Confessions of a Ubuntu Studio Developer

Arrrgghhh!

2015-05-26T19:12:00.003-05:00

I support Jonathan.

Don't expect this to get much traction, but I've said it.

Exit Stage Left

2013-04-01T07:36:00.003-05:00

Realizing what day it is, I should preface this by stating this is not an April Fool's joke.

Effective today I am stepping down as Ubuntu Studio Project Lead and Kaj Ailomaa (zequence on IRC) will assume this responsibility.

Since 12.04 was released I have spent less and less time on Ubuntu Studio as family and work increased demands on my time. Additionally, I will shortly begin work to complete my bachelors degree in IT with software emphasis.

I fully believe that I am leaving Ubuntu Studio in much more capable hands and have faith in Kaj. Please show your support by giving him a well deserved congratulations.

Rock on.

ScottL

DoctorMo: Give Jono a Break, Grow the Community

2013-01-24T09:55:00.000-06:00

I just read Martin post about Jono and the community where he discusses the community's responsibilities to itself contrasted to Canonical's responsibilities. I think it is a though provoking commentary and definitely worth the read.

My take is that we should take more ownership of the community and rely less on Canonical.

Ubuntu Phone: Meh?...or How it Might Change the World?

2013-01-23T00:39:00.000-06:00

Caveat emptor - I'm pretty tired so I thought I'd write this blog post. Although there will probably be some logic gaps, I'm pretty sure it will make sense. And be a little whimsical.

I know, I know...."Ubuntu Phone " is all the rage on the interwebs in some quarters. Not to be left out, I wanted to share a few thoughts.

Oh. This will be quick and too the point without grandiose language or arguments, so feel free to ignore anything I might say and maintain a strict adherence to current positions. I'm not assailing them, just sharing my views.

'M' is for Meh

I have a rather nice Android phone, several tablets (including a fab Nexus 7), and more laptops and desktops running Ubuntu (or Xubuntu or Ubuntu Studio) at which I could shake a lemur. Additionally, Google has already integrated my digital (and non-digital) life in a more meaningful way than perhaps Apple could have possibly dreamed.

I don't want a Ubuntu phone. Please don't hate me.

It's not that I don't think it would make a smart piece of kit, it just doesn't seem like a compelling product for me. But that is just me.

However, what I do see happening is this being a life changing event for perhaps millions of people in the world.

I See Trending People

First, see as I see:

Desktop sales are dropping. Android has shown that an operating system can pretty seamlessly span multiple devices. Phone hardware is reaching an inflection point exceeding most needs. Apple starts selling uninspiring products and Microsoft slowly dies. Oh, and water and wet.

Well, the last three points don't matter for this point, but the other ones make me think that waaaaay in the future, like three years from now, people will be using their phones as their computers. Shocking, I know. But these phones will most likely be the only computers for possibly a majority of people.

There. That is my point: three years in the future, an appreciable percentage of people will only have a cell phone as a computer and...this is the tricky part, it will be all okay.

Why?

'A' is for Awesome

Forget all the blogs, forget the tech pundits, and especially forget CNN. These are first world people, thinking first world thoughts. I'm not particularly thinking about Ubuntu Phone displacing Android or Apple in the U. S. market. Stop thinking about this.

Start thinking about more powerful cell phones becoming less expensive and people in developing countries.

How transformative would a phone running a full desktop operating system be for someone who can't afford a cell phone and a desktop/laptop computer? Carry your phone around all day, come home...BAM! stick it in the dock and rock it like the desktop that it is! I would say that is pretty damn transformative.

How empowering would it be if that same person also had access to the free applications already on that operating system via their phone? I'm sorry, I can't hear you over how awesome it is that I'm running a small business as an amazingly creative entrepreneur from my phone computer! Imagine an app developer creating and compiling code on her phone. Yeah, that sounds pretty empowering.

Is the future calling? Are they wanting their ideas back?

(Those were whimsically silly, rhetorical questions.)

In Summation

I would say that this sounds capital to me. A world phone. A compelling phone. A transformative, empowering phone. Yeah.

It's not Dick Tracy's wrist tv/radio thingie, but not one single tablet manufacturer listened to me and put a phone in a tablet. And the Galaxy Note doesn't count, they put a tablet around a phone (ewww).

If you made it this far...thank you for reading my tired ramblings. You earned a gold star. See me at UDS-S and I'll give it to you.

P.S.: Moar Power

I like how the Asus Transformer has an extra battery in the keyboard/dock thing. Canonical should do this for the Ubuntu Phone, except the dock should include an additional CPU for moar p0w3r!

P.P.S.: Carly on the (Ubuntu) Phone?

Mark, if you ever think about doing a Ubuntu tablet focusing on music production, I'd love to help. Call me maybe.

Rock on.

Lunchtime Thoughts on Ubuntu Studio Team Structure

2013-01-21T13:29:00.003-06:00

One could argue that the team structure for Ubuntu Studio has not been either well defined and/or maintained. I intend to improve this situation.

For what it is worth, here is a picture of my fifteen minutes of thinking/scribbling...

For those who can't see the image, you can click here.

Audio Interfaces Protocols: An Opinion on the Future

2013-01-16T09:26:00.002-06:00

The availability and acceptance of an audio interface (aka "sound cards", which is really a misnomer) is an appreciable facet of Ubuntu Studio with regards to audio performance and usage. The availability of Apple's Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 presents an interesting situtation when considering which device will become the prevelant interface, and therefore effect Ubuntu Studio's future development.

Historically Speaking

Apple's previous "high speed I/O technology", Firewire, has provided better I/O speeds than USB. Yes, USB 2.0 theoretically provided faster speeds than Firewire 400, but it did't seem to provide it in practice. Also, Firewire 800 trumped it by providing 800 Mbps vs. USB 2.0's (theoretical) 480 Mbps.

