Unleash Your Creative Side With Linux
For photography, graphic design and web development I found all the tools I need in the Linux world and I think they
are the tops. Having watched Linux with interest for years I finally took the plunge and have not looked back - using Linux
as my main computer operating system for the past couple of years has made me happier and I enjoy using it so much that my
productivity has increased
The Linux world is refreshing because it is free from commercialism and because of this it feels like there is room to breathe, think and be creative in peace without something or somebody constantly screaming for your attention and trying to flog you something. Linux is sane, beautiful, works reliably and offers a sound working environment for anyone who wants to get creative with a computer
I tried various flavours of Linux before settling for Linux Mint which didn't cost me anything and which works like a charm. Linux Mint is backed up by a friendly user community which is always something to consider when choosing software or any other type of product for that matter. I choose Mint because it ticked all the right boxes regarding availability of software applications and hardware support straight out of the box. I found that there are millions of other people who share similar sentiments and one thing they all agree on is that using free and open software can be a much more liberating experience than using closed proprietary software which locks you in and abuses your freedom and your wallet
Many Photographers and Artists simply can't afford the prices charged for proprietary software. In rich countries people pay the equivalent of what amounts to several months wages for people living in poor countries just for a software application. I don't think this is right because I want people of all countries to have access to the same tools as myself and not see them excluded from the pursuit of creativity on the basis of how much they earn. That is elitist and wrong. Some of the best Photographers I have seen use free and open source software. Necessity and self discipline got them further than simply spending money on fancy tools
Linux has some of the best multimedia tools on the planet and many people use it professionally so if you are dying to exit the Windows, Mac and Adobe worlds then your time hay have come
What Linux Offers
A sense of trust, freedom and ownership over your computer and all it's software
It's free. For the cost of a commercial solution you could by a top camera
An unlimited choice of free high quality software available at the click of a mouse
Easier to use than windows and installing software is ridiculously easy
A community which gives you the right answers fast and freely
No commercialism, advertising or nagging
Hardware Detection and Performance
Linux Mint should detect all your hardware and there is no need to install drivers
It will easily pick up your camera, printer, scanner or graphics tablet
It detects cameras and easily transfers images onto the PC
It can read and write to Windows file systems on removable media and Windows PCs
Linux file systems are superior - you never need to defrag hard drives
Linux security means no silly third party security applications hogging system resources
It never hangs or crashes
Linux applications open and close fast
Very Useful Linux Applications
Gimp - 8/16 bit bitmap editor for photographs and web page graphics
Krita - 16 bit bitmap editor
Digikam - image manager with editing tools
Picasa - image browser, viewer, editor and up-loads to the internet
Inkscape - vector graphics editor thought by many to be better than Adobe Illustrator
Apache Web Server for design, development and running multiple web sites locally
Firefox - the only browser that counts for serious web development
Google Chrome - wants to be Firefox when it grows up
Filezilla - uploading of files to web servers using FTP protocol
Bluefish - great web page editor
gColor2 - colour picker
iScan - scan documents and photographs from flatbed scanners
Shutter - take screenshots and save them as jpeg or png files
RecordMyDesktop - make screencasts and tutorials for YouTube et al
LibreOffice - I've used it for years for word processing and slideshows. It's great
Evolution Mail - an MS Outlook clone
Nice music players CD burning / ripping tools and movie players
Emesene - an msn messenger client
Zim - personal wiki for note taking and writing articles
ePDFView - a super fast PDF viewer
Desktop Customisation
Virtual desktops for easily switching between different workspaces.
Community of artists providing free themes and icons for customising your desktop
Choose from 2 very popular desktops Gnome and KDE
Gnome feels like using a Mac and KDE is like using Windows
You can easily make Linux look like MacOS or Windows if you want to
Usability
Software installation is simple using the package manager application
File system is superior and easy to navigate
A uniform theme across all applications breeds familiarity and comfort
Good documentation
Choosing a Linux Distro for Creative Work
It all depends on what type of work you want to do and how much you are prepared to learn. If you are impatient and over demanding then you should stay with Windows or Mac
Debian Linux is the rock on which lots of other Linux distros are built. It is so solid that is it used on production servers run by all the major internet service providers. I also heard that it is so solid that Chuck Norris broke his hand while attempting to punch it. If you are a web developer running a local web server with copies of live client sites then this is probably the one to go with. Installing a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, Php) local testing server is very easy on Debian based Linux distros
The following distros are all derived from Debian and have many loyal users:
Ubuntu and Mepis Linux are great for beginners and I found them really easy to use.
Ubuntu Studio is a professional multimedia studio.
64 Studio for professional audio work.
Other Linux flavours popular with beginners are Linux Mint, Mandriva and PCLinuxOS.
Photography on Linux
Linux has excellent potential for photographers looking for an alternative to expensive commercial photography software. For some photographers a Linux computer running Gimp and a Raw Converter like UFRaw might offer all the power they need. Photography on Linux still lacks refinement that might deter some more demanding photographers but I am of the opinion that the time is very near when there will be no excuse for ignoring Linux. GIMP versions 2.8 and 3.0 will certainly push the enveloper a lot further
At the time of writing the latest version of Gimp is 2.6 and it has an improved user interface that can be turbo charged with an excellent range of scripts and plug-ins, including Photoshop plug-ins and brushes. Gimp 2.6 has a new experimental back end graphics library called GEGL that uses floating point calculations to enable processing of high bit depth colour images from scanners and camera RAW. It will be improved in version 2.8 and should be all systems go in Gimp version 3.0
Using Linux for serious photography is more than possible and I will experiment with these tools just like I did when I switched from film to digital. I see workflow as being my biggest problem because I think Linux lags a bit behind Apple and Adobe who have this problem streamlined and very well tuned. However as I always say you could buy a lot camera for the money they charge for a box of software plus there is the issue that the Photoshop / Bridge/ Lightroom trinity runs like a pig on some computers
Linux for Web Design
It is easy to set up a local web server and begin designing/coding up web sites, blogs and other applications using software from from the list above. If you want to test web page layouts in Internet Explorer then fear not because there is a site that will do this for you remotely. IE NetRenderer is a fast and superior alternative to Browsershots
Thoughts
Speaking personally I think that Linux puts the fun back into computing and I find it to be a refreshing change from the Windows and Mac worlds. I find the Linux way to be purer than the commercial altenatives and the freedom is worth the entrance fee alone. I like it better and as a result I use my computer more and my output has increased. What else can I say?
Interesting Places
Eckhard M. Jager - A blog for designers, artists and developers programming websites, painting icons, creating multimedia content, doing dtp or constructing in 3D spaces using Ubuntu - Linux for Designers
A great blog post containing an article and tons of favourable comments from designers and developers who use Linux as their main tool for web development here
Free software directory - a list of free graphics editors
Joel Cornuz - a Linux photography blog - some great articles about photography workflow and colour management on Linux
Floss.net - manuals and tutorials for popular open source applications - here you can find some very good Inkscape and Gimp tutorials on photography and graphic design
Why Linux is better - a nice little site - that promotes the Linux way
Linux webmaster tools - Linux web design and development tools