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dyne:bolic IV GNU/Linux User's Guide

2024 Denis Jaromil Rojo & The dyne:bolic Documentation Team

What Is dyne:bolic?

dyne:bolic is a 100% Free Software Operating System for multimedia production, recommended by the Free Software Foundation. It is a live ISO that can run from a CD or Drive, without the need to install.

Be Welcome to a GNU+Linux World!

For culture and information to circulate freely and unbiased, media activists, artists and creatives need to be independent from corporate alienation. dyne:bolic is an Operating System and a practical tool for multimedia production: it enables the manipulation and broadcasting of both audio and video with tools to record, edit, encode, stream, and publish. Dyne:bolic automatically recognizes most device and peripherals: audio, video, TV, network cards, firewire, usb and more; all using only free software!

100% Free, As In Speech

dyne:bolic is a GNU+Linux distribution recommended by the Free Software Foundation: no proprietary software is inside, no closed source firmware, no hockus pockus. Everything is transparent and can be peer reviewed. All of this without ever compromising with the expression creatives rely on.

You are free to study, modify, redistribute and even sell this Operating System, as long you grant the same freedom to your peers.

Friendly To The Environment

dyne:bolic is designed to run on computers with extremly low ressources (dyne:bolic III was benchmarked at Pentium2 processors with 256MB RAM). It can even run in ram: not even a harddisk is required.

Unleash the full potential of computers, including second hand machines. Let’s put an end to consumerism and use what already exists to its full potential.

Digital Resistance

The dyne:bolic Operating System is about resilience and digital resistance. In a reality where governments and corporation are exercising control by monitoring the way people communicate, hackers, creatives and citizens of the digital era have a common interest in keeping their computing sovereign. To accomplish this, sharing knowledge is paramount.

Liberate yourself from mental slavery. Embrace sovereign communication. Free your mind, open the source!

Freedom Needs Privacy

dyne:bolic Operating System does not include any cloud-service and does not establish background communications without the consent of the user.

dyne:bolic also includes support for strong encryption of private data, thanks to Dyne.org's Tomb.

Freedom of Expression

More than the means of media playback, dyne:bolic includes free software for the production of professional grade multimedia.

For everything you can see and play, dyne:bolic includes the software to create it. This Operating System lets you express yourself, without the need to rent a license or install additional components. dyne:bolic was built to make it possible for people to be the independent producers of their own story. Not just content creators for corporate platforms or consumers of information.

Appreciated Worldwide

Since its birth in 2000, dyne:bolic has been redistributed by several magazines and adopted by universities, community initiatives, medialabs and public institutions around the World.

How is dyne:bolic different from other live distros?

True to the original desire to put digital power in the hands of the people, we craft dyne:bolic to fill the gap between expression and technology. Our legacy stretches over decades.

Free Software is the idea that, operating-, using-, modifying- and sharing- means of digital production, is the only way for humans to create and communicate safely in the digital realm. With dyne:bolic we apply this idea, to a carefully curated list of applications and utilities, in ways that align perfectly with the principles of Free Software. More than a distribution, dyne:bolic is a human centric community, facilitating professional grade multimedia tools to the masses.

dyne:bolic is a nomadic system, meaning it is ready to move in to your device with a minimum of material friction. But it shall also follow you on the road, where the conditions may be unpredicatble. For many dynes, it is a gateway to the freedom to compute and a reaching hand for travelers looking to onboard the liberty of expression.