Two Blender-Specific Linux Distributions
Two modified Ubuntu distributions that are aimed specifically at Blender were released this Month: Blender-boot and BlenderBuntu.
While I’m not sure why you should choose these over a standard Linux distribution, I think the effort in itself is interesting.
BlenderBuntuBizla writes:
Hello, Im proud to announce that the first open source operating system is in development. That’s right, An OS thats built for fast booting, fast shutdown, but most importantly fast renders!
Its a full fledged OS built on the famous Ubuntu, and the (not quite as famous) LXDE, combined with many many tweaks to create the fastest operating system designed for blender users that has ever been released (im not making this up either)
In a comparison with windows 7 (the most popular operating system out there) BlenderBuntu rendered a scene 44% faster! 23m 17s for win7 and 13m 10s for BlenderBuntu.
Features:
- It has a stripped down optimised chrome web browser (chromium for those that are familiar)
- AUTOMATIC updates of blender (currently 2.6.3) which will update itself whenever a new build is available)
- GIMP photo editing suite.
- screen recorder for those that like to make tutorials.
- Ubuntu software center just incase you want to expand the OS to suite additional needs.
- A lightweight and user friendly but lightning fast desktop enviroment.
- File manager.
- Full suite of libre office
- A text editor and a terminal.
It has over 100 packages removed from the default ubuntu OS and just the programs that a modeller needs without all the rest weighing you down and slowing down your renders.
For more information and download, head to the BlenderBuntu website.
Editor’s note: after some initial discussion, BlenderBuntu can now be used completely free of charge, and the license has been corrected to GPL.
Blender-Boot
Blender-boot is designed to be a dual boot Linux distro. It boots straight into a light enviroment with Blender already open. Its has Dropbox and UbuntuOne for saving your files to open easily in your main operating system. It has Blender 2.62, Gimp 2.74(with single window mode), Guake terminal, Chromium browser and more. Its based on Ubuntu for ease of use and the Software Center has been left in, for installing more applications if you want to. Its a distraction free resource light distro designed with Blender in mind and fast rendering, I hope you enjoy it. Lots of how to`s will be on blenderboot.blogspot.com soon.
Links
Different render speeds between Linux/Windows are almost entirely due to compiler differences. Specifically, the GCC compiler (typically available under Linux) is simply much more efficient than Microsoft Visual Studio, with Cycles. People claiming that their Linux distributions have better render times than Windows aren’t telling the entire truth. That is thanks to the compiler used, not to intrinsic OS differences or differences in the amount of “bloat” (some like to justify the speed differences with this, which however has no theoretical bases on a sane system since we’re speaking of a purely computational task).
This being said, I hope that the problems which prevents to compile Blender for Windows with GCC will be solved at some point, so that Windows users can obtain the same Cycles rendering speeds as one can have on Linux (regardless of the “optimizations” performed in custom distributions such as those featured in this blogpost).
Strange, GCC is not normally trumpeted as a very efficient compiler—for example, I remember Intel claiming that a Linux kernel compiled with its ICC compiler would run about 10% faster than the same code compiled with GCC.
So either Visual Studio is really crap, or Windows really is bad with OpenGL-intensive apps. Or perhaps a mixture of the two…
I’m referring to Cycles CPU render performance (100% CPU, no OpenGL or GPU processing involved). On the same machine, it renders 45-75% faster on Linux than Windows 7, either by using official Blender builds from Blender.org (the lower figure) or ones from GraphicAll (higher one). It was submitted as a bug in the tracker a few days ago, basically Brecht is aware of this issue, but it’s not really a bug so the entry got rejected:
http://projects.blender.org/tracker/?func=detail&atid=498&aid=30909&group_id=9
If you normally use Windows you will be surprised of the speed difference, I couldn’t believe myself until I tried on my machine. I used (as I reported there) a standard Ubuntu 12.04 distribution.
Keep in mind that other users have reported the same Cycles CPU render performance difference on the same machine when switching between Linux and Windows on the same machine.
In this thread, for example:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?239480-2.61-Cycles-render-benchmark
Oook.. But what about mac.. is it slower than Linux too?
I’m not able to answer that. I think the problem is Windows-specific, however.
Apple’s XCode used to use GCC as its underlying compiler. Now I think they’ve switched to CLANG, which is built on LLVM. My guess is, that won’t be much worse than GCC.
So any performance issues on OS X can be firmly blamed on the OS, not the compiler, at least. :)
Of course they said it was faster, they had to sell it.
