GIMPShop dot Net

Chad W Smith's MacBook is for sale

2008-01-17T19:21:00.000-05:00

Alas, it is time for me to part with my old friend, my MacBook. Having revived it from the land of the dead, and restored it to better than new condition, I have to part with it. I have to pay off the debt I got into replacing it!

It is on ebay right now.

Here are the specs.

1.83 Ghz Dual-Core Intel Core Duo Processor
2 GB DDR2 PC2-5300 677 Mhz 200-pin SO-DIMM RAM
80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive SATA
ComboDrive (CD±R/W & DVD)
13.3" Screen at 1280 x 800 resolution native
Front Row (remote included)
Leopard Mac OS X 10.5.1
iLife '08
iWork '08
Microsoft Office 2004
Windows XP Professional SP 2
2 USB 2.0 Ports
Wireless 802.11a/b/g/draft-n
Ethernet 10/100/1000
iSight web cam
built-in mic
headphone and mic jack
stereo speakers
Mini-DVI out
And more....

If you are interested, please check out the auction. If you "Buy it Now" at the Buy it Now price, I'll throw in my Brenthaven carrying case, which is $50 online.

I really hate to part with this computer, since it was the first new computer I ever bought, but I can't really justify keeping it since I replaced it. Also, since people have asked, I will say that I can load all my YouTube videos on it, and even sign it, if you are so inclined. And if you don't want XP for whatever reason, I can take that off, too. It's a new hard drive with a fresh install of everything - so this is in better-than new condition. I replaced the keyboard, maxed out the RAM, and put in a bigger hard drive. This this is better than the MacBook Air in everyway except thinness!

If you have any questions at all, feel free to leave a comment - email me - or contact me through ebay. Thanks for reading and happy bidding!

How to Install Brushes for GimpShop

2007-11-12T16:36:00.000-05:00

Someone asked me how to get brushes for GimpShop, well here's the video.

Learn about GIMPShop on the go

2007-10-20T19:17:00.000-04:00

You ever get stuck in an airport with no free WiFi, and you don't want to pay $9.99 to be able to jump online for the next 30 minutes? Well, that's what cell phones are for, silly!

But let's say you didn't want to just read your email, you want to watch videos about GIMPShop off of YouTube. But you don't (yet) have an iPhone. If you've ever tried to find a video on your cell phone, you know it can be an ordeal! Well, now there is a website that can help you.

Avot Media has launched a website for mobile users that want to watch Internet video on their phones. It allows users to search YouTube, Google Video, Daily Motion and other sites to find the video you want. The Avot Mobile Site is located at avotmv.com.

From that site you can download a program that allows you to search and watch Web videos on your mobile device (currently it offers support for Windows Mobile 5.0 or newer). This program isn't like other programs for your phone that transcode the video and then send you the compressed (and therefore less clear and crisp) video. This is the content straight from the source. So you get a better picture.

This is especially important when your dealing with stuff like the videos on our site, tech demos, walk throughs, and tutorials. Let's say you are sitting in that airport and you want to watch my buddy James' video on how to install GIMPShop on Windows XP. If you use a compressed video, it's going to be difficult to see what exactly James is clicking. While on the other hand, with AvotMV, you can watch it just like it was straight from YouTube.

AmotMV let's you build an unlimited number of playlists and then watch the videos you want, when you want, where you want, (as long as you have a signal, of course). So load that thing full of videos about the GIMP, GIMPShop, OpenOffice.org, Audacity, Firefox, and other great open source programs.

I just did a quick search and found some great GIMPShop videos on YouTube. So you can add those to your playlist, and when you've go the time, just watch them on your mobile phone.

To learn more about Avot Media and AvotMV - check out their demo videos. And you can also scope the Avot Blog for the latest information about their service.

How to install GIMPShop on Windows

2007-10-01T17:33:00.000-04:00

I, James Earls, just uploaded a video to YouTube on how to install GIMPShop on Windows XP. I did increase the audio so everyone can hear better, sorry about that. I used CamStudio to make the video (http://www.camstudio.org) and I used VirtaulDub (http://www.virtualdub.org) to increase the audio volume. Hey, the more I learn, the more I share.

More great stuff to come.

2007-06-22T18:21:00.001-04:00

Hello GIMPShop users. I want to thank you for visiting this little fan site of ours. It's been a lot of fun being with you for the past couple of years. I'm sorry I haven't been updating as much as I should have. The fact is, there hasn't been much to report about GIMPShop in the last year. But there has been a ton of open source stuff that has happened. I've just been really busy with off line life.

The major news in open source for the last year has been the new version of the GPL that's about to be released and the controversy surrounding it. Other news has been continued improvements of existing products. OpenOffice.org is now at version 2.2.1. Firefox is at 2.0.0.4. GIMP is at 2.2.15. Ubuntu has been on fire this year. This Linux distro has taken the world by storm.

I'd like to let you know that my friend James is going to be taking over GIMPShop dot Net, so you'll most likely see some changes. I might drop a line in every once and while, but James will be the main author of the site from now on. You can check out his blog to find out more about him.

I'd like to thank Navtej for reminding me to update the site. He's a digger, a Facebook member, he's on linkedin, too. He is on Yahoo Answers, and he's got a blog.

GIMPShop and CMYK - Together at last!

2007-05-23T10:00:00.000-04:00

Big News!

Scott, the all-knowing creator of GIMPShop, is actually working on a new version of the program! This update to the Mac OS X version will include CMYK support, a long-missing feature of the open source image editor.

According to Scott's blog, the new release will be out shortly, and then the hackers can get busy on churning out binaries for the different operating systems.

Rock on, Gimpshoppers, Rock on!

A New Download site for the Windows version of GIMPShop

2006-12-05T16:36:00.000-05:00

Well, we had to find a new home for the Windows executable for GIMPShop. My apologies for not getting on this sooner.

Here are some other mirrors for the file as well. The file should be 7.4 MB.

Mirror 1
Mirror 2
Mirror 3
Mirror 4
Mirror 5

I'd like to thank God, the academy, and Microsoft for making possible everything I've acheived to date... | Free Software Magazine

2006-11-17T12:28:00.000-05:00

I'd like to thank God, the academy, and Microsoft for making possible everything I've acheived to date... | Free Software Magazine

You know how when people win awards, like an Oscar for example, they get up there and gush things like “I’d just like to thank my parents, and the academy, and my fifth grade drama teacher, and God for this award, omigod!!!”? Well, if I was put in a position today where I was going to have to gush on stage about, say, my computer use, then I know what I would say. There I would be, staring into the sea of admiring faces, and I would gush: “I would just like to thank my PC, the internet, and Microsoft... because as a Linux user I have naturally been complicit in intellectual property infringement and therefore owe Microsoft a good deal of money. Thanks baby, couldn’t have done it without you. Oh, and the cheque’s in the mail.”

Or that’s what Steve Ballmer reckons I should say, anyway.

What Does Free Software Really Cost?

2006-11-17T12:25:00.000-05:00

What Does Free Software Really Cost?: "You've probably seen the many articles infesting computing publications that blather on about comparing TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and ROI (Return on Investment) for Linux and Windows, and trying to figure out which one costs less to run. I'm no analyst, nor am I a Fellow at some Institute, nor am I a pundit who is paid to pontificate. I'm just an old country system and network administrator who has been running mixed Linux and Windows networks for lo these many years, and since everything works OK and my customers keep sending me checks that don't bounce, I figure I'm entitled to a punditry or two of my own. The bottom line is Linux costs way less to run and works better. That's why I prefer it."

Programmers - here's a contest for you

2006-11-15T08:48:00.000-05:00

The Programming.net Programming Forums is starting a contest on November 15 with prizes worth $1100. The grand prize is $500 cash for the winner. Programming.net is the place to talk about all things coding online. The contest is for using their forums. You get points based on how much you post, and how much you reply. And there are chances to get 100 points a pop for excellent posts to the forum. Second place gets $200. Third place gets $75. And that's just the cash prizes. Other prizes include hosting, web design, and banner ad designs. There are also 4 ThinkGeek T-shirts for honorable mentions. Good luck guys!

Hack Attack: Set up and host a blog on your home computer - Lifehacker

2006-11-14T20:32:00.000-05:00

Hack Attack: Set up and host a blog on your home computer - Lifehacker: "If you want to host your own blog, you can purchase a plan at a web hosting provider for a few bucks a month - or you can set it up on your home computer for free."

Sun Lights the Way for Java to Reach the Source. The Open Source - Tech News - Playfuls.com - Science & Technology

2006-11-13T16:55:00.000-05:00

Sun Lights the Way for Java to Reach the Source. The Open Source - Tech News - Playfuls.com - Science & Technology

After last week’s announcement concerning the collaboration between Adobe and the Mozilla Foundation, and the surprising close-up between Novell and Microsoft, it seems the open source movement becomes more and more attractive.

This is why Sun Microsystems decided to finally release its source code for Java to the wide community of open source developers.

Adobe to donate script code to Mozilla | CNET News.com

2006-11-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

Adobe to donate script code to Mozilla | CNET News.com: "Adobe will donate software to run JavaScript programs in the Firefox Web browser, the largest code contribution yet to the open-source Mozilla Foundation.

On Tuesday, Adobe is expected to announce the donation in conjunction with the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. The code will form the basis for a new open-source project called Tamarin, which will be governed and manned by developers from Adobe and Mozilla."

InfoQ:Sun open sources Java SE, ME, and Glassfish under GPLv2

2006-11-12T16:57:00.000-05:00

From the article:

"It has finally happened. Sun today announced that Java SE, Java ME, and Glassfish are being open sourced under the GNU General Public License v2 (GPLv2) with Sun today releasing an early build of the Java SE 7 HotSpot JVM, the javac compiler, and JavaHelp in the new OpenJDK project at Java.NET which will be the project site for future JDK development, releases, bug fixes, etc. The fully buildable Java SE 7 JDK classlibraries will be available in Q1 2007. "

CRMchump: 50 Open Source success stories in Business, Education, and Government

2006-11-12T15:17:00.000-05:00

A rundown of success stories from all spheres that open source touches. Whether through profit margins, spreading the technology to areas thought well outside its reach, or just simply generating greater public awareness, the success of this truly world-changing technology is everywhere.

Cheap, hackable Linux smartphone due soon

2006-11-12T12:14:00.000-05:00

Cheap, hackable Linux smartphone due soon: "One of the world's largest computer and consumer electronics manufacturers will ship a completely open, Linux-based, GPS-equipped, quad-band GSM/GPRS phone direct, worldwide, for $350 or less, in Q1, 2007. First International Computing's (FIC's) 'Neo1973' or FIC-GTA001, is the first phone based on the open-source 'OpenMoKo' platform."

Gaim 2.0.0beta5 is out

2006-11-11T14:46:00.000-05:00

You can get the latest beta of the Gaim multi-protocol instant messenger from their website.

Instant messengers are everywhere, cell phones, PDAs, video game machines, and - of course - computers. And just like most people now have several phone numbers, home, work, cell, fax, the computer's phone line, etc., a lot of people have several screen names on various IM clients. There are a number of them out there - AIM, Yahoo, MSN, etc. - and each comes with its own ad-ridden, spyware-bloated client.

To stay connected, someone might have as many as 4 or 5 IM programs running at once. This not only eats away at their RAM, but exposes them to security risks, makes their privacy more vulnerable, clogs up their screen, and can be very confusing. Enter GAIM - a single IM client that handles all the main IM protocols (or networks) in a lightweight, easy to use, ad-free interface.

Let's consider the plight of my friend "Brad Schmidt". Brad is a hip guy when it comes to technology. He has a computer job, and he has to stay connected all the time. He's got broadband connectivity at work and at home. He's got "Friends" that he's known for years, but has never seen their faces or heard their voices. They are all online. Brad has used various ISPs over his online-life, and has even been relegated to using the library's computers as his only means of surfing during a tight financial period. As a result - Brad has many screennames on many IM networks.

Brad doesn't want to get rid of his screennames or get off any of the networks, so he has three clients, AIM, Yahoo, and MSN. When checking his Task Manager one day, Brad notices that his official AIM client is using 19 MB of RAM. His Yahoo is using 23 MB - and MSN is using 20. - That's a total of 62 MB of RAM - almost half a stick. Not a big deal, since Brad has 512 MB, but still a good chunk.

I tell Brad about GAIM, and he tries it. He turns off all of his other clients - even turns off their option to load on start-up - then tries GAIM. He has no problem figuring out how to log on - to all three clients at once - then he checks his RAM usage. GAIM is only using 16 Megabytes! That's less than any *one* of the other 3, and it does the work of all 3 combined.

Brad quickly deletes the other clients. Welcome to open source, Brad. ;-)

Gaim works on more networks than the 3 my friend was used to using. Gaim supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr networks.

Gaim users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time.

Gaim supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, typing notification, and MSN window closing notification. It also goes beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular features are Buddy Pounces, which give the ability to notify you, send a message, play a sound, or run a program when a specific buddy goes away, signs online, or returns from idle; and plug-ins, consisting of text replacement, a buddy ticker, extended message notification, and more.

A user can easily import existing buddy lists with just a couple of clicks - since most networks house the lists on their servers anyway, it is often done automatically on the first login. To make it easy to keep your friends clearly defined, all users have icons next to their names that designate the network they are using.

So if a user knows a CoolGal2004 on AIM and a CoolGal2004 on Yahoo, and the user is pretty sure the two are different people, the icon can display which is which. Of course, one can always give one's buddies aliases, or use their real names on the buddy list. Also, more info, such as usernames, idle times, or warning levels, is available by just selecting a name and clicking the Get More Info button. The info available per buddy depends on which network that person is using.

