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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Modicia OS is a brilliant Linux distribution for creators.
- This distro has all of the audio and video apps you’ll need.
- With the right GPU, you could even run DaVinci Resolve on this OS.
I’m a creator.
I create all sorts of things. Novels, scripts, video, audio — you name it, and I’ll bring it to life.
To help me create over the years, I’ve depended on several open-source tools, and one of the best ways to gather those tools together in a single place is a Linux distribution geared specifically toward multimedia.
One such distribution came to my attention over the weekend. That distro is Modicia. To my surprise, this operating system has been around since 1998. How have I missed this for so many years?
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Modicia OS is based on Debian and includes a wide range of software that will make creators happy. You’ll find apps to help you create audio, video, images, and more. Even better, there’s software to help make your workflow a bit easier.
This is a legitimate creator’s studio, and I’m all for it.
It’s not only about the apps. Modicia OS also includes several optimizations to help improve performance, such as:
- Turbo Boost enabled by default
- Swappiness tuned: 60% for multitasking, 10% for audio/video, improving performance (+25%) and SSD lifespan
- Added RAM compression (ZRAM) for +20% I/O speed and reduced disk swap usage
- Jack Audio and Rsync pre-configured
- Real-time kernel with elevated process priority for low latency
- Kernel compiled with (-O3/-Ofast) and {-march=native}, exceeding standard {-O2}. (Pro version only)
- Fully integrated plugins/codecs (VST, LADSPA, LV2, FFmpeg, GStreamer) with optimized multimedia apps
- Advanced power/fan profile management
- Software compilation optimized to leverage modern CPU instruction sets (Pro version)
- Optimized package management with multiarch support for 64-bit apps and dependencies
- Unified App Store access with support for.DEB and AppImage formats
- WineHQ preinstalled and integrated with Winetricks
- Unlimited cloud storage, including a pre-configured desktop client with selective sync
- Full “bug-for-bug” compatibility with Debian Stable
- Filesystems (Ext4/Btrfs) optimized with {noatime}{discard}{fstrim} for SSDs, minimizing I/O and maximizing speed
The Pro version of Modicia costs 19.90 EUR.
As far as apps are concerned, you’ll find plenty, including: AI Copilot, Ardour, Audacity, Avidemux, Bluegriffon, Brasero, Clapper, ConvertAll, Curlew Audio, Curlew Video, DCP-o-matic, EasyTag, FileZilla, Film Credits, FontForge, Font Manager, GIMP, Guitarix, HandBrake, Imagination, Inkscape, Jack Mixer, Kdenlive, LAN Share, Mixx, MKVToolNix GUI, Natron, OBS Studio, Peek, QasMixer, and Qsynth.
Yes, it has everything you might want.
Except maybe DaVinci Resolve.
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OK, I know DaVinci Resolve isn’t going to work properly on my test VM because I don’t have an Nvidia GPU on this particular PC. That’s fine, because I’m not going to be editing any videos for this test. (Video editing requires way more horsepower than a virtual machine can offer.) As expected, after the installation was completed, DaVinci Resolve wouldn’t run. I expected that, and the outcome is not because of Modicia. This is purely a hardware issue.
There’s always Kdenlive (which is far inferior to DaVinci Resolve). If the machine had an Nvidia GPU, you can be Davinci Resolve would run like a champ. There are also a lot of other video tools, some of which (such as Natron) have a fairly steep learning curve, which is also to be expected (seeing as how video creation isn’t exactly easy).
One of the things that really struck me was how well everything performed. Thanks to the optimizations, Modicia runs like a beast. Everything ran buttery smooth, even with desktop effects running.
An odd choice
One thing that did strike me as odd was the inclusion of LAN Share. The last release of this app was from 2017, so it’s pretty out of date. I’d rather see an app like Warpinator, Nitroshare, or Warp. Yes, you can still use LAN Share, but I’m not too keen on using an app that hasn’t had a new release in nearly a decade.
Why is this an issue?
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As someone who works on video quite a lot, there’s always the need to transfer files from one machine to the next, and sometimes Samba is just too slow (especially for larger files). Of course, more than likely, I’m using a Network Attached Storage device, so such an app isn’t really going to help for those big video clips. For smaller files, however, there are better options.
The desktop
Modicia OS uses a customized version of the Cinnamon desktop, and you wouldn’t know it. When I first installed the OS, I would have sworn it defaulted to KDE Plasma or a highly-tweaked version of GNOME. After using it for a few minutes, it became obvious that it was neither of those.
What the developer has done with Cinnamon is impressive; so much so that I’d like to see this applied to general-use distributions that rely on this DE. There’s even an app launcher that looks very similar to the GNOME Application Overview.
This looks decidedly like the GNOME App Overview.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
There’s also the app menu located at the top left corner of the desktop, so if you’re not a fan of GNOME, you can use that instead.
This menu might be easier for most users.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
The theme is beautiful, the layout is familiar, what’s not to like?
Included AI
I was surprised by the inclusion of AI — at first. However, upon closer examination, I realized that some creators may rely on AI for research or other purposes, and Copilot is a suitable option. I’d much prefer a local AI (such as Ollama), but when in Rome…
My conclusion
If I had to switch to a multimedia-specific Linux distribution, you can be certain Modicia OS would be the one I’d choose. Combine this distro with an Nvidia GPU and DaVinci Resolve, and you’d have one heck of a platform for creating video. And with Jack installed and preconfigured, audio is a real treat on this as well.
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If you are a multimedia creator, you should seriously consider trying Modicia OS. I’m confident that you’ll wind up sticking with this Linux distribution for all your creative needs.