What’s going on with Blenderbuntu website? I cannot access anymore, anybody can tell me why is no longer in service?
I wish both distros have Lux Render!
I may consider adding Lux Render! to Blender-boot making sure I keep under a 1GB and that everything is tested. I have already added a few more applications useful for Blender users so Lux Render could make the cut.
I think plenty of us are into Lux realism, and ease of use Luxconsole on small render farm is just amazing. I am not coder in any sense yet I tried to compile Lux on Mint Linux using tutorials. I spent 3 days and night and I was unsuccessful, yet it made me realize how it all works and how much work is required to make things work.
I was daydreaming that someone will come out with “Blender Lux Linux” compiled 3D only and my dream came true :) I know about Ubuntu Studio and Lux for Arch but for obvious reasons don’t cut the deal.
Great thanks to both of you for your hard work and LuxRender would be greatly appreciated.
Keep my fingers crossed.
Thanks Jon and bizla
Glad to make your dream come semi true eventually I want to include a lot of things, Lux probably wont make it into version 1. I am going to be putting some time into it though and if it all comes out right I will write a tutorial about installing it on to Blender-boot.
Cheers mate!
Is BlenderBuntu a joke ? Do we really have to pay 50£ to have “unlimited number of license” for software that are completely free ?
Sorry, I missed that – I added a note to the article about it.
Where did you add the note? i can’t see
Af the bottom of the piece on BlenderBuntu. Search for ‘Editor’s note’.
it’s OK. I reloaded the page :)
Also, http://blenderbuntu.yolasite.com/ says “BlenderBuntu by Bizla is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.”
You can’t release GPL code under Creative Commons -.-
Also, where is the access to the source code? I think this whole thing is illegal!
It looks like a scam to me, I think this article should be taken down.
And BlenderBuntu is failing to make the GPL source code of their distribution available,
Thanks for posting about my Distro Blender-boot :D It makes me very happy to see it here as its meant for Blender fans and I have put countless hours into it. The final version will be out In just under 2 months and as always will be free and safe to download from Sourceforge.The final version will have a lot of changes especially visually and include a few more applications useful for Blender users.
Bart, the licence of the BlenderBuntu is http://blenderbuntu.yolasite.com/licencing-terms-and-conditions.php
He can’t re-licence GPL under Creative Commons!!
I strongly suggest to remove that link asap!
Why remove the link? I think it’s better to have a solid discussion here. I’ll contact the author and point the issue out, and ask him to comment on it here.
Because in my opinion this repacking under CC licence is illegal, and you are advertising it by having it here.
That makes me worried…
Worried for what?
Worried that people don’t read all here, just see this on blendernation and buy it, because “if it’s on bn it must be okay”.
This looks like software scam to me and shouldn’t be there, unless it has a clear warning.
Anyway, will wait for an answer of the author.
If you read the post well, you should see that I already recommend against buying it, but I’ll add a note about the GPL violation. Thanks!
Thanks!
The licensing issue has been solved! See? It’s better to have a discussion ;-)
I agree with Thomas, it remind me that crapy scam : http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/blender-foundation/press/re-branding-blender/
Voted -> TO BE REMOVED.
How on earth is what we are doing anything like that it may have been when he was selling his distro but now he has made it free like mine.
I think he was referring to BlenderBuntu.
Yeah that’s why I said he but I said we just in case he meant both.
He made it free as in “free beer” and not free as in freedom. Open Source is all about freedom – you are free to modify, recompile and redistribute the work.
He is allowed to sell it, but he has to provide the sources and open source all his modifications, so others have the freedom to do the same. That’s what the GPL license says (in a nutshell).
Not anymore, the license has been changed.
The license may have been changed but he does not comply with the license. I can not find the sources on his site, nor any information on where to get them.
Most of the people here seem to be angry because he tried to sell his work. Funny enough, selling his work is covered by the GPL. Keeping his modifications private is not.
You should read better before you post accusations like that. If you had, you would know that BlenderBuntu is now 100% free and that the licensing issue has been solved.
I am not blaming anyone, I am just pointing the fact that some people are just trying to get money by selling free things (unchanged or very little) just because it’s renamed and put in a beautiful gift wrap, it’s why I pointed the IllusionMage scam.
I was mainly talking about BlenderBuntu.
