Running Linux, 5th Edition - Matthias Kalle Dalheimer [174]
LilyPond's text-based music input language support can integrate into LATEX, HTML, and Texinfo, allowing documents containing sheet music and traditional text to be written from a single source. It produces PostScript and PDF output (via TEX), as well as MIDI.
The project home page is http://lilypond.org. There is a graphical front end to LilyPond called Denemo.
Internet Telephony and Conferencing Tools
Telephony over the Internet has recently become popular and mainstream. Using VOIP (Voice Over IP) technology, audio is streamed over a LAN or Internet connection. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a standard for setting up multimedia sessions (not just audio). Either a sound card and microphone or dedicated hardware resembling a traditional telephone can be used. Internet telephony has a number of advantages, but the main one is cost—many users today have a full-time high-speed Internet connection that can be used to connect to anyone else in the world with compatible software. With a suitable gateway, you can make a call between a VOIP phone and the public telephone network.
There are many VOIP applications for Linux. KPhone is one popular KDE-based one. As well as audio, it supports instant messaging and has some support for video. The project's home page is http://www.wirlab.net/kphone.
There are also commercial applications that use proprietary protocols or extensions to protocols. One example is Skype, which offers a free client but requires subscription to a service to make calls to regular phones through a gateway. Skype can be found at http://www.skype.com.
H.323 is a standard for video conferencing over LANs. It is supported by Microsoft NetMeeting, which is included with Microsoft Windows. H.323-compliant applications are available on Linux, the most notable being GnomeMeeting. The project's home page is http://www.gnomemeeting.org.
Figure 9-38. Brahms
Browser Plug-ins
Browser plug-ins allow data types other than HTML to be presented in your web browser. Some of these qualify as multimedia. They can be divided into three categories:
Plug-ins that come with the browser or are available from the same source as the browser (e.g., Mozilla or Firefox).
Native plug-ins from third parties, such as Adobe Acrobat, usually available at no cost although they may be closed source.
Windows plug-ins that can run inside some Linux browsers using CodeWeaver's CrossOver (Wine) technology. This category includes plug-ins such as Apple QuickTime, Windows Media Player, and Adobe Shockwave. Many of these are not available as native Linux plug-ins.
Figure 9-39. Rosegarden
The Netscape plug-in format is supported by Netscape, Mozilla, and some other browsers derived from Mozilla, such as FireFox. Netscape plug-ins are also supported by the KDE project's Konqueror browser.
Putting It All Together
This chapter has talked about a lot of different multimedia tools. Although most of these tools are straightforward to use and perform a well-defined function on their own, more powerful tasks can be performed by combining tools. Let's look at a real-life example.
I like to collect and restore old vacuum tube radios from the 1930s through 1950s. After I have restored a radio to working condition I like to display it. But when I turn it on, hearing the local sports or talk radio station doesn't seem appropriate. Wouldn't it be fun to hear some old radio shows from the era in which the radio was made coming out of the radio?
Lots of old-time radio broadcasts are available as free downloads on the Internet. I can download a number of these to my computer. It is also possible to buy CDs of old radio programs. I might even have an old vinyl