Gaim comes with the typical IM features one would expect to find - like adjustable font sizes and colors, the use of emoticons, spell-check, customizable away messages, and so on. The emoticons change according to which IM network is being used.

Gaim also lets users tailor the privacy settings for each network. A person can choose who is allowed to contact him: all users, only those on a specific list of users, or just people on his buddy list - the same goes for blocking users. Conversations can be logged for future reference.

Gaim also comes with some unique features, like tabbed chatting, which lets users put all of their conversations in one window. This is great if one doesn't like a billion pop-up IM windows all over the place!

Gaim runs on Windows, Linux, and even some hand-held OSes, like iPaq and the Sharp Zaurus - so a user can have a familiar client on multiple OSes.

To learn more or grab your own copy of Gaim - which includes the latest GTK+ Runtime environment in the Windows installer (which means it's easier to install than GIMP - of course, you can always install Gaim first, and then grab the GIMP without having to install GTK+ separately) - just visit their website, http://gaim.sourceforge.net/. The downloads are here - http://gaim.sourceforge.net/downloads.php.

Open source earns legal victory

2006-11-10T14:44:00.000-05:00

This is great news!

The open source software operations of IBM, Red Hat and Novell need not fear prosecution under antitrust laws, a federal appeals court has ruled.

TrueCombat:Elite - Open Source does Games

2006-11-09T03:04:00.000-05:00

TrueCombat:Elite is a team-based realism modification, based on the free and popular Enemy Territory. It's open source, free, and cross-platform (Windows, Linux, and Mac). If you like open source, and you like games, you own it to yourself to check it out.

Open source ain't just for hackers - it's for gamers too.

Linux on the Desktop

2006-11-05T18:51:00.000-05:00

I love Linux, but I'm not sure it will ever replace Windows as the number one desktop operating system.

It has become something of a cliché that Linux has reached a critical point in its development and adoption. However, this is especially true now when we look at what events are lined up to occur in the near future, and particularly in the desktop area.

Perhaps the most visible event is the impending launch of Microsoft's Vista. Try as they might, this new OS shows every sign of needing hardware replacement, some user training, and considerable support staff training to be truly effective in deployment. Particularly note the last two, often cited as reasons why moving to Linux is expensive and fraught with danger. Of course, Linux doesn't have the added disadvantage of needing a hardware upgrade."

How MythTV detects commercials - PVR Wire

2006-10-30T12:19:00.000-05:00

One of the best features of MythTV, the open source DIY Linux PVR software, is its ability to completely skip commercials without any human input.

This is something that mainstream PVRs have shied away from in fear of lawsuits from TV networks. After all they get enough stick over the fast forwarding feature.

Once again, open source software is innovating in ways that propritary software won't or can't.

Ubuntu 6.10 is out

2006-10-28T19:37:00.000-04:00

EdgyAnnouncement - Ubuntu Wiki: "The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 6.10, codenamed 'Edgy Eft'. This release includes both installable Desktop CDs and alternate text-mode installation CDs for several architectures. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available with a few clicks, and professional technical support from Canonical Limited and hundreds of other companies around the world."

Mark Shuttleworth » Blog Archive » #13: “Pretty” is a feature

2006-10-25T23:31:00.000-04:00

Mark Shuttleworth » Blog Archive » #13: “Pretty” is a feature: "If we want the world to embrace free software, we have to make it beautiful. I’m not talking about inner beauty, not elegance, not ideological purity… pure, unadulterated, raw, visceral, lustful, shallow, skin deep beauty.

We have to make it gorgeous. We have to make it easy on the eye. We have to make it take your friend’s breath away.

That’s why I’m thrilled with the work of some of our community artists. Check out this logo from Who (ignore the scaling, view it directly):"

Adobe Labs - Flash Player 9 Update

2006-10-23T23:43:00.000-04:00

Adobe Labs - Flash Player 9 Update

"According to the official Penguin.SWF blog, the a beta release of the long-awaited Flash 9 for Linux is available for download, a mere year after the release for Windows."

Mozilla Releases Firefox 2.0

2006-10-22T16:53:00.000-04:00

Mozilla Releases Firefox 2.0

The latest and greatest version of Firefox has been released. Get it now!

The KOffice 1.6 is Release

2006-10-18T19:20:00.000-04:00

The KOffice team is proud to announce the 1.6.0 release of its office suite. This release is mostly a feature release of Krita and Kexi, but does also contain major enhancements to the OpenDocument and MathML support of KFormula and new scripting functionality. This version also contains a much better version of KPlato, the K Planning Tool, our project planning application.

For more information, see the announcement , the technical release notes, and the complete list of changes.

Does open source software reduce your pirating

2006-10-01T17:16:00.000-04:00

More than half of people said that open source software helps reduce their desire for piracy, but it's a close majority. Such an equal split can be interpreted several ways but does it mean that attitudes need changing?

Source Wear

2006-09-25T11:40:00.000-04:00

You can pick up some open source gear at - SourceWear. They have OpenOffice.org stuff, GIMP clothes, Linux threads, and more in the store.

Aptana: The Web IDE

2006-09-20T21:08:00.000-04:00

Aptana: The Web IDE: "The Web IDE
Aptana is a robust, JavaScript-focused IDE for building dynamic web applications. Highlights include the following features:

* Code Assist on JavaScript, HTML, and CSS languages, including your own JavaScript functions
* Outliner that gives a snapshot view of your JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code structure
* NEW: FTP/SFTP uploading, downloading and synchronization
* Error and warning notification for your code
* Support for Aptana UI customization and extensions
* Cross-platform support
* Free and open source licensed under the Eclipse Public License, v1.0."

Bridging the gap between Office and OpenOffice

2006-09-18T19:30:00.000-04:00

OpenOffice 2.0 -- the free, open source office suite -- has many features that are very similar to Microsoft Office. The trick is knowing how to use them. In this Q&A, expert Solveig Haugland explains how to use such OpenOffice features as the Draw tool, tabbed headers and footers. She also describes custom creation of colors, file sharing tips and how Microsoft Office documents are completely compatible with OpenOffice.

Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Podcasting

2006-08-28T14:36:00.000-04:00

What is podcasting?

If you don't know by now - what's wrong, have you been living under a rock? ;)

A little over a year ago, I had no clue. I actually thought it was using an iPod to broadcast mp3s over FM waves to a radio (which is actually done quite often, but has nothing to do with podcasting). In fact, podcasting has little to do with iPods at all. If I had had a copy of this book a year ago, I would have know that - and a whole lot more!

"Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Podcasting" is just that - a complete guide. Have no idea what podcasting is? This will tell you. Know what it is, but not how to listen to them? This book will tell you. Would you like to know how podcasting started? Look no further. Ever wondered what the relationship between podcasting and blogging is? You can find out. Want to start your own podcast? Then this is the book for you! It even comes with a CD with all the software you'll need to start podcasting right away, and it doesn't matter if you use Windows, Mac OS X, or even Linux - the CD has software for all three platforms. The book even tells you how to start making money with podcasts!

From recording the audio to publishing the XML to getting your podcast heard - it's all in the book. You should really pick this book up if you have any interest at all in podcasting. Highly recommended!

You can buy it as an ebook from the publisher's website.

Or you can buy it in "dead tree form" (aka, an actual paper copy) from Amazon.

GIMP 2.2.12 Released

2006-07-09T23:44:00.000-04:00

Version 2.2.12 of the GNU Image Manipulation Program is now available. This is a bug-fix release in the stable 2.2 series. The source code can be retrieved from ftp.gimp.org and its mirrors. Binary packages for the various supported platforms will become available soon.

This release fixes a security hole in the XCF parser. An update is strongly recommended.

Here is a list of changes:

fixed display problem in the Animation Playback plug-in (bug #338378)
fixed misbehaviour of the user installation dialog (bug #324254)
make sure that session-managed windows are mapped completely inside a monitor (bug #339099, bug #324254)
don't use long deprecated libpng API (bug #339402)
fixed possible segfault when closing image while saving it (bug #322978)
halt tools when the image mode changes (bug #330083)
fixed problem in Scale and Resize widgets (bug #336259)
fixed wrong offset in transform PDB functions (bug #342548)
fixed bugs in the Dicom load plug-in (bug #163256)
make sure text widgets get all key events first (bug #301006)
fixed problems with default values in the PNG save plug-in (bug #343284)
fixed Save As dialog not displaying the filename (bug #343284)
fixed compilation problem with gcc 4.1 (bug #345473)
plugged a possible buffer overrun in the XCF parser (bug #346742)
don't save image parasites twice in XCF files (bug #346754)

GIMPShop is Apple's featured download

2006-06-23T10:49:00.000-04:00

I don't know how long this will stay up there, but at the moment (10:47 AM Eastern, Friday June 23, 2006) GIMPShop is Apple's featured download in the Unix/Open source category. (No longer the featured download as of July 8.)

And it seems that people are downloading it like crazy, since when I clicked on "download" I got a 509 Bandwidth exceeded message.

If you would like to download GIMPShop, here are some mirrors for you.

GIMPShop Downloads:

For Windows 98 +

For Linux (RPM)

For Solaris

For Mac OS X - Universal Binary!
(Mirror of Mac OS X Binary)
Source Code

Update: While GIMPShop is no longer the featured download - it can still be found listed on the Apple website.

Beginning Gimp: From Novice to Professional

2006-06-19T18:33:00.000-04:00

Akkana Peck has written a very thorough introduction to the GIMP. In fact, I'd call it more of a definitive guide than just an introduction. This book is great for the completely new user, but even the seasoned veteran can learn quite a bit from "Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional".

Covering everything from where to get and how to install the GIMP to how to use the powerful built-in scripting language Script-Fu, which allows users to use and program scripts for repeatable actions, like adding bevel or glass effects. Despite its thoroughness - it's written in a easy-to-understand way that anyone can benefit from.

While this book is aimed at the GIMP, much of it applies to our very own GIMPShop. If you want to learn more about the GIMP or GIMPShop, you own it to yourself to pick up this book.

You can learn more about this awesome book on Akkana's website - GIMPBook.com.

Additional Plug-ins, and a new version of GIMPShop, with the plugins

2006-05-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

There were a couple of plug-ins that Scott wanted to have in the new GIMPShop that were accidentally left out. So now there is a new Binary for GIMPShop on OS X - it is still UniBin - in fact, it's the same as the last build - just with the missing plug-ins.

If you've already downloaded and installed GIMPShop 2.2.11 for Mac - here are the missing plug-ins, and instructions on how to install them. It's not hard, but you do have to copy and paste three commands into the terminal. If you'd rather not mess with that - you can just download and install the new version.

Downloads

GIMPShop_missing_plugins.dmg
New Build

Big Net Neutrality Vote Today: Call Congress Right Now

2006-05-25T12:59:00.000-04:00

The House Judiciary Committee is going to “mark up” Representatives Sensenbrenner and Conyers’ good Net Neutrality bill this morning (watch the Committee vote via the Web). Many in the committee have been pressured by the big telcos to vote down the net neutrality provisions.

These are the members to contact on the bipartisan bill. Urge them to support the Sensenbrenner-Conyers “Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006″ (HR 5417) in the Judiciary Committee today — and to support it without amendment. Saying without amendment is key.

Save the Internet has a list of members of Congress who need to hear from you right now.

Announcing the GIMPShop dot Net Widget

2006-05-24T15:39:00.000-04:00

Now you can download this Dashboard Widget for your Mac (OS X 10.4 or higher) and keep up to date with the latest news on GIMPShop right from your Dashboard!

Download here.

Our New Look

2006-05-20T21:19:00.000-04:00

A new binary for GIMPShop - and a new look for GIMPShop dot Net. Even a new Logo.

What do you think of the new look?

GIMPShop 2.2.11 Universal Binary for Mac OS X is HERE! (for realz)

2006-05-17T19:03:00.000-04:00

It's here - it's here and it's ready! It's ready, and it's here! GIMPShop 2.2.11 for Mac OS X - a Universal Binary.

From Scott's blog:

Gimpshop 2.2.11 Universal Application (85 MB) for OS X Tiger (Intel & PowerPC) and Panther.
Want to complie Gimpshop for other operating systems? Get the Gimpshop 2.2.11 source (13 MB) and start hacking.

Thanks to your generous donations - with a very special thanks to Wil Shipley and the Delicious Monster guys! - a Universal Gimpshop App for Intel-based Macs is here.

DOWNLOAD GIMPShop 2.2.11 Universal Binary for Mac OS X (Updated May 29, 2006 - added missing plug-ins)

or you can download it from Scott's site .

ENJOY!

GIMPShop Universal Binary 2.2.11 is DONE! - It's just not ready yet....

2006-05-13T23:19:00.000-04:00

Scott has finished GIMPShop 2.2.11 as a Universal Binary for Mac OS X on both PPC and Intel based Macs. This is a direct result of the generous giving of GIMPShop fans like you. So thank you!

The problem is - he hasn't uploaded it yet. You see, he works for G4 - the Video Game Channel. And there's been a little thing going on this week called E3 - the Video Game Expo. So he's been a little busy.

I'll let you know as soon as I see the program being ready for download.

Now that he's got that done - hopefully we'll see his promised Windows port soon enough.

Thanks Scott! Hope you enjoyed E3! Look forward to the new GIMPShop!

Let me explain why this is so cool. This means that GIMPShop has BEAT Adobe Photoshop to Universal Binary status by nearly a year! Pretty amazing that Scott can do something in a month that a huge mega-company like Adobe can't do in a year!

GIMPShop - A look ahead

2006-05-09T23:29:00.000-04:00

Scott recently wrote about his plans for the future of GIMPShop.