And I’ve read your post and it was clearly said :
– it was under Creative Commons instead of GPL
– it was commercial but a free version is available
Now you tell me to read well after he changed the 2 previous points to :
– GPL
– free but donations are welcome
Other than that I have to say that it’s not a real distribution, maybe i am wrong but what make a real distribution for me and I think for others is unique features and own identity, Ubuntu is based on Debian but clearly different in every aspects, Mint is based on Ubuntu but also clearly different (own packet manager, own desktop manager called Cinnamon…) and some others distributions are based on Mint with again unique features.
Even if I love Blender, I really don’t see the interest of using any of those 2 distributions because I have the same result by installing Ubuntu + Blender.
The website of blenderbuntu is already unreachable (at the moment i am writing).
To finish i don’t want to be evil, i am just realist.
The post was updated, maybe you saw the old version.
Your opinion is your opinion all I can say is don’t knock it until you try it as Blender-boot has next to nothing of Ubuntu left in it and I think that is the same for Blenderbuntu. I have already had a lot of complimentary feedback, so as I said each to their own.
Dear Jon,
I support and encourage all kind of open source softwares, because it’s a great philosophy and it’s always a pleasure to share and benefit work from each others..
But in the case of a Blender based dist, I think the two projects are not enough mature to attract 100% of the Blender users.
It would be smarter, less complex and more accessible to develop a software which automatically do the stuffs your distro does, like installing dependencies, getting blender sources, compiling them to get the executable working and up to date.
This way users would only have to download once the soft and install it, after that it’s just a matter of clicking on the Blender executable, what’s more easier than that ?
I hope I am wrong and Blender axed distro will find their public in the futur, that’s the most bad thing I could wish to you.
Greetings.
Im staying impartial because im technically the competition as I started mine a few weeks before his, there is a lot I want to say though lol :D
Application-specific Linux distros are nothing new. For example, dyne:bolic and Ubuntu Studio targeted at music/multimedia work.Scientific Linux aimed at physics researchers, that kind of thing. Linux makes it easy to do this kind of customization. It’s probably also good for Windows users unfamiliar with Linux, who just want to hit the ground running with using Linux in some specific application area.
I know and I totally agree, I will say that I have put countless hours into Blender-boot to make as user friendly as I can but also very capable for more experienced users. Its still in testing at the moment but by final it will be something special I hope, I use it its good for what its meant for and I make no silly claims of what it can do.
I can’t take the Blender-Boot logo seriously.
The logo is changing slightly but its supposed to be a cheesy play on words lol :P
you could do the Blender logo levitating over a glowing alien boot :D
Good idea but I cant use the Blender Logo it belongs to Blender, The Blender-boot logo will always remind you of Blender but not actually be the Blender Logo. The old logo used in current beta release and older releases is actually a 3d model, the new logo is a vector for now depending on if anyone else submits logos I guess.
Let me +1 that :)
Hello Everyone,Im sorry about the licencing issues, you will happy to know that I have fixed those issues now and BlenderBUntu is completely free commercially or non commercially :)
Again i apologise for the annoyance this has caused
I tried to warn you I even offered help. I am so glad you have started to move yours in the right direction now, nothing wrong with friendly competition. Now you just got to start releasing testing versions make sure the right layout settings etc start on boot and your good to go :D
Also I will add here since I emailed bart before these changes, BlenderBuntu now has gimp 2.6 WITH single window mode.
Also I have adding another comparison Of blenderBuntu vs windows 7 on a state of the art top end PC and the speed increase was still huge.
http://blenderbuntu.yolasite.com/performance-tests.php
You can obtain the same render speed increases with a regular version of Ubuntu as well.
Brecht confirmed it’s a compiler issue.
Yeah thats why I make no claims mine Blender-boot is super fast or special (I just say quick rendering which is true) its just heavily customized for Blender users its Ubuntu for Blender fans its very, very different to any Ubuntu version.
whether its to do with the comiler or not, If you download a regular version of ubuntu, you wont get this level of speed increase with some heavy modifying (i should know, I tried every linux distro out there trying to find the fastest one that didnt take alot of modifying)
@google-d73dfa693dd07863791cc886e0647707:disqus , thanks man :) yeah I can be rather stubborn at times, but hey ho, problem solved now, hows yours coming along btw?
No worries :D Mine is coming on fantastic the look of the distro has had a huge overhaul and there is some special surprise features(obviously I will reveal some of them soon I just like testing everything the proper way) I am adding in the final its going to be amazing, You going to change your current release to a testing version, then improve on it?
Awesome, Its good to hear that yours is coming along well :) have you created a website for it?
