living to tell the tale

When you come back from heck you deserve something great to play with. Google has all sorts of apps and mostly I pass. I don't like to get used to using apps that are hosted on a server somewhere. To have software and data on my PC is what makes it personal. There is one Google app that is the coolest thing I ever saw. It is called Picasa, looks like this:

Yeah it is cool, has a little lever to size the thumbnails, which are as clear as day, and buttons that do other stuff. The absolute coolest feature is that it reads your hard drive to display all your pics. You can also grab a pic and reorder or move it. I can view my sketchbooks and reference pictures very fast. I kept saying when is a Linux version going to happen and BAM!

I have a couple of Linux picture viewers, this is the best by far.

On the art front I am working away in hard pursuit of the African art aesthetic. This started back when I was in college. I won a years scholarship to study architecture at a big name school through a work study program. When I enrolled into the regular classes, Art History was a big part, only the class was set up for art majors intending to become art researchers and curators. After months studying Greek and Roman architecture, I was disillusioned and in a rage. It was the height of the Black awareness movement and I could not find the relevance. I adjourned to the campus library, read all about African architecture, art and the counter culture green technology. I ask the question, What was the African art aesthetics that Matisse and Picasso and others "borrowed" from. And is there a Black or African style rather than just an "influence"?

Hey dude, you talking nonsense! No, wait! How many Black architects, or engineers or interior designers or industrial designers or artist can you name. I can't, I have to look them up, then I can name a couple. The internet is wonderful the way you can patch up a shoddy education with facts that pertain your origins.
But more to the point the idea that I don't have to borrow what should be my heritage and cultural imprint. I just looked.

Here is a shot of my exercise so far:

The back panel I think is wonderful using one of my drawings, the carved African door is so cool, the sofa is called Diysofa from Must Italia. My target is not the museums but the space behind and above your sofa in the African Modern style or whatever it will be called. And of course I use free and open source software for this.

the man from heck

I just been to heck and back. You see I am applying for a job the requires MS Excel and Autocad. It has been a little while since I have used these products but I have used similar Linux applications.

First I used my Ubuntu laptop. I installed Wine which emulates just enough of MS Windows to run some Windows applications. I have Photoshop Lite (2001 vintage) works fine. I tried to install a 30 day trial version of Autocad 2010 and then Autocad LT 2010 to no avail. The real deal is two fold. If you don't have the actual XP or 7, good luck. Then if you don't have enough hardware beef, forget it. Oh, did I tell you it took a couple of hours before I found out Autocad would not install.

The final straw was I put a second hard drive into my desktop Ubuntu machine, installed XP and then Autocad LT 2010 on it. It took forever.............but I now can dual-boot into XP and Autocad LT 2010 does work. My best recommendation is if you are using serious MS platform software, you must have serious resources on hand (lots of disk space and main memory). I have 1gig of main memory and things are slow. My PC will take 2gig. That should speed things up a bit.

It really makes me mad as I love Linux so much. I could run XP as a virtual machine but not having enough memory and or a CPU that is faster, anything practical is a pain. I have PCs of various ages and I have been able to use Linux on them with good success. The economics has always been a pain at this time in my life. The cost of memory does not get cheaper with age. As the memory becomes harder to find for older machines the cost goes up. It is cheaper to get a new machine trimmed to the max, than beefing up an old one.

You'd think I am enraged about XP, Ubuntu 10.04 also gives me heck. I have an older laptop with a lower spec than my desktop. Ubuntu 9.10 runs just fine, 10.04 won't even boot past the logo screen, and this is the live-CD. So here is my unsolicited advice. If when buying a new PC and they try to dazzle you with a huge honking hard drive, pause, take a look at how much system ram comes with it. If your system takes 2 gig of ram, fill it up now or feel up-graders lament. Hard drive cost go up and down but mostly down, you can always get a good deal. System ram though is costly, buy it up front while you can still breath. With system ram to the max, you can run anything, no sweat.

