An artist in Linuxland
May 23rd, 2007I’m writing with curious and curiouser apprehension at the altered beast sitting before me.
It started when TheJoe decided to switch the servers over to Linux, then began to migrate all his other computers over. In between his talk and flinging out names I’d only heard in passing like CentOS and Fedora he told me about a build called Ubuntu and an offshoot catering to the creative person. Now, after a few days installation and configuration, I now have Ubuntu Studio installed as the main OS on my computer, which according to some of the reading I’ve done questions my sanity and status as a creative-type person. Most people would assume I’d rather be happy with OSX and sucking down some sort of drink with the suffix ‘-uccino’.
Although I use a Mac at work, I’ve always used Windows at home. In fact, I’m probably one of the few graphic designers I know that’s OK with working with Windows. Part of that is the fact that I’m such a big gamer. I enjoyed PC games ever since I got a hold of Doom, so having a PC and a Mac wasn’t a feasable or affordable option. I also figured if most of the graphics stuff I was working on was going to get shown on Windows (through IE) anyway, why not design on the OS that it’s going to show up on in the first place?
I guess I just don’t get the whole militant allegiance of one OS over another. It’s like a perpetual three-way war. Part of that comes from my graphic design work. I had to be flexible with which programs I knew. Knowing Pagemaker (yes, I’m dating myself here) wouldn’t help much if the job required working in Quark XPress, even though for most routine work the programs have more similarity than differences. Do vector illustration with Freehand? Sorry, we use Corel Draw. I had to adapt and be familiar with many programs.
Why make this change at all then? Probably due to the plain fact that there is no absolute right-brained job. Creativity is hopelessly chained to the left brain for any hope of expression. Even before computers, artists had to learn the best way to hold a pen or brush, while arguing over which tool was the best kind. Musicians were tied down to constant practice of scales and music theory. I doubt there will ever be a day when we can plug into our head and simply let the creative works simply pour from our heads into the world (and even then we’d argue over which interface was better: Apple’s iThink, Microsoft’s BrainWindow, or the Linux-based OpenMind)
I’m aware that I have some advantages others don’t. TheJoe sits right behind me if I have a question or a problem and he did set up the install for me. I also have a pretty beefy computer, something most Linux users don’t have. Plus, I have VMWare 6 with a WinXP partition and Adobe Creative Suite for those times when expedience requires something more familiar. TheJoe has also given me some required reading as he’s made me acutely aware that to err with your data is Windows but to really screw up your actual physical computer, you need Linux.
So I hope to relate to you my adventures in exploring the creative programs that the Linux community offers. Will I ever go full-on penguin? Will Gimp supplant Photoshop, Scribus topple InDesign, or Inkspace usurp Illustrator. Probably not as long as Adobe has the strong hold they have on the creative mindshare. But I plan to see what’s there anyways.
Oh, and I can’t stand coffee. I prefer tea.