A Universal Binary for OS X so that GIMPShop runs natively on PowerPC and Intel architecture. This should be available within a week or two.
Translatable source code so that GIMPShop can be translated into any language by anyone who has the patience, time and language skills to do it. This is a high priority and I’ll do my best to make it happen.
More plug-ins and filters to match Photoshop’s pre-installed filters and Photoshop’s filter structure/naming conventions as closely as possible. In the coming weeks, I’ll be testing the best alternatives so that only the best and most relevant filters are in there. There will be a separate menu area for gimp-specific filters.
A simultaneous Windows XP GIMPShop release, providing that I can figure out how to build it on my own. I’ll be building the installer using a new Intel-based Mac purchased with your generous donations. I shudder to think that I’ll be running XP on it, but it’s not my Mac - It’s YOUR Mac and it’s almost here!

I really like that last one - of course, it's all pretty good. But, it's really bugged me that the Windows release is now 5 months behind, and no word on a ETA. I've even offered cash to the compilers, with no luck. I'm happy to see that Scott himself will be releasing the next Windows GIMPShop. Thanks, Scott. I'm looking forward to the next release! Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to run it as a universal binary on my new Mac Mini?

Free Picture-Based Computer Books - OOo, Linspire, Mac OS X, and more

2006-05-01T11:35:00.000-04:00

There is no lack of computer books in the world today. There are plenty of technical manuals to go around. The problem is so many of these books are too technical, too wordy, too heavy, and too expensive. Well now there is a site that takes care of all of those problems.

Inpics.net is offering, free-of-charge over 20 computer books in PDF form. These books are light on verbage and heavy on pictures. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is especially true in technical manuals. With a picture showing me what button to press, you can save a lot of words trying to tell me all the steps to find that button in the drop down menus.

From Inpics.net you can download screen-quality PDFs of the books for free, or you can pay just $3.95 for the print-quality PDFs for a roll-your-own deadtree version. I prefer free and environmentally friendly, myself. But there might be times when you need to print some out. Of course, you can always print the free ones, they just won't look as good.

Available books include:

Computer Basics
Windows XP
Mac OS X Tiger
Linspire Five-O
Palm Devices
Microsoft Office
Access 2003
Excel 2003
PowerPoint 2003
Word 2003
Publisher 2003
OpenOffice.org
Base 2.0
Calc 2.0
Impress 2.0
Writer 2.0
Web layout
Dreamweaver 8
FrontPage 2003
HTML & CSS
Web graphics
Photoshop CS2
Fireworks 8
Photoshop Elements 4.0
Web programming
MySQL Basics
PHP Basics
PERL Basics

The books are released through a Creative Commons liscence which means you can share electronic copies with your friends. And since you are all my friends, I've decided to share all 22 books with you. You can download all of these PDF books here (note: large file - 98MB) To get the individual books, just click on the links above, or visit Inpics.net.

I wish there was a GIMPShop or at least GIMP book in there, but there are quite a few open source topics (Linspire, OpenOffice.org, MySQL), so maybe a GIMP/GIMPShop book is not too far behind.

GIMPShop dot Com

2006-04-26T23:03:00.000-04:00

That subject line was hard for me to write. I'm too used to writing GIMPShop dot Net.

It seems I am not the only fan of GIMPShop that is willing to create a full-on site to proclaim it. My new friend Josh has decided to throw his hat into the ring as well. And I would like to welcome him to the Net.

His site is new, and he is still in the process of putting it up - but it is functional. It's a very simple, straightforward site promoting GIMPShop - complete with download links and explainations of what GIMPShop is.

Some may question why I'm linking to a competing site - much less actually promoting it - well, I don't see it as a competion. Both GIMPShop dot Net and dot Com have the same goal - to promote and explain GIMPShop. I think of GIMPShop dot Com (and he probably would type it simply Gimpshop.com) as a companion site to GIMPShop dot Net rather than a competitor.

Welcome Josh. Let's get the word out - there's a free, cross-platform, open source, easy-to-use, uber powerful, image editor out there, and the world needs to know about it. 8^)

SubEthaEdit price drop - BlogZot 2.0

2006-04-25T14:15:00.000-04:00

SubEthaEdit from CodingMonkeys
BLOGZOT 2.0 on MacZOT.com
MacZOT and TheCodingMonkeys will award $105,000 in Mac software

SubEthaEdit is a powerful and lean text editor. And it's the only collaborative one you can actually use. By combining the ease of Bonjour with the world's best text collaboration engine, it makes working together not only possible but even fun…

GIMPShop on a Flash Drive

2006-04-17T21:30:00.000-04:00

Our good friend Tonya (aka the Oregonian) has done it again. This time she gives step by step instructions on how to put GIMPShop for Windows on a USB drive. That means you can take GIMPShop with you whereever you go, and as long as you use a computer with Windows and a USB port, then you can use GIMPShop without having to install it. Very handy stuff.

Open Source software rocks!

Tonya wanted me to add that:

GIMPShop for Windows uses 31mb on the flashdrive after the installation file has been deleted.

With the installation file still on the drive and GIMPShop installed, total usage is 38mb.

So, if you've got anything bigger than a 32 MB card, you're all set. :-)

GIMP 2.2.11 Now Available!

2006-04-17T13:34:00.000-04:00

GIMP 2.2.11 is now available. This is a bug-fix release in the stable 2.2 series. You can download it here.

Could a GIMPShop 2.2.11 be around the corner? Perhaps a Universal Binary version? We'll have to wait and see what Scott has in store.

read more | digg story

Drop Shadow Tutorials for GIMPShop

2006-04-05T10:32:00.000-04:00

Tonya aka "Oregonian" has created some easy-to-follow tutorials on how to create drop shadows for both text and graphics using GIMPShop for Windows. The tutorials include instructions for how to do the same using GIMP for Linux (in case you don't like the Photoshop-esqeness of GIMPShop).

You can read the tutorials here.

Tonya promises more tutorials are on the way. Thanks Tonya!

New Mac Screenshots

2006-03-29T14:10:00.000-05:00

With the new Mac release of GIMPShop - I thought I should upload some new Screenshots of the app at work. Just click on the pictures for closer look.

Windows Screenshot

Screenshot of the Previous Release on Mac

Ad-Free GIMPShop dot Net

2006-03-29T10:32:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to let you know that after looking at GIMPShop dot Net with my ad-blockers off for a while - and after the problems, (although they were solved) the ads were causing Opera users - I decided to remove them entirely. You shouldn't see any more ads on GIMPShop dot Net. I'll stick with just informing you about GIMPShop and other open source projects like OpenOffice.org, AbiWord, Nvu, and Firefox.

I'm also in the process of making a new entry page, and possibly a redesign of the whole site. Be on the lookout for that.

If you have any suggestions - please let me know.

Thanks!

Website Tweaked for Opera Users

2006-03-21T12:18:00.000-05:00

I have recently received a few notes from Opera users telling me that they'd love to view the site - but the stinking ads cover half the page. At first I thought they might just be complaining about the ads existing in general. Then I opened up the site in Opera, and it literally was floating over half the site. See the screenshot.

*note: This isn't my screenshot - this was sent in to me. I changed it before I thought to take a screenshot.

It seems that Opera isn't too Blogger friendly. I tried to do this post in Opera on Mac, and it wouldn't load the picture properly, and most of my buttons were missing. Or maybe it's just me. But I've got it working now - or so it seems. Please let me know if there are any other problems. I try to check the site whenever I change the layout. I have several browsers on 3 OSes that I use - but sometimes I miss something.

I considered removing the ads entirely. I haven't made any money off of them (although I have $11 in the Yahoo ones - that I can't get until I reach $100. At this rate, it will be several years before I see a penny). I basically just wanted to get my money back for registering the domain name. That doesn't look like it's going to happen. I did remove the old "lost money" add. That one wasn't as gaudy - but it did look lame on top of every page. I don't blame you for not filling it out.

If you'd like me to remove the ads - please let me know. I tried to put them out of the way (obviously failing at that for Opera users, until now). But that kind of defeats the purpose of the ads. If you'd like to support the site - just visit a few of the Yahoo links. (The Amazon ads don't pay unless you buy something.) Or you could always send me a donation via PayPal.

OpenOffice.org 2.0.2

2006-03-08T14:40:00.000-05:00

I promise I won't be posting everytime a program goes through a micro-release, but this one seemed worthy of note. OpenOffice.org has a couple of announcements today. First, version 2.0.2 has been released. From the announcement.

OpenOffice.org 2.0.2 is available today. It is ready now in English; check with the Native Language projects for other languages. The release is recommended for everyone. It contains some nifty new features, fixes many small bugs and resolves numerous issues. For instance, spellcheck dictionaries are now directly integrated into OpenOffice.org and are immediately available after installation; there is no need for extra downloads. The community have also added import filters for Quattro Pro 6 and Microsoft Word 2. As well, other import filters have been improved, so that documents created by other applications can be edited in OpenOffice.org more seamlessly. Continuing with the the push to enhance OpenOffice.org's business functionality, it is now easier to use mail merge. As well, integration with the KDE address book is now possible.

The appearance of the application has also been enhanced, and for Linux users, there are new icon sets for KDE and GNOME. The result of this and the other improvements is not just a prettier OpenOffice.org but a friendlier and more capable suite.

And it's free.

Improved GUI, improved filters, improved overall - I like it. If you are still using OOo 1.x - now is the time to upgrade. (Sorry Mac users - no news from NeoOffice just yet.)

The other announcement is OpenOffice.org® has been been awarded the right of the registered trademark status. (That's what the little ® means.) What does this mean to end users? Not much - but it helps OOo have better control over their branding and image, which is a good thing.

You can download the latest version of OpenOffice.org here.

GIMPShop promoted as choice for graphic artists

2006-03-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

From an article entitled "How to wean someone off of propriatary software" which basically highlights the applications on TheOpenCD (which is a great collection of apps, and can be downloaded from their website, or, if you are on dialup can be purchased online)

For the graphic artists out there, we have three mature FOSS available. First is GIMP ( http://www.gimp.org ) or GNU Image Manipulation Program. The interface is definitely no Photoshop but the functionality may be more than sufficient for your use. A version of GIMP called Gimpshop ( http://www.gimpshop.net ) uses the same GIMP engine with its interface customized to look like Photoshop. Ah, the beauty of open source, huh? If you don't want the way it looks, hack it!

Most of the programs mentioned on our site are contained on TheOpenCD - except GIMPShop, they stick with the GIMP.

Scott Got a Computer

2006-03-03T13:18:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the generous donations of GIMPShop users - Scott Moschella, creator of GIMPShop - has the funds needed to buy a new Intel-based Mac. Now he can start work on the Universal Binary version of GIMPShop (so it will run natively on the MacTels).

This is big news, as that means GIMPShop will beat Photoshop to the Universal Binary market by months, probably more than a year!

Congrats, Scott, and thank you donators!

The GIMP to guest star on Extreme Home Make-Over?

2006-03-03T13:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is a little weird. I'm subscribed to a number of GIMP related mailing lists - and I got this email suggesting that GIMP may be mentioned on an upcoming episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition.... Here's the body of the email.

I can't say much about this, but in the interest of GIMP, I'd like to
encourage folks to watch the April 6th show. I don't know that GIMP
will be mentioned, but it was definetly one of the tools-of-choice,
along with Photoshop, and PSP, used for this episode.

Bear in mind the date may change, but, but it will still be in April.

If this is just some weird way of ABC driving up ratings by spreading false rumors - it's a very weird place and way to do it, so there's probably some validity to it.

I don't want GIMPShop dot Net to become a rumor mill - and since there are very few rumors related to GIMPShop or the GIMP, there's little chance of that happening. But I had to let you all know about this one. That's just a little weird. I'll be watching, of course, I like EMHE anyway.

Give Scott a Computer - AKA - Do you want Universal Binaries for GIMPShop?

2006-02-12T11:30:00.000-05:00

Well boys and girls, I hope all you Mac users are enjoying GIMPShop 2.2.10 as much as I am. For everyone else, let's hope John, Matthias, aka Dakira, Anshuman, Suramya Tomar, and the other porters/developers out there are working on ports for their various operating systems.

Scott Moschella, the creator of GIMPShop, is working on a port of his own. Each time Scott makes a new version of GIMPShop, he does so natively in Mac OS X.

As you may have heard, Apple has released a new line of computers with Intel chips as the processor, instead of the IBM PowerPC processors they've been using for years. Without getting too technical, they had to make a new version of Mac OS X which would run on the new Macs - which means programs have to be rewritten for the new OS. Apple has included an emulator that lets programs for OS X PPC run on OS X Intel - but they are much slower. But they've also made the new OS work in such a way that programs written for the Intel OS can also run on the PPC OS - they call it Mac Universal.

What does any of this have to do with GIMPShop? Well, Scott would like to release GIMPShop in the new Mac Universal format. Only one problem, he doesn't have an Intel Mac to work with. So he is accepting donations to buy one. I plan on giving on payday, and if you like GIMPShop - even if you don't do Mac - it would be nice to send a few bucks his way for his hard work. This will encourage Scott to keep releasing new versions of GIMPShop, which means you can still keep up-to-date and not have to pay hundreds of dollars for - or steal - Photoshop.

GIMPShop 2.2.10 for Mac now available!

2006-02-04T22:51:00.000-05:00

Scott has done it again! GIMPShop 2.2.10 is now available for Mac OS X, and the Source code is available for developers to port it to other operating systems.

With this release, Gimpshop runs for the first time in OS X 10.4 Tiger as a self-contained app! I’ve also added two additional plug-ins for the OS X distribution: Greycstoration and Resynthesizer. This latest version of Gimpshop also supports Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).