The classic battle of closed source vs open source

The classic battle of closed source vs open source
They stare intently at each other, the light sabre warriors. When ready to engage they take turns lighting them up. Microsoft a red laser, Mac a green laser and Linux in blue. We anticipate red and green but blue takes us aback. Blue laser, what kind of weapon is that? "Ah yes, Gnubian, we got a lot of that!"

The reputations and market share (usage) of Microsoft platform graphic software and Mac graphic software is legendary and that of Linux questioned, ridiculed and marginalised as being not professional enough. It's just a Jedi mind trick, blue lasers will slice off an arm like any other laser. The truth is MS and Mac out of the box, plug-n-play light sabres are made for market products. Linux requires some understanding. "I see you have constructed a new light sabre! indeed you a skilful and powerful Jedi!"

I always hear the chants, I want the best stuff out there, the most used and the most supported and what is the most used in the industry. When art is an industry and you are in that industry, you use what the industry uses. There is a road less travelled......... Like the artist wearing his/her beret, on a riverbank or hillside, recording the view on a minute canvas. Paintbox and pallet and easel and brush, charcoal, pencil, camera or laptop. To this artist every tool is generic and useful from brushes whose hairs were plucked from his chin to the imported zoo-fur brush from an exotic hard to pronounce country. Every artist boast in his tools and wraps a mystique of power around them. I use what I choose, that is what makes them superior over what you choose for yourself. I bend them to my will and in that is the magic. Besides I like blue.

"But you don't know the power of the closed source." Not deeply and I don't like it when sith lords insist I "pirate to try it" or get it for free with a new hardware purchase. I tend to strip it all down anyway, install open source and fire up the blue light. "But no one uses open source for.....Then I shall be the no one that no one knows, for the open source is with me."

the dance of the art

Every living thing does its dance, amoebas, bees, birds, elephants and people. We dance according to our body structure, muscle toning and mind-body coordination. Watch people on the dance floor, it is telling. Or running, all are mobile but some are tuned for speed. There are natural athletes and ones who overcome natural physiology with training and practice.

In my experience there are natural artist who seem to do art in the natural process of their living and the trained. It is possible to study the principles of art and apply them. Just like with running. Your knees may bump and you gasp for air and flail your arms. The coach will teach you good running posture, good breathing management and put your arms in sync for power and energy conservation. And don't forget runners psychology, you need to think like a runner for the sprint or the long distance. With all the elements in play you teach your body the dance. When the body knows the dance, creativity comes out on top of what has become second nature via practice. The body does what it has been taught freeing you for tweaking, pushing and improvising.

Just worked with a master brick layer. His moves were honed by years of doing the job. He was effortless in his process, the moment decisions and adjustments. He asked me if I wanted to try it. I said, not me, you have all the moves down. For me it was not the stacking of bricks on gunks of mortar, it was the practiced moves. Man, he made it look easy as he danced his art. I just mixed the mortar and looked with wonder and awe. The wall is beautiful.

I have some natural ability that runs in my family. I and my cousins grew up drawing. They more than I loved to draw, I liked puzzles and erector sets and model cars. Like any kid I watched cartoons, Saturday was my time. Before the cartoon show there was a home show where they showcased new houses. I was intrigued and started sketching houses. First awkward front views, then really bad perspective views. After learning a bit about perspective my drawing had that tinge of reality. At the same time I explored pencils and pens and various papers. I didn't know I was teaching myself to dance. I was not so good at sports as my older brother could attest, but then he couldn't draw either.

I know that there are those prodigies who seem to do it from birth, but I consider myself lucky or blessed as I have learned to dance over time out of the frantic push for stardom or the urging to get an art job. I am still learning and enjoying art. Many I have known are trained, over worked and tired of it all. Even my retired mom-in-law, artist, school teacher is so much a critical perfectionist, she doesn't let art flow its own course. She never learned "good enough for now, when I learn more I will do more". She tried so hard to agonize and perfect every work. That is her dance. My point is that sometimes it is the artist that needs the tweaking more than the techniques and skills.

