Hello everyone,
Here is a long-delayed account of the presentation on FOSS multimedia
tools by Niyam Bhushan at Sarai, CSDS, on Sat., 2nd June. My apologies
for how long it took to get this summary typed up, and sent out.
The presentation was well-attended by people from Sarai, a sizeable
crowd from CyberMohalla (CM), and people from ILUG-Delhi. The discussion
started with a brief description of their requirements by CM folk, and
Niyam's presentation was centred around the recently released Ubuntu
Studio 7.04:
o Use of FOSS tools fits into the Indian philosophy of jugaad
(making do with what is available), and these applications
will only get better with user involvement in the development
process. Many multimedia FOSS applications are now mature enough
that any remaining problems can be attributed largely to hardware
issues, something which equally affect closed-source applications
on proprietary operating systems.
o Thus, it is important to choose the hardware properly, so that it
fits the scope of the intended work. Items to be looked at include
64-bit vs. 32-bit systems, the amount of RAM the machine has, and
accessories like graphics cards and sound cards that are well-
supported under Linux.
o Ubuntu Studio is one of the Linux distributions specifically
targeted at the multimedia world, and has the advantage of being
compatible with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. Several specific enhancements
have been made, including the incorporation of a low-latency
kernel, and the use of a muted desktop theme, with a pleasing,
dark appearance that does not distract from the actual work which
often makes heavy use of colour.
o Niyam demonstrated several tools, focussing on the requirements of
CM, including:
- lprof: A colour management system for the display (monitor).
- gimp
- audacity
- cinepaint
- kino
- cinelerra
- other miscellaneous tools
o Another important advantage of using Ubuntu is the availability of
Launchpad to have user questions quickly answered, with a minimum
of the extra verbiage, and flame wars that seem to crop up in trying
to get support on mailing lists.
All in all, Niyam did an excellent job, and held the interest of his
audience, even though he had not specifically prepared a presentation.
He should be credited with changing the minds of CM people so that they
are now willing to give FOSS multimedia tools another go. We look
forward to a continued engagement with him, and with other folk
interested in FOSS multimedia applications.
Regards,
Gora
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