fresh off the bandwagon update

OK OK I heard you, you want an update cause my last rendering was lame. Come on, you know it takes time to learn something and get good at it. This is the big problem with art, it is manual labor, especially if you want 2 things, originality and quality. So it is with Sketchup, you just can't get up to speed by looking at it or watching someone else do it. All those those options to choose from and concepts to learn (by doing!).

I watched a few video tutorials and tweaked a few settings and rendered again. Here's a screenshot just for you.

I re-imported my painting, this time as a texture, added some clarity and reflection to the glass. I don't understand this glass thing yet. The rendering took a couple of minutes. I'd say it's not bad to start. I utilized both cores of my Centrino CPU. This is not a complex picture, there are not a lot of geometry here. I have done ray-tracing on a 486 CPU computer, it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r for a drawing as simple as this. So a reasonably fast multi-core processor, plus as much RAM as the PC can handle and a descent videocard and "I see you have constructed a new light saber, your skills are complete." Still you must face Vader. So take the red pill to know the truth, dance on the yellow brick road shouting "Party Rock!", ''we gonna fly like a penguin in the sea.....fly fly fly like a penguin.....it's a Linux thing. The cool thing is when you can model odd intricate shapes and develop scenes. We are progressing albeit slowly.

That's it for now gotta get some work done and don't forget Free Open Source Software (FOSS) can be your strong ally in your computer life. As for Google's Sketchup, the free version makes me want to progress and get the pro version. And a big shoutout to Kerkythea for being whizz-bang cool and simple for this fool to use.

open to open source

The Black history mystery continues to unfold (so brace yourself), but we must also be about the things you visit here for, Open Source and Linux. I have been busy busy helping friends do practical things. That's rebuilding a bathroom and all. But another friend was locked out of her trial version of Microsoft Office (timed out). She couldn't even get to her schoolwork on her laptop. I whipped out my "Open Disc" DVD and installed LibreOffice onto her MS Vista system. It didn't work. This was because it required a JRE (Java Runtime Environment). I downloaded and installed a JRE from the net, fired up LibreOffice and did the penguin dance. LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice, same but different, as they say. Gotta love Open Source!

Also I have had the limitations from my old laptop put to rest. I am now running Ubuntu 11.10 with Gnome Shell desktop in 4gig of RAM. And have installed Wine because MS XP as a virtual machine was too easily mangled. To my surprise Wine is working fine. I have installed Google's Sketchup the free version. Sketchup is by far the easiest to use 3D program anywhere. Easy to navigate, easy to construct stuff and fun, especially after the bandwagon music stops playing. Want to see?

 This is the Sketchup desktop and my second construction. I drew each board, arranged them together, drew, pushed and pulled boxes to make the room. Then imported some furniture from the Google 3D Warehouse. The painting is one of my own imported in. I set in some shadows and installed a program called Kertythea which does photo realistic rendering as shown below.

Now this shot was done without tweaking any values just to see if I could get something out of it. Hey, what happened to my painting? Yeah I am still learning. Now there are feature-trimmed free versions of Sketchup and Kertythea, but they have enough power to bring out drooling in you. I am not knocking any Linux graphics app but Sketchup is the better BOMB! Though it doesn't run natively on Linux systems, with Wine and enough RAM it works very nicely, Kertythea also. Oh yeah, Wine is a Linux program, a Microsoft Windows compatibility layer that allows (some) Windows compatible applications to run within a Linux environment. It is not flawless for all Windows apps.

As for my kind of art, the decor/architectural thing is kind of my taste. Art that people can live with. Computer graphics from CAD and photo-realistic to digital painting is a big world. Tools man, it's all the tools. If you are doing the work, it's all about the tools. Then it's about the file formats. The tools are the same on the free Open Source applications as the commercial professional applications. The package the tools come in is the diff, plus tax, title, license, support, stigma, fanbase and purchase receipt, LOL. Anyway, my suggestion is learn all you can on the free Open Source stuff, save the dough and if you have to go pro, spend the dough!

black history month commercials

Actually February's first two weeks are all about Valentine's day, of course there are little segments about this black person and that. Put what we already know on the TV and that will keep the not natives happy. After the love fest is over the last two weeks try to make up giving us lots of MLK and Rosa Parks spots. You have to accept the fact that the ones who run the networks only know and acknowledge so much. The breath and depth of Black History would be controversial even for educational TV. Poor Tavis Smiley after all these years still is not aired in a real prime time spot. That man is as brilliant as they come and his guest and the way he ferrets the dialog is far and away better quality than any popular news talk show I've seen. We are still waiting on Oprah, but I don't and won't have cable. So, of the airwave broadcast channels on my free TV owned by non-blacks, nothing new, every year.

I will remember this when St. Patrick's day comes and say sorry, green or no green I am not Irish. And don't you dare wear brown/black or red/black/green on MLK day, blackface or claim you got "soul" too or call me brother. There are parts of my history that still are a festering blister eating at my soul. Why is the pain passed on from generation to generation but the cause of the pain ignored. Please feel guilty on my behalf but don't muster up solutions to try to make me educationally or economically equal. The life we all live in this country is built upon lies, if we flinch the wrong way it all crumbles. The main problem is identity ie the Willy Lynch Letter. History, Black History was cut off by reason of the enslavement and perpetuated by gov policy and public sentiment. Generations following the slave era were taught the waning reasonings till this day. They enjoy the aftermaths and shrug the shoulders at the notion of involvement. Strange American thinking, we take societal action but deny personal involvement. We are guilty but I myself am innocent. This is normal thinking in America, we did this as kids. Yeah, we did this but I am not guilty.

Blacks here are not all African people, though many of us were taken from the continent by that name. We had specific nations as our source and evidence points of migrations and dispersions because of famines, persecutions, political captivities resulting in colonies and settlements, and enslavements. The who's who of nations of origins is hidden in plain sight. Lie upon lie has augmented history and this augmented history is taught to each generation. When history is researched, it is with the lies in view. It is so hard to disprove what you've been taught. One lie dispelled calls to question the other things surrounding that lie. Most would not even bother, but eventually when confronted, the same rage as others. It is like grieving, you have to work through the process, no one escapes the process.

We have one book that won't go away easy, the Bible, the Holy Bible. Much has been done to explain it away, even whole nations stealing the ID of the people who are the subject of it. It is a good thing the thieves and the real subjects of the the Bible are identified in the Bible. People don't read the Bible. They get their understanding from learned men who were taught lies and are trapped by their own sincerity. They are placed in authority and trusted for their speaking. The hearing public never questions them, never reads the book for themselves. I was taught by learned men,  commentaries, got sick of all the explanations and expoundings, am reading the bible myself. There are no Christians in the bible, Christian as a way of worship and religion didn't happen till after 325 AD at the non-Hebrew and non-Christian Roman Emperor Constantine's meddling. This was not a good thing. All the Bible people of the faith of Abraham/Issac/Jacob (Israel) were/are Hebrews. Some gentiles were added in the New Testament time via the gospel of Christ. Rome squashed Jerusalem in 70AD, killed, enslaved and scattered the Hebrews. From 70AD till 325AD Rome orchestrated a takeover of the Hebrew faith and invented Christianity. The belief was changed to merge the faith in Christ with the pagan beliefs and prolong the Roman Empire (till this day!).

The truth is in there, but every year the Bible is re-translated and re-interpreted and re-printed. It is so called made easy to understand, made palatable to English speakers and Western thinking. Every year words, verses, entire passages are changed or removed. I have friends who insist that God can preserve his word and has done so throughout the ages, as if God's adversaries aren't able to operate a word processor and printer without God's say so and change what is printed then handed to you. The Jewish scribes have done this very thing during/after the Babylonian captivity when hand written docs were done.  Plus words themselves mean one thing to the originating Hebrew audience and another to todays varied readers. Even biblical dictionaries which are not "God's Word" are subject to change and have changed. If definitions change, then your understanding changes also. Christians are far too superstitious concerning physical reality by trusting in faith and "God" where due diligence in study is the more appropriate tool.

We are talking Black History, am I saying that Black History and Biblical History coincide? It is the same history, especially if you link the whole story and prophecies together and not pick out a few incidents that might relate to glory seeking national pride. The present state of the descendants of the Biblical children of Israel is not one to boast in at all. There is no power or glory, you can not disobey God and yet bare God's glory by reason of a name or an assumed history, or occupy a Biblically promised land area, this is not Indiana Jones. We have all been taught to be Christians of some sort. There are no Christians in the Bible. Who are the people of the Bible? Who are their descendants? What are the covenants written to them and for them? How are the gentiles related to them, added to them? When gentiles are added to the believers are they Christians (as Rome has called us since Biblical times) or Israel as God has called his people since Jacob?

Out from Christianity has come confusion and uncertainty. If Christianity identifies the true Hebrews for whom the promises and covenants are written for according to the Bible, things will start to straighten out at Christianity's demise. But the gentile believers in Christ will have to realize they are grafted into Israel, not spiritual Israel, but a real actual people of God whom God called Israel.
You must ID the real Israel, they are scattered throughout the world today. They have forgotten their history and heritage, language, it's been bred out of them. This also is in the Bible. Also in the Bible is the restoration of the people Israel and then the restoration of the nation in the land by the same name. If all the elements of this story are overladed onto the present reality, you can see why the world is in chaos.

