Installation
How easy is it to cross the first hurdle (turning the lights on)?
You really learn to appreciate the beauty of the package management tools on Linux distributions when you attempt to install mammoth projects like the ones featured in this Roundup. Not only do these tools require a number of different third-party applications and libraries to provide many essential functions, you also need a large number other libraries and resources. Worse still, some of the additional software have vast dependencies of their own.
This is why distribution agnostic packaging formats like AppImage and Snap are finding great favour with many different application developers. Another advantage with such packages is that they require no installation, making the software portable. You merely have to make the downloaded file executable by running the chmod +x <filename> command, and you’re done.
Kdenlive, OpenShot and Shotcut each provide portable 64-bit AppImage packages. The Kdenlive help manual also describes the different resources from where you can grab deb or RPM binaries, if you prefer applications to be integrated into the desktop.
Apart from an official deb binary package, Flowblade doesn’t ship any binaries for other popular distributions. The download page on the website recommends using the software repositories of your distribution for installing the project, but also cautions you that the latest release might not always be on offer in the software repositories. Thankfully, you can find RPM packages for the latest release on third-party websites such as RPMFusion.
LiVES doesn’t produce binary packages for different distros itself, but recommends Ubuntu users to install it using a PP. Fedora users can similarly find RPM packages for the latest release on RPMFusion. If you’re confident in your dependencyresolving skills, you can compile it yourself from source. But for most of the projects featured here, this is ill advised.
When you launch LiVES after installing it, unlike the other tools, it starts a configuration wizard that checks if your system has all the dependencies installed. Next, you’ll be asked to choose an audio player, whether pulseaudio (recommended), jackaudio, sox or mplayer. Finally, you’re asked to choose between two different startup interfaces: clip edit or the multitrack mode.