That is my sincere advice, learn the techniques, skills and be mindful of yourself the artist. Your body will learn to dance the moves you want to make, yet if you don't take care, your appearance in your work will be telling. That telling is the part that speaks to your viewers. They may not know the force, but they can sense it.

the hand that holds the light saber

What about technique, what about practice. That's the easy part. You repeat and repeat again until your body can move the tools along-with your mind. Half is training the body memory, the other part is harder. Drawing on paper is intimate, you embrace your writing tool, anchor your paper, focus your mind to put it on the paper. The years of writing on paper makes this second nature. Folks who draw should know this well. It takes a while before you can treat computer drawing the same as drawing on paper. Depends on your tools, your focus and your practice. I talk and type more than draw so it's taking me a little longer.

I am pretty comfortable using a mouse. The mouse is fine for vector drawing, a more constrained technique. The digital pen and graphic tablet is wilder because you feel the drawing. First the pen doesn't have a rolling ball that grips the page and lets out ink or is not lead that dislodges from the pencil and smudges into the paper. The smooth tip glides across the smooth tablet surface, so that the feel is different. With practice you get used to this. Second there is pressure, it is adjustable but getting it to feel right takes time, plus you also can use this to great advantage. Then if you don't have a direct view pen tablet, like the Wacom Cintiq tablets or a tablet PC, the tablet is in your lap or on your desk and you look up at the screen. So, you are not looking where your pen is but where the cursor is on the screen. Thus the Jedi theme, "stretch out with your feelings Luke!" 

Every application is a special case and a new skillset. Though there is some crossover, each app has it's own interface, tools and quirks. In GIMP, you can paint, draw, photo touch-up and do some vector. In Inkscape vector is prime but it will export a bitmap if you need it. Blender 3d is a world that can incorporate elements from either GIMP and or Inkscape. You don't have to know them all really well, just what you need to know to get the job done. Over time you will amass a huge basket of skills, some not written in any book or tutorial.

The fuss over digital art is huge. Digital art covers simple pixel art all the way to animation and film. It can be viewed on small screen, large screen or be printed on anything. How it is applied depends on our focus.

A guy I know in the IT field said if you want to know IT hang with the geeks. I will say it is true also with digital art on some levels. While we artist tend to disappear into our own cave of wonders to create without distraction, the art community is how we calibrate ourselves, get tips, give advice and become apt at the business of art. Digital art is still gaining respect in traditional media circles and becoming a class act in its own right. Art schools, museums and galleries tend to be gated communes that is, tightly controlled. There are also more open venues, art shows and such. Because we use computers, perhaps we could virtually gather, still I think local face to face is warm and encouraging.

Go dabble!

the play makes the difference.

When I was in grade school learning to write, we first traced the letters, then under the watchful eyes of the teacher drew letter forms. Circles, curves, humps, horizontals, verticals and slants, over and over, then letters one by one. There was one standard, one look till we moved on. Some kids kept the forms and some veered off. Our own style crept in to alter the standard forms. Believe it or not this also happened in drafting, despite how hard the teacher enforced the standard forms, we eventually migrated to our own style even ever so slightly. 

You would think with the mathematical precision of a computer, drawing would be mechanical. It can be or be as haphazard as any doodle on a napkin. This is why I bring up play. I play a lot to discover what I can do, like to do and might do. It is almost easier to approach say water color like painting on a computer and hang with that for a while. But since you can simulate many approaches, the temptation to explore other styles is always present. You can be a purist or break all the rules, who's to stop you. I myself come from a drafting background, thus vector drawing is very similar. Combining shapes with hard edges is old school to me. I also have kept sketchbooks over the years. I don't care for pencil sketching that much but any kind of inking device is fun, nib, quill, felt or ball-point. I have also painted in acrylics on canvas, years ago. Right now I getting used to using a graphics tablet and pen. This contraption is not easy to use if you cut your teeth on a mouse. And since I am leaning toward a more sketchbook kind of drawing to record ideas I'm not worried about life-like perfection. But who knows what talent is to be discovered, this is why play is so important.