I am going to say that it is still in development,I have some big plans for version 2, Although V1 is perfectly stable now and working very well There are a few small issues that I would like to sort out in V2, On the forum for BlenderBuntu there has been talk of the ratpoison DE, Im not familiar with this DE, have you used it yourself at any point?
At the moment Blender-boot has the blog http://blenderboot.blogspot.co.uk/ and Sourceforge https://sourceforge.net/projects/blenderboot/ Im focusing on the distro for now. It will have site after the final release of version 1 but I put up regular news, tutorials etc on the blog. I have used ratpoision its quick but trust me its definitely not for artists or friendly to people with less Linux experience. I look forward to seeing where you go with yours :D
I like how you have put terminal commands on your website, I was going to do the same But now it might look like copying :S I will put a link from my site under terminal commands that links to yours though if you like.
Well done on hitting 700 downloads too, I have lost count of my downloads now, But I know my Phone wont stop vibrating because I keep getting =emails that Its been downloaded again haha.
Whens the ETA for your next version?
Ah I see,I’ll stick with LXDE then for now, thanks.
I was very interested in e17 (have a look for it, its an intersting DE for sure, and very fast)
Only problem is that windows users who have never used linux before might get blown away by it lol.
My site is there to offer help, so of course you can link to any content on my site. Glad your getting lots of downloads too :D The final version of Blender-boot 1 Suzanne will be released 11th June 2012 :D
Yeah I would stick with Lxde if I was you would be my second choice :D I think E17 has taking the eye candy too far and just looks tacky tbh.
suzanne, What a brilliant name, damn i wish I had thought of that haha ^_^
Ok cool, I’ll link to your site within the hour :)
Yeah I think Your right there, Although On my own PC im switching to e17, its looks so different and thats what I really like about it :)
@BlenderNation:disqus , thank you for doing the post on our OS’s, Ive had nearly 40 downloads in the past 3 hours, thanks alot mate.
Its had that name since the start surprised you haven’t heard it yet lol, glad you like it though. Cool about the link :D As for e17 yeah it can look good I just hope your reasy for a lot of work when you switch to it, mainly with window management and file browsing. There is still a part of me that thinks we should have just joint together when i offered but we are going in such different directions now.
I switched over to e17 yesterday, didnt actually take that long to setup, Getting all the keybindings setup though was a pain.
Yeah I know what you mean, It wouldv’e been good for the business side of things, but for the rest Im just rubbish at working with people haha, as you have found out I can be too stubborn, And I know its a fault of mine but I admit it to everyone that Im hard work haha.
as for the different directions, Were still aiming for the same goal, just taking different aproaches to it, Which i think is good because it gives users an alternative based on there preferences of DE or complexity or knowledge of iT etc..
Cool glad your transition went quite well :D Yeah you are pretty stubborn, I am hard to work with too though I must admit I am too honest lol. Yeah i like the fact we are offering choice or users. It just seems we should have joint faces, we both live in the UK we both are disabled so have lots of time and we are working on similar projects. I am just glad we can stay friendly competition.
Yes i too am glad we can stay friendly competition, we dont want to turn into a small scale apple vs microsoft here ;) and still there is nothing stopping us from being able to share ideas and help each other out that way :)
Lol and yeah you right there :D
Replying just to see how thin this thread can become. 100px for this post currently, on my monitor…
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Sorry I bother you.
Does Linux avoids the famous “CUDA Error: Launch exceeded timeout in cuMemFree” Windows problem? I tried to disable watchdog timer on Win XP SP3 and no success. Also tried another keys (for DirecDraw also) but no good.
So I’ll try to use Linux on an external HDD (as soon as I’ll buy it) if this will be a good solution to avoid the timeout.
No bother I am always here to help and answer any questions I can. Unfortunately the 3 systems I have tested Blender-boot on don’t have CUDA gpu`s so I cant give you an answer that Google cant. All I can say is test it out and see how it goes, no one who has downloaded its has contacted me about this issue and that over 700 downloads now so should be fine.
Thank you, guys!
Im sorry mate But Both my computers are AMD machines, although I havnt had any people saying about this CUDA problem, Maybe jon will know more as his OS has been around a bit longer than mine
OK! Anyway thanks for the answer!
Excellent, thanks!
very interesting ..
a question. ¿ which version of xorg, vesa has ?
