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05-25-2024, 08:14 PM
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#1
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LQ Newbie
Registered: May 2024
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1
Rep:
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Newbie artist looking for a distro. Thinking of mint. Open to suggs
I've been on win 10 for a while and while it's ok for what I do, I'm sick of being spied on, dealing w/the AI crap. Win 11 is a whole new hell in that regard which ill never use.
So I thought of doing a dual boot system.
My techy artist friend says forget about Linux...it's not geared toward users like me. But thought I'd give a try.
I'm a traditional and digital artist, gamer, singer. I use photoshop, sometimes video software. Also I've been getting into DAWs (digital audio workstation) and currently use the free Cakewalk but also have the free Protools.
Other things I use:
Bluestacks
epsxe, pcsx2
Luminar
Mixpad
Itunes
Brave browser
Vsdc
Other common maintenance stuff
So I saw that Mint may be a good choice. But I have no idea if any of the software I use is usable on Linux or if I am chained to stuff specific to it. I also dont know how hard it is to get drivers, updates, etc. I saw you can "try it" as a cd or usb boot. So I assume if you like it, you install it?
I dont really code but I was around in early 90s when pcs were just becoming popular and configured vid and audio manually and added WADs to Doom via command line. I studied html a bit in school and started a book on C++ but wasn't really my thing.
Below is some basic info on my pc now. I upgrade parts as necessary and if I CAN. So all parts are from different years. Id say the oldest are my HDs (except the solid state, which is newer)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
AMD FX-6300 67 °F
Vishera 32nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 803MHz (10-10-10-30)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. 970A-D3P (CPU 1) 76 °F
Graphics
ASUS VS239 (1920x1080@60Hz)
2048MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series (ASUStek Computer Inc) 78 °F
Storage
298GB Western Digital WDC WD3200AAKS-00L9A0 (SATA ) 76 °F
698GB Western Digital WDC WD7500AADS-00M2B0 (SATA ) 74 °F
447GB SanDisk SDSSDA480G (SATA (SSD)) 90 °F
931GB Western Digital WD My Passport 0820 USB Device (USB (SATA) ) 81 °F
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NS90 ATA Device
Audio
AMD High Definition Audio Device
Hopefully thats enough info. Tried to be as thorough as I could.
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05-27-2024, 03:31 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Registered: Feb 2011
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 4,269
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There are plenty of free audio and graphics tools for Linux, but be warned that they may not work like what you're used to and may not seem as polished. Boot from live media and try out Audacity and Gimp or Inkscape and see if you can live with them. Be warned that there is a learning curve, but on the other hand there's great free support {right here!}.
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05-27-2024, 06:23 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Registered: Feb 2007
Location: UK
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 3,866
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Mint is a reasonable first choice of distro.
If you make a note of things you like/dislike then after using for a while it you can say "I've been using Mint, here's how I feel about it, is there anything that suits me better?" (Then ignore most of the responses where people blindly suggest what they use themselves without any consideration of your needs.)
Running as a Live distro is a good way to try it out and confirm hardware works, but as it will be running from the USB/CD it will be slower than the installed version.
As Smallpond says, software quality can be very variable - expect to have to change your workflow and re-learn different ways for things you already know.
The Arch wiki has graphics, audio and video software in its list of applications/multimedia. (Arch is not a distro aimed at beginners, but the Arch wiki can often be a useful source of information.)
Last edited by boughtonp; 05-27-2024 at 06:25 PM.
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05-27-2024, 09:25 PM
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#4
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LQ Guru
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
Distribution: Slackware, Ubuntu MATE, Mageia, and whatever VMs I happen to be playing with
Posts: 19,773
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Mint is a very nice piece of work. You might want to use Live CD/USBs to decide between Mint MATE and Mint Cinnamon. Both are very nice desktop environments. MATE tends to have a bit fewer bells and whistles than Cinnamon.
Linux offers a number of versatile tools. I have used the GIMP a lot (I take a lot of photos which I touch up for my blog); I even got a book (remember books?) about it lying around somewhere. Meet the GIMP is an excellent online reference tool for learning about its ins and outs. For simpler stuff, Kolourpaint is a nice piece of work.
I've also used Audacity and found it very versatile.
I don't do video, but I understand that Blender is a great tool.
You might also want to check out Going Linux. Both the website and the podcast are excellent resources oriented to newer Linux users (and, as an older user, I never miss an episode of the podcast).
Welcome to LQ. Look forward to seeing you around.
Last edited by frankbell; 05-27-2024 at 09:31 PM.
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05-27-2024, 10:25 PM
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#5
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LQ Guru
Registered: Apr 2010
Location: Continental USA
Distribution: Debian, Ubuntu, RedHat, DSL, Puppy, CentOS, Knoppix, Mint-DE, Sparky, VSIDO, tinycore, Q4OS, Manjaro
Posts: 6,083
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Look for distributions that specifically support artists.
