A happy home

An entertained home is a happy home, with the digital dream a real one, most homes have turned into a digital entertainment heaven. My home’s daily routine often revolves around keeping the tiny humans entertained streaming music, video and photos from a home Linux server (plus online services) around the home to a variety of devices. From the traditional TV with a Raspberry Pi media centre to Android tablets and Chromebooks, or through the Pi-powered projector for cinema-style fun.

As software improves we like to take advantage of new features. For a while we’ve been putting up with the closedsource Plex, but finally Emby has appeared and we’re basing our new home media heaven on this fully open source solution. So from a base Ubuntu server, you’ll be able to dish out transcoded video, music and photos around your home with the option of recorded TV without the hassle of Myth TV. It’s a slick solution and one I’m sure you’ll love when you read about it on page 32.

Another cool entertainment feature takes a look at open source in film and TV. Largely, we wanted to see how the good work at the Blender Foundation has pushed Blender to the edge of commercial acceptance and what’s stopping it from rendering the next Hollywood blockbuster, the results are amazing. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about good ol’ Linux. We’ve got tutorials on selecting the best desktop for you, using BIOC to take part in science research projects, how to set up your printer and scanner and another healthy dose of Pi projects and news.

Finally, we also say goodbye to Dr. Chris Brown with his final system programming article. He’s written for Linux Format since LXF88 (January 2007) and has imparted countless amounts of Linux wisdom to us unwashed masses. We’ll miss his expert prose and wish him well in his retirement.