Open Sourced Black History Month

We take a break in the normal push to acknowledge and comment on the thing known as Black History Month. My bone to pick is when other cultures in this conglomerate of immigrants called the US display their heritage, there is a recall of ancient times and the unbroken trail to get here. When US Black folks do the same we only talk of the boat that brought us and what we did since we got here. There are no ancient times, but then again we weren't immigrants either. Much has happened to wipe the memory of our past from our knowledge banks, common conversation and replace them with disconnected snippets of truth, half-truths and out right lies. At first the idea was to make us slaves, then subservient citizens, then reluctantly allow us to blend in till we don't care anymore. I know, I have a blended family, it is a good deterrent from seeking the truth.

Truth seeking is a hard game, names and times change so often it is easy to get confused.  Academic ego poisoning has turned fact researchers into racist dogs. Imagine discarding truth because it doesn't support what you arrogantly and erroneously believe. They find it more glorious to say we invented it rather than we learned from others and developed it further.

Fact finding takes a thousand eyes from many sources. Common threads abound and what was recorded in one country is also recorded in a different way in other involved countries. Sometimes it a cultural link, a language, a practice, or an event, a series of events. For me it is backward questions. How did we get to the boat, the field from where I was captured? What was I doing there? Where was I before that? Was I indigenous or migrant? Were we fleeing war, persecution, drought, on trade routes? Were we carrying products or were we the products? Who were we in every exchange and name change? What did we encounter along the way and what did we leave behind when we moved on? What is the span of time these things took place? Can a people still be considered a people after such a long span of time? We are talking 2000 years and multiple generations, blending with other peoples, us and others forgetting who we were/are.

It started with the very thing I was supposed to be ashamed of, my skin, and a picture from the Bible. Moses put his hand into his bosom, pulled it out and it was leprously chocolate brown. No, it was already brown and turned leprous, as white as snow. I also found the famous De Vinci and Michaelangelo competed for a commission to paint Roman (white) faces on religious artwork (the Renaissance). No animosity toward anyone today, we've all been lied to. Many believe the lies, live out the lies, regard the lies as truth. No need to check it out, right!? And when the truth is revealed, there is rage, the change is monumental and how dare you challenge what we all have accepted as true, you are lying and cursed and deserve to be killed, blasphemy, blasphemy!! The white guys in the Bible were really brown guys!? I could be a Hebrew, the pieces seem to fit. The world history and biblical prophecies concerning the descendants of the Children of Israel seem to fit. It is a prophecy that we would be enslaved, forget and be forgotten and our ID would be assumed by others.

Yeah, we invented the oil jiggy, the hair curler upper and the electric traffic cop.

please, overcome your FOSS asumptions

What's driving the home grown and grass-root digital arts effort. You'd think it's the same thing that's driving the professional digital art world, after all that is the standard, right. Well yes and no. Yes, the art world as we know it is entrenched, most get schooled for jobs down the road and the notion of art preservation has paved the way to museum walls. On the other side of the coin is portable art, disposable art, art on every object bought and sold by humans to humans. Well............ it turns out that, and we are talking software here, that Free Open Source Software (FOSS) can do the same things that commercial software can do.

Poor Johnny can't draw on his PC because his Photoshop trial version time limit has been reached. Purchasing power has not been bestowed upon him. Maybe he can get another trial version or get a crack (oooh Johnny?) to turn his Photoshop clock back. Meanwhile, his friend and friendly fire rival neighbor has been drawing steady for months, no sweat, with Open Source Software. Now multiply this incident by your classroom of art hungry digital art students. The waiting for resources vs the getting down to draw (with the same tools) today. GIMP today, Photoshop tomorrow or when ever. I am tell'n ya, save the Photoshop for advanced work towards the professional if ya want to go that way.

Meanwhile in a garage across the street from the well established but restricted budget school of sport and ARTS cuts, a dozen art frenzied kids are slinging pixels. Older PCs, XP and Linux powered with Open Source softwares in a low budget operation. That's what I see anyway.

I have a more powerful laptop as I told you all, it is running Ubuntu Linux 11.10. I don't care for the Unity desktop and installed the Gnome Shell and I love it. Having more resources I tried to install XP as a virtual machine. It worked at first, then got messy and I couldn't recover. Instead I have installed Wine, billed as not an Windows emulator, allows you to run some Windows applications in Linux. I've tried this on my old laptop, it didn't work well at all. Now with better processor, more memory, Wine works really well, so far (I'm cautious). I don't want to run every free art app I can find, they don't all work in Wine and who's got that much time or bandwidth. You can only get good at or find useful just so much. The big Windows app I wanted was Google's SketchUp. There is a free version and a feature rich paid version. You can find open source software that does similar but Google's SketchUp is established, has resources, pre-built models and lots of fans. Sketchup works well in Wine, but I am guessing you got to have enough RAM memory and a descent processor. SketchUp is well explained, easy to learn and can be as advanced as any professional CAD system. I would have made SketchUp a Java app like SweetHome3D. SweetHome3D is a Java app that runs on any PC with Java. You draw a floorplan and it draws the walls in 3D, then you can put 3D furniture in there.

So art on the PC can be doodles, paintings or CAD, 2D, 3D and it's all about the tools, not how the tools are packaged. It can be done in Free Open Source Software at low to no cost, nuff said.

why fi, when you can face to face

I was a teenage artist, doing my thing and looking for an avenue. I wasn't an "art student" or under tutorship in some program. Most of my artist pains were from being alone. None of my friends were into drawing, it was Motown and girls. One day at school I went into the "other" student lounge during lunchtime. A group of guys were huddled around a table and butchering some Motown tunes, street corner crooning style. Then they hit on a tune just right and the harmony shook the room. Immediately the other kids gathered around the table, ears wide open. It was sweet, live, impromptu. Then the crowd went back to their places, they missed the interesting part. The guys then whipped out their specialties, a couple of poets, a couple drew black super hero comic book characters, one drew custom cars, a couple were into fantasy football via those plastic men on buzz boards. I brought out my sketchpad and showed my house drawings. I got oohs and aahs and critique and encouragement right then and there. I didn't even have to ask can I join, I was in. Couldn't sing, but I was in. Thus I took my talents as far as I could in that time frame, challenging my self to have something new and better to show the group. Then my family moved to a different part of the city. The new school had no such group to hangout with. It was back to lonely artist pain.

In college I was awash with stories of Silicon Valley, the tech culture. Folks  there literally worked out of their garages. Tech people hung out together to trade stories, theories, to boast-n-brag, to find collaborators, make deals, etc. Today folks don't have confidence in the possible idea, or trust in other like minded persons. Other persons are adversaries, competitors, conspirators. To work with others today you need a prenuptial and a stack of disclaimers.

The cellphone is a wonderful connection device, but it is a stall, a virtual stall. Like being in a cubical, toilet, elevator, or closet, you are virtually private. There should be a law never look at a person on the phone. How many people live on their cells? Maybe I should open a "no why-fi zone" restaurant, in fact no media in it. Hey, rno's got a new place where people actually talk to each other face to face. Woe, do people do that any more? That's gotta hurt to watch eyes, moving lips and body language all at the same time. Dag, that's like being married, that's too close. You think I am funny? My wife no longer yells up the stairs after me, she calls me on my cell.

Hanging out is an art. Finding like minded souls is a bliss. They are your toughest critics and your strongest encouragement to get your art done and out there. This is the grass-roots that makes it all go.

The difference is where you are standing

Stand in the middle of a field and dream a little. Then walk to the edge, take the whole field into view. The change in perspective should be profound. Using the arts to revive a town should not be based solely on the success of another city but also on the potential of the town you're in. This is because the players, the landscape and the times are different. It is not about bringing a franchise in called artist revival. There needs to be serious grunt work. Some give up practicing the arts in order to support the arts. There is a lot to happen behind the scenes to make art visible. Turning art from school projects and pastimes into businesses or any kind of economic engine takes numbers of art interested and art involved persons.

When I was in college there were a number of businesses that sprang up on campus. An old carriage house turned into a swanky pizza and wine restaurant, a shop that sold posters and dorm room decor. My favorite was a hole in the wall restaurant that had steamed brown rice-n-veggies, bean soups and open-faced sandwiches. There were coffee shops and book shops. I don't believe any of them were franchises. They had uniqueness, were not scripted, polished, canned, homogenized and sanitized.

We have generations that don't hangout like in the past. Online global networking gives the illusion of being connected to anybody and everybody, but when we only meet via this media all the safety conventions and cultural seasonings of face to face are lost. We must recover local networking and reach out from there. We have abandoned union halls, veteran halls and cultural center halls all over town. Declining numbers of old folk still go to these places but the young folk don't identify with cultural/race the same way their elders do. If you don't locally gather at a church, school or a rec center, life is isolated. Work is not a social activity, not like in the past.

We have a computer user's group in town, mostly older folk. Young folk aren't interested in computers the same way. There has to be some faddish thing for young folks to get excited. They are hooked on the games not the hardware, playing around not doing something practical. I bet you a smart phone group would be a hit, but I also bet you couldn't get young folks into one room for a formal organized club meeting.

Art is still a hands-on activity, handling the physical world and making the world a more livable place. Art can be simple or complex, performed by a young person or an older person. Talent aside, art is a great agent of therapeutic results and academic possibilities. Art still has a shape-shifting definition in both the object itself and the beholder. Art is faddish and timeless at the same time. Art slips into places where social, political, religious and economic stubbornness have all but closed the door to what is still good about us that we care to share with each other. Art is still locally produced and shared. Home grown.

pretty carp to being outstanding in your field

If Mac users are hungry whales, MS users veracious sharks (duh duh, duh duh...), then Linux users in mass are drooling penguins. I try to herd them past the Koi tanks, "For Show Only, Not for Lunch" I say.  They drooled so bad everyone was slipping-n-sliding-n-falling. Hard to get predators to read the liner notes, Koi are fresh water fish you salty dogs. Koi are a cultured lot, the cream of the Carp, not a glorified Guppy. Besides I think predator taste buds are in their stomachs, they don't even chew their food. Slow down, saver the flavor!..........and dibs on that.