In my playing around or dabbling I use a program called Inkscape for vector drawing. Like Adobe Illustrator, it handles vectors well. Perhaps there are some things I can not do that Illustrator can, but I have not hit that wall. For raster stuff I use GIMP. I am a dabbler and freelance artist so I don't have to listen or worry about what the so-called pros say about GIMP. If you have access to Photoshop and use it, please shut-up about GIMP and use your Photoshop. Oh yeah, Inkscape and GIMP are free and open source. I can't get what I paid for because I didn't pay anything. Both quite good for free. Come on, I heard about a famous artist picking the hair from his beard for the hairs of his paintbrush, curious, cheap or totally not true?

And what about that talented artist who did portraits on an Etch-a-sketch and dumped the gray stuff out so that they couldn't be erased. Don't tell me about artist and their tools. If you can make great art with Microsoft Paint or Open Source Tux Paint, who is going to condemn you? I have complete liberty to kick commercial aspirations to the curb or not. I am saying if Photoshop is what you must have and use, do that. Otherwise don't feel obligated when so many good choices that do the same stuff are available. The way of the force is to use what you have access to. The tools are a channel, PC and software and your efforts. How the force is expressed depends on you. Go dabble!

more on jedi training

Speaking of baselines, If you just got your used or new graphics tablet, jump over to http://blog.dustyghost.com/?page_id=9/  and link, copy, read the graphics tablet tutorial. Do you remember when you first took interest in drawing with a pen or pencil? Sketching with a digital pen is the same but different. The more you use it the more it is useful. The cool thing with todays digital drawing tools is that you can sketch on one layer and draw on another. You can put a base image on one layer and draw over it on another layer. What you draw can be edited, erased and altered. It is actually better than paper if you can get used to it, but drawing on paper is cool also.

If you are like me you need to have all your art stuff in one place. A studio arrangement that is dedicated to the creation task. If you like a more movable situation still the idea is to have what you need in a portable way. I always see the scene painter with folding easel, paintbox, bottles of spirits, brushes, rags and whatever else is needed. Trying to duplicate this with my laptop PC is harder than it looks. If you only have one PC it is hard to dedicate it to just drawing. Those other functions are so intoxicatedly present to distract you from your focus. Seems a shame to bridle so powerful and flexible a tool to one occupation. But the computer in your car is dedicated to running the car, so it's a matter of concept. Besides the traditional painter really likes to comeback to his/her work and continue on where they left off. When you share your PC with other functions it is mind numbing to find your way back. Your paintbox is your paintbox.

I think I am brainwashed to be connected, so hard to turn off my internet. I unplug the ethernet and the wireless kicks in. It's like saying "wait, you need me!" If I was doing paint on a canvas in my room, it is not connected and I would want no distractions as I work out the process. Is it any less with digital art processes? All you trained commercial artist can ignore me, I am talking to the dabblers mostly.

So, my stuff is evolving, I have a main PC, a desktop I can do anything on and a laptop that is becoming my artbox. You know the PC is meant for keyboard input and I have to attach my drawing tablet. I wouldn't mind it the other way around. Put my drawing tablet into the laptop and I attach a keyboard when I need it. I wouldn't try to make it multifunctioned for games, and lots of text input or playing movies. To me those things are counter-productive to my art work. This is what my desktop PC is for. The end result is that my laptop becomes my dedicated art machine. When I look at it I see my creative energies going in and my art coming out.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in the work of others our own focus is diluted. Looking at others stuff is so intoxicating, we get drunk to the point our own work is neglected. Our competing spirit beats us, "oh they are so much better than I!" Use others for a reference, limit yourself to a recalibrating peak once in a while. In other words you are like the main PC, you can do anything, everything, now you need to become a person dedicated to a process to get your art done. All athletes do full body workouts, only runners say "legs go faster!" Basically it is about building body memory and experience, then exceeding. Same with art. I am giving you the play by play as I teach myself.

