We created a Linux distribution for the book launch of Speaking Code at dOCUMENTA (13), September 2012. The distribution includes a script which when run, automates the creation and execution of code examples from the book, before live coding some music which includes live input from your computer’s microphone.

You can download this distribution as a DVD image. It is a “live” distribution, which means you can run it from a DVD without installing it on your system. It is a “.iso” file, so make sure when you burn it to a DVD that you do so as a DVD image. This requires a different procedure to creating a DVD which contains files.

Once you have created the DVD, restart your machine and instruct your computer to boot from it. On PCs, look for instructions on reboot, such as holding down the F12 key. On Macs, hold down the ‘c’ key.

Alternatively, you may try booting the .iso file without restarting your current operating system using virtual machine software such as the free/open source software virtualbox.

Once you have booted the machine, log in as ‘speakingcode’ with the password ‘speakingcode’ if prompted, and then click on the ‘runme’ script on the desktop.

Please do not use your keyboard or mouse while the script is running, otherwise the script will go awry.

Our changes to the Linux Mint distribution are shared here under the terms of the GNU Public License, version 3.0 or later.