A few months ago Ubuntu Studio was on its deathbed. Development of the project — which aims to provide a complete open source solution for creatives — had stagnated since 2016, seeing virtually no progress between versions 16.04 and 18.04. A call was made to form a council focused on breathing new life into it, but no response came. That’s when Erich Eickmeyer stepped in.
As Ubuntu Studio Council Chairman, Eickmeyer has been instrumental in whipping the distro into shape and encouraging innovation for its current and upcoming 19.04 release.
As a musician, Linux enthusiast and Ubuntu user, Ubuntu Studio is at the top of my list as a potential solution for writing and recording songs using all open source software. It also has a wealth of apps for video producers, photographers, artists and all manner of creative types in between. So I caught up with Eickmeyer to chat about the future of Ubuntu Studio, and walked away pretty excited about two notable improvements.
The first one is a big deal for folks who don’t want to abandon their current Ubuntu flavor of choice.
“With 19.04, we’re working on not only our own default Xfce-based ISO, but also allowing users of other Ubuntu flavors (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, etc) to install the backend configuration and whatever tools they want to essentially bolt-on Ubuntu Studio to their existing setup.” Eickmeyer says. “This will allow them to work in whatever desktop environment they choose without sacrificing the tuning we do.”
This won’t apply to Ubuntu derivatives like Linux Mint, but it’s fantastic news for Ubuntu users who don’t want to disrupt their current daily driver. It remains to be seen how this will be integrated, but I can’t wait to test it out firsthand.
Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
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