Greystoration is a powerful plug-in that removes noise, grain and compression artifacts from your images. You can find Greycstoration in Filter > Misc.

Resynthesizer creates tileable images (great for desktop backgrounds) from textures. You can find Resynthesize in Filter > Map.

Download Gimpshop 2.2.10 for Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4 Here (66 MB)

For developers: Get the source files here (16 MB) based on Gimp 2.2.10

read more | digg story

Update 5-17-06 - GIMPShop 2.2.11 UNIVERSAL BINARY for Mac OS X is ready!

Plugin Vote on PlasticBugs

2006-01-31T19:46:00.000-05:00

Scott Moschella, of G4TV and creator of GIMPShop, has posed a question on his website.

Hey, do you guys want me to add this plugin to Gimpshop? I think it would be great to have. Please let me know in the comments. I just have to figure out how to add it to the source… shouldn’t be too difficult, right?

The Plugin removes the speckles of a scanned image. I think it makes a nice addition, but it could delay the release of GIMPShop 2.2.10.

Scott could always just add a link to the plugin to the readme file or something.

What do you all think? Please visit Scott's post and leave comments there. You're free to comment here as well, but Scott may or may not see this post.

The SeaMonkey Project goes GOLD

2006-01-31T19:43:00.000-05:00

SeaMonkey 1.0 has been released. For those of you who don't know what SeaMonkey is, it's the continuing project of the Mozilla Suite.

A (hopefully) quick history lesson. Several years back, in the early days of the Internet, a browser was produced called Netscape. Netscape was a great browser, far better than Internet Explorer. Netscape came as a suite, which included software to edit HTML (web pages), send and receive email, and even chat. And for a while, it was good.

Then AOL bought Netscape, and basically tried to kill it. They bundled every piece of AOL junkware they could with it. AIM, AOL Games, Try AOL Free for 45 days links, etc..

Some of the orginial developers of Netscape broke off from AOL, and produced an open source project that came to be known as Mozilla. Mozilla was basically the same as the old Netscape, just no AOL junkware, and more up-to-date advancements. And for a while, it was good.

But Mozilla got a little too big for some people, and it wasn't succeeding as well as they'd like, so they started over. They created the Phoenix, which became Firebird, which became Firefox. And they made Thunderbird, the email client. And someone else made Nvu, the HTML editor. And they still had the Mozilla Suite. And for a while.... you know...

Then Mozilla decided it was too much work to maintain the individual apps, (Firefox, Thunderbird, and Sunbird), and the Mozilla Suite. So they stopped developing it, and a new startup was born - SeaMonkey. Since Mozilla was open source, there was nothing stopping the community from taking the project over, and they did. Mozilla.org even hosts it for them.

And so that brings us to today, actually yesterday, January 30, 2006, when SeaMonkey 1.0 was released as an end-user gold-standard release. This project, whose core code is as old as the Net, is just making it to 1.0 status.

Now to simplify....

Netscape became Mozilla became SeaMonkey.

Get it. It rocks. It has everything...

Web-browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editing made simple -- all your Internet needs in one application.

On the verge of another GIMPShop Release!

2006-01-25T10:25:00.000-05:00

Mr. Scott Moschella, creator of GIMPShop, has announced in his blog that the next version of GIMPShop should be out by the end of the week!

All thanks to a huge helping hand from Aaron Voisine, creator and maintainer of the original Gimp.app for OS X, I’ve got Gimpshop 2.2.10 running as a self-contained .app file. That means no messy terminal commands, just double-click and go. Currently working out some minor kinks, creating a new splash screen and attempting to add SVG functionality. It should be ready for download by the end of the week.

I look forward to this official Mac OS X release by Mr. Moschella, and the hopeful soon follow-up of ports to Windows, Linux, and Solaris...

This news follows the release of GIMP 2.2.10 from GIMP.org by less than a month. And as mentioned in the above quote, the GIMP.app for OS X by less than that.

The groove train just keeps on groovin'!

Ok, I have no idea what that last thing means... but I'm looking forward to the next GIMPShop!

Shareaza - when BitTorrent just isn't enough...

2006-01-09T16:50:00.000-05:00

Shareaza is a peer-to-peer (P2P) client that allows users to download any file found on several popular P2P networks. Shareaza is free and does not contain any spyware, third-party software, pop-ups, or ads.

Let me start by giving you a little insight into my P2P past. I stared with Kazaa, and I liked it. Seemed to work pretty good to me. But the ads were a pain. Until I heard of KazaaLite. Which rocked! I loved it. Everything Kazaa had to offer - except the ads! Great Stuff! And for a while, it was good.

Then, I heard that there were actually more than one P2P network out there. So I had to expand. At one point (and I don't want to disclose how recently this point was), I had 4 P2P clients running on my system at once. KazaaLite, LimeWire Pro (yes, I paid for it), eMule, and BitTorrent. Talk about strained resources! I *knew* there had to be a better way.

And then I learned there was. One client for multiple networks. This was AWESOME. P2P excellence, I thought, thy name is Morpheus. I chose Morpheus for many of the same reasons I now use Shareaza. It was free (at the time). It scanned multiple networks. It allowed chatting with the people with whom I was sharing files. And it offered a built-in media player and preview option. At that point, it was the best P2P I could find.

Everything was fine - for a while. I could put up with a few ads now and then. But then I had to upgrade. Yes, a forced upgrade. So I did it, and my system never worked the same. BonzaiBuddy, MyWebSearch, and about 2 dozen other spyware/adware files were suddenly up and running on my computer.

Needless to say, I dumped Mo, ran Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware a couple of times each, and - again - went looking for the next best thing. And that's when I found it. Shareaza is the most complete and sophisticated file sharing system available. It harnesses the power of four P2P networks: BitTorrent, EDonkey2000, Gnutella, and Gnutella2 - Shareaza's native network.

Not only that, but Shareaza is completely free. Free of hidden charges. Free of crippled-features that are only available in the "Pro" version. Ad-free, pop-up-free, spyware-free, registration-free. Oh, and it doesn't cost anything either. Users can download it, (for free), customize it (for free) install it on multiple computers (for free) and even sell in on CD, HD, Flash-drive, Floppy-disc or however software can be sold (for free). As the website says, there are "no strings attached". Don't let the fact that it's free make you think it's cheap. By no means is this some limited, stripped-down, command-line controlled, uber-geeky P2P client. Shareaza is as full-featured a client as you'll find. Shareaza has got it all!

In addition to multiple network searching, Shareaza has a feature that I've not seen anywhere else called "Collections". This innovative feature groups previews of album covers, descriptions, and song lists all in one complete package. Once users find the collection, they just click the collection to download all of the files. This feature makes it easier than ever to find all of the files that a user is looking for.

Shareaza has an intuitive design and a sleek look that makes it a joy to use. And with its Skin feature, Shareaza can morph into whatever design the user wants. There are even several modes of interface for differing levels of users. One of the most frustrating experiences of P2P is searching for, finding, and downloading a file that just doesn't work. Corrupted files, false positives, mp3s that play like old vinyl records are a thing of the past with Shareaza. With its sophisticated file-hashing, Shareaza detects and fixes corruption before the download completes. Some P2P clients only lets users do one search at a time. If a user tries to search for a second file without finishing the search for the first, all of the results from the first search will be lost. Not so with Shareaza. Multiple searches can be held on different tabs or windows within the client. Shareaza has a one-stop media player that can preview the files it is downloading before they are finished. It even comes with a cool remote control window that be used outside of the main Shareaza window.

To ensure users are downloading what they want to be downloading, Shareaza includes a user-comment and rating system that, like the files being shared, are done by users for users. And as was mentioned earlier, Shareaza allows chatting among its users. So the open source spirit of community carries on to the users as well as the contributors.

Finally, Shareaza uses security block-lists to shield its users from unwanted attention. A series of finely-honed IP and client filters, keeps certain groups and corporations from seeing who is sharing what. Shareaza is a wonderful free mutli-network P2P client that works on Windows 95-XP. It's available in 10 languages, with plans to support many more. It also will continue to improve with up-coming plug-in features to further expand its already impressive list of abilities. Learn more about Shareaza, and download your own copy at their website.

P2P can and has been used for illegal activities. Please don't do that. It's dangerous - you can get viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, and exploits - and there are a number of XXAA groups that are sue-crazy right now. GIMPShop dot Net does not support illegal activities, but it also doesn't support the RIAA, MPAA, or whatever four-letter-words they make up. Just be careful. (This message brought to you by your local ISP and the Ad Council.) The More You Know!tm

My First Audio Post

2006-01-03T21:53:00.000-05:00

This is my first audio post - it's just a quick welcome to GIMPShop dot Net, because I didn't have much else to say at the moment.

I used AudioBlogger to make it. It's a very cool service that lets you literally call in your blog.

So much for typing. 8^)

GIMPShop listed in Top 12 Mac Apps of 2005

2005-12-28T18:39:00.000-05:00

According to Chris Howard of Apple Matters, GIMPShop is among his "Dozen Mac Gems Unearthed in 2005".

GIMPShop
After my search for a low cost decent image editor proved fruitless, it was both a delight and relief to find GimpShop, a hacked version of The Gimp but with a Photoshop like interface. Obviously I wasn’t the only one confused beyond sanity by The Gimp’s interface!

I'm glad Chris found GIMPShop. A "low cost decent image editor" may be hard to find. Luckily, GIMPShop is free. 8^)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2005-12-22T16:31:00.000-05:00

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Festivus, Ramadan, the New Year, or just having a few days off - we here at GIMPShop dot Net want to wish you and yours a very Merry, Happy, Joyful, Jolly, Blessed, Cheerful, Fun, and Safe holiday season!

Happy GIMPShopping!

- Chad Smith (Webmaster of GIMPShop dot Net)

GIMPShop versus Photoshop

2005-12-08T15:56:00.000-05:00

Recently, I received a comment to one of my posts that asked this question:

I use Photoshop to edit my photographs. What is the difference between Photoshop and Gimp? - Other then the name Gimp is much more fun!

First of all, I agree, the name is more fun than Photoshop. :-)

I liked the question so much, that I thought it would be good to post the reply as an article, since I'm sure many people have wondered the same thing. I know reading comments isn't the easiest way to find out things, and thus this page was born.

For a simple answer about what GIMPShop is, you can check out my page called "What is GIMPShop?"

For a few specific answers to what's the differences between GIMPShop and Photoshop, please see below.

GIMPShop is different than Photoshop in a number of ways.

#1) It is free. Meaning it doesn't cost you anything to own the software - you can download it (legally) from the links to the right of GIMPShop dot Net.

#2) It is Free. No, I'm not repeating myself, it's a different kind of "free". Free as in Freedom. This means you can download it for free, and give it away for free, or sell it, or change it and make it your own. In fact, GIMPShop itself is based on The GIMP, which is a different Free (and free) program. Another term for this is Open Source, although there are slight differences.

#3) GIMPShop is cross-platform. This means that whether you use a Windows computer, an Apple with Mac OS X, or even a computer with Linux on it - you can use GIMPShop. Adobe Photoshop is not available on Linux. And the versions of Photoshop for Windows and Mac are different, (and must be purchased separately - if you have a Mac laptop and a Windows computer, you would have to buy a copy of Photoshop for each if you wanted it).

#4) As close as GIMPShop may act to Photoshop, it's not exactly the same. There are some features (just a few) that Photoshop has that GIMPShop does not. CMYK support, tablet support, and some other advanced features are available in Photoshop, but not GIMPShop, (or the GIMP). There are some features, like ScriptFu, that are available in GIMPShop that Photoshop doesn't have - so it's plus and minus both ways on that.

#5) Third party support is better for Photoshop. Photoshop has been around longer, it makes millions of dollars of profit that it can use to advertise, so it's better known than GIMPShop, so other companies make things for Photoshop because they know it's out there. Open Source support is better for GIMP and GIMPShop.

#6) There are books out there for Photoshop, not too many for the GIMP, and even less for GIMPShop. However, the point of GIMPShop is to make the GIMP more like Photoshop, so these books should help you use GIMPShop as well.

Hope that helps clear things up! Thanks for such a great question!

TuxPaint - it's like Fingerpainting on your PC

2005-12-08T07:01:00.000-05:00

With the holidays upon us, I thought I would takes some time to show you the kid-friendly side of Open Source. There are many programs out there for the children in our lives - or the kid inside of all of us - and TuxPaint is a great example of this genre.

A little bit of back ground information. Some of you may be wondering why a kids program is named after an outfit that most grown men complain about wearing, namely a Tuxedo. Well Tux is the name of a little cartoon penguin that has come to represent Linux, (Tux ... Linux, get it?) :) And since Linux is *the* project that is most representative of the open source movement, Tux is used even in cross-platform apps, like TuxPaint. But Tux doesn't just show up in the title - he's also very active in the program itself.

A lot of work has gone into TuxPaint to make it as easy to use as possible - remember, it was designed for children. Once the program opens up, Tux welcomes the user to the canvas. If the user has already started a painting - it opens right up to where he left off. If not, the user is greeted with a new place to get creative. And Tux is there to guide the young users step-by-step. Even the canvas is a consistent size, so issues like number of pixels or width in inches or centimeters never come up. The whole screen can fit on a small 640 x 480 monitor or be expanded to fill whatever screen is being used.

There are plenty of tools available for the budding artist - stamps, paintbrushes, a text tool, a shape tool, a line tool, an eraser, an undo and redo button, and "magic". All of these tools are a breeze to use, and the reuse of some of the settings (like the line tool is based on the paintbrush that was last selected, which can also be changed while you have the line tool selected), makes the interface very consistent and easy to learn. There are even fun sound effects that are played when tools are selected and used. Of course, those sound effects can be turned off if they get annoying.

