Cooking With Linux

Georg Tobin writes "LinuxWorld open source editor Kevin Bedell conducts a very interesting interview with Michael Stutz, author of the new Linux Cookbook, 2nd Edition, on the language of the Linux command line, cookbooks, economics, and what applications you absolutely need Windows for."

Comments

interesting?

[bdigit]

hardly? This was nothing more then a regular interview with questions that were almost as bad a highschool newsreporters. Interviewers need to learn to get down and dirty and ask more detailed interesting questions.

http://www.immigrantornot.com/

Many fields left where Linux is unsuitable

[AthenianGadfly]

Contrary to the article, Windows is good for more than viruses and freeze-ups. In certain specialized fields, Linux is still much more difficult (or impossible) to run. The examples I am most familiar with are animation (as far as I know, no Linux program exists to create Flash animation, and the only 3d animation program I'm aware of is Blender), professional audio (fun with ALSA, anyone?), and graphics (aside from the GIMP issue, what about vector graphics and publishing?).

Yes, some of this is because more manufacturers cater to Windows rather than Linux, but the fact remains that this makes Windows more suitable for some things. Linux is not inherently less capable of performing these functions, but the tools don't exist yet.

Re:Many fields left where Linux is unsuitable

[Tim C]

all do swf with varying degrees of utility.

So, do any of them truly compare to the Windows Flash tools? "Varying degrees of utility" covers a multitude of sins, after all; a little more detail would be appreciated.

I find it hard to believe anyone seriously involved with 3D animation could fail to be aware the role of Linux within the industry. It's Dreamworks, ILM, Disney, Weta and Pixar's main platform, for fuck's sake.

And how many of those places you list use off the shelf software of the type mere mortals like you and I can ever hope to use? I'm sure renderman and its ilk are truly supurb pieces of software, but at hundreds of thousands of dollars a licence, they may as well not exist from my point of view.

There are plenty of pro level audio tools for Linux too. Just have a look on Sourceforge or Freshmeat.

In my experience, "pro level" and sf (especially) and fm do not generally mix. For every high-quality, usable project there are a dozen or more that are a complete waste of time. Telling someone "just look on sourceforge" is next to useless without supplying a project name or two.

parading your ignorance when a couple of minutes with google would have enlightened you is just FUD-spreading

As far as I can see, all you've really done is said "no, there's plenty of software!!!". With the exception of the Flash stuff (and even there you're hazy), you've really not given much in the way of definite information. Just some hand-wavy "lots of people use it for that" type stuff.

Re:Many fields left where Linux is unsuitable

[TheSunborn]

It's a shame that DrawSWF, Spalah Flash, SWF Tools and gAnim8 are all alpha version software which can't be used for anything except toy projects.

And yes I looked because I need som software that can be used to develop flash files in linux. Including support for flash script.

But none of the tools you mentioned can really be used for anything usefull.

Interesting

[RobertTaylor]

"Kevin Bedell conducts a very interesting interview with Michael Stutz"

Interesting? Long term Linux user has book to sell.

EOF.

Re:MOD PARENT UP!!!

[joto]

Huh? Alsa? What's wrong with alsa? It's a sound-driver. It makes it possible to get input and output to and from your soundcard(s). It supports hardware and software mixing. And with linux/alsa/jack you generally get lower latency and higher flexibility than with windows. It also supports several professional soundcards...

Now audacity, I can agree. It's not in any way comparable to many professional audio tools for windows. But hey, if you wan't professional audio tools, why pick on audacity, it doesn't look like it was intended to be one. Now, if you had picked on wired, muse, ardour, rosegarden, ecasound, csound, pd, jmax, cmt, rtcmix , nyquist, sweep, jamin, or any of the other more "professional" tools, I could have understood you. But picking on audacity for not being suitable for professionals is like picking on soundrec.exe for much the same reason.

Re:you absolutely need Windows for

[anagama]

Re: Linux and gaming

You hear no end to the gaming argument. Fine. I'm still willing to bet that not 100% of computer users are gamers. When I was a kid, I played with my Atari, then my CoCo, and finally PC games. But at some point, at least for some users, there comes a time when games are just dull. Then, what do you use a computer for? Keeping data, analyzing data, email, internet -- stuff like that. There are lots of users who don't game and don't do photoshop. As for movies on the computer - I'm not that interested. I have a very nice TV/DVD setup - why would I want to look at video on a comparatively tiny monitor while sitting at a desk when I can sit back in true comfort (and no fan noise)?

I'm not saying Linux is perfect for everyone. But all these "it won't run photoshop or play games" arguments only prove that it isn't ready for a subset of users. For middle aged farts like me who want to graph data from my kiln firings, surf the net, check my email, and write a few letters, Linux isn't missing anything at all. Subtract viruses and worms from the mix, and Linux is far better. For now though, you gamers and graphic artists will just have to suffer with windows, but for crying out loud, enough already with the "Linux isn't ready" baloney. Although it doesn't meet your particular needs - there are lots of people for whom it would be perfect - they just don't know it.

From the article..

[matt-fu]

Is there anything you need to run Windows for?

Yes, there is an area affecting business and home use where Linux is greatly deficient, and I see no solution coming at all. I refer to the area of e-mail viruses - they just don't make them for Linux like they do for Windows. Same with a lot of those crippling meltdowns and system errors. If you want a blue screen of death freeze-up, you pretty much have to run Windows to get it.

Way to promote your book. I reluctantly have a Windows box, but it does none of the things described above.

If this is any indication of how the book is going to read, I'm almost embarassed to have my Windows user friends run across it. The author could have parlayed this question into a useful answer, but his FUD tells me absolutely nothing about how Linux is able to get over some of the other hurdles which keep Unix lovers from dumping our Windows platforms altogether, such as driver issues, games, and out of the box media playing.

I hate to write the book off entirely based on an interview, but this platform bashing Linux evangelism is of no use to anyone who is past high school age.