What has this to do with art, digital and otherwise. Here in my post-lost of industrial base town. We are trying to revive via the help of local artist. We have discovered that competition for recognition and rewards and resources have reduced artist to individual feeding frenzy crazed I am somebody worthy to be paid well and dang near worshiped maniacs.

Let me make it plain. Town or neighborhood recovery requires grass-roots effort. The grass on top that is visible to all needs cut/trimmed regularly. This controls the grass and the WEEDS. The roots that are invisible (underneath) are what remains and sustains. Artist are used in recovery work because they have a work-flow that is integrated into their lives. Often their work needs and living needs are the same needs (work in the home). This creates a tension which fuels local economy, social networks, community concerns and resolutions, cultural identity or character of the community, etc.

To start, artists need to communicate, collaborate, establish the community, grow commerce, then compete. Competition is about friendly fire not destroy all comers. Why because some artists are supremely gifted and some not. Then some artist are well received and some less. If you create a healthy environment, all the milk is enjoyed, the froth, the cream, the milk, the milk mustache supports the napkin industry, the milk residue fuels the dish detergent industry, yogurt and cheese and milk flavoring, latte and lactate free. Besides the industry of art itself, artist possess a work ethic. Somehow if a town languishes too long, the work ethic drains away. Easier to steal from your neighbor than work for your own sinks into many towns.

Jobs are scarce near where I live, I keep my chin up while I look for work by doing art projects. Keeping busy wither getting paid or not helps keep the work ethic alive. I get up, get busy, plan, work at it, finish it. I joined with other artist doing the same thing. We struggle with where we are going with this. We hope for other artist joining in to become aware of a community of necessity, establishing the roots on the bottom while cultivating the grass on top. Once the grass is growing strong, weeds can be tolerated and managed. Before then weeds overwhelm, drain the nutrients and look like hell. Please note, there are not enough weeds to make bio-fuel and challenge the oil industry. If heavy industry comes, OK, if not we will roll with what we have and be successful with that.

dead trophy fish or koi

How do you art? I have my ways. As much as I want to draw on a computer the same as I would on paper, that is not my pattern. Being a draftsman for years does something to you. I am used to drawing with instruments, using templates, keeping a library of reusable parts and symbols and recycling drawings. I usually don't do sketches on the computer because it's not reflex enough, fluid enough. Pen and paper is so.........natural. When I come to the computer I am fitting together pieces of ideas, tweaking, editing, altering, arranging and formatting. So yes, scanning is a big part of what I do. I will draw something, scan it, save it for later. When I review the scans I find a use for the scan.

I used to get guilty over my process till I watched someone do a block print from beginning to end. Then I saw them ink up in other colors, combine the block with other blocks, even alter the block. My computer is similar to that block, I can print over and over the same file or make a new altered file from the old file, saving both the old and the new, then reuse them, combine them. I say the process is my art, the outcome is your art (that is the part I show you).

Now let's flip the fillet from man eating fish to show fish (like koi). You know many cities try to use artist to revive and recover old neighborhoods. This works fine if the artists are a community. They rent spaces to artist for studios and living that need remodeling, many times spaces that other people would turn their noses up at. The art of making space livable and living there is fraught with legal wrangling and physical alterations. This is all weathered if the artists are a community and not a band of squatter gypsies. The difference is the level of giveback to the larger community.

Artist need to acknowledge themselves, then each other and become economic partners instead of competitors. You need places to hangout, a newsletter (grass roots thing), resale shops, galleries, art services, etc., etc., etc. Above all independent thinking must make space for group concerns. It's not just you, it's your neighbor too. We fight for credit, glory, power, money, all to get ourselves elevated at the expense of other community orgs in the same hood. Wrestling for control, political advantage, a name for ourselves and to have the prominent ego might be fine down the road, but you don't want to start off like that. Artists work hard at their arts, but they must be unencumbered from the pace of competitive madness. It doesn't take that much to live. This is why artist can recover a community where others can not. Recover the community first, fight for economic advantage when you have a community that can deal with it later.

fish heads and fish tales

The concept of what is art is vague to many. Those in the various arts might have general assumptions about what others call art, but ask them about their own art workings. Ah, there's specific and personal involvement.

I was talking to a friend at a gathering, she introduced me as an artist to her friend. The friend exercising her concept of art and of artist, immediately invited me to do a portrait of her and her family. I almost blurted out "Go buy a camera!." Calmly I explained, I do digitally manipulated drawings of patterns for use in interior design and decor. I saw the frustration on her face so I recanted and said 'I do abstracts.' The conversation was over, she was sure she understood and frustration was now on my face.

So if you are an artist, forget the business card. Print up some post cards with a sample of your work on them. There will then be no misunderstanding. Show-n-tell works for kids and especially adults. One picture = 1000 words, two pictures will blow them away!

Admiration and envy plagued me for years. I let ones I admire influence my work. If I envy them I steal from them, wanting to be them, do their work like them. So, I don't intensely study another's work. Overtime I become familiar by glancing here and there, gleaning and understanding. I figure out what my own interest are and what my own directions are.

The biggest thing is to review my own history of sketches. I took all my sketchbooks and scanned them into my computer, a little each night. Then I used Picassa or Fotoxx or another photo management software to review. It's like your life flashing before your eyes, what insight! There is a nature of your own work that is your work, a character. You might not like it, but if you understand it, embrace it, you can then adjust it, improve it or just use it. It is not going to go away, it's you. Tell yourself, 'It's not a flaw, it's a feature! Then say 'Others don't see this much of me.' You tell others what you want to tell them. If then they want more they will have to know you personally or see a retrospect of all your works.

caviar in the sack lunch

I love the comedy routine where the guy pulls a gourmet dining spread including a lit candelabra out of his gym bag to impress a chick. My vision of a roving artist is similar. There is a physical trade off. My graphics laptop is hefty, wide and along with it's power adapter fits in a large laptop bag. Then I put my graphics tablet, CD case, tool kit in a smaller bag. This is fast to set up and use but transporting it all is giving me muscles. I can get an hour of battery life or unplugged drawing done if I don't use the CD drive too much and off-line. Newer stuff is built to better specs and longer battery life. The pro photographers carry battery packs for potable lighting. Something similar for extended remote laptop usage would be wonderful.

Portability is of prime importance along with size of screen, power to get work done efficiently and battery life. Doing art in the studio is one thing, on the road, at the park is another. I envy the painter sitting beside the river, folding stool, easel, small canvas, pallet, casual moves, totally distracted by his work at hand.

Things you use have to fit. My standard mouse is too big, my daughter's laptop mouse is bug sized. My fingers had to adjust a lot to use it. Then I stumbled upon the iHome Laptop mice. They have a middle size, just right. I have a Wacom Graphire 2, ancient but it works well. Using the pen takes getting use to. I was a CAD drafter for years, using a mouse is normal for me.

Habits and patterns, the laptop can allow you to bend the rules. I move from house studio to the art center. Working in the car is space awkward, working in a waiting room is people awkward. If the weather is nice our city has a covered landing next to the river. It has picnic tables and is not occupied between events. Oh to quite my thoughts for two hours, no folks to attend to, no urgencies, no ego trying to get noticed. I have the isolation at home, to have it in the open air, that takes some personal adjusting for me. I spend a lot of time dodging, juggling and managing situations and people. It takes a while to settle down and do art. You have to slow the flow of differing influences. It is cool to do all kinds of stuff but starting and finishing means giving up the wealth of many for the poverty of one idea. I was overdosed on all the colors, then I narrowed my pallet, I immediately knew which one to choose.

100 beady eyes on a cracker, Not!

Ok, we already settled that no matter which Linux live-cd/dvd for artist you use, as long as the applications you want are on it, you will be happy. Just have enough RAM on your system to do them justice, because graphics take RAM.

Using a jump or flash drive installation is awkward if your PC can't boot from an external USB drive. If you install these Linux for artist you might have a time installing new software or finding what you want in supported but older software repositories.

Getting past the above cautions results in your head cocking back and a loud raunchy laughter erupting from deep within. 'Hey, you're here, where's your equipment?' You whip out your disc, slide it in, boot, sit down, draw, save to flash, logout, eject, grab disc and run down to your car so you won't embarrass your self..........'LOL!' You forgot to roll up the windows.

PureDyne is a DVD, has a little of everything, is my favorite.

Dyne:Bolic 3 Beta is a CD and is half the distro that PureDyne is, size wise.

gnuArtist also is a DVD with a lot and also comes in a 'Lite" CD version.

Puppy PAW or Photo Artist Workshop is cool but the Linux itself is different. It is older and might be hard to find now.

Artist-X is a DVD's worth of artist apps.

Ubuntu Studio is a DVD's full of stuff. I don't have this one.

openArtist is also a DVD. I'm downloading this one right now.

Well get out your net search and checkout the home-pages and the specs. They are very similar to each other. Download and burn-it, then you too can put a complete art studio in the palm of your hand.

the caveat of caviar

OK, now there's a drawback to using any of the made for artist live-CDs. You use it, you love it, you want to install it, then it hits you. Remember I told you to get off the update track and in fact to get offline? Those were made from the latest distros at the time, but because they often are a special rendition of an original or were made for the specific purpose they are not update-able now.

Some artist distros were made with scrips and tweaks on top of a distro version that is no longer supported. I have a box of live-CDs of various distros, everyone still usable but obsolete because they are no longer supported.