Firewire's acceptance on laptops was also a compelling feature for this audio interface. USB 2.0 has also been available on laptops as well.

The result is that both audio interfaces were used and Ubuntu Studio strove to support both "out of the box".

As a footnote, I should add that USB 1.0 devices' (incredibly) low price resulted in their commonplace usage for certain niches. The frustration resulting from their underwhelming 1.5 Mbps speeds was also commonplace.

Looking Forward

In some quarters, Firewire has been declared dead and the result seems to be a decreasing rate of available Firewire devices. I do not think that Firewire devices will be the "audio interface of tomorrow".

Thunderbolt offers monstrous performance but simply isn't readily available for PCs at this point. The available cables are equally monstrously prices. Furthermore, devices are not really available at this point either. It would be hard to suggest that Thunderbolt will be the "audio interface of tomorrow" either.

USB 3.0 is already prevalently in PC desktops and laptops. USB 3.0 cables do not seem prohibitively expensive. It seems that only a handful of USB 3.0 compatible devices, which actually use the 2.0 protocol, are available. In good faith, I would not posit that USB 3.0 will become the "audio interface of tomorrow" as well.

The Calculus of Change Itself

However, if we remove some variables I think we can logically predict where it might go, although I concede that acceptance isn't necessarily based on logic but rather timing or bias at times.

For the argument, let's accept that Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 are equally available on Mac and PC. Additionally, let's accept that Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 devices are equally available.

Removing these from consideration, we are left with price and performance.

Speculating on prices (since the devices are not prevalently available), I would suggest that Thunderbolt prices will be higher than USB 3.0 devices. Obviously I don't know how much, but I wouldn't be surprised if Thunderbolt devices were priced 150% compared to USB 3.0 devices. I accept that there is a high percentage that I am wrong on the exact percentage, but I would wager that I will be right in concept.

For performance, Thunderbolt provides 10 Gbps(!) speeds while USB 3.0 provides 5 Gbps. However, I believe USB 3.0's 5 Gbps will provide excessive throughput for most audio needs. This may be an inflection point where the technology available has eclipsed the need. I believe an analogous situation is occurring with desktop/laptop computer and phones.

Summary

Presuming that Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 can be used on any computer and both types of devices are available, I can see USB 3.0 devices becoming the "audio interface of tomorrow" for Ubuntu Studio and perhaps Linux based on price vs. performance.

Minecraft on Ubuntu: Part 1 - Installation and Setup

2013-01-14T13:07:00.000-06:00

For quite a while I have been wanting to make a post about setting up and running Minecraft on Ubuntu, so here it is.

This first post will cover setting up Xubuntu, installing Minecraft, adjusting things to make it optimal, and finally enjoying Minecraft on an awesome, freedom loving, libre breathing operating system.

I Thought You Said...

Firstly, these instruction will be based on using Xubuntu in lieu of Ubuntu, although everything will basically work for Ubuntu as well.

I suggest Xubuntu as a base because:

I find Xubuntu elegant, attractive, and functional. Hat tip to the Xubuntu development team.
XFCE is a familiar desktop metaphor for people transitioning to Linux
I have experienced marked Minecraft performance improvements with Xubuntu compared to vanilla Ubuntu with Unity as the desktop environment

As Xubuntu can run well on modest hardware, I think it is an excellent choice if anyone has an under performing Windows machine and want to try something different. You can learn more at the Xubuntu website. Enough evangelizing, moving on.

Preparations

Minecraft is written in Java and requires the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to run the application. We will be installing the OpenJDK package, however, rather than the official Oracle JRE. There are reasons, but I shan’t go into them at the moment.

Using Software Center, search and install OpenJDK. Make sure openJDK 7 is installed and not OpenJDK 6. Enter password as necessary for installing the software.

Software Center and OpenJDK 7

Right. We are now prepared.

Installing Minecraft

On the Minecraft Download page, find the "Minecraft for Linux/Other" section and pick the "minecraft.jar" link to download it. Once downloaded, use your file manager (typically Thunar or Nautilus) to copy this file from your /Downloads directory to your Desktop. This is the first step to allow us to click the Desktop icon to start Minecraft.

Open a terminal (I know....ewwww, but the terminal is quicker and rocks it like nothing else can) and type the following:

cd Desktop
chmod u+x minecraft.jar

Be sure to hit after each line. This will allow the new .jar file to be executed (i.e. run). PROTIP: when typing the second line you can use the Tab key to auto-complete "minecraft.jar".

Using the Terminal

Don't freak out if the terminal doesn't say, "Congratulations!" or "I did your task without delay or errors, Captain!"...if things went well it won't say anything.

(In vanilla Ubuntu, you can also right click to set the .jar file as executable on the Permissions tab. If anyone knows how to change the execute bit without using the terminal in Xubuntu I would appreciate a comment.)

Also, right click the icon located on the Desktop. Pick the "Open with other Application..." option (picture to left).

OpenJDK and Use as Default

Right Click and Open With Other Application

Make sure "Use as default..." is selected on the bottom, highlight "OpenJDK Java 7 Runtime", and finally pick the "Open" button (picture at right).

Impulse Power, Mr. Sulu

At this point you might be able to double click the Minecraft icon on the Desktop and have Minecraft start....but then again, you might not.

In some circumstances I have found that Minecraft will work just fine at this point, in others I have experienced that Minecraft will fail to start (hanging at either a white or a black screen) or keys will seem to "stick" (i.e. you take hands off the keyboard but you keep moving in the game).

If any of these issues are experienced, then you should probably update the Light Weight Java Game Library (LWJGL). Follow the instructions on this page which will instruct you to download the current LWJGL and replace several files.