Even saving a picture is consistent no matter what operating system or file structure the computer uses, because it's not based on file names or folders - it's all done with thumbnails that are displayed right in the canvas area of the screen. The drawback is that this limits the pictures made in TuxPaint to TuxPaint only, unless the user uses a screen-capture program or similar software. But TuxPaint does allow for printing, so the little artist's masterpiece can be proudly displayed at the local Refrigerator Museum of Fine Art.

The two tools that most appeal to the children, (I'm basing this assumption on extensive research which consisted of watching my youngest sister play with it), are the stamps and the Magic. The stamps are a huge assortment of different pictures like cars, planets, smiley faces, shapes, bugs, animals, etc. Some of them are included in the basic download, but a ton more are in a separate easy-to-install download. These stamps can be a learning tool as well as a fun and creative way to spend some time. Whenever a stamp is selected, our good friend Tux has something to say about it. Sometimes it's a simple one-word description "Pumpkins!" but sometimes it is a full-fledged lesson. Like "This is a 50-cent piece from the United States. It features a picture of US President John F. Kennedy. That's why this coin is known as the Kennedy Half-Dollar." It's a neat way to include learning in an afternoon of computerized arts and crafts.

The other popular tool is Magic. Magic offers a whole new set of tools that takes TuxPaint to a whole new level. The magic tools include a rainbow paintbrush, sparkles, a flip tool, a mirror tool, an negative tool, a "chalk" tool - which makes the picture look like chalk art, a drip tool - which causes the draw to start to melt around the edges, a box tool - which makes the drawing turn into a mosaic of blocks, think about a badly distorted JPG, and you'll get the idea, a thick tool, and matching thin tool, and a fill tool.

There are parental or teacher controls, so the adults can adjust the way it is set up, turn on and off some of the more advanced features, or include special instructions for the young artists.

All in all, this is a neat little program to play with whatever your age, and might just replace solitaire on your list of things to do with your computer when the network is down. The author, Bill Kendrick has done an excellent job with this project. You can pick up a copy of TuxPaint, on the NewBreedSoftware website- the extras I told you about are also available there.

Firefox - 1.5 A new phase in the revolution

2005-11-30T10:55:00.000-05:00

It's here, folks. And you should get it. Stuck with IE, switch to Firefox. Already got Firefox 1.0? Upgrade today.

It's faster, stronger, and more secure.

The award-winning Web browser is better than ever. Browse the Web with confidence - Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started. Download Firefox now and get the most out of the Web.

Some of your old extensions might not work right away, but most will. You may have to "Check for Upgrades" and restart Firefox once or twice, but it's more than worth it.

First OpenOffice.org 2.0, and now this! ;-)

Here's what's new in Firefox 1.5:

Automated update to streamline product upgrades. Notification of an update is more prominent, and updates to Firefox may now be half a megabyte or smaller. Updating extensions has also improved.
Faster browser navigation with improvements to back and forward button performance.
Drag and drop reordering for browser tabs.
Improvements to popup blocking.
Clear Private Data feature provides an easy way to quickly remove personal data through a menu item or keyboard shortcut.
Answers.com is added to the search engine list.
Improvements to product usability including descriptive error pages, redesigned options menu, RSS discovery, and "Safe Mode" experience.
Better accessibility including support for DHTML accessibility and assistive technologies such as the Window-Eyes 5.5 beta screen reader for Microsoft Windows. Screen readers read aloud all available information in applications and documents or show the information on a Braille display, enabling blind and visually impaired users to use equivalent software functionality as their sighted peers.
Report a broken Web site wizard to report Web sites that are not working in Firefox.
Better support for Mac OS X (10.2 and greater) including profile migration from Safari and Mac Internet Explorer.
New support for Web Standards including SVG, CSS 2 and CSS 3, and JavaScript 1.6.
Many security enhancements.

GIMP and GIMPShop Reunite Families

2005-11-16T11:43:00.000-05:00

How do I make a family photo when one of the people was asleep when it was taken? Simple! I use GIMP or GIMPShop to put that person in the pic with everybody else!

Read this story from The Sydney Morning Hearld.

read more | digg story

Some Examples of the power of GIMP and GIMPShop

2005-11-14T23:06:00.000-05:00

Recently, I asked for submissions from users of GIMPShop of examples of their work. So far, I haven't received any, (but feel free to send them if you've got them). But, one visitor, Donncha O Caoimh, asked if GIMP submissions would work. And I happily agreed.

For those who may be asking "What is the GIMP?" or even "What is GIMPShop?" please visit the respective links. Suffice to say, GIMPShop is the GIMP with different clothes on. Whatever the GIMP can do, GIMPShop can do too.

All the pictures on inphotos.org are modified and enhanced using the GIMP. These are just some examples on what the GIMP, (and therefore GIMPShop) are capable of.

GIMPShop Tutorial

2005-11-14T23:00:00.000-05:00

Here is a tutorial from Andy Atkinson on how to make rounded corners using GIMPShop.

Alpha GIMPShop 2.3.4 at lacksadaisical alacrity

2005-11-08T07:32:00.000-05:00

John, one of the compilers of GIMPShop for Windows, has released an alpha of GIMPShop based on The GIMP 2.3.4.

This is a *developers test release* which means, it's likely to have a lot of bugs. You should not use this as your only image editor, but if you'd like to test it out, and see where GIMPShop is headed, then feel free. Just don't delete your old version.

For any developers, or aspiring coders out there, John has the source, so you can compile this for other platforms, or tweak the code yourself.

You can download the Windows version here.

And the GIMP source here - and John's GIMPShop patch here.

Photoshop-ish Keyboard Shortcuts for The Gimp 2.2

2005-11-07T09:42:00.000-05:00

If you want to make GIMPShop even more Photoshop like. You can download this file - ps-menurc, rename it to menurc, and put it in your GIMPShop system folder.

For Windows users, that folder is C:\Documents and Settings\*Your User Name*\.gimp-2.2

For Linux and Mac users that folder is ~/.gimp-2.2

Here is the homepage to the creator of the file, and also a complete list of what the shortcuts do.

From the author:

Most of the matches are essentially identical features found in both programs, and the rest are the closest match I could find.

Please let me know if you have any problems.

Photoshop Shortcuts are included in the Windows version, however, they must be enabled. On the Windows version, just double-click the file called "Enable Photoshop Shortcuts" in the GIMPshop folder on your Program Files menu before opening GIMPShop.

Just a reminder, you can download GIMPShop here:

For Windows

For Mac OS X

For Linux

For Solaris

The Source

New to GIMPShop? Wondering what it is? Find out here: What is GIMPShop?

Firefox Breaks 10% Worldwide

2005-11-03T22:48:00.000-05:00

From the article:

Mozilla's Firefox has broken the 10 percent barrier, a Dutch Web metrics firm claimed Wednesday, and now is used by 11.5 percent of the world's surfers.

This is not something most people thought possible - to unseat Microsoft's Internet Explorer from it's world dominating 90%+ perch, but it has been done, and the trend will only continue. More to come...

The Power of Firefox and OpenOffice.org on Windows

2005-11-01T21:53:00.000-05:00

GIMPShop is one of many free, open source, cross-platform programs developed by volunteers around the world. Two of the other most famous, useful, and successful projects are Firefox and OpenOffice.org. Sam Hiser recently wrote a LinuxWorld article about these important programs.

From the article:

In 2010, when the desktop standards war is winding down, we'll look back and say what a very, very good year 2002 was for open source software applications. It was in 2002 that both the Mozilla and the OpenOffice.org development projects delivered their 1.0 releases to the public. Having a Free (and free) and open source browser and office suite running on both the Windows and GNU/Linux operating systems is a milestone worth rejoicing at any time. Its significance in 2002 can be measured by the emergence the following year (2003) of viable desktop Linux solutions. In hindsight, that impact seems even greater today, when the mature enterprise GNU/Linux desktop system is something that's taken for granted.

An early Glance at GIMP on OS X

2005-10-26T11:57:00.000-04:00

Anders Carlsson two months ago started with a Cocoa port of Gimp so that it will finally run natively (without needing X11) on OS X. Now he's ready to show the first very early screenshots together with some information. Of course the source will be made public so any OS X developer will soon be able to help him out.

If this takes off, GIMPShop for Mac could be *even cooler!* Aquafied Cocoa

read more | digg story

OpenOffice.org 2.0

2005-10-20T22:14:00.000-04:00

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is here!

After Two *very long* years of saying "2.0 is on the way" and just a bit late for it's 5th birthday - OpenOffice.org 2.0 has finally been released!

From the OOo 2.0 Press Release

OpenOffice.org 2.0: A Choice for A Real Change

OpenOffice.org released the long-awaited version 2.0 of its free office suite for Windows, Mac and Linux on 20 October 2005 adding a new database module, support for the OpenDocument file format, a fresh user interface, and plenty of improvements and bug fixes.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is the first open source office suite to offer thorough support for the Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) OASIS Standard. OpenDocument is an XML file format that was developed by OASIS, the international body for the development and ratification of e-Business standards. The OpenDocument format can be used by any office application without fear of vendor specific lock-in or onerous licensing terms and fees, with the confidence that documents can be viewed, edited and printed for generations to come.

The suite now also offers a database module, Base, to complement the word processor (Writer), spreadsheet manager (Calc), presentation manager (Impress) and drawing tool (Draw) modules. These give all users the tools they need to be productive in the modern world. Free for all, OpenOffice.org offers everyone the enduring freedoms to use, study, improve and share the software. Users can download it for free from the Project's Web page at http://download.openoffice.org/2.0.0/index.html.

With a new user interface, OpenOffice.org 2.0 is easy to learn and use by the most inexperienced user, and is significantly more compatible with Microsoft Office files than prior versions. Supported by dozens of professional companies, OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be available in more than 60 languages. Able to run on Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris and other platforms, OpenOffice.org is increasingly the choice of businesses and governments throughout the world, and earlier versions have been downloaded over 49 million times since the project's inception.

The feature that I'm most happy to announce is the frigging *WORD COUNT* - something I've been begging the developers for since 1.0.3

NEW GIMPSHOP FOR WINDOWS

2005-10-15T17:03:00.000-04:00

True to his word, Matthias, aka Dakira, has released his much anticipated version of GIMPShop for Windows .

You can read his announcement here.

And you can download his version of GIMPShop.

From his blog:

The installer includes a recent GTK (which should make GIMPshop work in Win98), the GTK WIMP Windows theme and the GIMP Deweirdifier plugin to make GIMPshop a single window application which usually is more comfortable in windows.

Get it here

Let the GIMPShopping begin!

The New GIMPShop - sorta

2005-10-13T18:05:00.000-04:00

Well, it's finally here, folks! The newest version of GIMPShop has been compiled for Windows!

You can visit John's blog to pick up your copy. Or you can just click the linkidy here to download the latest GIMPShop for Windows.

For this version, you won't get all the tweaks that Matthias did for the last GIMPShop for Windows. the Deweirdifier, the built-in GTK, the WIMP theme... In fact, I wasn't able to get it to work on my machine. I might need to update my GTK, I dunno.

I wanted to let everyone know about the new version. Let me know of your sucessful installs, and/or your trials and tribulations.

Hopefully I'll hear back from Matthias soon, and we can have the ubercool Windows-ized version we all know and love.

I'll also be on the lookout for a new compiled Mac version as well.

UPDATE: 10-15-05

The Latest version of GIMPShop has been ported to Windows by Matthias!

New GIMPShop Update - part 2

2005-10-12T17:46:00.001-04:00

As I posted earlier, Scott has released the source for GIMPShop based on GIMP 2.2.8.

Well, we will soon be able to use the said source to actually do stuff very soon. I've been in contact with Dakira, the compiler of the Windows version, and he says the new source should be up within a couple of hours - I'll edit this post with the link when he has it ready.

In the meantime, all my Linux brethern can compile GIMPShop from source. These directions from Suramya should be helpful.

UPDATE: 10-15-05

The Latest version of GIMPShop has been ported to Windows by Dakira.

Blender3d - when two dimensions just aren't enough

2005-10-11T10:56:00.000-04:00

I've been working with Open Source programs for over 2 year now, and I've been amazed at what people are willing to give away. Programs like OpenOffice.org and Firefox are completely awesome, and they allow users to get the job done when it comes to common computing tasks like web surfing and word processing. It kind of makes sense that people would be willing to help other people handle the basics, and even to do so in an feature-rich way, but 3D graphics, animation, and interaction? You mean people are handing out free and legal copies of a program that could easily cost a couple of grand? No way!

Yes Way!

Enter Blender. No, not literally, sir. Please get out of the food processor.

Blender is the first and only open source fully integrated 3D graphics creation suite on the market. It allows modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, real-time interactive 3D and game creation and playback with cross-platform compatibility. All of these features are available in one neat, easy to install, and freely downloadable open source program! It's available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, and Irix.

I'll have to admit, in reviewing this program, I'm a tad bit over my head. I am no 3D graphics artist, and I can't remember the last time I created a "The Incredibles" quality film on my PC, but with Blender, it is possible. (Okay, maybe not on *my* PC, but one with some horsepower, then it's possible.)

I'm going to include some artwork created using Blender just to wet your appetite before I start throwing features at you. (All graphics taken from the gallery of http://www.blender3d.org/.)

These are just a few examples of what's possible through the use of this free 3D graphics program. Notice the use of light, shadow, and reflection. The photo-quality realism that can be made, as well as the smooth, colorful cartoon-like characters, mean Blender users can make whatever kind of graphics they need.