There is a solution to this delima. If you must install one of these artist distros, do it as a virtual machine, dual boot alongside of your regular updateable Linux. Dual-boot alongside of MS Windows or dedicate your PC as an artist tool and not be concern with changes, additions and updates OR use the live-CD as is and be happy.

The portable dilemma can be overcome one more way. Install a regular normal Linux of your choice on a huge honking but portable USB drive, add the apps you want. This is probably the best long run solution. It cost more than a couple of USB flash drive sticks, but the payback is huge honking also.

The live-CD offer having all the artist apps in one place, already to use. In the gallery, we have some older machines, no internet yet, no network yet. I know many folks who don't have DSL or cable so downloading is not happening. You can buy distro discs on line and be done.

Picture this, laptop, USB drive, graphics tablet and a extended power battery pack. You probably need an airport carry-on bag with wheels and a handle. You can setup anywhere. LOL by the time you put it all together, those tablet readers and net tablets will be ready to do the job. They are too small and power short for now, for me.

OK, I was there

Linux for artist has been in the works for years. You have to ask, what's an artist and how much Linux do you need. The results are often a DVD full of stuff artist can use. Think of the movie 'the matrix' when they are loading up from the weapons racks. It's a funny effect to see racks stream off into the distance when they are just going to grab the stuff in front. Linux is like that, choice out the wahzoo. In the net search game when you say artist, you get recording artist. Then in the artist Linux you get audio stuff and some movie editing stuff. When it all said and done the visual graphic stuff is ad..........oops ran out of disc space.

Linux for artist projects try to accommodate various kinds of artist. Then there is that dilemma, live-cd/dvd or installed. If you install you can add/remove the applications you want/don't want. If you use the live-cd/dvd you take what you get. Being a visual artist mainly and foremost I want to see the standard Linux apps, Blender, GIMP, Inkscape and My Paint. After that other tools I might use. Some of the AV oriented Linux distros have some of the graphical stuff but not all of the main ones. Not a problem if I install the whole thing. If I live-cd we have a problem. Usually the standard graphic stuff included are not tweaked with extras but stock, off the shelf.

So look at the many, download and burn. If you can remaster one you like according to your taste, that is the best. My vote for the best out the box Linux for Artist is PureDyne. The size puts it on a DVD but it's a hair over a gig. This will fit on a modest flash drive. The Swiss Army Knife motif is cool, just enough to be useful but no over kill. Believe me I wanted a Swiss Army Knife in the Cub Scouts, my dad got me a knife with twice the hardware, twice the size and half the price. Hiking with that thing banging in your pocket and the other kids saying where's your tool kit.........

PureDyne is cool, no fancy and distracting eyecandy. XFCE desktop for chose it and do it get to work on the fly action. It sees your network and hooks you up, if you need it. PureDyne presents a stable environment with 'enough', wither live-cd or installed. I'm still puttsing around but it looks good so far.

honest, I wasn't there

In the Linuxville downtown there is a landscape of tall and short distros. Each one almost a world in itself. Standing on the curb you see regular faces going in and out. Normally folks don't venture outside their chosen trek. I am a jumper, so I investigate because grass is always greener in the other side. Don't take my word for it, get a blade of grass, it really is greener on the other side. How do they get the greener side to face you when your looking at it is a mystery?

In the test kitchen I downloaded various Linux greenery. Mind you now, we are looking for Linuxes made for artist and favoring the visual graphic bent. I have a laptop on life support, one with a quirky graphics card and my desktop. Then I have distros: Dyne:Bolic 3 Beta, Pure Dyne, gnuArtist, Artist-X, Puppy Photo Artist Workshop, Racy Puppy, Dream Linux. There are others but they emphasize audio/video production.

These are all live-CDs or live-DVDs. This means they will run off the disc by loading and running in RAM. You must have adequate RAM for good performance. Dyne:Bolic and Puppy especially work the best with low RAM, but graphics are RAM intensive. You must have a PC that can boot off the CD and or Flash drive. Flash drives are wonderful because there are no moving parts to slow you down. There are procedures to make bootable Flash drives. The beauty of the above is that you can transform an average MS Windows PC into a Linux Artist workstation with two Flash Drives (at least 4 or 8 gigs each). And when you pull them out, it's still a MS Windows PC.

The distros have similar applications, I mostly look for Blender, My Paint, GIMP and Inkscape on the same distro. If you install the distro on one computer then you can add what you want, then construct a new Live-CD. This is called remastering. This is why there are so many versions of Linux. I will try to say things about what I found. But I want to set the user stage.

An artist tool set doesn't change much. If you got a good set that works for you why change it. The constant urge to upgrade to the latest has to be set aside. I would recommend getting use to working offline. Thats no upgrade fever, no online. Then using an unchanged live-cd distro if you can, remaster if you must. So, your tools are your tools and changing is squashed to a minimum. Distractions leads to no action. You can now put your art studio on two flash drives mounted in a violin case, gangster in and blow any PC into art production. Details are coming.

just like I wasn't there

Here in wonderful downtown Linuxville there is always an opportunity to have an epiphany when you least expect it. I know it's been done but I will lay it on ya anyway. If you are an artist like me you will appreciate the possibilities.

Most of us are either hunched over a PC terminal, laptop or running around doing god knows what for others. You go to the library or school or your brothers/sisters, get to use their PC but your work is at home listen.

Get your Linux live-CD or DVD or Linux installed on your Flash drive along with an extra Flash drive/stick to save your work on. You put your disk in or your Flash, boot up, do your stuff, save it, remove the disk and stick, reboot and who knew you were there. What's cool is that there are distros designed for artist, like Artist-X, Ubuntu Studio, gnuArtist, Puppy Photo Art Workshop, Dyne:Bolic and a few more. You can also remaster a CD/DVD with apps of your own choosing.

Me, I am downloading several of the artist distros to use at the art gallery. We have a couple of older Windows PCs I will install the Windows versions of Open Source software. I know many are used to Windows. I will have the Linux Live-CDs handy to show the portable artist tools. You can take them anywhere you have access to and as long as the PC will boot from an external device you are good to go. Your friend don't have graphic apps, fine, you can run from the flash or CD and not effect their PC. Theory, but a real working theory.  I'll give you an update, let you know how it goes, but I know you will beat me to it.

I just wanted to add, If you can stop the upgrade fever, you can use the live-cd till the cows come home. Most artist like their tools not to change for a while. And unlike most people I believe a PC doesn't have to be connected to the Internet to be useful. Offline, hurts but you can get some art done.

Meanwhile back at the ranch.

Here in the Linuxville guide office things are busy. I am upgrading the old laptop from Xubuntu 11.04 to 11.10. It had died and was revived. It is officially at home on my work desk as a media player and web browser. The newer laptop is wonderful, except for the browser glitches. It handles my graphics apps well but the browser stuff........enough for the rehash.

At the gallery we are looking at several old PCs. They don't have to run the latest stuff, though that would be nice. We can use them to run slide show displays and play media files. I am getting some refresh in the MS XP world, but after all is said and done my Linux and open source disks are handy. There is a Mac, a G3 or something, never used one for any length of time. You see everybody has used and trusts Microsoft and Mac, even all the quirks. I have been a Linux user 10 years. Mind ya now, though I am a technician I don't go too deep, else there won't be time to do things like art. Fixing computers for others is endless.

What's next on the scope, networking. Here's the game. I have my big printer attached to the XP box so that the printer drivers and color management software are no problem. Also on my net are the Linux laptops. If the XP box is a print server then it will use the printer drivers on each Linux box instead of the XP ones. Linux printer drivers are OK for some printers but awkward for others. Ink level monitoring sucks for my printers in Linux. It might be better to just transfer files through a shared folder and print from XP. You got to keep it simple even if it takes a few more steps. OR hire Poindexter the neighborhood techno wizard to configure Samba and show you the big button to push.

Here's the problem, an all Linux network is not explained to well enough for the less informed to just do it. Then the Microsoft net requires domains, workgroups and other net hanky-panky. A mixed network requires dance lessons (Samba), carnal knowledge, ip addresses, port permissions or an application that makes it all easy. Gee Arnold, do you really do art on your computer? You spend so much time messing with the hardware. Yeah I do, but also I'm prone to show-n-tell. I think we should talk about displaying stuff on the net so that ones can't steal yo stuff so readily. Man, there is so much to learn.

Leaping Linux lemmings Batman!

Don't try this at home, I'm a professional distro jumper. I was standing by the fence preparing to make a controlled jump and they came in a wave. I tried to stop them and incite some reason. They leaped past me into the wind and vanished from view. Countless numbers over the edge. Dang!

You've been to Distrowatch.com, they are fleeing Ubuntu in droves, going for the greener grass of Mint. Let me say this before the rest of you go flying into oblivion. Mint ain't nuttin but tweaked-n-green Ubuntu. It is made from Ubuntu. It doesn't have Canonical's Unity but has Gnome Shell or XFCE or KDE or Mate, whatever. Yeah, OK, it's very nice and better to some, but it's a short hop to Mint compared to Fedora. I am back to Ubuntu but have installed Gnome Shell, this laptop can handle it, it runs great.

They vanished from view because the grass is tall (needs cuttin), though it does look kind of cool (special grass?). I was jumping to test if there was improvement in video performance between Fedora, Mint and Ubuntu, there is not. From the looks of it the Dell M90 video card takes a lickin then quits tickin, doesn't matter the OS. There is a big graphics chip and a huge honking heatsink on top of it. Heat must be a problem. Seems most pronounced during web browser use. I get weird cursor action while trying to type this blog and also while trying to select a site in a search. And page overlapping when you scroll!?! If I set back it corrects itself but who is patient among us, click click aaagh! If I stop using the browsers, actually, Chrome works better than Firefox on this machine. No stampedes please, but Chrome does work better (rumble rumble rumble).

