Greetings all,
It is my pleasure to announce 5 new members that have expressed interest in
joining the consortium:
1) jack-rack project
Represented by Leslie Patrick Polzer
http://jack-rack.sourceforge.net/
2) pawfal.org projects (spiral modular, livenoisetools etc.)
Represented by Dave Griffiths
http://www.pawfal.org
3) RTcmix project
Represented by John Gibson
http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/RTcmix-4.0-beta/
(is there a better URL?)
4) Lilypond Software Design
Represented by Han-Wen Nienhuys
http://www.lilypond-design.com/
5) RTMix (this is my project so it's not that big of a deal)
Represented by me :-)
http://meowing.ccm.uc.edu/~ico/RTMix-doc/index.html
Daniel could you please add the aforementioned members to our website? Many
thanks!
There is also Csound project whose membership is currently pending. John
ffitch has expressed interest in joining and representing Csound, but I am
still waiting for the official e-mail from him.
Apart from continuing to seek new members, in the coming weeks I would like
to propose discussing revamping of the logo as well as the issue of forming
a foundation.
In the meantime, have a great summer all!
Best wishes,
Ivica Ico Bukvic, composer & multimedia sculptor
http://meowing.ccm.uc.edu/~ico/
Hi Jody,
> It turns out the reason they haven't provided me with
> documentation on mLAN is that basically, none exists (!).
In English, maybe. There's probably some available in Japanese, but
Jun-ichi has conceded that mLAN as a standard hasn't been finalised
yet.
> The AES
> are standardizing something called "Open Generic Transporter,"
> which is fairly close to the current version of mLAN, and I have
> that document. So, along with some protocol snooping, I should be
> able to figure things out.
Reverse engineering may not be required. I just had a mail from
Richard Foss at Rhodes University in South Africa, indicating that
quite a lot of the groundwork has been done already. I'll forward
that to you.
Cheers!
Daniel
Hello all,
Looks like there has been some progress on mLAN support. I'm currently
writing an article on FireWire audio for LinuxUser & Developer, and
turned up this...
Cheers!
Daniel
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: RE: mLAN on Linux
Date: Wednesday 22 June 2005 19:46
From: "Richard Foss" <R.Foss(a)ru.ac.za>
To: "Daniel James" <danieljames(a)linuxuser.co.uk>, "Shaun Bangay"
<s.bangay(a)ru.ac.za>
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for contacting us.
Yes, we have done a lot of work on mLAN under Linux, and this has
been in association with Yamaha's mLAN project group led by Jun-ichi
Fujimori.
Shaun wrote an mLAN ALSA driver, sponsored by Yamaha, and this is
available at:
http://mlanalsa.sourceforge.net/
We have also written an mLAN Enabler for Linux, and associated
Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) plug-ins. If you need to become
familiar with the Enabler/Transporter concept, I can send you an AES
paper that Jun-ichi Fujimori and I wrote about this.
This Linux Enabler/HAL plug-in work was also sponsored by Yamaha, and
it is this that Jun-ichi Fujimori is talking about when he mentions
that source code for the current connection management system might
be made available in the next few months.
Let me know if you have any further queries.
Regards,
Richard.
Richard Foss
Associate Professor
Computer Science Department
Rhodes University
Grahamstown 6140
South Africa
Tel: +27 46 603 8294
Fax: +27 46 636 1915
Hi David,
> I was wondering if you could clarify/expand
> on the third paragraph, the second sentence in particular
> (beguinning 'At the end of the day, software is just a bunch of
> numbers...')
Sure! Paul was making the comparison between distributing software for
free, and leaving your front door open, inviting people to come in
and take your stuff. The comparison doesn't really work because if I
create a piece of software, I can burn it on to CDs any number of
times for a few pence each, or even more cheaply, put it on a web
server. The people I give the software to can pass it on further,
until between us we've created millions of copies at negligible cost.
Unfortunately, what's true for software binaries is not true for the
atoms in physical property. I can't take my guitar and make thousands
or millions of perfect copies of it using my computer. In fact, each
copy I make could cost at least as much or more than the first one,
assuming I actually had the skills required to copy a guitar. So
while I'm happy to distribute free software, I wouldn't let just
anyone borrow my guitar - and there's nothing illogical about that.