This graphics program has served different purpose than GIMPShop. GIMPShop is excellent at its job of a two-dimensional raster graphics creator/editor. Photo editing, jpeg making, Photoshop replacement, creation and editing of photorealistic 2d images - these all look like jobs for GIMPShop.

Blender 3D is different. It's 3D. That all-important difference does come with a price, not a financial price, of course, but one in terms of ease of use. It's easy to ride a bike, it's not hard to drive a car, it's very difficult to pilot a helicopter, and nearly impossible to fly to the moon. It's all a matter of what the user wants to be able to do, and how hard he is willing to work to learn how to do it.

Blender comes with a range of 3D object types including polygon meshes, NURBS surfaces, bezier and B-spline curves, metaballs, and vector fonts (TrueType, PostScript, OpenType). It offers 'smooth proxy' style catmull-clark subdivision surfaces, Boolean mesh functions, editing functions such as extrude, bevel, cut, spin, screw, warp, subdivide, noise, and smooth Soft selection editing tools for organic modeling. All of these tools serve as your base for modeling your 3D objects in the construct space.

If you don't know what any of those words mean, then Blender might not be for you. In fact, I only know half of them. Curves I recognize. But if you are a graphics engineer with a need of a program to use to make your next movie, then here you go.

Which brings us to animation. Blender can make some awesome movies - and games. Blender uses Armature (skeleton) deformation with forward/inverse kinematics, auto skinning and interactive 3D paint for vertex weighting, a non-linear animation mixer with automated walk cycles along paths, a constraint system, vertex key framing for morphing, with controlling sliders, a character animation pose editor, and a ton of other features. It has audio tools as well, including playback, mixing and editing support for sound synchronization.

Now for the *really* cool part. Blender can make GAMES, even without programming! Blender makes this possible by using a graphical editor for defining interactive behavior, so you can point and click your way to your own video game! It includes collision detection and dynamics simulation, so your characters won't "ghost" through each other. It's got some awesome lighting tools and reflection, as I mentioned before, so your characters can have real-time shadows and look in a mirror in the game, just like in your 3D pictures. And your games can be made into a stand-alone executable (i.e. program) with a plug-in. You can download and try out some of these Blender created games here.

Blender has a ton of other features, like powerful rendering tools, so you can take your 2D graphics and wrap them around 3D frames, and give the surfaces of your objects all kinds of depth and characteristics - like rough, reflective, shiny, dull, soft, hard, muted, etc.. It also supports a ton of different file formats, including jpg, png, iff, avi, tiff, psd, tga, sgi, gif, dxf, and more. Users can save an entire 3D scene or movie sequence in its native .blend format. So you don't have to have a ton of files lying around for one 3D scene, which is nice.

To sum up, Blender isn't for everyone. But then again, not everyone sits around making their own video games, movies, or 3D landscapes. However, if you ever want to get into graphics design, and you don't want to spend $3000 on a program to do it, look no further than Blender. You can learn more and grab your copy at the Blender homepage, http://www.blender3d.org/.

New GIMPShop for Windows coming soon

2005-10-11T10:01:00.000-04:00

I have been told by Matthias (aka Dakira) - the porter of GIMPShop to Windows - that he will soon (within the next two days) - have the latest version of GIMPShop ported to Windows. To my knowledge, this will be the first port of GIMPShop to any platform based on GIMP 2.2.8. You can compile GIMPShop from source on any platform you wish (if you know how to do such things). But this will be the first publically available binary, (aka actual program you run instead of the source code) of the latest version of GIMPShop.

Latest version of GIMPShop in source code form

Direct downoad link

Home of the Windows port of GIMPShop

(And where you should look for the binary or .exe file for the latest version, but I will have it posted here as soon as I hear anything.)

UPDATE: 10-15-05

The Latest version of GIMPShop has been ported to Windows by Dakira!

New Google Group

2005-10-09T12:39:00.000-04:00

I just started a Google Group for GIMPShop - it will be another fun interactive way for us to share the latest info about GIMPShop and GIMPShop related news.

Join up today, and get the latest stuff in your mailbox, or usenet client.

This is just one more way to interact, added to our comments option, the Hello GIMPShop photo submission, and the Atom feed. Okay, the Atom feed isn't so much interactive, but it is very Web 2.0.

Subscribe to Gimpshop News

Email:

Browse Archives at groups.google.com

Share your GIMPShop Images

2005-10-07T16:24:00.000-04:00

Hello.

No, I mean http://www.hello.com/ - but, yeah, Hi to you too.

I've signed up for this great service, it's free, it's called Hello. It's kinda like an instant messenger, but it's works a lot better with photos than other IM clients. I signed up for it, so we could share the images we've created with GIMPShop. My name is gimpshop (pretty creative, huh?).

If you have a picture you've created or editted with GIMPShop, and you want to share it with the world, just send it to me, and I'll put it on my blog.

I don't want any porn, anything mean or violent, or anything illegal - so please make sure the picture is *yours* and actually editted by GIMPShop. And I do reserve the right to pick which ones I actually put up. Let's play nice guys.

I basically want to show off what GIMPShop can do, and what GIMPShop users - creative souls that you are - can do. 8^) Put any info you want about who you are, how you made it, what OS you used, or whatever, in the caption when you send it to me, and I'll be happy to include that too. (Again, I may reject the pic if I can't post the language.)

The Internet is interactive, and "We" are far more creative than "I" - so show the world what you can do. :-)

Thanks in advance for your submissions. I look forward to working with you.

And, if you don't already have GIMPShop - you can grab it here, just pick the Operating System you're using.

Download GIMPShop:

For Mac OS X
X11 required
For Windows 98 +

For Linux (RPM)

For Solaris

GIMPShop in da NEWS!

2005-10-07T14:47:00.000-04:00

Check it out! GIMPShop got reviewed in PC Magazine!

GIMPshop was created by Scott Moschella, who hacked the GIMP's interface so it would resemble Photoshop more closely. He made GIMPshop for Mac OS X, and his Web site hosts a beta version for Windows XP. We examined both.

(This article was picked up and carried by ABC News!)

It gives GIMPShop 3 out of 5 stars. I, of course, think they should have rated it higher, but at least they spelled the name right!

And the Inquirer out of England included GIMPShop in one of their hardware reviews.

Artículo de GIMPShop en español

(I'm not sure what it says, but it's about GIMPShop - ;-))

This article is a little old, but I wanted to give another shout out to the folks at OSDir for covering GIMPShop.

That's all for the moment - much more to come.

AbiWord - When a Word Processor is all you need

2005-10-04T09:30:00.000-04:00

This post's featured project is AbiWord. As the name suggests, AbiWord is a word processing program similar to Microsoft Word and WordPerfect.

A little history, AbiWord is part of a larger project known as AbiSource, which was begun by the SourceGear Corporation. The goal of AbiSource is the development of a cross-platform, open source office suite. They started with the project's word processor, AbiWord.

SourceGear released the source code to AbiWord, and a development community formed around it. SourceGear no longer works on the project, but the developer community continues to improvement and enhance AbiWord.

If you are looking for a small, stable, but still feature-rich word processor, look no further than AbiWord. The main claim to fame for AbiWord is the shear number of operating systems it supports. Unix, Linux, Windows 95 or later, Mac OS X, BeOS, and QNX Neutrino 6.2 (whatever that is :->). It's designed in such a way that making ports to different OSes is easy. It's also easy to port AbiWord to different languages.

But, most of us don't worry about porting software, we just want something that works well and works now. AbiWord is that too. AbiWord is fully compatible with Microsoft Word files, and has filters for many other formats, like WordPerfect, OpenOffice.org's native format, HTML, RTF, and even Outlook Express email. Of course, you can always use AbiWord's own native format, which is based on XML.

AbiWord is not just a glorified text editor, either. AbiWord has advanced document layout options available for you. Tables, bullets, numbered lists, graphics, footnotes, endnotes, and styles can all be added to give your documents the professional and exciting look that you need them to have.

Common word processing features like spell-check, word count, and mail merge are all included, so updating a form letter or report with a database file or comma-separated/tabbed text files is a breeze.

Do you ever need to work in a language other than English? AbiWord has dictionaries available for over 30 languages, including some languages for which dictionaries are hard to find. And AbiWord can work with languages that are right-to-left as well as left-to-right, and supports them both in a single document.

How about server environments? Do you work on one? Do you think you ever might? If so, AbiWord works great for that too. AbiWord includes a powerful command line interface that allows you to generate form letters, print documents or convert documents to any file format AbiWord supports - all from the command line, if you are into that kind of thing.

AbiWord's System Requirements for the base program are so small, that it will amaze you. To run AbiWord on Microsoft Windows 95b or later, you need a 486dx or better processor, at least 16 MB RAM, and at least 10 MB of free HD space, (although the download is only 5 MB).

While the main AbiWord program is very compact and demands very few resources to run, the extensive plug-in architecture gives AbiWord the ability to be suited to your needs. The smaller base download is perfect for an environment with older hardware, or over-worked resources. But adding plug-ins just serves to increase the already impressive power of this small, free program.

The plug-in system was designed to give AbiWord all the functionality you expect from a modern word processor. Plug-ins include document filters, a thesaurus, image importers, a summarizer, and more.

To wrap things up, if you have MS Works and somehow didn't get MS Word, or if you use WordPerfect and want something small and light to work with Word documents, or if you just want something in between Word and WordPad, without having to pay a dime, you need AbiWord. And if you are building a system for someone else, and you want to give them a legal, powerful, lightweight word processor that won't kill their RAM, AbiWord is for you.

It's great for older or hand-me-down systems that are just used for basic computer functions. And it can be a life-saver if you have a bunch of Word or WordPerfect files, and don't have access to the actual programs. With as small of a footprint it has (mine, with all the plug-ins I could find on the website is just over 15MB), why not include AbiWord in all the systems you use, build, or sell?

You can learn more about AbiWord, and download the program and a bunch of optional plug-ins for it, at the AbiWord website.

7-Zip - The best Archive tool around

2005-10-03T20:22:00.000-04:00

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the concept of compressing files. This is where one takes a file, or a group of files, and, using software like the one I'll talking about here, creates a new file that is smaller than the sum of the original files, but still contains all of the information and functionality of the original files. File compression is a popular way of reducing download times and making back-ups easier.

I'm sure many of the knowledgeable readers out there are already asking "Why do I need to download compression software at all? XP has it built in." I'm glad you asked.

7-Zip is open source, released under the Lesser GNU Public License (LGPL). And, just like GIMPShop, it is a free download, although paid support is available.

7-Zip is the best archival/compression software on the market. It can create and unpack several formats of compressed archives, including its own 7z format, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB files. That's the first reason even XP users need 7-Zip. It works with formats that XP can't handle alone. It's even more valuable to 9x/NT users.

Another benefit of 7-Zip is that it is highly configurable, (a common feature in most open source projects). This allows users to balance the level of compression and speed. It has self-extracting capabilities for it's native 7z format. And 7-Zip is also available in over 40 languages.

Familiarity is another feature that makes 7-Zip a must-have. The interface of 7-Zip is designed to mirror the look-and-feel of Windows Explorer, so most users will barely know that that are opening anything other than a folder when they are using the program. It's almost like having the built-in ZIP function of XP on your 9x/NT machine. Even the most basic users will feel at home using 7-Zip.

7-Zip works on Windows 98 , 98SE, ME, NT, 2000, XP, and 2003. For those "GUI-is-for-WIMPs" guys out there, 7-Zip has a powerful command-line interface available as well which works on Windows and Linux (although WINE is needed for 7-Zip to function in Linux).

But by far, the best reason to use 7-Zip is the huge amounts of space you'll save when you archive your files using it's native format, 7z. I took this comparison test from their website, http://www.7Zip.org/.

Compression ratio results are very dependent upon the data used for the tests. We compared 7-Zip with some of the leading archivers: WinRAR 3.10, WinAce 2.3, CABARC 1.0, PKZIP 2.50.

FILE SET: The GIMP 1.2.4 for Windows after full installation (127 subfolders, 1304 files totaling 27,128,826 bytes). The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It can be downloaded from www.gimp.org.

Archiver Compressed size Ratio

7-Zip (7z format) 5445402 100%
WinRAR 3.10 6004155 110%
WinAce 2.3 6242424 115%
CABARC 1.0 6455327 119%
7-Zip (zip format) 9461621 174%
PKZIP 2.50 9842800 181%

As you can see, the 7z format is close to half the size of the old ZIP format. And about 20% of the size of the uncompressed files.

Even with the standard ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % smaller than the ratio provided by PKZIP,WinZip, and the XP built-in ZIP software. 7-Zip's native 7z format can provide a whopping 30-50% reduction in the size of the file when compared to the same files in the common ZIP format. That's the highest level of compression available today.

FILE SETS: Mozilla Firefox 1.0.7 for Windows and Google Earth 3.0.0616 for Windows after full installation.

