I just have to say... This whole _/Linux/Unix == Hard to understand
thing/_ is B.S.! People just psych themselves out with all that.
Mac OS X is Unix although very well hidden beneath an Apple-esque user
interface. Microsoft has always said that Windows is a POSIX compliant
OS but it's so obfuscated behind magical things that only Microsoft
geeks are allowed to know that it is impossible for the average user to
know anything about the OS below the GUI skin.
By design Unix-like OS's are meant to be understood by anyone if the
need arises. There are man (manual) pages for just about everything
including the structure and meaning of operating system software
routines ("calls"). Because someone knows something about a certain Unix
implementation, they know something about a lot of the other ones. Even
when the source code is not "Open" and not published, the majority of
the information a casual developer needs is available in the man pages.
When people use Windows they don't think about knowing about things more
deeply than the user interface to an application like Word. It never
occurs to them that they might get some benefit from knowing about the
operating system part of Windows. Therefore: _/Windows == Easy/_.
The fact that I can know something (or really about anything I want or
need to know if I'm persistent) about Unix is a problem for the
perception. If for instance someone asks me what's the easiest way to
make this directory on the server visible on the desktop on one of our
Apple iMac's I open a terminal window *cd* to the ~Desktop directory and
use *ln* to make a symbolic link to the directory on the server. The
directory magically appears on the desktop. Now comes the bad part. I
could do that because at this level of things, the same Unix (now OS X)
commands that were available to me in 1972 on SunOS are available to me
here and they work about the same way. If they've changed a little, the
information I need is in the man page right there in the terminal window.
Of course once I do this the natural thing for the person watching me is
to ask "How did you do that?" I proceed to tell them. Because I can even
do this in Unix makes _/Unix == Hard/_. I'm sure there's an Apple GUI
way to do that but I've got things to do and I probably will never learn
it. I think the closest thing to it in Windows is the "shortcut" but
that's a pretty clumsy equivalent.
Apple and to an extent Ubuntu have made great strides in hiding the OS
from innocent eyes. There's still a ways to go but it's come along to a
point where I think 99% of users can ignore Unix like they do the
Windows OS. If people are using Rivendell on a dedicated computer they
never need to know it's not Windows. Just don't tell them. I would guess
that less than 10% of the volunteer DJ's know that Rivendell is not
running Windows. After all there is a Windows sticker on the Dell
computer under the desk.
If people never use anything but the applications that sit on top of a
Unix system and never think about the OS underneath then _/Unix ==
Easy/_ too. They just have to lock their doors and never let anyone in
their office that knows Unix insides and if they by accident find the
command "man" in a terminal window someday, shut their computer down and
go home early. It'll all be better in the morning.
Bill
On 3/5/13 3:39 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Hi,
I have to agree that Rivendell can be a good option for student /
college / campus radio. I've talked to people within the student /
campus / non profit radio sector about it and one thing that I do like
to point out - a lot of stations that run on volunteer effort like to
say that a benefit of being involved is that it gives real broadcast
radio experience to the people involved. However all too often I then
hear about the on-air / playout system built on top of things like
Winamp and / or iTunes (or something similar). The reality is I don't
know of any commercial / professional broadcast setting where iTunes,
Winamp, etc is the primary playout engine. Rivendell on the other hand
is a top-notch system used at both commercial and noncommercial stations
around the world.
I too have heard the linux concerns. This is probably the biggest
challenge. A lot of people seem to be cautious of change, even though
lately Microsoft has made major changes in each successive version of
Windows (2000 to XP wasn't a big change, but XP to Vista then to 7 and
now 8 have all involved some significant changes).
For those who are okay with Linux, one area that would help for student
/ college radio would be a web-based system for log-creation and
editing. There was one project I saw a while back looking at this, but
at the moment there isn't a system for this included in the source
(unless I've missed something). There are a lot of situations where a
person will be putting together their radio show while sitting in a
dorm-room (or anywhere for that matter). If the option existed of
logging into a log editor via a web browser to create a log (or edit an
existing log), I think that would go a long way towards greater
acceptance within college radio. Add on to a web-based log-editor a
web-based dropbox for uploading audio (this would be trivial to do - an
upload form that dumps the audio file into a dropbox) and it could lay a
foundation for remote voice tracking.
Just some thoughts,
Lorne Tyndale
Hello all; I'm just back from a stimulating weekend in New York City, addressing college
radio students at the annual conference for the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS).
One of my workshops - "Run Your Entire Station on Free Software" - was accompanied
by a weekend-long running demo of Rivendell (the RRABUNTU version) on a refurbed HP dual-core
computer I picked up for $135. The machine was propped up on a table in the common area, a
short 12-minute looping music & promo log was loaded up (as were a dozen or so goofy
sound effects and popular movie soundbites on the Panel), and a sign beckoned students and
advisors alike to click away at anything they wanted to.
There were some objections, of course ("No one knows anything about Linux", "The IT people wouldn't let
us connect this up", "We're happy with Simian", etc) but needless to say, folks were interested. Watch
for a spurt of downloads over the next couple of weeks to addresses ending in "edu".
There are a number of positives to be considered when using Rivendell in an academic
setting -- not the least of which is that today's youngsters are used to free software
and apps: First, there's always going to be an enthusiastic penguin-head somewhere on
campus who can be tapped as a tech guru (give him his own copy of RD and a pizza, then
watch the fun begin); Second, student radio stations cannot always swing thou$andS to buy
a commercial system and so end up using WinAmp or the iTunes player as their audio
management system. Knowing that an Open Source pro-level system is available, they will
be interested; and Third, colleges everywhere have pallets full of retired computers from
other departments (considered "too slow to run Windows"), piled up and waiting
for surplus sale or recycling. Ask the department in charge if they'd send three of the
old junkers over to the station for free -- preferably dual-core or better. All that
remains is the sweat portion: load RD an
d
music, hook into the LAN and go.
Since I am invited to this conference every year, RD will now be making the
trip along with me every time. And I encourage any users who read and post to
this discussion to make a case for it at an educational venue near you.
-AP
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