Exitus

You should now have a working install of Minecraft on one of the best libre operating systems at this time. Enjoy!

In the next post I will talk about installing a few mod packs like Tekkit or Feed the Beast.

Ubuntu Studio 12.10 Released

2012-10-23T07:49:00.000-05:00

The Ubuntu Studio development team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu Studio 12.10.

General

Ubuntu Studio is the Ubuntu flavour designed for content creation.

It’s produced as a DVD image that can also be converted to an USB stick and includes support for most languages by default.

UI and Applications

Improved Interface:

* A new web page is out. The help button on the main menu points there.
* Task Manager has been switched to System Monitor for better memory use display.
* A main menu tool has been added to setting to allow the user to change their menu.
* Add/fix text plymouth theme for those video cards that won’t see graphics so it says Ubuntu studio.
* Set up Software Center menu items for our workflows.
* Fixed submenu icons for accessories, education and network.

New Software:

* Xfce updated to version 4.10 (based off of Xubuntu)
* Kernel (lowlatency) is now of version 3.5

Ubuntu Studio Applications:

* The menu has been fixed moving audio production tools out of Media Playback.
* A MIDI router and MIDI tools menu have been added.
* Add qmidiroute to audio workflow to cover missing functionality
* Added open-clip-art package to graphics seed
* Move mixer applications from media playback menu to audio menu.
* Nautilus is default file manager for everything now

Installation Notes

Installation:

Preparing your computer for Ubuntu Studio is now simpler, with a wider range of disk setup options. Each of these are detailed at length to provide you with a clear understanding of the actions that will take place with your selection.

You can reinstall or upgrade an existing copy of Ubuntu Studio with the Ubuntu Studio DVD installer, provided that your computer is connected to the Internet.

Download:

Ubuntu Studio 12.10 images are available for download from:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/12.10/release/

System Requirements:

The minimum memory requirement for Ubuntu Studio 12.10 is 768 MB of memory. It is highly recommended that you have 2GB or more memory though so that the system will perform much better. More information about other recommended hardware on the new Ubuntu Studio website when it is released.

Upgrading:

To upgrade from Ubuntu Studio 12.04, press Alt+F2 and type in "upgrade-manager"(without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and display following message: "New distribution release ’12.10′ is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions".

Since the upgrade does not include the new “photography” and “publishing” metas, so if you want the photography and publishing packages in your upgrade, please install them manually after upgrade by typing "sudo apt-get install ubuntustudio-meta-photography ubuntustudio-meta-publishing" in your terminal.

Known Issues

Drivers:

Proprietary drivers are now installed using software-properties-gtk (Software Sources), under the tab “Additional Drivers”.

We have received reports that booting the Ubuntu installer in UEFI mode from a USB disk on certain Samsung laptops (530U3C, NP700Z5C) may trigger a firmware bug that renders the machine unbootable. While this bug has not been confirmed to affect Ubuntu 12.10, users are advised to use caution when installing on Samsung laptops and ensure that they are configured for legacy BIOS mode, not UEFI mode. (1040557)

Kernel:

Haswell processor graphics is not fully supported. (1066975)
On some systems, when opening lid, there is a kerneloops with a suspend/resume failure message seen. (1054732)
On certain ASUS machines with AMD graphic chips, a WMI event and ACPI interrupt are sent at the same time when hitting the hotkey to change display mode, resulting in the display mode being changed twice in succession. Users can work around this using the Displays panel in System Settings for changing display modes. (1052278)
On ASUS N53SN laptops, the kernel does not boot without noefi on commandline. (1053897)

Networking:

In order to improve compatibility with other local nameserver packages, NetworkManager now assigns IP address 127.0.1.1 to the local nameserver process that it controls instead of 127.0.0.1. If the system’s /etc/resolv.conf is absent or is a static file instead of the symbolic link to ../run/resolvconf/resolv.conf installed by default then this static file will have to be updated by the administrator in order to continue using the NetworkManager-controlled nameserver.

Video Drivers:

Several video drivers are not functioning with some legacy chip-sets.

xserver-xorg-video-trident with some Trident Cyberblade chip-sets. Black screen and lock-up. Bugs
xserver-xorg-video-intel with i810 chip-sets. Segfault. 1060492
xserver-xorg-video-sis with 315 series (SiS 315/E/PRO, 550, [M]650, 651, 740, [M]661[FMG]X,[M]741[GX]) chip-sets. Black screen or loops around login screen. 1034812

Workarounds:

Test with a Live CD to see if your hardware is effected.
Trident Cyberblade – As the vesa driver doesn’t work with this chip-set the only solution is to remain with 12.04.
Intel i810 – A new install can only be accomplished from the Alternate ISO. On reboot go to Recovery Mode and delete/blacklist video driver. On reboot create suitable xorg.conf or use RandR to get correct resolution if necessary.
SiS 315 Series – As Intel i810

Support

Ubuntu Studio 12.10 is supported for 18 months.
Security and bugfix updates for Ubuntu Studio are provided by the Ubuntu Studio Team and Community
Support via email can be found at the Ubuntu Studio Users Mailing List.
Support via IRC can be found in the #ubuntustudio channel on the freenode network

Please download the release and try it out and we thank you for your support on Ubuntu Studio!

Regards,
Ubuntu Studio Team

Video Editing with Blender Example

2012-09-05T06:54:00.000-05:00

I've talked about using Blender for video editing and here is a quick example.

The video is by David McSween and his blog has quite a few interesting posts about using Blender for video editing.

Content Highlight: Youtube Minecraft Series

2012-08-24T06:51:00.000-05:00

I have talked recently about using Ubuntu Studio for content creation and I would to start sharing what I have been doing recently.