A problem is created when proprietary software companies try to have
it both ways. On the one hand, they want to be able to use CD-ROM and
internet technologies to mass-produce software at a very high profit
margin. On the other hand, they pretend to be upset when other people
use exactly the same technologies to copy the software without paying
for it.
We could draw an analogy with music itself, and say that the real
problem is how to make sure that creativity in the development of
software is rewarded.
Cheers!
Daniel
Hello Paul,
In your July issue editorial, I think you've unintentionally
misrepresented the views of free software developers producing audio
and music applications for Linux and other platforms. There are
people who think software should be free, but they're not demanding
that proprietary software houses give away their creations.
Instead, they are writing their own software, and giving the source
code away - which of course they are perfectly entitled to do. It has
practical benefits because software needs active maintenance to
remain useful, so the more people who have access to the code, the
better.
The argument that software and physical property, such as the stuff in
your house, are equivalent will always fall on its face. At the end
of the day, software is just a bunch of numbers, and what's true for
software creators (marginal or zero cost copying) is just as true for
software users.
Proprietary software companies moan about so-called 'piracy', but in
truth they'd rather have an unpaid-for copy of their own software
running on your machine than a paid-for copy from their competitor.
It's how a particular application becomes a de-facto standard. Every
time someone passes a installer CD to their friend, they are
participating in viral marketing for that company.
Hardware prices have fallen dramatically, but proprietary music
software is as expensive as ever. I mean, £1450 for a single copy of
Nuendo, with known bugs? I'd resent having to pay for bug fix updates
too. Is it any wonder that students and musicians are writing their
own software?
Cheers!
Daniel James
63 School Green Road
Freshwater
Isle of Wight
PO40 9AT
Hello all,
Would anyone be interested in taking part in this? I'll probably be
working on the LinuxUser & Developer stand at this event, so I'm
afraid I can't guarantee to help out this time.
Cheers
Daniel
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: LinuxWorld Expo 2005 .Org Village London
Date: Friday 17 June 2005 09:40
From: Brian Teeman <brian(a)uklinux.net>
To: Daniel James <daniel(a)linuxaudio.org>
Thanks to generous sponsorship space is available once again, FREE of
charge, in the .Org Village for Linux projects, groups & campaigns.
LinuxWorld Conference & Expo will take place over two days, 5th and
6th October at the Olympia Exhibition Centre in London, UK.
LinuxWorld Conference & Expo is the No. 1 marketplace for companies
that sell, market or promote Linux-Based products, services,
applications and solutions. Experiencing astounding growth, it's the
largest gathering of open source professionals in the world. Linux
adoption has been, and continues to be, nothing short of meteoric.
Each year I am given the task of scouring the UK and the rest of the
world for participants for the .Org Village at Linux Expo's in the
UK. Over the last few years we have made the .Org Village the
largest of any Linux Expo in the World.
Sadly space is limited at the Expo. However unlike other LinuxWorld
Expo's we do not allocate space on a first come first served basis
or based on the percieved size of you .Org.
Submissions are welcome up until the 1st August. At that time we will
announce which entrants have been accepted. Whilst some priority will
be made to UK based .Orgs the size of your Org will not be either a
benefit or hindrance. Some space will be reserved specifially for
small or new Orgs.
Please submit your application at http://www.linuxexpo.org.uk
Any decisions made will be based on numerous factors but specificaly
on their relevance to a UK Linux expo.
Your project/group/campaign will be provided with exhibition space
including electrics, storage etc. at no cost.
This is a great opportunity to promote your project to a large
audience at minimal (no) cost, and also to help make the .Org
Village a lively discussion and meeting place for the whole Linux
and Open Source community.
For further details on the exhibition see www.linuxworldexpo.co.uk
If you are not the correct person who would deal with this in your
organisation please forward this e-mail to them and to anyone else
who you think might be interested.
Brian Teeman
.Org-aniser
uklinux.net - Sponsors of the .org Village.
-------------------------------------------------------
[ Apologies for cross-posting. Feel free to forward around ]
The ICMC2005 team (www.icmc05.org) together with the S2S² project
(www.s2s2.org) is proposing another way of actively participate and
interact in the conference apart from the traditional calls (papers,
music,..)