For Blender-boot its exactly the same version Ubuntu 11.10 uses.
same here
It is an intriguing idea, though possibly a source of confusion in having different versions of Blender out there. Let’s see how it pans out. If it ends up actually making discernible difference on paying work, then maybe there is room for it. I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand, although it does raise a number of issues regarding open source etc etc. Mainstream Blender has resulted from countless hours of time investment too, so in trying to relate and reconcile the value proposition involved here between different versions it needs to be resolved quickly so worth an open discussion, and perhaps some authoritative opinions too. Shame if a good idea doesn’t get a good platform for airing would be my take.
Its not a different version of Blender we are building operating systems designed to use Blender in. We both have very up to date Blender versions which update very frequently mine are SVN builds from trunk I am not sure about his.We are both taking different routes with what we are doing mine is designed for booting straight into Blender to get your work done and save it in cloud storage for opening on your main system. His is similar but no cloud storage so for actually using as proper system I think.
I agree, And im stunned at what the blender foundation and the linux community has built up over time, I think its about time the 2 joined together in unholy matrimony ;) I just hope its not discarded into the history books of wikipedia in a couple of years time
Having thought about this for a few milliseconds more, I think it’s an utterly brilliant idea, though the real benefit is in live project or commercial work where there can be a legitimate justification to keep machines blender specific and there is a real need to shave times down and get to sleep at normal times :)
Cool and I agree it would be more useful for commercial uses, though I use Blender a lot so dual booting into Blender-boot is worth while for me as it saves me a lot of my time by getting projects done quicker. Then i just move them to my Dropbox and they are right there when I boot into my main system :D
The site :
http://www.blenderbuntu.yolasite.com/ is giving me a “This website is not available” error.
Thank you, Im currently trying to fix that right now, It didnt seem to like me linking to Jon’s website :L
But im a stubbord old git and it will work! ;)
My website is currently down, i dont know why but im getting to the bottom of it, in the meantime you can download BlenderBUntu from sourceforge
https://sourceforge.net/projects/blenderbuntuos/
It’s possible that your server could not handle so much traffic at once.
Its possible, Although the download server is hosted by sourceforge, the website itself is hosted by yola so getting alot of downloads shouldnt really affect it, but at least downloads can still be don through sourceforge directly
Realy? blenderBuntu ????? :3 rhooooo
you dont like the name?
it’s a sexy name! :)
It would be more sexy if it would be called blenderBooty.
(It’s a good thing there aren’t many hardcore feminist chicks using blender, I’d be devoured by now)
:D yes!!!
but blenderbuntu is a good and simple name.. for a “special” linux verson based on ubuntu
thank you xD
Hi guys! do you know if BlenderBuntu have a windows installer?.
Hello, It should work If you download the ISO, burn to disc then eject and reinsert the disc while still in windows, Wubi should then come up and let you install from within windows.
I’m thinking of using this for my laptop but I am curious: Is it easy to install other programs onto this system? Like If I wanted octane render on it would it be easy? Or is this some sort of sealed deal? I know it uses Unbunto software installer but is it easy to install things without it? like if I want firefox on it instead of chrome? I ask because I want customization. Also what if I want another version of blender on it?
Sorry I just have never used a linux based system before.
Firefox would be very easy to install in Blender-boot either from the software center or pressing the insert key to bring up the termial and type in [sudo apt-get install firefox] without the brackets. I will be doing a tutorial on installing some useful software soon( things like firefox, filezilla, thunderbird, office programs etc). As for Octane render you can get it to work using the linux demo and installing the nvidia driver using the additional driver entry under settings in the menu, but as its just a demo for now and its not specifically compiled for ubuntu its not easy. I always try to help if people contact me though, I may do a test on Octane render soon, my list of things to test is getting so long lol. The short answer is with Blender-boot most popular software is very easy to get and install but things like octane render are a bit harder.
ah okay thank you for answering. I can live without octane render. It’s just one of those Renders that are on my list of “Should I buy” still and would like to test using this Blender Boot. If I can’t then I’ll stick to windows for rendering.
Anyways I hope your things to test gets shorter soon and wish the best of luck to you. If this can cut down rendering times even more with GPU rendering (compared to windows/mac GPU rendering) I will be very impressed :3
ok fair enough and thanks cycles works very well under blender-boot
how about the mac? it performs the same on osx?
I wonder if any of these would boot from a USB flash drive.
Having a “Blender on the go” flash drive would be awesome!
Blender-boot runs great from a USB stick read the release notes for what software I recommend using to make the USB.
looking forward to this
I installed to blenderbuntu ISO to USB using untebootin. It works fine but it is in some strange non-latin language. Is there a quick way to fix this on the fly using a terminal (also in that language!). Is there an english language ISO available?
