"With Jaunty's impending release, the dev team has given thought to
Karmic and the projects future. I will attempt to form cohesive thoughts
for us all to consider. :) ...."
I'm a bit wordy here, so skim as you like.
First, why I'm here...
Audio. That's it for me. If I have to run a dual boot to do text, internet,
graphics, no problem. Video may cross over, because as others have noted, more
and more audio projects have to sync with video. It may not be easy to separate
these. I think Gimp will run on anything though, so at that point, you already
have probably the most popular graphic tool on Linux, probably a non-issue.
Which puts us back at "Multimedia". But I don't need Open Office or skype, etc.
Browser and Internet would be nice as an option though, for viewing help and
other docs. No games though. I can do that on another boot to standard Ubuntu
just fine, if I need to veg out on a game.
Cory's frustration is clear, understood and acknowledged by most or all on this
list I think. As mainly a lurker here so far and newcomer to Ubuntu Studio with
early 8.4, please pardon my ignorance if I make some errors and foolish
assumptions in the following.
I think a good portion of the disappointment for all was the absence of a
realtime kernel for 8.10. Early in the 8.10 cycle, I recall reading the
discussions about even spending effort on 8.10 US for that reason, and here we
are at the other end now.
But the main disappointment for the heavy lifters here has to be the lack of
co-contributors. As others here have stated, I'm not a programmer either and a
lot of the dialog often reads like voodoo spells, despite being a tekie. I am
tech savvy and can be taught. I don't like being treated like an idiot either
when I ask questions and go elsewhere when taunted, but I'm still here so I
must not have been too abused yet.
Accepting Cory's challenge, I just signed up with the developers groupI would
love to learn more about Linux, testing and creating builds, programming, etc.
I too have a day job, technical writing coincidentally. I would be glad to work
documenting UbuStu or the main Ubuntu in any way that would help, as my
schedule permits. With 15 years technical documentation experience, most in
software documentation for network communications on Unix/Linux based network
routers and appliances, I think I can rate what I use and read with some
authority. From a user perspective, the Ubuntu documentation looks nice, but
adds little value as is. The reason anyone goes to the documentation is to
solve problems, no one reads it for fun. When I get to the page on configuring
the Wifi or sound device and it says go to this menu, set this field, that's
great - but it seldom fixed my problem. The real helpful information has been
in the forums. The online help is very
generic, telling users what the software is supposed to do, usually a
screenshot with text mimicking the software and not providing additional
information like troubleshooting or where else to look. In other words, it's
very light. This is not a critique of the generous work done so far, only to
state that more information would help many users. This applies doubly for
UbuStu, which needs extra attention because of the more complex configurations,
we usually have better or high-end soundcards, etc.
In my case, I spent a whole lot of time just trying to get 8.10 to run on my HP
tx2510us with Wacom touchscreen. I want to use the touchscreen with my finger
to control mixer sliders and softsynth controls in real time for example. I
paid a lot more for a touchscreen and I really want it to work, which it has
not yet consistently in 8.10. Through the forums, I found out about two weeks
ago that Suse 11.1 supports my hardware, I installed it and it worked
instantly, no xconf workouts etc. Getting audio apps to work in Suse looks like
another challenge though. Seems like some good knowledge is at Suse and other
distros that could be ported to Ubuntu if someone knew how. This is probably
typical Linux frustration though.
Anyway, I spent months trying to get UbuStu to do what Suse did straight off.
That is worked at all was thanks to some other generous Ubuntu User group
members, experimentation and sharing knowledge, etc. I had my HP tx2510us
working well with 8.10 on several ocasions, only to have it stop after updating
the OS, kernel, or other component. Very frustrating. I'm going to burn the
9.04 Ubuntu Studio DVD and go for it though. Count me in.
I feel like I owe UbuStu some effort and time. It was the first Linux that I
could easily install at home and in my music studio. I have this nagging and
selfish demand that it work on my hardware though. I can't do much with it
otherwise. I also want to spend some hours each week making and playing music
and away from troublshooting my Linux installation. I can donate at least a few
hours a week, but I need to know how to get started and where best to apply and
leverage my current skills and knowledge. So, what to do. Joining a list is
great, but...
How do I learn enough Linux/Ubuntu to become a real contributor?
What's the progression? Is the knowledge path documented and if so where?
How can I learn how to create and test builds?
Where do documentation folks hang here? (I could probably jump right into this.)
Is there a link that I can bookmark with links for this kind info?
Finally, I remember my Wikipedia experience. I posted a few articles only to
chastized by the over-inflated hyper-academics there to the point of giving up.
It was no fun. Those folks are rude, arrogant and have their own political
agendas. If this club is like that, I won't last. So far I haven't seen that
here (: except for Cory's occasional violent rant on top-posting :), it's a
very civil place. I think bottom posting is a small sacrifice considering all
the benefits.
Suggestion:
Perhaps Ubuntu needs an online "training department", to teach Ubuntu to levels
that breed contributors, for it's own benefit. Something like what w3schools is
for web programming, with testing and certification. Python and Perl both have
nice trainers, too - for example. Maybe it exists and I just don't know about
it?
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