My sons and I have started creating a series of Youtube Minecraft videos. It's been very fun and I have learned quite a large amount of video production. I expect that I will also create some documentation for my work flow soon to share.

Planet Ubuntu: I feel slightly bad about including video on the roll, I'm not sure people usually do this or if it is bad form. I will be vigilant to ensure this is a rarity just to sporadically highlight something that was created with Ubuntu Studio.

As i mentioned previously, the next project is to work on an audio album - I am already demoing riffs - but during the next three months I am thinking about also working in a silly, quirky video ad, some graphical logo/banner type things, and a few tutorial/explanatory videos into the schedule...work and family allowing, of course.

Rock on.

Content Highlight: YouTube Minecraft Series

2012-08-23T20:31:00.002-05:00

Rock on.

Interesting Video on Music Synthesis

2012-08-22T16:06:00.000-05:00

I ran across this video in Bob Owsinksi's blog today.

Working the Work Flows or I Woke Up in a Soho Doorway

2012-08-16T17:39:00.001-05:00

Here at your friendly neighborhood Ubuntu Studio development team, we consider Ubuntu Studio as more than just a collection of applications.

This might sound like fancy, highfalutin talk - and I really thought I had talked about this before on my blog, but can't find anything - but considerable thought has been dedicated to exploring how we can make Ubuntu Studio more than the sum of its parts.

One aspect exists that I would really like to improve and I will start this series of posts by expanding my thoughts on it with you. So, sit back, enjoy the ride, and tell me where I'm an idiot and wrong;)

Curiouser and Curiouser

During the development of Ubuntu Studio 12.04 the application set (i.e. the multimedia applications shipped for content creation) was stripped down and rebuilt based on work flows. Work flows were developed to document the preferred tool chain that provided potent, complete support for a tasks Ubuntu Studio users want to accomplish. You can read more about them here.

However, I feel that the work flows are not optimally being utilized unless they are provided to users in a simple and transparent manner so engagement is immediately accessible and intuitive. Wow, that's a lot of crazy words that might not really make sense. Yes, users can read the work flow documentation, but I believe that a way exists that makes their usage as intuitive and natural. Like breathing, or at least with minimal exploration or thought.

I especially think this is an important consideration given that the development team defined our target audience as content creators who are new to Linux.

The Kids Are Alright

Let's explore a demonstration to underscore the point. For this example we will consider a studio experienced musician who wants to record demo riffs with some simple drum patterns for an upcoming album.

A most common approach (and one documented in the work flow) is to use qjackctl (the JACK sound server control application), Ardour (the DAW), and Hydrogen (the drum machine). The actual (and simplified) work flows is as follows:

qjackctl is first used to manage and start the JACK sound server
Ardour would then be started and a new project started and tracks for guitar and drums added
Hydrogen can then be started and a simple pattern created on repeat
qjackctl is again used to make audio connections between Hydrogen and the guitar to Ardour
the record button is pressed in Ardour, which starts Hydrogen and records the guitars and drums

This may seem straightforward...but you cheated because I told you what would work. For a new user, there are several significant disadvantages already present which make this a difficult, although not insurmountable, proposition. In particular I would mention:

the requirement to start and control a sound server; which is neither intuitive nor conventional in other operating systems (especially a second sound server)
the "do one thing and do it well" philosophy results in multiple applications required, which is a contrast to other operating systems' more monolithic approach
the preferred applications designated for a particular work flow are not immediately evident; unless the new user found the documented work flow and read it, but I do not consider this "immediately evident"
the Audio Production menu in particular has a lot of applications in it, finding the one needed can be difficult (although the new sub-menus in 12.04 help quite a bit...thanks Len!)

I hope that you can appreciate that even a musician with studio experience might experience difficulty transitioning to Ubuntu Studio (and perhaps Linux audio). It is an appreciable paradigm shift and I believe we need to recognize this.

My Generation

Some might be saying to themselves at this point, "Hey Self! I think Scott is being pretty depressingly critical on Ubuntu Studio." To which you might reply to yourself, "For Linus' sake, he's the bloody project lead, isn't he supposed to tell me Ubuntu Studio provides free sunshine, rainbows, giggles, warm feelings and kittens?"

I suppose I could, and maybe I should. But I can't and I shan't.

I prefer to be open and direct about such things and I think an honest assessment can provide appreciable benefit and growth.

So, the next post we will continue this exploration and discuss goals I think need to be achieve to address these (and other) issues. If I can be succinct enough (hah, probably not) I'll even describe some solutions that have been considered.

I'm not Dead and I'm not for Sale

2012-08-08T23:13:00.000-05:00

Some might have noticed that I have not been very active or vocal regarding Ubuntu Studio since 12.04 was released. There are reasons and I'll share them with you along with my future with Ubuntu Studio.

Also, I have begun to pursue some interesting ventures and I would like to share a some of the beginning results with you.

Lastly, I should wrap up my post by mentioning my intentions for this blog.

When Worlds Collide

When Ubuntu Studio 12.04 was released I was very, very pleased and happy; pleased with the amount of progress we made with a small team and happy with the results [1].

I was also left feeling very tired and quite spent. While I certainly was not the only one involved, I felt that I was very involved in practically all aspects, from developing the goals, making the blueprints, overseeing the project, and making it happen (see Status by assignee).

So much of my daily hours apart from work (and sometimes during work) and family were dedicated to Ubuntu Studio 12.04. I needed some time away. No additional responsibilities. No demands. Find equilibrium. Do. Something. Else.

Also, I'm ADHD and not a hard core coder. So I'm compelled to do many things (usually all at once) and I'm not compelled to code (although organizing is one of my strengths), and something had to give.

But I'm not leaving Ubuntu Studio. For a variety of reasons I am committed as Project Lead to seeing Ubuntu Studio 14.04 LTS released. Please do not misunderstand that facet of this post. While I may need a little time alone, I have to plans to walk away currently.

