GSOC 2012/Student Application jvlomax/fedora audio spin

Contact Information

• Username: jvlomax
• Email Address: northlomax@gmail.com
• Telephone: +47 96016061
• Blog URL: /dev/null
• Freenode IRC Nick: Lurimax

Why do you want to work with the Fedora Project?

Although I have never used Fedora on a permanent basis, I always try it from time to time (but my laptop has always needed tons of proprietary drivers). The thing that makes me always go back to is that I love the philosophy of Fedora, and I think there should always be a FOSS option out there when it comes to distros. And that is also the main reason I want to do this project. There are other audio studio spins (ubuntu and openSUSE both have), but there is no guaranteed FOSS alternative if you want to do audio mixing.

Do you have any past involvement with the Fedora project or with any another open source project as a contributor (if possible please add some references as well)?

I have never contributed. I did contribute a little when openttd, an open source implementation of the game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe", was making a music pack to ship with the game. You can read more from forums if wanted[1]. I backed out of the project before anything from me was contributed, due to frictions with the community and a co-contributor also backing out (for the same reasons). I have also played around with a distro called elementOS which was supposed to be the ultimate home theatre distro, providing support and helping to improve. Unfortunetly elementOS stopped being maintained 2 years ago and the project died. I still run a custom version of it at home, but I have never contributed any of my customizations.

Did you participate with the past GSoC programs, if so which years, which organizations?

This is my first GSoC

Will you continue contributing/ supporting the Fedora project after the GSoC 2012 program, if yes, which team(s)/area(s), you are interested with?

I would very much like to see the project through to the end (or until the first release). As I'm still studying at university, I don't feel like I have the time yet to contribute full time, put I would love to help with either package management or documentation some time in the future

Why should we choose you over the other applicants?

I might not have a huge amount of coding practice and I have never worked on a project of this scale. But I'm willing to learn and work hard to contribute as much as possible. I have also worked as a leader on several occasions in the past, and this has learnt me, it is that communication is very important. This project is very dependant on clear an concise communication, and I think I can meet the expectations needed in this area. You should also choose me because I can make very good chocolate chip cookies ;)

Proposal Description

The proposal on the Fedora wiki can be found here. The idea is to create a spin of Fedora specially catering to those who want to use it for audio work. It should include the most used audio mixing and creation software as well as keeping with the Fedora philosophy

There are two other distros that have audio centric spins out there(ubuntu studio,openSUSE studio gallery). I think that it's time that Fedora joins the ranks so that Fedora users can also to audio studio work without having to start using a different distro. I think this is one of the things that will help Fedora get more usage.

I have a degree in music, and I have used various Linux based studio software. When it comes to programming, I am well versed in assembly, c and python. I also know java, though I have only ever used it for android programming. I also have some experience writing bash scripts and I am familiar with the inner workings of Linux. I have been full time Linux user for 5 years, and I have often played around with configuration files. I have also used the JACK audio system on many occasions.

It's hard to tell how to implement it as the software that is going in to the spin has not been finalized. It will mostly consist of discussion, writing scripts and configuring the software to work together out of the box. It should use the current development version of Fedora as a base, and build upon it.

There should be a fully working beta of the spin that is fully usable for an end-user by the end of GSoC.

Giving a timeline for the project would be a bit hard for me, as I have never worked on projects like this, and i don't know exactly how far the project already is, but I would imagine something like this:

1. Time before the actual coding starts (24th of may):
   • Get to know everyone involved and get up to speed.
   • Discuss with others about what should be done after the 24th
2. first 2-3 weeks
   • mostly discussion about what software to put in, and how to configure it
3. next 3-4 weeks
   • package everything
   • start configuring the software
4. early/mid july
   • the spin should be ready for alpha testing and kinks should be ironed out
5. early august
   • the spin should be approaching Beta at this stage
   • everything should be packaged and configured
6. End of GSOC
   • The project should be in beta and bug patching should be the main focus.
   • It should follow the main Fedora roadmap from here on, so it can be ready for release in October

Have you communicated with a potential mentor? If so, who?

I have communicated with Brendan Jones the mailing list and IRC