Hi I cant help because I dont know what language its in, for now why not try out Blender-boot as that is in English then you can choose a language. Just while you wait for Blenderbuntu to iron out its problems or for Postoking02 to be back around responding here.
Hello nookia, could you send a picture or screenshot to [email protected] and I will be able to see much more clearly what’s wrong, thank you.
bizla.
Thank you John for the advice. Also thanks for the username/password for Blender-boot. It had me stalled right at the gate!
No worries and sorry about the password problem didn’t get round to it in beta but it will not be in the final version.
I like this idea, I’m currently in the works of setting up an at home render farm for my use and having a more slim-out-of-the-box and speedy OS install for the slave nodes would be nice. Especially on the lower end ones.
Cool would love feedback on how that works out for you :D
Indeed, sadly I’m a month or two away from having the hardware to attempt this.
It’ll be interesting to see a hex core, quad core, 3 dual cores, and a netbook spit something out XD
Nice idea, realy. But, it’s a poooooor interface && orange icons.
Compared to a simple ubuntu && unity :
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/278382Capture.png
The look of Blender-boot is changing loads for the final version, as for the interface its not anything flashy like unity beacuse its supposed to be lightweight to use less resources.
It’s an interesting point about the difference in speed between Windows and Linux. I’m curious if there are differences in general performace, e.g. when it comes to crashes. I’m using Linux (currently Mint KDE, previously Ubuntu), and I don’t remember the last time Blender crashed, while when I watch people do tutorials on Windows it seems to happen fairly often to them. I wonder if that’s because of the recording software, or whether Windows is so cool that it offers you the thrill of an imminent crash ;)
Haha, I also hadthat problem a lot with windows, I’ve been using linux now about a year and only had one blender crash, in blenderbuntu (i replaced my windows partition with blenderbuntu I havnt had a single crash at all
@google-d73dfa693dd07863791cc886e0647707:disqus , @57813d4ad12d9198f1f39c9d5bb3423a:disqus is it possible to test your operating systems on a LiveCD before installing?
I’ve heard of Ubuntu LiveCDs and was wondering if I would be able to try these two OS’s out in a similar manner.
Thanks for your work!
Hello that’s a problem with guest account on all ubuntu distros at the moment, usually you can get around it though by running the application in terminal using sudo followed by The name of the application
Would you mind elaborating a bit (or just sort of walking me through)?
I’m an Ubuntu noob and find that explanation a bit confusing. How do I run the application in a terminal?
Any help’s appreciated. :)
No problem mate, we were all new to linux once :)
for example to launch the browser with admin rights i.e.
Ctrl Alt T to open the terminal quickly.
sudo arora
please enter password for sudo… linux
launching arora…
or to launch blender with admin rights..
sudo blender
please enter password for sudo… blenderbuntu (Im not sure if it would be set to blenderbuntu or linux so if one fails then try the other)
launching Blender…
when you do it this way its running from the terminal, so if you close the terminal you will also close the application.
After trying it out myself in guest account it will probably tell you that you dont have sudoers, If you have space on your usb stick then install it via the boot menu instead of through the desktop, you will be able to avoid all the admin problems then, since your running it from a usb stick it would help if you have a spare one laying around that you could use just for installing BlenderBuntu to, other than that you could setup a dual boot which is reletively easy and if you dont like it then you can delete it from withing windows, or another alternative for just testdriving the OS is to install VMbox in windows and from there you can create a virtual machine to install the OS on and run from within windows, which is the best solution so far for just testing it out
Hi sorry for late reply didn’t get an email about your comment. Blender-boot works great off a live cd or usb the login details for the live session is
username: custom
password: leave blank (there is no password)
Install will not ask for password and everything should work fine let me know if you have any problems.
As for Blenderbuntu he has a few issues to sort out there is now way to install from the live session no way to set resolution and no way to adjust sound, He is working on fixing these issues though. As your new to Ubuntu I would wait until he fixes those issues and just use Blender-boot :D
Hi Guys,
I cant seem to access the BlenderBuntu website, is it down?
Yeah his website is down right now he does not no why, his sourceforge is available though. He is trying to get the site back up. Blender-boot blog is working fine http://blenderboot.blogspot.co.uk/ :D
You can also get straight to the download of blenderBuntu through sourceforge.. https://sourceforge.net/projects/blenderbuntuos/
The website should be up within 24 hours though :D
Hay guys and gals – everyone wants everything FREE – Um I have a movie that I want to make it should’nt
take more than 100,000 man hours and about 6 month on a 100 node i7 Quad Core render farm to render,
I’ll be paying NOTHING who wants to get started???