And already I have been getting more involved in 12.10 development and expect that to increase up through release.

Get Up, Stand Up

I also used my time away to start a the first few of many content projects that I will engage over the next year or so. This has process has been a few years in the making.

The first, of several video projects queued, is a YouTube Minecraft series that I am creating with my sons called, slightly unimaginatively, Lavender and Son(s) or LandS for short. A few other ideas for additional Minecraft series are kicking around, of which at least one should be realized soon.

These are not intended to be ground breaking or a great film, but they are a solid first foray into video and demonstrate an extremely viable Ubuntu Studio work flow.

Also starting up is the pre-production phase of a music album. I have the rough framing for five songs, another one done except final vocals, and still a few more to write. Over the next few weeks I'll start tracking scratch tracks for the drummer, Stuzz, to start getting a feel for his parts.

My good friend Richard Wielgosz, an audio engineer par execllance who has his own business (contact him if you need audio work), will be involved as well. His involvement is quite relieving to me. He's lucky he wasn't living during the middle ages, they would have burned him as in league with the devil for some of the magic he does.

I plan to have the recording done by year's end and in Rich's very capable hands to do the voodoo that he do.

So, the remainder of this year will be busy, each project building into the next.

Terminus

Well, it's not actually the terminus of the blog, just this blog post ;)

I would expect that I will be using this blog more now. Quite a bit more as there should be quite a bit of cool stuff to talk about.

I would like to make the blog posts a little short (to help me get them out more often), but alas, I seem incapable of doing that. So it seems I will be forced to work harder at writing more often.

Rock on.

[1] While I still believe that we made HUGE strides with 12.04, I have already begun to feel that Ubuntu studio really isn't where I want it to be and we can continue to greatly improve to it. But that is another blog post.

2nd Test Post

2012-08-05T23:25:00.000-05:00

redux....

If you would indulge me, I would like to test some features of this blog.

Interesting things are afoot and, with one eye to the future, I am curious to the features that are available.

Remember, this is a test blog.

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Cras eget odio ac felis aliquam viverra et ac nunc. Morbi eu nibh ac urna pharetra aliquet tristique ut massa. Donec iaculis nunc ac nunc blandit et dictum lacus volutpat. Vivamus vitae quam nibh. Sed ullamcorper lectus eu ligula laoreet hendrerit. Integer diam est, varius id ultrices et, consectetur ultrices urna. Aliquam vel felis non eros consequat gravida. Sed volutpat, enim sit amet suscipit mollis, enim dui tempus mi, id scelerisque velit dolor sit amet nisi. Nulla hendrerit velit dictum felis tincidunt eu luctus sem sollicitudin. Suspendisse potenti. Vivamus vel ultricies velit. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Nullam ipsum justo, condimentum vel luctus sit amet, molestie ac lacus. Suspendisse et lectus justo, sed consequat sapien. Sed sed nulla vel dolor lacinia rutrum.

Test Post or the Attack of the 50 Foot Lorem Ipsum

2012-08-05T07:09:00.001-05:00

The Day the Kilt Stood Still

2012-05-29T16:30:00.002-05:00

I just realized...

There was no kilt. Why was there no kilt?

UDS-Q Day Three

2012-05-16T07:13:00.000-05:00

After some delay, I am continuing the posting on the third day of the Ubuntu Develop Summit for Quantal Qeutzal in Oakland, California.

Getting Home

In order to maximize my weekend before returning to work, my flight leaves at 06:00 on Saturday. Apparently I naively expected to take the BART but I have learned that the first BART is at 06:30.

Turns out the answer is a local shuttle service (thanks Elizabeth and Charles) who will pick me up at 03:30. I might not even go to sleep Friday night :/

QA

I learned about some remarkable things today related to available QA tools which hopefully will reduce the work load on our small team.

During a ubuntu-qa-tools session, I learned about automated ways to download and start a new image in KVM from a single command. Rock on!

Turns out there are many other tools that will lower the threshold for new testers to easily join and help with testing.. I will certainly be exploring these tools more. Also, during this session Gema mentioned her Plenary presentation for QA. I look forward to learning more :)

Improving the testing tools used by Ubuntu Studio is another important aspect for our future. By automating the basic ISO test we should be able to devote more time to deeper testing.

Learning of the available QA tools, along with the available backports tools, should really have significant impact to Ubuntu Studio starting with this cycle :)

Pictures

Last UDS I only took two pictures, this year I intend to do much, much better. Hopefully tomorrow I start taking them.

There are a huge number of extremely cool and incredible people at UDS and I really hope to document some of this experience with a Picasa photo album.

finis

As happened last year, midweek seemed to slip out of high gear as I didn't find as many interesting sessions. But I am sure I am an outlier at UDS.

Oh, I know of one interesting session coming up on Friday; it is the a session that I will be leading for the 'Desktop Juju (see JuJu Studio section)' blueprint that was approved and scheduled.

UDS-Q Day Two

2012-05-10T12:26:00.000-05:00

Catching up on the blogging for the second day of the Ubuntu Develop Summit for Quantal Qeutzal in Oakland, California.

Backports

My first session on Tuesday was the Backports BoF (Bird of a Feather) session for which I was very interested so that we can better support Ubuntu Studio 12.04 LTS. Backports are an important way to get versions of software with new features released to users for released versions of Ubuntu. This is in contrast to regular updates which will only handle bug fixes and security.

I believe the Long Term Release (LTS) is an important part of Ubuntu Studio for our users and I want to demonstrate this with developing an active and robust backports program.

Therefore I was very impressed and encouraged to learn about many new tools (available commands at page bottom) and the updated wiki and help pages. Great work by Evan Broder and others.