Printing is what it is. If you got one of those 4 ink printers like me then realize that it is harder to mix the 4 to get all the colors you see on the screen. A printer that sports 6, 8, 12 inks will get better color results when mixing inks. I do love my printer as most of my work is simple and it can do photos but the results are limited. But this is art and not photography, so there. My Epson Workforce 1100 prints 13" wide and up to 42" long if coaxed. I took a drawing file to OfficeMax, they have a 24" wide Canon with 8 inks. A 16" x 20" print on photo quality matte paper cost $12. The print quality is excellent and a 16 x 20 frame is reasonable also. A couple of tricks, make a bitmapped drawing at least 150 to 300 dots per inch depending on detail. Then print to file as a PDF. With vector work you don't have to worry about resolution, just print to file as a PDF. This works for me until something better comes along. 

but don't mash it

I was getting all settled into Fedora 16 on my laptop, the graphics card seems to produce screen glitches especially when using the menus in Firefox and a few other apps. This appears to indicate that overlapping windows and menus are a problem. Reluctantly I hosed Fedora and installed Mint. Mint runs a tad slower but without glitches. Mint has the same Gnome Shell but I noticed like I said before Debian application repositories have all the popular apps and supplies the video codecs that Fedora doesn't. I think Fedora supplies a Nvidia equivalent video card driver that is not as good as the real Nvidia drivers in Mint.

I partitioned the hard drive so that I can install another Linux without blinking. The home directory in it's own partition, the OS in it's own. I just reformat the OS partition when needed. The optimal thing would be a big USB flash drive for personal files. Then I could move the flash around to different Pc's. The secret is that the hidden files with your personal settings and configurations are in your home directory. If the new installation has the same applications it starts up already configured. This is handy for browser bookmarks, email addresses and multimedia codecs.

I am hedging about drawing, guess I'm not in the mood. So I have a Java app called SweetHome 3D. This app allows you to draw a floor plan in a 2D view while it draws the wall elevations in 3D in another view. Then you can add furniture and textures assignments in the 2D to appear in the 3D. The constructed views are not too good but if you run them through rendering software they become more photo realistic. I plan to model the art gallery space and come up with display ideas.

When you utilize used hardware you never know how much wear-n-tear you've inherited. I have many 'oh darn it' moments. Save your pennies, plan for the long haul and buy good stuff brand new when the opportunity hits. Back at the art gallery we are going to take some old PC's, set up a PC arts teaching platform and then begin to replace them with new hardware as monies are available. The point is that we start now, not wait. Why wait till we can get top shelf when the lower rungs are available. Yeah, we want Macs but PC's will do fine. I was in a company when it switched from pen-n-ink drafting to CAD on workstations. Then another company that transitioned through 2 upgrades of CAD systems. Waiting to pay for the best is overrated when used PC's and free Open Source art software is available now. Build your skills, transition if you must, get down tonite, get down tonite!

squeezing the tube

I still don't draw on command, especially after not drawing for a while. My equipment is fine, it's me. I start the process by reviewing my collection of sketches and reference pictures. The perfect program for this is called Picasa by Google. If you find Picasa formatted for your version of Linux you are good to go. Another program I discovered is called Fotoxx, this is what I have now. Both of these apps allow you to view a whole directory of pictures. Real cool if you want to compare and manipulate. Photo management yeah, but digital pictures are like digital photos. Most photo management software organize by time stamps and tags, not directories and folders. Directories and folders work better for me.

If I don't rework an old idea I usually see something new to try. Of late, I've been more enthralled by how a picture is mounted. I'll buy some picture mounting hardware and figure out what to put in it. Yeah, I know, this is backward. Sometimes if you change one element of the finished picture before it's done......LOL! I change the frame, it's an architectural thing. If you are not careful the project becomes very big. Scaling it down and or scaling back is painful on the mind. For me also when I am thinking big or needing scale, I get stopped by how to get the drawing big. You can get a service to print it big for you but I can't guarantee print quality or the material to be printed on. What goes through the printer can't snag and that limits the kinds of material you can use. This may mean projecting your image, tracing it and inking/painting by hand. And you thought digital art was less work. It's that label thing, you call something something so that others can get a handle on it. I preface labels with 'sort of-kind of like' but ultimately 'mixed-media' graphics. I say that with great exasperation because it doesn't describe my stuff the way the word 'oil painting' does. Oooh, how does she do that with oils? Oh (only one 'o'), digital graphics, that's interesting! Hey, I want more o's when you see my work. This is why digital artist go overboard to dazzle and amaze. They think you only helped the computer do that. I pushed the mouse the same as she pushed that brush. I constrained the great and endless potential of the computer so that it will do what I want it to do. Do you think it's easy plowing a field with a race horse?

We had a boss that paraded with his cronies through the new CAD department. "Click, click, click and it's done!" Next week he hired two desktop publishing guys that we were supposed to train to work with us. They had no drafting experience or electrical knowledge. We trained and complained, they were let go. Art knowledge and skill applied with oil paint and brush, art knowledge and skill applied with a computer and printer. Not equal but different media and process. Us mixed-media graphic artist of the digital persuasion find the fine arts a mine field of varied acceptance. Publications, ads, web pages, no sweat, bill boards, no sweat. Fine art.........."computers can do a lot!" I guess the antidote is to sign the print by hand.

nerdvana, I feel it

I went to the penthouse/mancave/art studio. Dust bunnies scurrying about, PS/2 mice strewn about, PC carcasses stacked haphazardly and boxes of papers. The huge honking hard drive on my main machine sputtering and spitting out ancient code. My new printer under Linux can't reset itself with new cartridges installed. Like I said a new strategy is needed. Under the shelf piled with junk I found the XP disc I had lost. I couldn't sleep, my mind turning this new plan. I had to do this.

First, reformat the hard drive of the old desktop to rid it of the mangled XP that was on it. Then install a fresh XP. Darn the Service Pack2 disc wouldn't read. Good thing it's still on the net. This machine will run the printers because drivers are easy to get for Microsoft systems. The Linux printing system works but mileage will vary depending on the printers. An Epson Workforce 1100 is awkward.

Second replace the sputtering huge honking hard drive with a 60gig one. Lesson learned is that Ubuntu will not run well and whistle with 1gig of RAM. So, install Xubuntu with XFCE and be happy. I do all this, I'm happy.

I moved the two support cabinets left of the desk and put the shelves across them. Put the 17” CRT on the XP machine because when tweaking for printouts it a good screen. The 15” CRT which XP can't handle well works great on the Linux machine. I revise all the power cables, put the big printer on a stand next to the shelf on the left side of the desk.

My laptop is my roving art center, I can even take it to the library because the battery works. This is totally sweet. I can work where ever. Next is to communicate between PCs, install the printers and reference materials. I need a couple of tool boxes for my car tools, my computer tools and my art tools. The mancave is a former upstairs kitchen, the cupboards and countertop are supposed to help organize, they don't. Too too many small parts and cables. I have an old tall dresser for paper and print supplies. I will cap off the water supply and remove the sink but that is later.

I don't like to leave my stuff running all day, the meter is running. It's the accumulated stuff running in a house that will shoot your wallet, run lean is my motto. I think this setup will work better than what I had. I even restacked the spent PC cases and junk boxes. I am starting to get the urge to draw............see ya!

same curtains different house

I'm in the new digs and it is different, sort of, kind of. Ubuntu has one philosophy and Red Hat has another. Ubuntu has become the base for many versions of the Linux OS to meet the criteria of different user/development groups. Including a Linux version that has all free software. For sure this is the philosophy of Red Hat concerning Fedora OS. What does mean to the user? Some very handy programs are not free in terms of license, or are free yet owned by a company, that is not open source. Some are propriety and are lent or donated by agreements. Some restrictions include political boundaries of countries. So Ubuntu tries to give you access to every program even the non-free commercial ones. Fedora sticks to the free open source policy. What this means is that certain things are not offered but available via third parties. The most obvious are media codecs and device drivers.

On my Fedora machine to get flash video and movies to play I did the Google search for codecs. I stumbled upon 'rpmfusion.org'. This site has some things to read and click to install and BAM, I had You Tube videos and could play other formats. This process is way better than previous. So dealing with all open source software and finding some extras outside of the Fedora standard repositories is the difference between Fedora and Ubuntu. Once educated, you know, you know!

The Dell M90 machine is smooth running and quiet. There are a few video glitches running Linux. This machine has Nvidia Quadro FX2500m video card and not a Linux specific driver. Linux is still a bad word around hardware manufactures. They don't do retro and are vexed to do new stuff. Being only MS Windows compatible makes them the bucks but Linux demand is not going away. A few annoyances, a few complaints but a good solid feel. Ooh yeah did I mention, this has the first finger-pad that works decently for me and that old Wacom Graphire2 works really well also? Better machine, better all over experience.

dude, you gotta let it go

Well I'm finally going to give up the Gateway ghost. I thought remorse was bad when we lost a cat. But a good friend of mine, an IT specialist, recycled toward me a used laptop in a business upgrade. A Dell with descent specs and 4 gig of ram from the XP era 2007. Yeah it is not spanking brand new but descent is the keyword. As per agreement I reformatted the drive to remove XP and company data, installed Fedora 16, even while we speak, er a write or type. I feel all fuzzy and excited.