Archiver Mozilla Firefox Google Earth

161 files
15,684,168 bytes 115 files
23,530,652 bytes

Compressed size Ratio Compressed size Ratio

7-Zip 4.23 (7z format) 4621135 100% 6109183 100%

WinRAR 3.50 5021556 109% 6824892 112%

CABARC 5.1 5131393 111% 7434325 122%

WinZip 10.0 beta (maximum-PPMd) 5277118 114% 8200708 134%

7-Zip 4.23 (zip format) 6222627 135% 8909446 146%

WinZip 10.0 beta (maximum-portable) 6448666 140% 9153898 150%

Archiver	Mozilla Firefox	Google Earth
161 files 15,684,168 bytes	115 files 23,530,652 bytes
Compressed size	Ratio	Compressed size	Ratio
7-Zip 4.23 (7z format)	4621135	100%	6109183	100%
WinRAR 3.50	5021556	109%	6824892	112%
CABARC 5.1	5131393	111%	7434325	122%
WinZip 10.0 beta (maximum-PPMd)	5277118	114%	8200708	134%
7-Zip 4.23 (zip format)	6222627	135%	8909446	146%
WinZip 10.0 beta (maximum-portable)	6448666	140%	9153898	150%

Some of the other benefits of the 7z format are: open architecture, strong AES-256 encryption, the ability to use any compression, conversion or encryption method, even ones that don't exist yet - since it can be developed by anyone who wants to work on it, support for files with sizes up to 16,000 Petabytes (That's 16,000,000 Terabytes or 16 BILLION Gigabytes!!!), Unicode file names, solid compressing, and archive headers compressing

With the glut of shareware/crippleware/trialware compression software available today, it may seem that building up about another "free" zipper would be a waste. But getting the highest compression available for free, without any annoying ads, appeals to "Upgrade to the full version", or spyware /adware, is truly something to write about.

There you will also find further details about the world's greatest archiving program, support information, and find out about other programs from the 7-Zip team.

Thunderbird Email Client - Reclaim your Inbox

2005-10-03T16:33:00.000-04:00

Thunderbird is the email companion to Firefox. Thunderbird makes emailing safe, fast, and easy with the implementations of features such as intelligent spam filters, a built-in spell checker, extension support, and more. Thunderbird is designed to boost users' productivity. There are no hassles of wading through ads and junk mail.

Emailing should be efficient and convenient. So Thunderbird uses open,industry leading standards. Thunderbird provides very effective tools for detecting junk mail. These tools analyze e-mail and identify those that are most likely to be junk. A user can automatically have junk mail deleted or it can be put in a specified folder for later inspection. If a user really wants to keep some "special offers" like DVDs of 1940's westerns for only $29.99 each - then the simple click of the big "Not Junk" button tells Thunderbird not to get rid of those emails.

Thunderbird also provides corporate and government level security features such as S/MIME, digital signing, message encryption, support for certificates and security devices, in case you are really into securing your data. Thunderbird also supports user level features, like HTML mail, IMAP/POP support, quick search, a smart address book, handling of return receipts, address completion, import tools, and support for multiple email and newsgroup accounts. Thunderbird reads RSS feeds like threads of emails.

Like FireFox, Thunderbird has many downloadable Themes and Extensions, which make its functionality and appearance virtually limitless. Apart from the use of themes, users can control the appearance of Thunderbird with customizable views, including a new three-column view, and Mail Views, which make sorting emails a snap. The toolbar is also easily customizable; using simple drag and drop to add an icon. Icons aren'tthe only items that can be dragged; spaces between each icon can be adjusted also for users who wish to keep it simple and uncluttered.

Thunderbird is much more secure from viruses than Outlook Express, because it deter the spread of worms and viruses by not allowing scripts to run by default. Thunderbird also takes up much less hard drive space than Outlook. Thunderbird can also save the user disk space by restricting certain messages larger than a specified size to be downloaded. Thunderbird also has the option of leaving emails on the servers where they are more secure.

With the addition of the free Mozilla Calendar, or the stand-alone version called Sunbird, the FireFox/Thunderbird combo can easily replace Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. The calendar allows users to organize their lives easily with the ability to%0Aschedule task and reminders. It lets the user schedule an event or task%0Afor a specific date and features an alarm for the event or the ability%0Ato keep it private. The calendar options are customizable allowing the%0Auser to control several aspects, including the alarm settings.Thunderbird and FireFox both can be run from removable media - like a CD-Rom or USB stick, so users can take their internet programs with them.

ClamWin Anti-Virus - Make Windows Safe - For FREE

2005-10-03T16:27:00.000-04:00

There are more than 70,000 *known* viruses "in the wild" for Windows. By "in the wild" I mean the viruses have been written and released and are spreading from one computer to the next. These viruses can be as harmless as merely slowing your computer down a little bit to corrupting your software to the point that all of the data stored on your computer is lost.

Viruses can attack from many different angles. You can get viruses from visiting an infected webpage, opening a virus-carrying email or attachment, loading an infected program from a disc, or even just by sharing a network with a virus-packing computer... There are some simple precautions that one could take to help prevent the spread of viruses, like don't open emails from people you don't know, and especially not attachments from unknown emails, turning off ActiveX controls on Internet Explorer (or switching to an alternative browser, like Firefox). Not installing programs that you don't remember downloading or asking for, and other things like that. But even the most cautious user - if he is conneceted to another computer at all, especially by the internet, is at risk.

That is why Anti-Virus software is so important, no one should ever connect to the internet without some sort of protection. I'd feel like I have let the users down if I didn't mention that the most secure way to avoid viruses is to use any operating system other than Windows. Mac OS X has *zero* known viruses in the wild, and the number is well under 200 for Linux (I actually don't know of any for Linux, but there may be a few.) Changing your operating system is a tall order, though, and involves a good bit of work, especially learning the new system, and you lose all of your applications, (although most of the open source programs I've reviewed are cross platform, so you can use them on Linux or Mac).

That being said, let me introduce you to a free, open source, and simple way to protect your Windows machines - ClamWin. ClamWin is a front-end of ClamAnti-Virus, or ClamAV. When I say "front end" I mean the part that the user sees, the GUI (Graphics User Interface), the menus, the buttons, the graphics - all of that. ClamWin/ClamAV is a regularly updated anti-virus program that gives users, free-of-charge, a wall of defense against the thousands of viruses out there.

ClamWin can be setup to automatically update the virus definitions on a daily or weekly basis, so you'll never be left with outdated definitions. It can also be automated to run full-system scans of your hard-drvies every night or whenever you'd like to schedule it.

ClamWin intergrates into the Context Menu of Windows Explorer, so the user can scan indivuidual files without having to open the full ClamWin program. ClamWin also has a add-in to Microsoft Outlook, which will automatically delete infected attachment files.

If you don't want to download and install the software, ClamWin offers a free online scanner that can check files on your computer from the internet. You can scan your files for free here.

You can download a copy of ClamWin Free Antivirus, or learn more about it visit there website.

Firefox Web Browser - Take Back the Net

2005-10-03T16:20:00.000-04:00

Firefox is the little open source browser that is taking the world by storm. I say little, not in regard to its popularity, they report over 90 million downloads, but in regard to its actual size. The installed Windows edition only takes up 52 MB of the users hard drive. It's also quick and light in the performance department. Firefox really does surf at blazing speeds (bad pun intended).

But FireFox isn't just about saving hard drive space or RAM. It's also about saving your data. Firefox is built with the user's security in mind. This awesome free browser keeps the users' computers safe from malicious spyware by not loading harmful ActiveX controls. Even CERT, a US government internet security watchdog group said not to use IE, but to seek alternative browsers whenever possible. Firefox is definitely ready for the job.

A comprehensive set of privacy tools keep your online activity your business. And all of the data that builds up as users surf (cookies, saved form data, histories, cached files) can be removed by clicking one button. And unlike with Internet Explorer, it is really gone when it says its gone.

Firefox also includes as powerful pop-up blocker that refuses any un-requested pop-up windows. Unless the user deactivates that feature, pop-ups should never be a problem.

Sometimes pop-ups are needed. That's why whenever Firefox blocks a popup window, an icon appears in the status bar. The user can click on this icon to display a list of sites that Firefox has stopped and then just unblock a popup window that they want.

Tabbed browsing has been around since the early days of Netscape and Opera, but for some reason, the world's "most popular" web browser has yet to utilize it. Firefox, on the other hand, makes good use of this awesome feature. Tabbed browsing allows multiple pages to be opened in the same windows, instead of having multiple windows open at the same time. It is possible, of course, to still open more than one Firefox window, but it is far from necessary.

Another time-saving feature of Firefox is the built-in Google bar. No need to download a separate adware-bloated search bar, Firefox's Google bar is built right in - ad free. Don't like Google? Adding your favorite search engine is a breeze through Firefox's power-packed Extensions library.

Extensions are small programs that add new functionality to Firefox. It can be anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature, such as mouse gestures or media player control. That's right you can play music or video right from your web browser with the FoxyTunes extension.

The great thing about extensions is that they allow Firefox to stay small and unbloated. Anyone who requires more features can download the appropriate extension. With basic knowledge of industry standards such as XML, CSS and JavaScript, anyone can even create his own extensions.

And boy have people been creative! There are Firefox extensions for everything you can think of. Want to keep up with the Terror Alert status of the United States? There's an extension that puts the color code right in your status bar. Want to keep up with the weather? A mini up-to-the-minute forecast can be placed at the bottom of your screen. Are you a follower of the world's most popular sport, Football? (or Soccer as we call it in the States) Then FootieFox is perfect for you. Current scores are put right on your screen. You can follow your favorite team, league, or scan through all of them with the click of a button. Extensions let you play games, get instant stock reports, change the way you download stuff, anything you can imagine!

Firefox's built-in Extension Manager for easy installation, removal and automatic updating of extensions. It also informs the user with an alert in case there is an update for any of your installed extensions. Thus, relieving users of the task of constantly checking for them manually.

Firefox is also the first browser to have the feature to keep itself up-to-date. "Smart Update" checks with Mozilla update site, and informs the user if there are any updates available for the browser. Smart Update also takes care of the installed extensions and themes by checking if there is an update available. Firefox can search for updates in the background and provide the user with an alert if there are any.

The good folks at Mozilla (makers of Firefox) have always recognized that the personal expression is important. Through the use of themes, users can completely change the look and feel of their own Firefox. A theme can change anything from just the toolbar buttons to the whole browser appearance. Themes can be downloaded and install themes with just a few simple clicks. You can make Firefox look like Netscape, or IE, or something completely different.

Pick up your copy of Firefox today and see how safe and fun surfing the web was meant to be.

If you'd like to help spread Firefox, visit this website.

OpenOffice.org - Free your Files

2005-10-03T16:17:00.000-04:00

I'd like to tell you guys about another awesome cross-platform, free, open source application that everyone should have. This program allows you to create word processing documents, create killer presentations, maintain huge databases of information, create spreadsheets, charts, and graphs to make all that data understandable, and even draw vector graphics for your charts. The program in question is OpenOffice.org.

Now I know, that looks like a website I just gave, but it's actually the URL of the website, the name of the program, and the title of the project. OpenOffice.org is a powerhouse of an office productivity program that can replace MS Office for most home users. Add in the popular Mozilla Suite and even MS Office Pro can be replaced. But, what is OpenOffice.org?

OOo (as it is called for short) is a program that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, vector graphics editor, database, html editor, math equation component, and presentation mode. Notice the wording of that sentence. It's not a suite that offers 6 programs; it's a program that offers 6 modes. It is a format called a works program, (which is where Microsoft Works got its name, but OOo is *much* better than MS Works!).

The four main modes of OOo are Writer (the word processor), Calc (the spreadsheet), Draw (vector graphics), and Impress (presentation). But with the one-program-different-modes format, a user can open any document that OOo supports from any window of OOo. It is a much more convenient way towork with multiple documents.

OOo is compatible with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, along with other industry standards, like WordPerfect, AportisDoc, PocketWord, and HTML. It can even export files to PDF with the click of a button! (A PDF export feature for Microsoft Office can be as much as $300.) And it can export graphics or presentations to Flash. However, the native format for OOo is a great way to save important data. It usually takes up less room that MS Office documents, and if anything happens where you can no longer open the file, the format is based on XML, which means the file will always be human readable (once unzipped) in any text editor. This means your data is safe.

Along with exporting to PDF, OpenOffice.org can also export presentations and drawings to the Macromedia Flash format (.swf). That means with this free program, users can create complete presentations using OOo Impress and then save them to Flash so anyone with a web-browser and the Flash plug-in can view them. No need to buy PowerPoint or download a special viewer just to watch a slide show. OOo does it right on your browser. This also means no need to buy the very expensive Macromedia MX Studio just to make simple Flash presentations.

Another assurance that your data is secure is the fact that the specs for the OOo native format are open. This means any programmer can write a filter or a program that will open OOo's files. So even if OOo were to disappear, you'd still be able to fully read your documents, format and all. Try that with some other office programs.

And, since OpenOffice.org is open source itself, there is no reason it should ever disappear. No company owns OOo, although it is currently hosted by Sun Microsystems. But the code is freely available for anyone to use, so OOo will always be available. And it will always be free.

OpenOffice.org is truly cross-platform. That means you can use it on Windows (95 - 2003), Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, and other operating systems. This is good news to anyone who has ever worked in a multi-platform environment. Some programs, like Microsoft Office, have editions of their software made for Macintosh, but it's not the same program, it is completely rewritten for Mac. This means that there is a learning curve when moving from, say, MS Office 97 on Windows to MS Office 98 on Mac. This allow means there are potential compatibility programs. This is not true for OOo. It is written in such a way to allow different "ports" to be made of the same program (the same source code) for each OS it supports. The features on the Windows port of OOo will be in the same place on the Mac port of OOo or the Linux port.... This can significantly lower the TOC for companies with multi-platform networks . It also means if you have a friend with OOo on Linux, and you need to do some work on a file you made with your OOo on Windows, you don't have to ask him were the spell-check is on his program.

For Mac OS X Users, I *strongly* suggest the NeoOffice port of OpenOffice.org. It is more Apple-native in form and function than the "official" X11 port. NeoOffice does not require any strange dependancies that make you dig out your OS X install disc. NeoOffice is a great office suite and no Mac should be without it. Just like OpenOffice.org on other operating systems, NeoOffice is free, open source, and fully functional.