I am very excited about this.

Ubuntu Studio Plenary Presentation

I enjoyed the chance to talk about Ubuntu Studio in a "Ubuntu Derivative" [0] UDS Plenary and I chose some very specific goals for my presentation.

The first goal was about public awareness and sharing the vision of Ubuntu Studio. I find it a little disheartening that even within the Ubuntu ecosystem that many people are unaware that Ubuntu Studio exists. But also that even when people are aware of it, they don't know what it really is. So, hopefully I made progress in making people aware that Ubuntu Studio exists as a platform for content creation.

My second goal was to display the activity, both recent and planned, within Ubuntu Studio. I feel very proud about the improvements in Ubuntu Studio 12.04 LTS and excited about the vision for the future. Hopefully, I conveyed both emotions.

Hopefully, it accomplished all that I wanted and more, but to be honest, the entire presentation was a bit of a blur and I remember very, very little of it. Several members of the audience have given me compliments on my presentation but I still fear that I was a bit derpy. I believe it was all recorded and I wonder if any video is available. I might watch it to see what I looked like...but then I might not :P

And if anyone was confused how I greeted Allison, hopefully this G+ post will explain the circumstance. I should mention that I'm not really that nervous or shy ;)

Desktop JuJu

While I was originally not attracted to the Ubuntu HUD, I am beginning to find a new appreciation for it while using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, which is installed currently on my non-production laptop.

As I previously mentioned (see JuJu Studio section), I think it would an awesome and powerful accomplishment to make work flows more directly accessible to users without the need for manually starting many applications, changing settings, and making any audio connections.

In a follow up conversation on another topic, Ben Howard strongly suggested I make a blueprint, get it approved, and on the schedule as he felt this had incredible potential for helping with common desktop usage, problem solving, and improving the user experience. So I did.

I think it would provide an amazingly helpful tool if users were able to open the HUD, ask a question (e.g. why isn't my wireless working?), and have solutions presented with a heuristically determined most probable solution suggested first.

It is possible that this could be extended to include starting and running many complex processes and then managing them in a similar fashion as JuJu and Charms with web deployment.

I concede the fact that JuJu and Charms are not developed for desktop deployment. But could a similar framework be adapted or developed for the desktop?

If so, this could provide a potentially powerful tool for Ubuntu Studio to help users quickly access their work flows and minimize distractions when they have inspiration. I have found that starting five applications, loading template, and making connections is NOT conducive to the creative process when I find a new riff and want to record and develop it. In many cases that inspirational spark can be either neutered or completely lost.

Google Party

This night ended up with a weird party hosted by Google. Some said they enjoyed it, others said it was weird and strange but stayed.

I left shortly after I arrived and chose to eat a nice chicken Caesar salad in the hotel restaurant away from the strangeness. I learned later that I was not alone in my choice.

I believe a majority of people did not attend the Google party because there were involved in Canonical-centric meetings (with dinner and drinks presumably) at this time.

finis

The evening winded down for me with a call with the family, some reading, and other busy work.

And thus ended day two.

[0] I believe the proper term is flavor rather than derivatives. I view Linux Mint as a derivative while Kubuntu, Xubuntu, et al are flavors of Ubuntu as were officially recognized within Ubuntu.

UDS-Q Day 1

2012-05-09T16:18:00.000-05:00

I'm starting this series of posting a little late, but it's time for the Ubuntu Develop Summit for Quantal Qeutzal in Oakland, California! :)

UDS-Q

I'm excited about attending my second UDS, not the least of which is because I was going to give a presentation Ubuntu Studio during the Plenaries in front of several hundred people.

However, in contrast to UDS-P, I didn't have a particular goal giving the event an overarching direction. I went to UDS-P in Orlando, Florida with a major goal of building support to get the -lowlatency kernel into the repositories (which happened). This time I was going with the flow.

Incidentally, an unusual outgrowth of last year's UDS is that I spent quite a bit of time re-introducing myself. Last UDS I had a beard while this year I reverted back to my normal appearance.

Keynote

It all started off with Mark's keynote speech. Some of what he spoke about was the HUD, Ubuntu for Android, Ubuntu TV, and the theme for this release.

It was all quite inspirational and it is clearly a very exciting and creative time to be using and working on Ubuntu. I see that amazing and pervasive things are happening and Ubuntu 12.04 was just the start of it.

What followed next was the blur of many sessions and even more people. Luckily a few serendipitous meetings stand out for me and Ubuntu Studio.

-lowlatency Kernel

One such meeting resulted in the suggestion that I should attempt to get the Ubuntu Kernel Team to maintain the -lowlatency kernel instead of the Ubuntu Studio team.

The main reason is that the patch to make the changes to the configuration files is very small (a purported "2 lines") and could easy be made into a build option which all could be completely automated. Every security patch would happen concurrently as the main kernels are updated and without any additional effort.

In contrast, the Ubuntu Studio team needs to manually update the -lowlatency kernel, which is not an inappreciable amount of work, for each security update. And these sometimes lag a bit due to scheduling.

Although further discussion about the archive reorganization might effect this issue, it seems that obvious blockers do not exists.

This would be a major improvement to remove a significant responsibility and time commitment from our small team.

JuJu Studio

I view things differently than others, quite often seeing things in abstract ways. I want to disintermediate (oh crap, I realize I've been using this term wrong :P ) the desktop from between the user and their applications. I want our creative users to have transparent and direct access to their tools to avoid hindering the creative process.

After learning about JuJu and Charms, and seeing how excited Jorge Castro was about them, I wondered if they might help Ubuntu Studio users.

My poor explanation is that JuJu is a framework to deploy and manage web infrastructures and Charms are the recipes defining which actions are necessary. Think of this as packaging a formula for a string of applications and settings in order to accomplish a specific goal. Brilliant!