The first thing was to Google 'Linux on laptops' to get the opinion of many who have had experience with Linux on this make of laptop, a Dell M90. There were some video concerns but no real gotchas so far. We just gone from the bargain basement to the upper mid levels as this is a workstation. Red Hat has been a staple in the engineering field for years. Fedora is the cutting-edge for Red Hat but does not stray from the rock solid reputation. This visit is to reacquaint myself with Fedora and to get experience with another style of Linux. Actually the only reason I went to the Debian camp was because they had all the applications I wanted without hassles. Part of the whole user friendlier scene is to make application finding and installing better. I think Red Hat lagged on that front for a long time, now it's up to snuff.

I can't make a fair comparison between my old laptop and the new because the old laptop had a 1024x768 screen. The newer one 1920x1200 and the new Ubuntu and Fedora takes advantage of the expanded real estate. For instance in GIMP, overlapping windows on the old 1924 wide screen, descent size work space and dialog boxes on the 1920 wide screen. Then the amount of system RAM, 512mb vs 4gig, and also the larger video RAM makes for better performance. And best of all is my old Wacom Graphire2 tablet which jittered on the old, is rock steady on the new. 

So now in the works is a new studio work strategy, if this new laptop proves it's worth. My desktop has Xubuntu 11.10 and the laptop Fedora 16 with Gnome Shell. All is sweetness and light here in the Linuxville Guide Chateau and the Glad new car smell candle is in the air. Now if I can use the wireless without effecting the TV in the livingroom my wife won't have to call me down from the mancave.

I give you the lowdown like this because many of us creative types can't wait to get all the latest new hardware and professional software. Making art while making due is what we often have to do. When and if we make the cut..........but until then, let's get on with it, now. Stay tuned.

new neighborhood

With every new combination of hardware and software a new experience and/or a new set of problems emerges. My old Gateway laptop has develop some problems that won't let it complete the booting process. I reinstalled Ubuntu 10.11, then Xubuntu 11.10 and the same problem stopped the boot. Could be the used 20 gig hard drive or just that the Gateway is old and can't handle the latest and greatest Linux.

I've been a Ubuntu user since version 3. Ubuntu is Debian based, which means mostly the '.deb" software management system. There is more to it but that is the crux. Today I am loading Fedora 13. Fedora is Red Hat Linux and has RPM or the Red Hat Package Management system. The latest version is Fedora 16 but it kindly announced to me I don't have enough system memory for it. Fedora 13 is installing but since I haven't used Fedora in so long, I am weary of every thing on the screen. It is like moving to a new neighborhood that's really around the corner. Your friends say they will wait till you get settled in to see you and it all looks like a strange environment. Dag man, don't they get it? I need them to make me feel at home in my new digs.

It's just Linux, they are all the same, aren't they? So are cars and within the same brand name there is great variance, choice and options. My Chevy Impala comes in regular, sport, luxury, deluxe sport, luxury sport and bling to the max. Each development group that handles the various Linux has it's path. They chose a core set of values and parameters out of all the available choices. Linux continues to match both the user base and the hardware base while tightly wrapped around the core values. Add to this new innovations and improvements and that is Linux. So in the end, each distribution like Ubuntu and Fedora may handle the same operation slightly different, plus the apps that do the job may look different. If it looks new to you then you are weary of what's going on. They may use the same desktop but behind the scenes the plumbing is different.

How can it be different, well I had my Ubuntu spear and shield along with my street tux and sneakers. In this new hood they sport red Fedoras and look rather dignified cool and assured, no brag just fact. 'It does the same thing!', I go. Naw man, we is so hot we have to control it, else the ice will melt. Yeah, what ever. Anyway my old Gateway is on the way out and new technology is making it obsolete. I find it so amazing that I can still get it to work. That's the view from here, Linuxville, ya gotta love it.

turning the 'cough' corner

I have drunk way too much water, tea, juice but the cold is finally starting to clear. I have done the distro shuffle on my main box, back to Ubuntu 11.10. I dislike Unity but it is not that bad. Just not handy enough or intuitive enough for me. Intuitive means it works akin to how I am wired so that it seems it was made for me. Otherwise you got to get used to a different way of thinking. This is why choice in Linux is so great. You can find what suits you or tweak to suit. Mint was great but again I don't have the resources to support Gnome Shell in comfort. Comfort means no glitches, hesitations or malfunctions due to low memory and/or older graphic card. All the newer stuff forces you to upgrade, you can't escape it. If you buy a new PC, also buy as much RAM memory as you can afford or will fill it. Sure as shootin someone will write software that demands it and your comfort level will drop. 2 gig of RAM on my desktop will make it run better and accommodate the present software.

Slowly wheels and wires are disappearing. Wireless mice and keyboards abound. I got a mouse with a finger rail instead of a mouse wheel, man did that take a while to get used to. If you invest, PC memory price is stable to the point that old memory cost the same as when first put on the shelf. High when new, high now that it's older and not restocked. Laptop memory is the same way. New memory for new PCs and laptops are a good bargain, cheaper than the old stuff, get it from the get.

My old Gateway 4026gz laptop is resurrected again. I got a used 20gig hard drive for $15. It does not boot from USB flash, darn it, has 512MB ram and has a missing keyboard key. Hey, your first hotrod still under the green tarp, at least mine is running. I put Xubuntu 11.10 on it and it is so cool. The battery needs replaced, the keyboard, I disconnected the fingerpad. I am going to take out the keyboard, put in a filler and buy a USB keyboard. I am not alone in driving my PCs into the ground. When I get stuff to recycle from others, there is not much left but a spent carcass and OT (old technology, what did you think?). I have 4 really old laptops and a half a dozen desktops, a trunk full.

I do have my eye on new or near new stuff. I am ready for a new Desktop and Laptop. I thought about the ipads and the screens are not big enough and the CPUs are not powerful enough for my work and horse play. I still like to install my own stuff and that cloud thing smacks of not controlling my own data. Cable PC anyone?
In any case if you don't need light dimming graphics for photography or 3D work or serious gaming, you could replace a desktop with a laptop. If they can boot from a flash drive then you don't have to worry about the size of the on board hard drive, but get that RAM. Still, make sure the graphics system is adequate.

old PC iss-CHOOOS!

Hi all, been ill lately, graphics not on my mind, I went into the dungeon here at the Linuxville Chateau. It's the realm below the knees, where stacks of stuff have lingered since the DOS days. I gathered some relics from friends to recycle parts. My sister emailed me about her MS PC and malware. I had not done malware removal since I started using Linux 10 or so years ago. Here's the lowdown.

I open an old PC crypt, was immediately attacked by ferocious dust bunnies. I already had a head cold, you could imagine the sound of sneezing fits. My wife was ready to call 911. I got the vacuum cleaner and exorcised the little demons, from the PC, not me! Dust entrails on every device, wire and fans. A through cleaning and it was test ready. I plugged in all the perifs and booted. If I had my own original XP discs I wouldn't have faced this horror but it did give me a chance to practice Malware removal so I could report to my sister.

Being an old PC all the paid for anti-virus protection was done. I had to remove them via the Add-Remove software utility in XP. Then being an Open Source guy I whipped out my Open Disc. It is a collection of Open Source software for XP type PCs. I installed ClaimAV the virus scanner and ran it (takes for ever!). It identified the files of malware, trojans, trialware, games, ads, cookies that were bad and prepared a report in a text file. Then using the report I found the offending files via the file manager and deleted them. Then I obtained a free Registry Cleaner off the net and ran that (takes just shorter than for ever). Then I deleted all the personal data of the former master and all programs I weren't going to use. Finally I did the dreaded defrag (takes forever and a day!).

Well, now it runs well for an old XP machine. I normally would have reformatted and installed Linux, but XP is still useful for many things. I installed Open Source programs on it, free of course. MS Office and Explorer are gone, LibreOffice and Firefox are installed along with GIMP, Inkscape, Corel Painter Classic. The only thing that bothers me is the screen resolution and the CRT itself. The old HP monitor has had it's day and the videocard just doesn't adjust right in lower resolutions, all fuzzy. The highest res is sharp as a tack, but it's a 15" screen and I feel the rays if I get too close to read it. Hey. I'm an old guy. Blessed are they that have newer monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Yeah, I know iPads and smart-phones are the rage, but you can't run GIMP or Photoshop on that now can you, unless its cloudware? If your touchy screen can be the peripheral replacing the monitor, keyboard and mouse for the PC, that is cool. But it needs to be BIGGER for real work. Wacom already has devices like this, but they are hooked on art production and are toooooooo pricey for common folk, hummmmmmm! get your hack on!

la de da and yada yada yada

Still in a seriously playful mood here. Once you got all the things about you ready to roll, think about what you want to do, how your art is to be applied. Note that you are not really in business until you got some customers. The same with art, you got to produce something for others to look at. That's the whole point, right? Yeah you can do it for your own amusement, but you put that much effort into it for your own enjoyment? Oh none will know about my secret life as an artist. No, you don't have to go commercial and all, but maybe a few close to you might appreciate a shot at seeing the inner workings of you whom they love or hang out with. Art isn't always about a job and to relax via art is very cool. But to hide it all away is a crime.

What is your art for, to decorate a home/office, make a statement in a museum or gallery, or be in magazines, or a web page, a comicbook or a greeting card or cubical workspace?

Art has a place and subject matter, it says something or nothing so much like an abstract design. When your art is in someone else's hands, who knows how it will be applied within their life, where it will fit. So make the jump into your art already.