OpenOffice.org is not some MS Office knock-off. It is a program with similar features to MS Office, but it also has features Office doesn't, like a vector graphics program, built in PDF/Flash export, and support of the OOo file format. It is compatible with MS Office, like WordPerfect, Lotus SmartSuite, and AppleWorks are. OOo is a great program that has a ton of features. And, of course, it is absolutely free. To get your copy of OpenOffice.org, or to learn more about it, visit the website: http://www.OpenOffice.org/.

OpenOffice.org has a number of sister projects that have spring up around it to find of fill in the blanks that OOo hasn't gotten to yet. Many of these projects work closely with OOo proper and are run by people actively involved in OOo. One of the parts of an office suite that makes it usable is the "extras" that come with it: the templates, the clip art, the macros. OpenOffice.org in its basic download form is a little light in these areas. So here are some links that you may find useful after you grab your copy of OpenOffice.org.

OOoExtras - Artwork, Templates, Tutorials, and more for OOo
OOoNewsletter - The Official OOo Newsletter
OOoAuthors - A group writing documentation for OOo
SchoolForge UK - Putting the power of open tools in education
OpenOffice Calc Tips - A blog with tips for OOo
OOoMacros - tons of macros for OOo
OOoForum - A Forum about OOo
OOo FAQ - FAQ about OOo
Tutorials for OOo - (These names are getting pretty self-explanitory)
8 Days a Week - A site for OOo users (Okay, that name is confusing)
The Open Clip Art Library - Public Domain graphics, (although it may take some work to get them to play nice with OOo)
GetOpenOffice.org - OpenOffice.org 2.0 and StarOffice 8.0 Training, Consulting, and Learning Materials for potential corporate OOo users
OOoDocs - Some older documentation of OOo
OOoKnowledgeBase - search for info on OOo
Taming OOo - Info on OOo and links to Books about OOo
Andrew Pitonyak's OOo Info
OpenOffice.org Training, Tips, and Ideas - searchable, step-by-step instructions for many OpenOffice.org 2.0 procedures
OpenOffice.org 2.0 user's guide - for sale on Amazon
OpenOffice.org Training & Support – Macros, Templates, Conversions

You can pick up your copy of OpenOffice.org from their website, where you can also learn more about this great application that is totally free!

Nvu - Free Cross-Platform HTML Web Authoring System

2005-10-03T16:08:00.000-04:00

Would you like to have your own website but you don't know a stylesheet from a hole in the ground? Do you want to build a home for yourself on the net, but you can't even spell HTML? Are you a power-programmer but you get sick of typing a ton of code every time you start a paragraph, and then closing them all again at the end? Do you want a simple way to build a professional polished looking website, without having to learn a computer language? If so, have I got the free product for you!

It's Nvu, the free, open source, complete, and powerful Web Authoring System, to the rescue!

Nvu, (pronounced "In-View"), makes managing a website a snap. Now anyone can create high-quality web pages and manage an active website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML, or a high-priced commercial WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver or FrontPage.

WYSIWYG, by the way, stands for What You See Is What You Get - meaning what is shown on the screen during the editing process is what will be seen when the page is put on the web - the user doesn't even have to see the HTML code, much less understand or write it. Nvu makes creating a web page as easy as writing something in a word processor.

Of course, if the user needs to see/edit the HTML, it's as simple as clicking a tab to switch to the code-view. In fact, multiple pages can be opened in the same window using the tabbed interface, similar to tabbed browsing on Opera, Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox. The similarity is no coincidence. Nvu is based on the Composer element included in the popular Mozilla open-source web suite. This common ancestry makes Nvu the perfect compliment to Firefox and Thunderbird. Unlike FF and TB, Nvu is not maintained by the same group as Mozilla, but just like FF and TB, Nvu has a lot to offer that the Mozilla Suite component does not. Things like integrated website management, better form and table support, better browser compatibility, and more.

The integrated website management is done through built-in FTP. This means once a user is done editing a page, he simply clicks a button, logs in to his web server , and posts the page. It is instantly put up in its new edited form. The FTP client is not limited to mere posting of pages, all the sites listed in the Publishing Settings can be browsed in a sidebar. The user can add as many sites as they wish. The sites can be viewed in a tree format, or in a one-directory-at-a-time view. Nvu contains tools to get rid of most of those annoying that some WYSIWYG editors fill the page with. Combined with the ability to call W3C's HTML validator from within Nvu users make valid, reliable HTML coded web pages that will work with all of today's most popular browsers.

Nvu includes full-featured support for forms, tables, and templates, as well as the indispensable Cascading Stylesheets. CaScadeS, the well-known CSS editor add-on to Mozilla Composer, is integrated into Nvu. Create stylesheets easily and manage the styles attached to your documents. Full-powered by Gecko, the engine that powers Mozilla, Netscape, and all the Mozilla derivatives, a user can see the style settings applied '"live" to the document he's editing.

One of the areas the Nvu has made some great improvements over Mozilla Composer is the selection of colors. Composer offered only a very basic color picker. Nvu has a new extended color picker, more conformant to what power users are used to. Users can set a color from its red blue and green components, or its hue saturation and brightness, or just point and click to pick the color off of the color-wheel.

In trying to maintain its word-processor-like form and function, Nvu allows users to customize the toolbars. Users can add, remove, and move buttons, and even add and remove complete toolbars. Nvu also includes an automated spellchecker that underlines all the words it doesn't recognize as they are being typed in to ensure correct spelling throughout the page. Images and tables can be dragged and resized just as easily using Nvu as they would be in a desktop publishing program.

Nvu is available at http://www.Nvu.com/. It's the best free WSYIWYG HTML editor I've found - and I've been looking. My whole job revolves around the Net: making and maintaining web pages, and Nvu is the best tool out there. I highly recommend it to anyone, novice or pro, who wants to get great looking pages up on the net without a lot of work.

The GIMP - Free Cross-Platform Image Editor

2005-10-03T14:56:00.000-04:00

I have found in my experience with Open Source programs that it is hard to talk about them for long without having to mention Linux. For those who might not know, Linux is an alternative operating system that primarily runs on servers but is recently making some serious headway onto desktops and laptops. Linux is similar, both in name and structure, to Unix, and is therefore fairly different "under the hood" than Windows. This means taking a program that was first written for Linux and bringing it to Windows can be a complex task. Such was the case with the GIMP.

The GIMP or just GIMP as it is sometimes called, is a powerful graphics editor that was first made for use on Linux systems. But as GIMP grew and became more user friendly and more powerful, it became clear that everyone should be able to use this free program.

So the developers of GIMP came up with an elegant solutionto a very complex problem. They created a package of files that would allow the GIMP to be ported to Windows with relative ease. They called this package the GIMP Tool Kit or GTK.

It turns out that this library of files also made the transition from Linux to Windows easier for several other programs. So, the name has been altered to the GTK+, since it works for GIMP "plus" other programs. Just to clarify, the programs that use the GTK+ require the GTK+ be installed on Windows or they will not work. Fortunately, installing the GTK+ is as simple as installing any basic program. You can pick up the GTK+, (and the latest version of GIMP for Windows) here.

The source of the ugly sounding name gets pretty complicated. GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. And GNU stands for Gnu's Not Unix. Unix is an operating system that runs mostly on servers. Open source programs are *not* known for their pretty sounding, simple names. I mean, come on, "gimp" is a slang word for someone with a disability! Since open source stuff is free, they have very little marketing budgets, so their names usually suck.

Contrary to what it's unfortunate name may suggest, the GIMP has a ton of abilities. It a great program for everything from a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, and much more. GIMP is expandable and extensible. It can be enhanced with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. And its advanced scripting interface lets everything from the simplest task to complex image editing procedures to be easily done by command line.

I'd like to break down just a few of the many features of the GIMP.

GIMP includes a full suite of painting tools including brushes, pencils, airbrush, clone, and support for custom brushes and patterns. It offers sub-pixel sampling for all paint tools for high quality anti-aliasing. It offers an extremely powerful gradient editor and blend tool.

The image size, number of images, and number of remembered undos and redos are limited only by available disk space.

GIMP offers full alpha channel support, controls for layers and channels, editable text layers, transformation tools including rotate, scale, shear and flip. GIMP can make just about any kind of graphics file format there is. Supported formats include: bmp, gif, jpeg, pdf, png, ps, psd, svg, tiff, tga, xpm, and so many others I just got tired of typing. The GIMP has a number of selection tools including rectangle, ellipse, free, fuzzy and intelligent. And it has an advanced path tool doing bezier and polygonal selections, so its easy to draw straight lines, rectangles, or even twisty curves.

The GIMP is massively extensible. It has over 100 readily-available plug-ins which allow for the easy addition of new file formats and new effect filters. And the number of available brushes, gradients, and other add-ons make the GIMP extremely customizable. Even most of the popular Adobe Photoshop brushes and add-ons also work with GIMP, (see the documentation for more details).

For users who need Photoshop quality without Adobe prices, the GIMP is hard to beat. That's not to say it is perfect. There are a few drawbacks to going with GIMP. It doesn't have nearly the documentation (books) or education (classes) available that Photoshop has.

Another is its clumsy use of windowing. Unlike Photoshop - and most other programs on Windows - the program isn't contained inside of one big "nesting" window with other little windows inside. It is simply a collection of any number of windows open at one time. It's easy to loose toolbars and even graphics by simply putting a window or two over them. That does take some getting used to. And - like Photoshop - its shear number of options and depth of control can be overwhelming to simple users who just want to paint a simple picture.

With free unlimited upgrades and community-based support, over the life of the user, thousands of dollars could be saved. But, even without that, it is just about as powerful as Photoshop, and has much more flexibility.

GIMPShop, however, takes care of the few problems the GIMP has. GIMPShop standardizes the menu structure of GIMP to the Photoshop language. Therefore, the vast amount of documentation that exists for Photoshop can be better utlized for GIMP. And, on the Windows port of GIMPShop, the Deweirdifier Plugin is used, making it all one window, like Photoshop, (and just about every other Windows program on Earth!)

Anyone at all who is interested in the world of image editing owes it to themselves to try the GIMP or GIMPShop. You'll be glad ya did!

What is GIMPShop?

2005-10-03T14:44:00.000-04:00

(view more screenshots)

GIMPShop is a free Open Source image editor that is similar to the popular Adobe Photoshop. Specifically GIMPShop is a version of the GIMP that has been edited to be more user-friendly for Photoshop users.

GIMPShop was created by Attack of the Show's Scott Moschella. The menu structure and terminology are adapted to to look and feel more like Photoshop, and other adjustments were made to make the GIMP more usable. In the Windows version, the Deweirdifyer Plugin has been used to place all of the various windows into one nesting window, so it will act more like a single program that multiple little programs.. Also the menu structure and terminology are adapted to to look and feel more like Photoshop.

GIMPShop was orginally developed for Mac OS X, but has been ported to Windows, Linux, and Solaris.

For more information - check out GIMPShop on Wikipedia.

GIMPShop Downloads:
For Windows 98 +
For Linux (RPM)
For Solaris
For Mac OS X
Source Code

Windows Screenshot

2005-10-02T13:20:00.000-04:00

Here's a screenshot of me creating the banner for this site using GIMPShop on Windows XP

Mac OS X Screenshot

2005-10-02T13:18:00.000-04:00

Here's a screenshot of GIMPShop running on Mac OS X

Update on GIMPShop dot Net um, Update

2005-10-02T11:27:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to move my entire website - GIMPShop dot Net - over to my blog. It's a very fast, easy, and cheap (read: free) way to build, host, and maintan a website. I'll still be using other places to host my pictures, and such, but the bulk of the site will be rebuilt here.

Hey, if a blog is good enough for Scott Moschella, and it's good enough for GIMPShop for Windows - then it is good enough for me.

Details to follow

Blogger for Word

2005-09-25T15:04:00.000-04:00

Now Blogger for Word is a neat tool. I can blog without being online. I can blog offline and not have to copy and paste. I can even preview my blog offline before I post it. All I do is open MS Word, pound out a few lines, preview my post, spell-check it, save it, and post it. Not bad for free. Well, the tool is free, Microsoft Office is expensive, …, if you pay for it…, which you should,…, stealing is wrong.

Now, if it only worked for OpenOffice.org’s Writer….

GIMPShop dot Net Overhaul...

2005-09-25T14:12:00.000-04:00

As seems to be the trend of late, my site - GIMPShop dot Ne t will be undergoing a transformation in the next couple of weeks. Since this is a one-man outfit, and I have a full time job outside of this website, it may take me a little longer than it should, and the end result may not look too different than the current site, but it will be more consitant and easier for me to maintain. Look for it to be up by the second week of October - or the end of the day, depending on how motivated I am today. 8^)

Meanwhile, here are some cool GIMPish links I've been told about. They will be added to the new site, but I'll list them here for now (and as long as Blogger stays online.) Enjoy!

The GIMP Users Group - GIMPShop users should expect a few original GIMPers hating on ya, but most folks are nice. Also be warned that the tutorials and whatnot are for the original GIMP, so their menu structure will vary.

Free Stuff for GIMP - It's stuff for GIMP and it's free!

A Guide for how to make GIMP portable - it's for Windows only, and AFAIK untested with GIMPShop. Let me know how things work out for you if you try it.

GIMPTalk - a place to talk about GIMP.

Enjoy the links! And Happy GIMPShopping!

PlasticBugs gets a new look

2005-09-23T10:17:00.000-04:00

Scott Moschella, (the creator of GIMPShop), has updated the look of his blog, PlasticBugs. His blog is also the Home of the Original GIMPShop. He even has a new section now devoted to the Photoshop-like GIMP hack.

Looks great, Scott! Keep up the great work!