The basic idea is to have a venue where researchers and composers can
discuss preliminary or visionary ideas. The ideas can be musical,
technical, scientific, theoretical, practical, .... No proven results or
developed systems are required, the only restriction is that the ideas
should be original, inspired and thought provoking.
The proposals will be reviewed by a panel. The authors will have a 5 min
presentation time in a free-spirited discussion forum inside the ICMC05
activities. The accepted proposals will be printed as handouts during
the venue. After the conference, a book will be published containing the
papers and a summary of the discussion. This book will also be available
online through the S2S² website.
We are personally inviting relevant figures in the field to contribute
to this idea, which we think is exciting and promising. There is no
specific format or template for this call, we encourage original and
interesting usage of the one-page format.Please consider submitting a
proposal before the deadline on May 23rd, especially if you are already
considering attending the Barcelona conference.
Read more at http://www.icmc2005.org/index.php?selectedPage=87
Greetings all!
First off, I would like to extend my thanks to all the board members,
especially Daniel, for entrusting me the honor as well as the responsibility
of the Director of Linuxaudio.org consortium. I sincerely hope that during
my term I will be able to live up to your expectations :-).
Right before my departure for LAC, I posted a reply with a brief overview of
my goals for the consortium for the upcoming year, apparently, that e-mail
was sent to the "management" list and therefore not everyone got to read
about them. Therefore, I would like to use this opportunity to present you
with a quick overview of the ideas I would like to pursue (naturally, with
the board's blessing) over the course of next 12 months. Considering that
these goals are very much in-line with my LAC paper, I will present them in
the form which has met support from both the consortium members who had
attended the meeting, as well as other general participants who were there
in order to learn more about the consortium. I will, however, provide some
additional thoughts in respect to each of the sub-initiatives that I've been
toying with since my return from LAC. Therefore, please observe the
information below as a mere list of suggestions.
"Made in GNU/Linux" initiative whose scope is described below, is an
expansion of the consortium's operations in order to better serve the
community. The sub-initiatives are listed in no particular order (also
please note that many of them offer overlapping benefits which is annotated
appropriately in their description):
1) Continue expansion of the membership base
*I've talked with the FreeBob project developers in order to follow-up on
the Daniel's correspondence with them prior to the LAC and they have
expressed genuine interest in joining, which, as Daniel has already reported
earlier today, they have already done.
*John ffitch (Csound) also expressed interest in joining, and I have
received an e-mail earlier today from Dave Phillips (who had contacted John
via csound list) suggesting that this should happen any day now.
*Han-Wen and Jan of Lilypond project, after an interesting discourse have
also expressed interest in joining. I've contacted them earlier today in
order to once again encourage them to join the consortium and I just
received an e-mail confirming their interest.
*Ludger Bruemmer, head of the ZKM music dept., has also expressed interest
in supporting Linuxaudio.org via ZKM (as an institution). I am currently in
touch with Goetz to see if this will pan out.
*Several other users/developers who attended the consortium meeting at LAC
(it was open to all who wished to attend) have expressed general approval of
the consortium's goals as well as the goals listed below.
2) Offer non-project-oriented (i.e. user) membership
*While the consortium is currently primarily focusing on project/institution
membership, I feel that we should also reach out to the end-user members of
the community, including also an important sub-group -- artists. In order to
foster exposure, my belief is that Linux audio software needs to be featured
in real-world situations to really gain credibility. Naturally, this is
already happening on various levels but I would want to see Linuxaudio.org
take on a more active stance towards this form of outreach.
*Some end-users I've interacted with have expressed willingness to
contribute to the community but felt that they lacked necessary skills (i.e.
development, dreaded documentation writing). My belief is that the end-users
should be offered an avenue through which they could contribute to the
community, including donations and/or membership fees (for more on this
please see below under the heading "foundation"), as well as
interaction/collaboration with other sub-groups.
3) Serve as converging point between various sub-groups
*Developers, end-users, commercial vendors, other open-source
groups/foundations (FSF), media, other.
*Encourage interaction and cross-collaboration.
*Generate membership options for each of these sub-groups in as inclusive
fashion as possible. For instance, offer various levels of membership (i.e.
for developers we could have following membership levels: "supporter" is a
non-paying member who supports the consortium by being part of it and in
return is linked from the consortium's page and has a vote in decisions,
"patron" is a paying member who in addition to "supporter's" benefits also
gets PR exposure through initiatives sponsored by the foundation, etc.)