As this is probably just a cry for attention its a shame open movies do work though but the place to start is Kickstarter
Well THANK YOU Jon!!!
Read what I said its a shame your not serious :D I am not offending you its just you shouldn’t moan about people wanting things for free when it can work Blender is free but I have given more money to the Blender foundation than any other software company except Microsoft :( The thing is if programs are great and free they get a loyal fan base who support them. Its similar for movies they can work costing next to nothing to make but if people enjoy them they will still make money.
hurt locker is a prime example
It’s called the Honoray System aka Artists supported by fans and commisions…for 2000 years, that’s the way it has worked up until recently. People have it in their heads that they have to pay top dollar to go to top schools so that than can make top dollar.
This is al to blame on the monetary system so who’s to blame?
You right and in all honesty if you take it right back to the core its the governments of many countries which are to blame.
Well Jon,
I was being an ass about the movie, but I was serious about the thank you for the info on Kickstarter;
Wish I could say the same about more money to microsoft then any other software company, over
the course of about the last 10 years I have spent around $55,000 on software and training DVDs,
just about every pro 3D program BUT Maya, Max and Houdini ( lots and lots of over-time ).
The BIG problem I’ve had is finding anyone that is willing to put in the time to learn the stuff other than ME as I can’t do it ALL myself.
I have 20 dual Xeon servers and 10 dual core workstations that at the moment I can’t even run due to
$2,000 per month electric bill that I can’t pay!
I’ve spent years of my life working all kind of over-time; throwing every dime that I had at it and that dude was crying about 50 Euros just kind of botherd me!
Very happy with the GREAT strides that Blender has had in the last couple of years!!!
THANKS to ALL that have put so much time and effort to making it so!!
( VFX Pipeline in June YES )
and once again Jon THANK YOU for the info and the distro ( will check it out soon )
I am sorry to hear you feel you have wasted money, if your really passionate a project im sure you can do it. There is many people out there willing to invest time into new ideas I am one of them but my 3D skills are not that great yet. I meant that I have given more money to blender foundation than any other software company Microsoft excluded I have only brought a few copys of Windows from Microsoft and I will definitely not be buying Windows 8 which looks awful. I love Blender and I wish I could turn back the clock for you so you started with Blender and didnt waste money on may 3ds max etc. The servers, software, dvd`s and workstations you have is a great asset all you need is an idea your willing to put on kickstarter, say its a local thing so they can use your systems and the Kickstarter project is funding running those machines and you will be on your way. If you do try out the distro please send me feedback you can read more about it here with tutorials etc and contact me
http://blenderboot.blogspot.co.uk/
Also keep me updated if you do decide to go on Kickstarter
You need to get back to the roots of what it means to be an artist. Get some finger paint and some paper and just draw whatever comes to mind …I’m dead serious.
That’s what it’s all about which you’ve seem to have forgotten.
Strange…
Blender-boot is more stable than my Windows 7 or Kubuntu installs.
I had a scene I was working on with a shapekey that was causing a crash as soon as I hit render. Blender-boot just keeps going with it. :D
Sorry it did not work out with this model, what your saying about stability and resources it uses is right though. As I said below try another model :D
Nevermind. It crashes at the end instead of the start. :( Oh well.
Sorry to here that but if it happened in Windows and Blender-boot it must be something to do with the model, so not much I can do but try some other models in Blender-boot :D
i fail to see any benifits to using blender with any of these distros. All I see is:
“Stripped down Ubuntu so your SHIT computers from 1991 can run it…”
That’s about it unless I’m missing something?
Your missing an awful lot when it comes to Blender-boot. It is not a stripped down Ubuntu it is A very modified Ubuntu, with many benefits for Blender users. It has a lightweight desktop not only is it good for old computers but also because it saves resources for rendering. It has Blender installed which updates nearly everyday with SVN builds from trunk. It has Gimp 2.74 installed with all its new useful features and single window mode. It has been set up with Dropbox and Ubuntuone installed for a total of 6GB free on-line storage, so you can save your models then open them right up in your main system. It has VLC installed for watching video tutorials and Flash for watching video tutorials on the web. It has Guake terminal installed, a drop down terminal which shows and hides with the press of the insert key. Loads more features too many to type here and the final version will have a lot more. Do not knock until you try it a lot of people have been very impressed.