When in school I lived to sketch. When I worked as a draftsman I had an epiphany. I was making prints of electrical drawings on various plotters, then it hit me. I was making little drawings into big prints, what if I did this to one of my sketches. I took a pen drawing, scanned it into a file at home and plotted it out big on vellum paper at work. I almost screamed with delight to see my little drawing so big. I did similar on my home printer and when I upgraded to one of those photo able printers that sealed it. A number of friends make artwork for web pages, but to make stuff meant for print like posters. I can't afford a big printer/plotter yet but there is Kinkos, OfficeMax and Staples stores that all have print facilities/services and can print posters.

How are prints received in the gallery where I display? Next to other media print sometimes appears to be a little hokie because that print could be a magazine page. What sets it apart is the material it's printed on and scale. Glossy photo paper, matte paper, card stock, canvas, all help make the print more than just a print. Printing is as much an art as drawing the art itself. Of course the better quality materials does help. And who's to stop you from altering/augmenting your print via traditional art medias? You can go on and on but I hope you know when to stop, frame it and display it.

hoop-la la land

Welcome to hoop-la la land, the place where the rubber meets the road and get rubber melted all over it. No, it only looks like tar.

First thing is read the instructions for all the tools you use. A glancing look is OK until you got a question. Like that Abrams guy on "the yankee workshop" be sure to use the safety equipment, lol. Make adjustments to get things working right. Wait! GIMP and my Wacom Graphire2 won't play nice. I've got to dig deeper into that, I'll "Google" for help. In the meantime, my old Wacom does play well with MyPaint. For Inkscape the mouse is less stress. Hey, it's how I roll, you find what works for you.

My first desire is to not do finished art, but to be able to sketch ideas the same as I've done it in my notebooks. Pictorial notes, storyboarding, sketching, they become a mental bookmark. When I review my sketches often I remember everything I thought about concerning the sketch, including the mood I was in, music associations if I was really into it. I even get a rush of desire as if the original inspiration were present. I can then pick up where I left off. I also save ideas to reuse them and combine them with other ideas, hybrids are all the rage.

Well I mainly use Inkscape because vector drawing is similar to CAD programs like AutoCad. Check out LibreCad, I did and It's cool. Bit-map or raster drawing makes me feel like a traditional artist. My cursor is not constrained. This freehand sketching loosens you up.

For precision tightness you need pen practice. Check out this  site http://clippingimages.blog.com/2010/06/20/graphic-tablet-exercises/  Now this is a tute by "Dusty Ghost" who's web site is down. The exercises will help you get a grip on your pen and mouse. Thanks to the folk on Clipping Images. Another inspirational and instructional site belongs to David Revoy http://www.davidrevoy.com/tutoriel.html ....he is awesome, dig deep, he's got some serious help for open source artist. And park your cursor over at http://linuxgraphicsusers.com/forum/ because we are drowning in the Adobe suite world and the little nation of open source artist needs an oasis, the forum is cool. No offense Adobe fans, what ever tools you have at is cool wid me!

OK, you got the hardware, the software, the gall, the time and the motive, all you need is the effort. Ain't nuttin to it but to do it. OOOh! There is this open source app called Tux Paint for kids. Don't let the kid thing fool you. It's got a few tricks of it's own and in the hands of a smart-aleck, unkid like magic can be made, lol, my grandkids hooked me up.

Play, grunt, serious play, that's art

In college I loved music. I went into an orchestra room by myself and a few things became apparent. I was not a trained musician, each instrument required it's own attention and listening required much less work than making the music. I played the saxophone by ear, in my imagination I wanted to play jazz like John Coltrane. It was all glory, I didn't really want to put in the basic music lessons. I did join a drum troupe, played conga and made Trane like noises. Most of the crowd ate it up, but they were as clueless of the "art" as I.

In my so-called art training, we surveyed several kinds of art activities, hands on. Macramé and appliqué, wire and clay sculpture, life drawing and creative drawing. Then my study as an architecture student. I had liked drawing houses before, my rendering won me a scholarship, but not having basic engineering math hindered me greatly. I covered a lot of not taught in class study while working at the campus library.

All things added together, be inspired by glory but get the basic work done, the rudiments, the rote, the fundamentals, the ABCs, then hack it, improvise. I improvised it all. That is not the way to go, lol. As fun as that was, it's also hard. In the end, an artist uses what he knows, both training and vision make the artist. Had I.....well I would be a different artist, if not a better one.

On the computer I became a draftsman before an artist. Luckily, that was my basic training. Working on a PC requires a certain level of procedure, how do you get there from here. You need to know so many UN-intuitive things. Sitting there with a drawing program before you, it has all the tools and possibilities. Like being in that room full of instruments. If you have background, there is much you have already dealt with.

I place a lot of value on play, you got to play with it. Roaming, doodling, making a cyber mess and erasing it, doing it again. Play helps get you to know what to expect and builds confidence. The next great step is the tutorial and the project. Tutorials and/or a teacher gets you to follow a path (procedure) to get a project done. There is a lot to think about from expectation, to setup, to executing, to finishing. Doing art is all about playing but new info/experience takes it to a new level each time.

Serious play/performance/production is the goal, the best of my ability, not someone else's. There are better and worst than me, but I'm an original. When all the elements come through me this is what you get, no brag, no shame. It was funny I went to the music institute to borrow a practice room. I made my Coltrane like noise, the students walking by looked in and smiled, waved and thumbed up. I was just making noise like I heard. The music is more than that. Eventually I put the horn down because I didn't have the basics to move beyond the noise I heard. I could fool a few people, I couldn't fool myself. I enjoy the music, without the training I couldn't really play it, just the sound of it. You can fool some, but you know. Can't draw, pick up a camera, but there is an art there too. It's not the tools, it's your eye. Everybody has eyes but photographers see more precisely. You can't escape doing the work. Play becomes work becomes serious play........eh, it's an art.

Linux shell game update

I'm not getting any work done because I like to blog and play with my computers. The latest thing is a tussle on a Linked-in Ubuntu discussion group. Just short of slinging colorful metaphors, we politely answer the question of hating the Unity and Gnome Shell desktops. There is then Mint Linux jumping to the lead on Distrowatch. Let me state for the record I tried and I'm tired.

I didn't like Unity, still you can like it if you want. Gnome Shell for me is much better but on my PC it only works off the Live-CD. Fedora ventured out first with a full Gnome Shell and it was cool on the Live-CD. I tried to install Gnome Shell on my Ubuntu 11.10 and it didn't work. I just don't have the Ram and Videocard for good clean usage. Enter Mint Linux. I didn't want to jump on the bandwagon, but having tried Mint before we go for it. The Mint Live-CD was the bomb as Gnome Shell worked flawlessly closer to what I am looking for in a desktop. Then I installed it and it didn't work. But never fear, Gnome Classic was there and also Gnome Classic without effects. Also Mate was there which is pretty cool as a menu system. So I got Mint but no Gnome Shell. If Gnome Classic goes away I got Mate which I like and can live with.

Funny thing with Linux distros, there are sticking points and standout points. Otherwise they are the same as the rest of their families. The Debian based distros are one way and the RPM based ones in their family and the family similar to Slackware. Now mind you, I don't promote distro-hopping as a sport, but if you don't fancy virtual machines or bootable USB drives or flash drives, then here is safe distro hopping. Divide your hard drive into several partitions, 20 gig is fine for each distro you install. Since I am not a nut, I did one 20 gig partition for my choice of distro. I do one partition to match the size of my system RAM memory as a swap partition. Then the rest of the drive as space for /Home directories. My /Home directory never changes, the same directory for what ever distro I install. I reformat only the distro partition and install a new distro without effecting my personal files in my /Home directory. The cool thing about this is the hidden files stored in the /Home directory are still there if you install the same applications, you don't lose settings or bookmarks or email or some configurations.

So what do I think of Ubuntu in second place to Mint? Distrowatch is about the number of search hits sort of like the Jason Bourne movie when the gov phishes for the word "Blackbriar" on international wire taps. It does not indicate installed systems. I heard about Mint, I had to investigate, I liked what I saw, told others, they did the same. Mint is being checked out in droves being made from Ubuntu stuff but lacking Unity desktop. It features Gnome Shell instead and it's own Gnome Shell extensions. I like it but I can't use it on my present system. Linux as far as popular use systems goes, is not focused on low end and older hardware as in the past. The standard has been raised. For me the comfort level is higher with Mint.

Don't forget both Ubuntu and Mint will improve because of all this attention and or the shift of conversation. Welcome to the world of Linux.

the machine for art and the man of art

I have a scattering of pens on my desk, some papers. I stare at them intently wondering about my own art history. Every artist has a history, work that passed through their hands, ideas that they entertained, attempts, notes, urges, and finished works. Sometimes our training hinders us, sometimes it is what's needed, we make it work or we stretch it to extend our creative reach. Sometimes we explore new territory perchance a new technique will bring about new ideas or a new outcome. Darn it all, there is a core we can't escape, a sweet spot. The artist who draws all kinds of stuff but finds drawing/painting horses is a bliss/blast. OR the impressionist vs the photo-realist, the meticulous vs the slosher/splasher.

For me it is architectural forms, interior design, and decoration. I had a hard time accepting this as I compared myself to fine artist. Turns out my meager training has been about what I love all along, no need to think I'd like to be something else, or measuring up to something else. Turn envy into appreciation of others work. It's OK to appreciate and not have to do it yourself. When I scan the internet a great portion of fine art is about people, faces, figures. I feel more like a stage designer, setting the stage for people to perform on. I'm drawn to sculpture, lighting, and how a picture is framed, the shape of things. My stuff seems empty without people standing and acting in front of it. If I put people in the art then it would be locked. Though some viewers need figures in art to make a immersive connection, "What if I were in there."

