Studio Environment for PC Users, totally free
Upgrading Ubuntu to Ubuntu Studio
Now that you have the basic Ubuntu operating system installed on your computer, let’s do a few things to make it ready for the Ubuntu Studio additional desktop and software applications. The first time you log in to your freshly installed Ubuntu you will be presented with the cool but sparse desktop, a notification balloon telling you there are updates available for Ubuntu, and probably another notification balloon telling you that you are using an unrestricted graphics driver and a restricted driver is available and required for your desktop to render its custom 3D effects option. You can go ahead and get the security updates (possibly more than 170 of them) and wait while Ubuntu downloads and installs them automatically. But DON’T do anything about activating the unrestricted driver or updating or activating the restricted drivers at this time… wait until after you have installed the additional Ubuntu Studio packages. Why wait? Because the studio package installs an additional real-time kernel (which prevents latency while recording, among other things) and activating the nvidia or ati driver at this point can really bork up the installation of the studio package. I had to re-install Ubuntu twice before I finally discovered what I was doing wrong. Another important point; don’t try to activate the desktop special effects until you have activated the graphics driver (which you won’t activate until the studio package has been installed).
At this time it is better to take care of some of the basics that need to be installed, like java, flash, mp3 codecs and more. You get these functions by installing the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package. This is where you begin learning about using the command line to do some of the necessary tasks in Ubuntu. Command line, oh my! Scary black screens and keyboard-only activity. What is cool is that the commands are readily available for copy and paste into the Terminal window, so all you have to do is find the codes at the Ubuntu documentation pages or forums, paste them into the terminal window, press the Enter key and wait while Linux does its thing. There is a little more involved, but it is part of the learning curve and will make you feel all warm inside when you succeed. After you get the restricted extras functioning in Ubuntu, you’ll probably want to get your media player working correctly so you can watch some rented dvd movies. This requires the installation of a few small packages, again by copy and paste in the terminal window, to add the proper dvd playback and unscrambling libraries, most importantly the libdvdcss2. I won’t go into any more detail about this because you can find it fairly easily by searching the Ubuntu forums or documentation. When you have finished installing the restricted extras and dvd playback libraries, you might want to customize the included Firefox browser with a new theme or other add-ons. Firefox extensions and customizations are added the same way in Ubuntu as Windows. However be aware that the flash player and java plugins were already added when you installed the restricted extras package.
Finally, Install the Studio Packages
Now we move on to the juicy stuff, installing the Ubuntu Studio package. First go to This Page and copy the code shown in the code box, then paste it into a Terminal window on your Ubuntu desktop. HINT: when you copy code, don’t close the browser until after you have pasted it in the terminal window. Closing the browser before pasting will cause you to lose the code from the clipboard. You can now kick back and relax while Ubuntu downloads and installs the large number of audio/video editing applications. You will need to watch and enter y once or twice, y meaning yes you accept the terms of use. This installation can take longer than fifteen minutes with a broadband connection. I shudder to think how long it would take on dial-up.
After the Ubuntu Studio package has completed installation you will be prompted from the desktop notification to reboot the computer. Reboot and then jump for joy when you see the new studio splash screen and log in with the new studio entry screen. Once you get to the desktop and marvel at all the new goodies in the applications menu, you should boogie on over to the administration menu and take care of that graphics driver that I warned you about earlier. Go to your Restricted Drivers Manager, find your nVidia or ati driver and click to enable. Ubuntu will download the correct driver for your card automatically and install it for you. It takes about a minute or less to complete the operation. Reboot when prompted. You should notice at the grub boot screen that you now have 3 log in choices; the top option is for the Ubuntu Studio using the real time kernel, the second option is for Ubuntu with the standard kernel and at the bottom of the list is the Windows Whistler Personal option for your tired old Windows system. I suggest using the real time kernel when recording, if you find it necessary. The standard kernel seems better suited to normal daily activities, including dvd playback. This is only a suggestion, test it out for yourself.
Now dig into those app menus and try out some of those fabulous new tools, or check out the list of snazzy screensavers available and already installed. Coolness awaits. Best of luck with your new artistic creations.
APRIL 24, 2008 - Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) is now available. Very cool.