Anyone can point you to Ubuntu Studio edition, but I recommend you examine ArtistX.
This article may help with a slightly different alternative:
https://opensource.com/article/18/7/...igital-artists
No matter how you start, you are likely to eventually modify, add, and delete the mix until you have the best workflow. But any of these should get you a solid start.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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05-28-2024, 01:38 AM
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#6
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LQ Guru
Registered: Mar 2016
Location: Harrow, UK
Distribution: LFS, AntiX, Slackware
Posts: 8,140
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If there is a Windows program that you find you really can't do without, because the Linux equivalent doesn't fully work for you, you can always install virtualbox and run the Windows program in that while using your Linux system for everything else.
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05-28-2024, 01:24 PM
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#7
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LQ Guru
Registered: Apr 2010
Location: Continental USA
Distribution: Debian, Ubuntu, RedHat, DSL, Puppy, CentOS, Knoppix, Mint-DE, Sparky, VSIDO, tinycore, Q4OS, Manjaro
Posts: 6,083
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hazel
If there is a Windows program that you find you really can't do without, because the Linux equivalent doesn't fully work for you, you can always install virtualbox and run the Windows program in that while using your Linux system for everything else.
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Communication between graphic tools inside and outside of a virtual guest is not transparent. That breaks the direct flow between programs and messes with your mind and work patterns. Better if the OP can use native Linux tools directly. Even with a learning curve, keeping the work together is important.
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05-29-2024, 12:37 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Registered: Jul 2018
Location: Silicon Valley
Distribution: Bodhi Linux
Posts: 1,456
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Mint is fine, go for it.
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05-29-2024, 01:18 PM
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#9
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LQ Guru
Registered: Apr 2010
Location: Continental USA
Distribution: Debian, Ubuntu, RedHat, DSL, Puppy, CentOS, Knoppix, Mint-DE, Sparky, VSIDO, tinycore, Q4OS, Manjaro
Posts: 6,083
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Quote:
Originally Posted by enigma9o7
Mint is fine, go for it.
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Nice that you think it is fine. I think so as well. The question is if it is the best choice for a digital artist! That is less clear. What do you think?
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05-29-2024, 07:08 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Registered: Feb 2007
Location: UK
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 3,866
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wpeckham
The question is if it is the best choice for a digital artist!
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6Hypnone's motivation is to get away from Microsoft's behaviour. The phrase they used is " So I saw that Mint may be a good choice" - the answer to that is yes.
Even if they discover a dislike of Mint/Cinnamon and end up using something else, it is a good choice to start with.
Still, to answer your question, the answer is still yes: There have been three other distros mentioned, but none of them satisfy the requirements given.
Ubuntu Studio could be useful as a reference for what software might be worth installing, but someone who values privacy and not being advertised at will not be wanting to use a distro from Canonical.
ArtistX has been discontinued since 2013. The 2018 attempt to revive it has not resulted in a working website nor a DistroWatch update.
Giuseppe Torre's "Bodhi Linux Media" was based on Bodhi 5.0, and in 2021 updated to Bodhi 5.1, but no further. Bohdi 5.1 is unsupported, and thus wont be updated.
For someone experienced with Linux-based OSes, AVLinux is an audio/video production focused distro that might be worth considering. I don't know how well it does what it does, but since it is maintained by a single person who doesn't provide support, I would not recommend it for a new user.
Similarly, Dynebolic seems to be being revived - when that comes out of beta it might be worth considering for an experienced user, but again it's maintained by a single person, so I would hesitate to suggest it to a new user.
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05-30-2024, 01:01 AM
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#11
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Senior Member
Registered: Jul 2018
Location: Silicon Valley
Distribution: Bodhi Linux
Posts: 1,456
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I've actually played with AVLinux, but mainly to see it's implementation of enlightenment desktop, since afaik it's the only distro shipping an iso featuring e these days (besides Bodhi with its version that forked 6+ years ago).
Anyways all the tools offered in Ubuntu Studio or AVlinux or Bodhi Linux Media can be installed on Mint, so the real advantage of those distros is just to see some of the A/V apps that are available without having to install them yourself. But sure, install one of those would work too (although yeah, don't use bodhi linux 5.1 based OS today, too old).
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05-30-2024, 01:43 PM
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#12
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LQ Guru
Registered: Apr 2010
Location: Continental USA
Distribution: Debian, Ubuntu, RedHat, DSL, Puppy, CentOS, Knoppix, Mint-DE, Sparky, VSIDO, tinycore, Q4OS, Manjaro
Posts: 6,083
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Visit DISTROWATCH and search the available active distributions. There are a LOT of them, and many are suitable for desktop use and will support your digital are tools that are FOSS.
Now that I thought of that, I wonder why that was not the FIRST thing I recommended! I should have mentioned it earlier!
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05-30-2024, 03:56 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Registered: Jul 2018
Location: Silicon Valley
Distribution: Bodhi Linux
Posts: 1,456
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Because that's overwhelming?
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