The sweet spot sets the art motive into play, the art purpose, the art reason. You may venture to your limits but the sweet always calls to you. Could very well be a big part of your signature, that recognizable flaw that distinguishes each and every artist from other artist.

There is also the mirror effect. When you yourself survey over your own body of work and you see the character of your own hand, an annoying quality you want to change so bad, you will try different things to obliterate the flaw. News flash! That's not a flaw, it's a feature, it's who you are and HOW YOU ARE WIRED. It comes out in your work. Old stuff, you have to embrace yourself BEFORE you let yourself go. Else it will haunt you for ever. You put your hand to a work, did you somehow think what you created is separate from you? LOL!

Man has always made his mark from the first time he furrowed the dirt with a stick, a burnt stick on a rock. The implements today are so refined, the talents so well honed, yet the urge is the same, we make a mark and call it art.

the wonder of two PCs

I sit here listening to my music in the background. I'm in a Pharaoh Sanders mood right now. Music is a great transport to clear away many of the thoughts that cloud the drawing process. It also inspires and adds it's own flavor into your work. Trust me head banging thumping and grinding is different than smooth and sweet. We are not immune to the environment we are immersed in. Nature calls, the wife calls, the cats want attention, the phone, the mail in the mail slot, the outside noise, the inside cares.........music soothes the savage beast, so I can draw. I don't want to concentrate too hard but be on that edge of vivid sleep. That is where is doesn't matter if I can't do it, I will not stop myself from trying. If I can get it roughly, in time I will get it out smoothly.

Why two PCs? First I don't have a dual quad core with a graphic card so potent-n-powerful it can be the hub of a 4 screen cinema and do the marquee too. Second I do have an older spare dust bunny generator PC that still works. If I set it up as a media player/reference display, I won't have to divert any power on my main PC to doing those things while I am drawing. Plus the second display means I don't have to page back and forth between work spaces. It's all good. Like watching a tutorial on one PC and practicing it on the other at the same time. Not so mad am I? Having pictures of some idea on one screen and you working the sketch on the other.

In your studio accommodate yourself, that is what it is for. I would like a large wide screen or a video projector. Now that's thrilling. Maybe venture into 3D graphics. Although computers can produce wonderful output, they shine in the brain assist. I scanned my notebook pages into my PC, onto CD, then I review them in slide shows. You will be surprised at what you can learn from your own work, what you can teach yourself. That program by Google called Picassa is a gem, an absolute gem. It will play each picture in a folder or selected set at the interval you choose. There is a collage tool I just discovered. You take a batch of pics and twist and layer and resize and reposition interactively.

Perhaps one day I might get an extreme hardware upgrade. Seems you can get laptops that do everything you want. Desktops seem cheaper for the same result. I rather have a light dimming desktop in my studio and a laptop that can do a lot but not be too expensive. I wouldn't want to carry around something I would have to be extra careful about. Hey look at that guy with his case handcuffed to his wrist. Must be a federal courier! Nah, that's Rno the digital artist!

art life after desk overhaul

oooooh man, I know I'm jumping the gun but I've got to play around a bit.

OK, on deck is My Paint which is fast and furious for playing around. For serious painting, I'm not the one. You see I've been an Electrical CAD drafter for years and the only digital drawing I've done you see here. I've got stacks of paper and notebooks with scribbles but this is new. I do have a desire to adjust my pen and tablet to feel like I am drawing in my notebook. Actually there are many considerations to account for in doing real art, like what is the outcome, will it be printed?

You got to think ahead, especially with bit-mapped drawings because if your stuff isn't a good resolution and size it will be pixelated if you enlarge it. Of course drawing or painting things require a more trained eye and that persistant spirit.  Most of us use the trial and error exploration method. We stumble upon stuff that is cool with us until we learn otherwise. I came across some tablet exercises on Deviant Art, I'll have to find the link. You got to get the machine out of the way so that your work is flowing out. You could do this with a mouse, yeah, good luck with that. A cheap tablet is fine if it works well, you can always upgrade. Linux users should for sure to get a Wacom brand tablet as the drivers for Wacom are in the OS.

Freehand drawing requires practice to make the cursor do what you want. Doing vector work with Inkscape is kind of like CAD and requires more nudging lines that putting down and erasing dots. Feel the pen on the tablet surface, learn to trust it. Adjust the software sensitivity of pen pressure. find comfort. For me the mouse works better with vector drawings, the pen with bit-mapped work is more natural. You may have to get ink, paint and charcoal scented candles to.......er, never mind.

You'll need some help like a cheat sheet of keyboard short-cuts for each drawing program you use. You can't remember them unless you use them. Like in My Paint "d" makes the brush smaller. One hand poking the keyboard and the other holding the pen, I can change brush size on the fly. Oops, I don't know what makes the brush bigger, where's my cheat sheet? Aah, "f" makes the brush bigger. So, think about the final output of your work and compensate up front. Planning ahead is very important. Save your work often, I learned this in CAD work. The biggest thing in playing around is learning what you can do and knowing what to expect trying different stuff. It's getting fun.

the non-digital part of digital art

Here in the humble adobe of your Linuxville guide, looking through the near naked trees and oh my, my garage roof needs fixin. The penthouse studio is shaping up. I work on one of those pressed wood computer desk. Today the workspace just wasn't big enough. The writing/keyboard area is not big enough, the right side under the cabinet is useless and I keep banging my knee on the right side drawer. Let alone putting the flash sticks and CDs under the desk, I watch the dust bunnies become jackalopes and chase the cats around.

So, I raised the CRT on it's shelf and pushed my old wooden drafting table over the writing/keyboard area, against the front of the desk. Then put the all-n-one printer/scanner/fax/copier on the shelf above the CRT cubby and the PC box on the same shelf on the right end. I can see everything well. The reaches are still a stretch but I don't inhale dust bunnies.

The drawing table is just under counter height and just above the desk chair armrest. The table is big enough to rest my whole arms on when I type and use the digital tablet. Well, the Wacom Graphire 2 is an 8"x 8" plastic square, try holding that in your lap or a narrow desk area. I was thinking about 3/8" chip board for a drawing table cover. I could cut out recesses for the keyboard and for the digital tablet. That would be too static for me, my work situation changes as you can tell. My big printer sits atop an old dresser next to the desk, print supplies are in it's drawers. On the other side of the desk on a printer stand is my spare PC which I can load with reference stuff or run tutorials on. Running two PCs can be a headache if they are not similar. You don't want to do too many different things when you are working. Every operation requires your attention at some point.

Just like some people can sleep anywhere, some can draw anywhere. I am not so inclined. I am trying to set a comfortable spot that is flexible but doesn't change that much. For years I've been a vagabond artist in my own house. We are not talking dream studio, for that I would renovate the garage. This is a spare room I can use that is not in the traffic flow.

The table is light enough to move it if I need to and provides a drawing posture better suited for taming the graphics tablet. You say I am beating around the bush, and not drawing! Yes! This is all part and partial of the whole Gennie gig! Art is not a thoughtless process, perhaps a haphazard one, but not thoughtless. Besides, there are drawing tutorials galore but studio setup ones are rare.  Getting your work space in order helps you to be comfortable when you work. 

incredible incremental improvments

If you are an unimpeachable penguinator like myself, who likes the well appointed display of desktop bling, gadgetry and and a flagrant flasher of the sweetened eye-candy only to find when you want to work, ya got to shuck the mess down to the penguin skivvies........Closer inspection of satellite photos of icebergs show the gray coloring due to thousands of top hats and tails strewn about in mass. Why dress then shuck is anybodies guess, but the notion of showing off is very strong among us. Who is their tailor? Do they recycle?

My last improvement was the Cairo-dock, I rolled with that until I noticed some response overload. Hesitation after a mouse click was quite apparent. I thought, I have 1 gig of main memory, it should be enough. I love the dock, it is so handy.  The culprit is called compositing. All the newer graphic cards can do it, but the older ones will find it a challenge. There are alpha layers, shadows and animated effects that look so cool and steal away your work capability. Ever wonder how or if a bling encrusted banger brushes his teeth? Now that's a sight, yeah man, I'm down wid the paste dude, forget the whiteners, I got my metal polished to the gleam. It's why cops wear shades, bling glint could be mistaken for a muzzle flash. Hey, assume the position and quit cheesing.

So, I had to remove the Cairo-dock. Then I installed Docky. Docky was part of something called Gnome-do, a intuitive device that let's you type in a few letters and it anticipates what you are looking for. Sort of like a spell checker coupled to a search bar. That's not how I roll so I was glad to see Docky as a stand-alone dock application for just the dock stuff. Down to the skivvies, that's what I want. Simple and quick response and boom, I'm working. And it has options, some small bling to make it look cool. It doesn't slow down my system. It's like turning a top hat into a bathing cap and a tux coat into a swim suit (when wet).

Man, you guys always want visuals:

 Of course Docky disappears when a window is overlapping and has the usual drag and drop the icon features. The point is to make the desktop wonderful yet responsive. Resources are precious to us of the lean means. Even if your PC is a Hummer (hums with power), this will help you optimize and become even more powerful. That is power that can be felt in your drawing mouse or pen tablet, smooth glitch free operation. Like a penguin gliding through water, I want you all to swim with the sharks yet not be lunch.

What's that thing in the pic? It's my rendition of an African thumb-piano or mbira done in Rhino-beta on a XP machine. Yeah, I came from there too. I'm as free as a bird today, water bird, er, extreme water bird. Penguins rule! Your Linuxville guide on the edge of the berg, bringing you the desktop play by play.