That's what I want to do with work flows and Ubuntu Studio.

For example, let's say that a user wants to record his band. A typical example might be to open qjackctl, start jackd with certain settings, open Ardour, start with a particular template, open particular effects, set typical settings on said effects, and finally make the typical audio connections.

Could a user employ Studio JuJu to run a "record my band" charm to accomplish the same, repetitive, deterministic steps each time?

I hope so. I'll be talking to Jorge or someone on his team.

Automated Studio Testing

Often I cannot find session that I immediately know relates to Ubuntu Studio and I pick a session that interests me. Many times it turns out that it does.

One such session made me aware that the Ubuntu Studio team would probably benefit from some of the tools used by the QA team to perform automated testing on ISO images.

Automating the standard ISO testing of the Ubuntu Studio presents a chance to dramatically reduce the work load on the team, which would afford us more time to do further, deeper testing. This should result in greater overall quality for our users.

I hope to discuss this with Gema Gomez during the week.

finis

So, a call to my wife and kids (love and miss you all), followed by almost three hours of residual (non-Canonical/Ubuntu) work that I was unable to complete before coming here, and I wrap the day up and look forward to the next.

Ubuntu at CES

2012-01-12T08:53:00.000-06:00

Congratulations Canonical and Ubuntu for your success at CES!

To be incredibly succinct...I believe other markets than the desktop will be important areas of growth and success for Ubuntu and Canonical and CES will most likely demonstrate this.

News from the Front or 12.04 Post Alpha1 Status

2011-12-05T12:12:00.001-06:00

Sing for me, my angel of music!

I should note that Ubuntu Studio didn't officially publish and test the Alpha1 ISO image. But that isn't to say there weren't some stuffs going on :)

What's Developing
Even without a published ISO image, pre-alpha1 did see some work. We fix some issues including:

adding 'indicator-sound-gtk2' to the seeds the give the sound indicator visibility again
removed 'dssi-vst' from the seeds to allow the meta packages to build due to a multi-arch library dependency issue
work on defining scope and content for the new website
resolved a "libavcodec-extra-53 conflicts with libavcodec53" conflict
began testing on a -lowlatency kernel for the repositories

Two issues resolve were pretty significant blockers as it prevented installation and testing.

In Progress
Currently I'm trying to get input from graphic artists and designers. By getting to understand what tasks graphic artists and designers want to accomplish, the applications used, and the work flow they use, Ubuntu Studio can provide much better support for them. I've already reached out the Libre Graphics Magazine people, heathenx, and Richard Querin because I like and respect what these people do.

I would love to have more input though! If you do any graphics tasks, please send poke me with some information about what you do, what you use to do it, and the generalized work flow for it. I really want to provide better support for graphic artists and designers.

Work on the new website continues and probably will continue for several weeks.

Kernel testing continues. Although I am reminded that I need to send Steve and email.

I have been working on a specification for new artwork for the Ubuntu Studio plymouth theme, lightdm theme, and desktop wallpaper. A major goal of this is develop a coherant thematic presence across all these images and also to adjust the color tone for the new theme. Which leads into...

Finally, the last of the current progress is making preparations for transitioning to the Xubuntu theme settings which should be the majority of the remaining transition to XFCE. Additional changes will be made, so it will not be the exact default Xubuntu settings, but it shall be very close.

in posterum
Some aspects of the settings transition will probably continue for several weeks. I imagine this will at least include the plymouth and lightdm greeter themes.

When kernel testing is at a certain milestone, we should be pushing the -lowlatency kernel package to REVU so that it may be reviewed for entry into the repository. Hopefully we can get this into REVU before Alpha 3.

And we also will be beginning preparations for transitioning Ubuntu Studio to a liveDVD image but I expect this will not happen until after Alpha 2.

Exciting times building up to an awesome LTS release!

Contributor Developments

2011-11-14T22:44:00.001-06:00

During the next upcoming development cycles I plan to focus on developing and maintaining increased numbers of contributors who help with Ubuntu Studio development.

For those who don't remember, I've mentioned it before, but most of the work we do developing Ubuntu Studio really isn't code intensive. Therefore, you don't need to be a developer to actually help in quite large ways to Ubuntu Studio's development.

Contribute
Previously in an earlier post I noted that "most new contributors failed to have an impact" and a blog comment galvanized me to effect something that I had considered earlier. In essence, I wanted a 'help wanted' wiki page.

But I felt that in order to be success this page would need certain qualities:

it should display a focused list of topics needing help
each topic should be very accessible to new contributors (i.e. not too difficult)
each topic should have a nominal description (enough to explain without getting into the technicals yet)
each topic would have a 'resources' link for further research into the topic
each topic would have a contact link

By providing this scaffolding my expectation is that we will better support new contributors so they are more effective and continue contributing.

So I am very pleased to link to the Ubuntu Studio "Contribute to Development" wiki page.

Any suggestions on how to improve this page are most welcome.

QA ISO Image Testing
Another series of wiki pages that I want to create are themed around QA and testing.

The first one I have created is specific to the QA ISO image testing scheduled before each milestone. I chose to address this issue first because it is our most ubiquitous demand and, with a low threshold to entry, an easy way for a new contributor to have a large effect immediately.

Why is it demanding? QA ISO image testing is not difficult to perform, but the images need to be validated multiple times each cycle and completed in a short time. In short, it is a relatively simple process but cyclic and time sensitive.

Increasing the number of people testing the QA ISO images means that we can react more dynamically and effectively to complete all the required test in the allotted time more easily. Our goal should be to have enough people testing such that each person should only need to sign up for a single test at each milestone.