4) Provide database-driven website that would eventually encompass an
exhaustive search for various audio-related software, linux artists,
supported hardware etc.
5) Expand board's functions in order to cover necessary functions that will
be introduced with the implementation of a foundation
*Treasurer
*Membership
*Media Relations
*Hardware vendor contact
6) Instantiate a not-for-profit foundation
*Establish various levels of membership for various sub-groups including
ones with annual dues
*Seek funding opportunities from commercial vendors
*Generate initiatives that provide additional cash-flow (i.e. CD
compilations, journals, other)
*Offer annual awards for best Linux audio-related art and for the software
project that made most progress in the past year (additional rules would
apply, i.e. same project cannot win more than once, or perhaps not more than
once in 5 years, etc.)
*Consider making awards available only to the paying projects OR make every
linux audio project eligible and if they win and happen not to be part of
the consortium, they get a complimentary membership for one year (which
would hopefully encourage them to remain members)
*Most importantly, use money for PR stuff (posters in magazines, conference
exposure)
*Seek sponsorship/support from institutions and companies alike
*Sponsor creation of specific documentation (prioritizing could be voted on
by the membership base)
*Consider forming the foundation in a country that is Linux-friendly (i.e.
no volatile patent support etc.) -- this may not be that relevant, though. I
would actually appreciate some thoughts on this point.
7) Generate consortium's logo
*Necessary for letterheads, media exposure, etc.
*Encourages consistency.
*Would be available in several sub-flavors for use by members as well as
commercial vendors (with appropriate licensing fee): a) "Made in GNU/Linux"
would be for projects which have been developed primarily on Linux platform,
b) logo without the aforementioned statement would be for others.
*The use of the logo by members would be encouraged but not mandated.
*The placement of logo (on the website or inside the application) would be
left to project developer's discretion.
8) Strengthen ties with other open-source foundations (i.e. FSF)
*Ability to rely upon legal and other forms of help when necessary
9) Provide exhaustive info for newcomers
*Endorse hardware
*Endorse linux distributions
*Documentation
*Search/links
*Other info
That should more or less it in a very rough form. As you can see there are a
lot of things and ideas but I believe what needs to happen first is to place
these into some sort of a timeline and establish time-stamped milestones.
Since I am quite tired (still fighting the jetlag) and this e-mail is way
longer than what I originally anticipated it to be, if you don't mind I
would like to talk about this aspect of my proposal later on this week in a
follow-up e-mail. In the meantime, I would greatly appreciate any feedback
on these ideas.
Once again, many thanks to all, especially to the linuxaudio.org members who
have generously shared their thoughts at LAC in order to make this
initiative better!
Best wishes,
Ivica Ico Bukvic, composer & multimedia sculptor
http://meowing.ccm.uc.edu/~ico/
Hello Jun-ichi,
> I think it is good time for you to communicate with the "Open
> Generic Transporter" working group (SC02-06G) in AES.
Thanks for the information - I think Jody McIntyre will want to follow
that up. Jody, can you let us know how you get on please?
> Also we hope we can open sample source code of current mLAN connection
> management system and mLAN device control modules for Linux with in
> several months.
That's great news - I'm sure there are many Linux developers who will
want to take a look at that.
> But I am not so familiar with Linux community any advice
> and suggestions about our contribution would be appreciated.
The best way to communicate directly with developers is to use the
linux-audio-announce and linux-audio-developer mailing lists, which you
can find here:
http://music.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-announce/
This list is just for announcements
http://music.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-dev/
This list is for discussions
If you need to get in touch with Linux companies and projects,
linuxaudio.org has a consortium mailing list:
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/consortium
Cheers!
Daniel
Hello!
Terry Holton at Yamaha R&D in London suggested I contact you regarding
mLAN support on Linux. The Linuxaudio.org consortium has several members
interested in FireWire and audio networking, but since many of these
developers work for small specialist companies or in an academic
context, they are unsure about access to the mLAN specifications.
Is there some way in which we can work together to provide
specifications to these developers? I note that one of our recent new
member organisations, the FreeBob project, includes a developer who
works for BridgeCo - which is an mLAN licencee of course.
Please let me know your thoughts on the matter.
Cheers!
Daniel James