Yes you are missing alot here, I run BlenderBuntu on a 4.6GHz 8 core computer, and its very very fast, even on a computer of this power.
besides both our distro’s are 64bit, so unless you have a faily modern computer you cant use them anyway.
New website is up and running now, Just having it checked over before it goes live on here though.
Actually Blender-boot has a 32bit edition as well :D Looking forward to seeing the new site.
oh well done on getting the 32bit version released :)
Agrh! It was going fine untill the 2.62.4 update (blenderboot). I’m making stones with the displace mod & cloud textures and rendring in cycles (heavy details)… But now it keeps crashing as I sellect a stone, the previous Blender (2.6 I guess) worked and windows 7 & blender 2.62 also works fine.
But no prob, Ill find a solution..
Still love working in BlenderBoot… :)
Hey glad to see your enjoying Blender-boot the problem with having an always up to date Blender is someyimes the builds have bugs Im sure next time you update the problem will be gone. I wish I could test every build to warn of buggy ones but obviously that`s impossible. You can always download another blender and run it from the folder or I can tell you how to revert to the one in Ubuntu`s repositories but that is 2.61 :( I personally recommend just checking the update tomorrow or even later today as im sure they will fix the bug as soon as its reported. Anyway very happy that you love working in Blender-boot and I just know you will love the final version as it is going to be awesome!
Tnx for the advice. Cant wait to see the final version… :)
No worries and I cant wait to share the final build, I am doing a kind of Beta 2 but its a reviewers preview but not not long to final :D
1 cool update about the bug I had… It only crashes (directly as I sellect a stone) in wire frame, material, texture and solid mode, but works perfectly fine in boudering box and even in cycles redered mode!!! And it renders much quicker then windows 7…
That is awesome to hear and thankyou! for giving it a go and seeing what it is capable of :D Any more problems questions etc let me know :D
Hello everyone, I have sorted out all the problems with the website, And am proud to announce the new overhauled website, ive tried to make it as easy as possible to navigate through and download BlenderBuntu, Thank you.
Bizla.
http://www.blebderbuntu.weebly.com
Just wanted to point out that the actual link is http://blenderbuntu.weebly.com/ :D
haha, thank you apos xD
Hi jon first off thank you for blender boot it looks great and seems to be a little faster than plane ubuntu! I was having a problem with blender alt right mouse short cut. It is not working although it is right in the input tab in the user preferences in blender. does this have anything to do with blender boot? also I having problems trying to do duel monitors as an extension mode. (display setting does not seem to have the option to do that)! thank you :)
ah I fixed the problem for some reason I installed the 32 bit and but when I installed 64 bit blender boot the problem with blender went away. but I am still figuring out the double monitor problem.
Hi no worries about providing Blender-boot, I must have slipped up and forgot to change that in 32bit version sorry, this is what testing versions are for(its actually a problem with the Window manager using the Alt key for moving windows there is a fix and I will put up n the blog later today). Yeah it is faster than regular Ubuntu so you right there :D The dual monitor thing is a bit tricky as I test this on my 3 systems two laptops and my mine pc which is using a 42 inch tv at the mo lol so don’t use dual monitors. I will look into it though, can you get it working with regular Ubuntu? I am guessing you can as you mentioned the speed increase from regular Ubuntu. This may work but I have no way to test it right now open the Settings editor under Settings in the menu, In the Settings Editor window, select “display > Default > VGA1 (may be differ from yours) > Position” and double click do the “X” item. Fill in the form to match your screen resolution. In this case, so the width for example if the main display is 1280, put “1280” in the value field. Save then logout, plug in your second monitor if it worked you should have a second display on the right of your main display. Please contact me to let me know if this works, using this page at the blog http://blenderboot.blogspot.co.uk/p/contact-me.html Then I can be sure I get your message as sometime even though Iam subscribed to this comments thread I don’t always get notifications, thanks again and I hope you continue to enjoy Blender-boot :D
@BlenderNation:disqus heya mate, Just wanted to point out that the link for blenderbuntu isnt working.
As for BlenderBuntu, So far Ive had Great feedback, thank you everyone who has downloaded and treid it, Now Its time to hear what you think should be included/fixed in the final release, I know its still in Beta so there alot to do visually, But user interface/software and performance wise what do you think needs changing?
Link fixed.
Brilliant, Cheers mate
I guess these distros are dead.. Is there anything more recent?