This first wiki page is an introduction to the QA ISO testing process and intended to give a general overview of ISO testing with links to additional sources of information.

It is easy to get started contributing. New contributors are encourage to visit the Ubuntu Studio QA ISO image page, pick the appropriate architecture, and sign up (account required)for available tests. As images are available for testing an email will be sent with links to the image and testing instructions. Sign up now!

Therefore, I am pleased to link to the Ubuntu Studio QA ISO image testing wiki page.

Again, any suggestions on how to improve this page are most welcome.

UDS-P: Day 4 and 5 or Efficacy is an Eight Letter Word

2011-11-07T17:32:00.000-06:00

A confession, a transformation, and a few words of thanks all in this rapid fire post.

Is This Thing On?
This is a tricky bit here, trying to explain some personal feelings and stuff without getting all...like a Morrissey fan or something. I kid! Well, kinda. But people who know me know that I'm a directly spoken person, without much artifice or guile, and tend to speak openly even about feelings many do not openly discuss.

So my first two days at UDS were overwhelming as I previously said. So much going on and I really didn't know how I fit into all of it. Metaphysically, where am I in the Ubuntu spectrum in relation to everyone else?

Becoming Ubuntu Studio Project Lead wasn't a path or ritual founded on merit, it was an abhorrence of a vacuum. So I'm basically saying that I filled a void rather than earned the position. It would be dishonest to say that I am without pride or ego and I was considerably bothered to feel that I was a suboptimal leader devoid of practical experience leading a project inside the Ubuntu ecosphere.

It led to a lot of soul searching. I found it, my soul that is, in case anyone was worrying.

But I felt a sense of unworthiness being at UDS, especially after hearing many session where I lacked experience to understand all the concepts and considerations and I almost felt that someone would tap me on the shoulder at some point and tell me that I didn't belong and it would be best to go home.

I suppose I didn't show it, but I was unnerved when Jono made a point of telling me he wanted to discuss some things about Ubuntu Studio with me. I'm brave enough to admit this now, not then, but I fretted...slightly. Only slightly.

The third day, however, was a catalyst.

The Skin I'm In
What happened on the third day? It wasn't a specific event, it was a confluence of a myriad of influences, sweepingly vast and pervasively small. But mainly it was Kate Stewart.

Starting on Wednesday I began to attend session for release planning, the release team, and how to improve the process. Ah! The process.

Again, those who know me know that I am process driven, I need a plan. If one is missing, I will either create it or instigate group development of one. I don't crave attention, I'm happy to be part of a well organized team moving towards success, but without a well defined process I am quite unhappy and moved to action.

I learned quite a lot of information about releases and how they would be managed. The inclusion I felt in turn engendered an amazing sense of efficacy. I now felt that I could begin to potently effect the changes that I felt were necessary for Ubuntu Studio.

The fourth and fifth days did nothing to dissuade these feelings. I began to work very late at night to work on additional blueprints, updating wiki pages with planning notes, and carefully evaluating the team's plan for Precise. I was, and still am, extremely motivated.

I dreamed about making Ubuntu Studio better on both Saturday and Sunday nights. I'm having trouble keeping focused on my regular job because I just want to work on Ubuntu Studio.

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Another aspect of what made the UDS a very, very moving experience was the people.

It was simply amazing seeing all the various peoples, from various locales from around the world, with their own various cultures, all working together harmoniously to make the world a better place.

And the personal contacts that I made during the week equally moved me. I'm horrible remembering names and it became so important to me to remember people that I started to write down names as I learned them and some context to help me remember. I usually don't do that, most times I smile and talk and before I have even turned away from the person I have already forgotten their name.

Not this time and certainly not these people.

Thank you Mark for Ubuntu.

Thank you Randall for being my roommate, explaining things to a UDS neophyte, and making me be social when it wasn't my first inclination.

Thank you Kate for making me feel included and explaining things when I had so many questions.

Also, thank you Jono for talking to me about Ubuntu and Ubuntu Studio.

There are many other people I will thank, but now right now. But I will.

UDS-P - Day 2 and 3

2011-11-02T16:01:00.000-05:00

So much has been happening that I really haven't had time to keep up with events, blog, and maintain other requirements in a timely manner, so I'm going to combine day 2 and 3 into a single post.

Day two was a pretty incredible day. I was still adjusting to what a UDS is but starting to find my stride. Again, the excitement and feeling of purpose is palpable. It's a tangible manifestation that becomes another participating occupant in the room.

It is an understatement to say that exciting things are happening.

On Tuesday I began to find myself participating more in the sessions. I'm not sure if it was because I found my rhythm, became more confident about my standing at UDS, or I was more passionate about these particular sessions. Either way it felt good to have an impact and hopefully make an appreciable difference.

It didn't hurt that Tuesday morning started out by shaking hands with a millionaire astronaut either. That doesn't happen very often for me ;)

This morning started out rewarding as well. I ended up seated with a couple of the guys from Novacut and discussed audio settings in Ubuntu and Ubuntu Studio as they were concerned about proper audio support. I really enjoyed that face to face interaction and collaboration. It would be cool to keep that interaction and collaboration continuing.

I led the -lowlatency blueprint session this morning and I felt it went well. Amazing, actually. Several kernel guys showed up and really helped develop a proper action plan and will even help test the kernel. Andy and Steve's support blew me away. Others showed up as well and have expressed interest in helping not only with the kernel but also with Ubuntu Studio! Brilliant!

I have met so many people over the past three days that I found it necessary to start logging the names, brief descriptions of the context, and any follow that I need to do. So many contacts are being made with so many opportunities to make Ubuntu Studio better. Capital!

Now that I've knocked out a couple of blog posts it's back to the session and after dinner I need to work on organizing some of those amazing things I'm supposed to be doing with Ubuntu Studio.