Are you an artist? If so, you know the hardships of having to ready your computer by installing a plethora of software before you can use it properly. Well, at least that's your computer, so it's just a one time process. On the flip side, when you're on someone else's computer, and your creativity strikes, what do you do? Obviously, since they don't have the required software, there's really not much that you can do! Have you ever felt this handicap before? Don't you ever wish you could do something about it? If so, you're not alone.
For many years now, it has been my dream to establish a portable multimedia solution. Essentially, something that would let me work on any computer, without having to depend on them installing any software. The obvious solution that came to mind was to do something with a pen drive....but what? Initially, I tried using portable versions of various software, but, if you've tried this, you know exactly how irritating it is. Most of the time, it doesn't even work! Now what?
Along this journey, I have tried out using several different distributions of Linux to find an ideal version to store on a bootable pen drive, for emergency situations (for instance, accessing data from a PC that won't boot). Eventually, I decided to use Puppy Linux for that particular cause (you can read further in my older blog). That's fine for basic tasks, but you can't exactly use it for creating media. So, a few months ago, I ended up installing Ubuntu Studio to get a hang of using it. At the time, my basic goal was to avoid using Microsoft as much as possible :P
After using Ubuntu for the past 6 months, I finally have the urge to see how far I can push this OS; not in terms of software, or portability, but both! I want to create a pen drive containing a bootable version of Ubuntu Studio, that has all the apps you need to create and edit media. This particular distro of Ubuntu comes with many such apps preinstalled, but there are still a lot you need to add manually. For example, it lacks a decent video editing software. I heard Cinelerra was a good one...haven't tried it out though.
Anyways, think about how great it would be to just carry around a pen drive, that lets you use ANY COMPUTER to complete your work! Editing? Photography? Composing? Writing? You name it! And the beauty of it is, if you don't have the right app for something, you can always install it!
The only down side is, you have to learn a whole new set of tools, and more often than not, they won't be as sophisticated as your professional software packages. On the bright side, it's always better than nothing. After all, you don't really need Avid Media Composer for editing you home videos, now do you?
In the long run, I want this to be part of a larger set of tools used to trouble shoot a computer. Clearly, all that'll have to wait. Over the next few weeks, I'll delve in to my experience of creating this Portable Solution. One step at a time!
-Niranjan
For many years now, it has been my dream to establish a portable multimedia solution. Essentially, something that would let me work on any computer, without having to depend on them installing any software. The obvious solution that came to mind was to do something with a pen drive....but what? Initially, I tried using portable versions of various software, but, if you've tried this, you know exactly how irritating it is. Most of the time, it doesn't even work! Now what?
Along this journey, I have tried out using several different distributions of Linux to find an ideal version to store on a bootable pen drive, for emergency situations (for instance, accessing data from a PC that won't boot). Eventually, I decided to use Puppy Linux for that particular cause (you can read further in my older blog). That's fine for basic tasks, but you can't exactly use it for creating media. So, a few months ago, I ended up installing Ubuntu Studio to get a hang of using it. At the time, my basic goal was to avoid using Microsoft as much as possible :P
After using Ubuntu for the past 6 months, I finally have the urge to see how far I can push this OS; not in terms of software, or portability, but both! I want to create a pen drive containing a bootable version of Ubuntu Studio, that has all the apps you need to create and edit media. This particular distro of Ubuntu comes with many such apps preinstalled, but there are still a lot you need to add manually. For example, it lacks a decent video editing software. I heard Cinelerra was a good one...haven't tried it out though.
Anyways, think about how great it would be to just carry around a pen drive, that lets you use ANY COMPUTER to complete your work! Editing? Photography? Composing? Writing? You name it! And the beauty of it is, if you don't have the right app for something, you can always install it!
The only down side is, you have to learn a whole new set of tools, and more often than not, they won't be as sophisticated as your professional software packages. On the bright side, it's always better than nothing. After all, you don't really need Avid Media Composer for editing you home videos, now do you?
In the long run, I want this to be part of a larger set of tools used to trouble shoot a computer. Clearly, all that'll have to wait. Over the next few weeks, I'll delve in to my experience of creating this Portable Solution. One step at a time!
-Niranjan
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