tag: Ubuntu

Ever since seeing Radio Dada by Rosa Menkman I’ve been forever trying to reproduce the style of compression/glitches it uses.

In my limited knowledge about the production of the video I do know what it uses compression artifacts found in the Cinepak codec. So, I set out to try and find a way of converting a video to a video that uses the Cinepak codec. If you’ve been following me you’ll that I’ve asked for help on many fora and mailing lists for help with initially little success.

Myself and Mez recently finished a script called Echobender that automatically databends images.

To use it you’ll need:

• A computer with Linux installed. I don’t have a Windows or Mac PC so I can’t test it on those
• Sox. On Ubuntu you can install it via sudo apt-get install sox
• Convert, which is part of ImageMagick. On Ubuntu you can install it via sudo apt-get install imagemagick

Once you have those installed just execute ./echobender.sh from the terminal and then drop a .jpg or .bmp file into it. The output will be in a folder called “echo”.

My part in the Changing Room exhibition ended on 6th December. For the benefit of those wishing to build in Second Life here’s my experiences working in such an environment.

Monday

I was feeling ill so didn’t do any building in world but I did discover the joys of working collaboratively using Skype.

Tuesday

I was working in Eastside Projects as usual so decided to look around to see what inspiration I could draw from it. Although there’s less barriers when creating work in Second Life I wanted to create something that worked with the space or at least reflected the current show in some way. I began by documenting recurring themes throughout the current exhibition. I noticed that there were a lot of vertical lines and this could also be seen in initial work in the virtual space.

Thanks to some help on the Audacity forum I finally know out how to use Audacity to databend. Previously I’d been using mhWavEdit, which has its limitations and just doesn’t feel as familiar as Audacity. From talk on the various databending discussion boards I found that people would often use tools like Cool Edit/Adobe Audition for their bends. Being on Linux and restricting myself to things that run natively (i.e. not under Wine) presented a new challenge. Part of my task was to replicate the methods others have found but under Linux. My ongoing quest is to find things that only Linux can do, which I’m sure I’ll find when I eventually figure out how to pipe data through one program into another!

From Friday 2nd to Sunday many Ubuntu, Linux and Open Source enthusiasts descended upon the Linux Emporium to take part in the Ubuntu Bug Jam. In the words of an Ubuntu blogger, the Ubuntu Bug Jam is:

…a world-wide online and face-to-face event to get people together to fix Ubuntu bugs - we want to get as many people online fixing bugs, having a great time doing so, and putting their brick in the wall for free software. This is not only a great opportunity to really help Ubuntu, but to also get together with other Ubuntu fans to make a difference together, either via your LoCo team, your LUG, other free software group, or just getting people together in your house/apartment to fix bugs and have a great time.

Seems like I’ve started a rather interesting discussion over at the Computer Arts Forum about the use of Open Source software in design.

I think that the general consensus is that Open Source software apps such as Inkscape, GIMP and Blender will never replace their industry standard counterparts because there’s nothing wrong with these products in the first place. FOSS packages such as Open Office and Firefox (and to a lesser extent Ubuntu) have only really gained popularity because their counterparts are kinda rubbish. Neither Microsoft Office or Internet Exploder are as standards compliant as their FOSS counterparts and, in relation to Microsoft Office, you can save a lot of money by using Open Office that, whilst it has its flaws, offers very similar functionality to Microsoft’s product at zero percent of the cost! Brilliant!