Comp 3000 ArtistX Report

Background

     ArtistX is a free distribution who's aim is to "turn a common computer into a full multimedia production studio". The current version is based on the latest Ubuntu release. With multimedia developers in mind, its distinguishing feature is that it "includes almost all of the free multimedia software available for the GNU/Linux platform" so that someone who regularly uses graphics or audio development tools is ready to start right out of the box.<ref>http://www.artistx.org/site3/ ArtistX homepage</ref> The easiest way to download it is to go to the Download section of their website but be prepared to receive a big file; the .iso file is 3.6GB. If the size deters you at all keep in mind that there are (according to their site) over 2500 packages of free multimedia software that have to be able to run on a live DVD.

     ArtistX seems to have undergone a couple of name changes since its inception by the Opensourcelab team from the Open Source Laboratory of Virtual Reality and Multi Media Park as we see from the earliest news releases on distrowatch<ref>http://distrowatch.com/index.php?distribution=artistx ArtistX distrowatch news releases</ref>. Developed in Turin, Italy, Medialinux (which then became Mediainlinux) was based on Knoppix (with a couple of releases being based on Debian instead) with the last release using the name Mediainlinux being released in 2005 (this release was also the last to be based on Knoppix). It wasn't until 2007 that another release appeared, this time sporting the current name of ArtistX. The first few releases were based on Debian but since 2009 every release has been based on Ubuntu.

     Considering the type of company who developed this distribution it's easy to speculate why they decided to make it. If you were the head of a multimedia company, wouldn't you want to have your developers working with high quality software? Wouldn't it be great if that software was free and readily available?

References

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