among other areas.

Recent contributions that have greatly helped including packaging of new multimedia applications for the archives (quadrispro) and invaluable ISO testing for quality assurance (rlameiro and holstein).  However, there are fewer new (not to mention inexperienced) contributers that are joining the project than the older (and more experienced) ones that have left the group recently.

Therefore, the current state of Ubuntu Studio could be described as losing momentum characterized by limited development in contrast to its substantial potential.

Lastly, I hope this brief explanation helps our users understand that when we receive user feedback (e.g. about wallpapers or Plymouth themes) we are not arrogantly deciding to ignore it.  On the contrary, we are struggling to adequately maintaining the functional necessities (e.g. bug reports and ISO testing) with the resources available at the current time.

Can You Help?
But you may be asking yourself, "How can I help?  I'm not a developer!"  Or you may say, "This all sounds WAY too complicated, involved, and time consuming!"

Or possibly, you may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"

To answer the first question, of the ways I'll mention only a select subset require more than a modicum of experience and/or knowledge.  The threshold is really quite low since most will only require a few simple and easily taught additions to your existing skill set. Also, remember that I had no prior developer experience when I started.

In response to the statement, transitory assistance is quite welcome and appreciated; a full commitment to the team is not required.  Find something that interests you and fix it.  That's it.  Simple as that.

My answer to the second question would be to stop making sense.

When considering if you can help keep in mind that currently there are many tasks that are simply not being done. And as such, any help is an improvement and therefore most appreciated and welcome!

How You Can Help
Now that I've convinced you that it's ridiculously simple to help, let me count the ways (in no particular order).

Website - Ideally we would like a complete update of the website since it has not changed in years, other than the slight disrepair that has occurred.  If you have suggestions for a new layout we would love to see them and are extremely flexible in regards to design requirements.

Alternately, we would also simply appreciate anyone with Drupal experience that could fix a few things if nothing else.

Do you have audio, video, or graphics you would like to showcase? It's something we would like to incorporate into our new website.

Art - An art director with experience creating themes and a vision would be preferable. We are open to explore your vision and have but a few requirements.

We also readily welcome art submissions for GDM, wallpaper, Plymouth themes, et al from all artistic types. We highly encourage you to send it to us. How cool would it be to have your creation as the wallpaper for a Long Term Support release?

Emailed links to art created by others would be appreciated as well. See an image you like, send us the link!

Testing - Willing to download and test install ISO's? Then we have a job for you. Flexible hours!  Make your own schedule!

Also if you would like to help develop testing procedures we could probably find something for you as well. No one else is doing it, be the first.

Documentation - All the cool kids are a Documentation Lead, you should be one too! Help coordinate, develop, update, and review new and existing documentation.

But we would also really like it if you just updated or created one thing in the wiki. Find a great tutorial on YouTube? Post a link in our documentation.

Programming - This is done probably a lot less expansively than most would expect since the Ubuntu Studio team does not write the majority of the applications included.

However, we really could use someone with Python experience to tidy up a few bugs for us in a few of the applications we do maintain.

Tech and/or Bug Lead - This is one of those categories that requires a slight bit of experiences, but not necessarily. Someone of quick wit and perseverance could do quite well actually.

Like to track bugs and fix them? Or perhaps enjoy solving why a certain application does not build or install correctly?  Then inquire within!

Summation
Okay, if you skipped down from the top or you need a refresher about the points I made, here is the Cliff's Notes version:

• Several experienced people within the project have left recently and not enough new people have replaced them
• Many things are not accomplished because of limited resources (i.e. people)
• Even without prior developer experience you too can contribute to Ubuntu Studio
• Long term commitment is unnecessary, just fix one thing or a couple
• If you are not helping then it probably is not getting done

I believe that about sums it up.

If you would like to help change the State of Ubuntu Studio there are several methods to do so including commenting at this blog, emailing the ubuntustudio-devel mailing list, or talking to us on IRC at #ubuntustudio-devel.

Hopefully I have great tidings the next time we discuss the State of Ubuntu Studio.

Greetings and Salutations

My name is Scott Lavender and I am currently the project lead for Ubuntu Studio and this is my obligatory "Hello Planet Ubuntu" first post.  Cheers!

Beyond the ubiquitous self-gratification, I am syndicating my blog to Planet Ubuntu for education and information about Ubuntu Studio.

Education
On the whole I believe most Ubuntu users are rather unaware of Ubuntu Studio.

Hopefully this blog will now reach a wider audience, one that is less familiar with Ubuntu Studio, and permeate the collective consciousness by demonstrating what Ubuntu Studio is and what is has to offer.  Perhaps this might even entice some to become Ubuntu Studio users, contributors, and/or developers.

Information
For those who are already familiar with or perhaps using and contributing to Ubuntu Studio, this blog presents information on important updates, current news, testing underway, and insights/musings on possible upcoming features.

A recent example is my post about JACK and Pulse Audio integration improvements where I tested device negotiation between JACK and Pulse Audio using D-BUS in the upcoming Maverick Meerkat release.  Good stuff.

Visit Us
If anyone has any questions or comments about Ubuntu Studio please visit us on IRC at #ubuntustudio-devel and #ubuntustudio.

Additionally user and developer mailing lists are available for those who prefer email at ubuntu-studio-users@lists.ubuntu.com and ubuntu-studio-devel@lists.ubuntu.com, respectively.

And lastly I also welcome anyone that desires it to contact me directly at scottalavender@gmail.com, especially if you are considering contributing to Ubuntu Studio.  Documentation, testing or contributing art are entry level ways to improve Ubuntu Studio; I should point out that I started with documentation myself :)

Warmest Regards,
ScottL