We have seen Android apps that lets you remotely control Banshee, VLC, Amarok etc. But how about a more holistic approach? Linux Remote Control aka LRC is a WebApp that turns any device with a web browser (that has HTML5 support) into a full-fledged remote control for systems that run any Linux based distros. Tested it on Ubuntu 13.10 and I have to say I'm impressed! Here's how you install and setup Linux Remote Control in Ubuntu.

After Metro: Last Light FPS and Football Manager 2014, Portal 2 is the latest blockbuster game from Steam to reach our shores. If you don't know already, Portal 2 is the award winning sequel to genre-defining first-person puzzle platformer, Portal. Both the sequel and the original were huge successes across platforms. Portal was released for Linux sometime in mid-2013 along with the likes of Dota 2, Half Life 2 and Left 4 Dead 2.

The recent acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook (for a whooping $16 billion!) has prompted a lot of people to switch to other WhatsApp look-alikes for fear of their privacy. But are there any WhatsApp alternatives that are really secure? Let's find out. Three of the finest secure, private and cross-platform WhatsApp alternatives for Android.

I don't know about you, but I'm a big HUD fan. And I swear by my keyboard. If you're like me, here's a development you would not want to miss. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS will debut keyboard filtering for Unity spread feature, which is pretty great news for keyboard junkies like me. 

Upstart is an event-based replacement for the init daemon which handles starting of tasks and services during boot, stopping them during shutdown and supervising them while the system is running. The project was kick-started in early 2006 by Canonical. Systemd is similar to Upstart in core philosophies, but comes with added advantages. Initial release was in 2010. Mark Shuttleworth, in his latest blog post, has announced the switch to Systemd from Upstart.

Like many other niches, music production was not really a Linux forte. But that's changing now and like what happened to the video editing scene, popular music production tools are finding its way into Linux. Though I love listening to all kinds of music, I'm no music production expert. And hence I can't pass informative judgments on any of the applications you're going to read about in the article below.

Consider this blogpost as a brief introduction to different music production tools available for Ubuntu and Linux, and not as a review per se. So here we go again. 10 useful music production tools for Ubuntu and Linux.

Bitwig Studio Digital Audio Workstation

• Bitwig Studio is a multi-platform music-creation tool for production, performance and DJing. 

• Bitwig Studio is made by developers that used to work on Ableton Live, a Windows only Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). And like Lightworks for video editing, Bitwig Studio will be a professional grade music production tool with support for Linux platform. 
• Expected release date: March 26, 2014. Know more.

Ardour: Audio mixing software for Linux

• Record, edit and mix audio using Ardour. Supports Linux and Mac. 
• Ardour is open source and is released under GPLv2/GPLv3 license.

 

• Ardour is a great example of commercial free-libre software. Users who download from ardour.org are asked to pay at least $1 for downloading prebuilt binaries of Ardour; those users then have the right to obtain minor updates until the next major release.

• Another option is to subscribe by paying $1, $4 or $10 per month. Subscribers can download prebuilt binaries of all updates during the subscription period.
• Without paying anything, users can download the full source code for all platforms.
• Download Ardour for Linux.

Renoise Digital Audio Workstation

• Renoise is a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) with a unique top-down approach to music composition known as a tracker interface. 

• Features include full MIDI and MIDI sync support, VST 2.0 plugin support, ASIO multi I/O cards support, integrated sampler and sample editor, internal real-time DSP effects with unlimited number of effects per track, master and send tracks, full automation of all commands, hi-fi .WAV rendering (up to 32 bit 96 kHz), Rewire support, etc.
• A full version of Renoise cost USD 78.00, which is noticeably cheaper than competing digital audio workstations (DAWs) such as Ableton Live and even the upcoming Bitwig Studio which costs around USD 749 and USD 400 (rumored) respectively. 
• Renoise digital audio workstation.

Tracktion Music Production Software for Linux

• Tracktion is yet another high-profile entrant into the Linux music production scene.

• Tracktion is a digital audio workstation for recording and editing audio and MIDI. The project was started with the intention of creating the most easy-to-use music production tool out there. 
• Tracktion is proprietary, and supports a wide range of audio formats including WAV, AIFF and Ogg-Vorbis.
• Tracktion beta version for Linux is free now. Get it here. 

Rosegarden Digital Audio Workstation (Linux exclusive)

• Rosegarden is an open source digital audio workstation for Linux, based around a MIDI sequencer that features a rich understanding of music notation and includes basic support for digital audio.





• Ideal for composers, musicians, and students working from a small studio or home recording environments. Quite easy to learn and runs exclusively on Linux.
• Download Rosegarden for Linux (an early alpha version for Windows is also available)

Hydrogen: Advanced drum machine for Linux

• Hydrogen is an advanced drum machine for Linux, an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or similar percussion instruments. 

• Hydrogen's interface uses Qt library and the entire code-base is released to the public under the GNU General Public License. 
• Download Hydrogen for Linux (Ubuntu PPA also available) 

Mixxx: Linux's very own professional DJing software

• Mixxx is a free, open source, digital DJing software that allows mixing music in your Linux system with ease.

• Mixxx started off as a humble project for a doctoral thesis way back in 2001. Today it is a full-fledged application that is downloaded over one million times annually.



• It is licensed under the GPL (v2.0 or later) and runs on all major desktop operating systems.
• Ubuntu PPA available (Update: Ubuntu 18.10 support also included in the same PPA)
• More download options here.

Audacity: Record and edit music in Linux with ease

• Audacity is the most well-known application here, and perhaps the most basic too.

• Audacity is a free and open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing all kinds of music and audio. It is one of the most downloaded software in SourceForge, with nearly 100 million downloads. 
• If you are on Ubuntu, Click here to install Audacity.
• More download options for Audacity can be found here. 

LMMS: Linux MultiMedia Studio

• Linux MultiMedia Studio or LMMS is yet another free and open-source music production application on Linux. It works cross-platform too.

• This include creating of melodies and beats, synthesizing and mixing of sounds and arranging samples.
• LMMS is available for Linux and Windows. Download here. 

JACK: Jack Audio Connection Kit

• Jack Audio Connection Kit (JACK) is perhaps the most important tool as far as music production on Linux is concerned. It is a professional sound server daemon that provides real-time, low latency connections for both audio and MIDI data between applications that implement its API.

• It can connect a number of different applications to an audio device, as well as allowing them to share audio between themselves.
• Most of the open-source applications listed above and plenty more out there does use its API. See this exhaustive list for yourself. 
• The server is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL, while the library is licensed under the more permissive GNU LGPL.
• Download options here.

Why is Linux faster than Windows? It's a very potent question which immediately stirs up a lot of debate, like we saw before. Some say its a myth. But most Linux users know it isn't, partially because almost everyone who adopted Linux were disgruntled Windows users once. But still, what makes Linux faster? I don't think many in the Linux community are aware of the exact reasons. I bumped up on this reddit thread recently which answers the whole why-linux-is-faster-than-windows question so eloquently. Here are the excerpts.

image via sticky comics

Music on Console aka MOC is perhaps the most lightweight and easy-to-install music player for Linux I have ever tested. And don't be intimidated by the fact that MOC is a console only player. Once you spend enough time with MOC, it becomes as easy to use as any other alternative music players for Linux. Moreover, if you're a fan of MPD plus NCMPC combination who doesn't like to jump through hoops just for installing and setting it up, MOC might be the alternative you have been looking for. It's right there in Ubuntu repositories by default.