So, now you got the place, the space, the tools and time, put yourself in there.

the force is with you but requires control

Either we are natural artist or we have developed skills to that end. In any case artists need instruments to channel the force. In digital art the tool of choice could be as clumsy as a mouse or as sensitive as a pen. With my drafting background I got used to drawing with a mouse. Mice are adequate for drafting which is more akin to vector drawing. Vectors are all about lines with end points, connected lines to make shapes and shapes filled with color. Of course it all depends on the type of drawing and vectors do tend to be rather precise.

Drawing with a mouse is like drawing with a bar of soap. Being the average input tool, many of us are used to using a mouse. Drawing with a pen is so awkward at first, it requires a lot of tweaking to match the working end to your way of drawing. The genius of todays pens is that they can simulate pressure and mimic most any drawing tool, brush, ink pen and airbrush. So, the software does one part and you control the other part, as to the line quality. Digital pens require a tablet to transfer the magic to the screen. Pen and tablet is by far the best combo for digital art. My advice, buy Wacom stuff new or used, especially if you are using Linux. Linux has a Wacom driver project and the drivers work well. If you are using MS Windows or Mac, your choices are a little wider. The whole point of a digital pen and tablet is simulating natural drawing instruments. Trying to tweak the pen and tablet and software for the right feel is the trick.

I have a vision of one day using my laptop in remote locations sporting a built-in pen tablet and focusing all my energies into my artwork. Believe it or not this is hard. One reason is the PC can do so much, seems a shame to dedicate one PC to art work alone. As soon as it is connected to the net or internet or you click a non-art application icon your PC transforms into other uses. I lose that artist focus and artist mystique and who wants to have a PC that only does one thing?
Yes we always have to recalibrate ourselves to make things fit us or us things.

Then lets get to the part they don't show you in the movies, actual training. It's hard to believe the force is with anyone when you first hold a digital pen. The best approach is set it and draw and ask stupid what if questions, and don't forget to read stuff. Online searches will yield how-to info, tutorials, but if you don't play with it, you'll never harness the force. The force is different with each of us and to make it flow effortlessly we must practice till the software and the hardware are transparent or second nature to us. Think of a jazz musician who has a tune in his head. If he doesn't know his instrument well, he simply can't make it play what's in his head. That is the whole point, tools are a channel a shaping instrument. I like your humming and air guitar but can you play that on a real guitar in real time? Your fingers need to feel the strings, you must apply that english to bend and stretch notes and use silence with sound to create drama. So, you must do equal amounts of serious study with serious play. Fooling around is skill building and discovery. Don't get lost, study and play.

I am also looking for kindred souls, because when you have a group you can challenge each other by encouraging help. You can inflame egos and put them out too. When you leave the group to do your thing, you are not alone. That is called community. It's good to venture out, good to come home to friends. You can calibrate yourself and break the rules, because you got a baseline.

Linux desktop light saber of choice.

Most of my life I have been thrust into jobs I wasn't quite up to the task. You learn on the job, notice holes in your armor and fix them. To date I am not a Linux system administrator in the corporate world. The title implies that all Linux users should have those skills. The fact is that many of those skills aren't needed to care for a single PC, yet when Linux is explained they are customarily unleashed upon new users. I purpose a fork in the System Admin moniker to focus on the skills of desktop maintenance. A Linux Desktop Admin would be a wonderful focus. Though some skills may overlap, it would make things clear to users who need no clue about the depths of server work.

A concise how-to set up a Linux desktop would be wonderful. With live-CDs this is almost instant. But certain things are not always so clear, like configuring sound cards, video cards, embedded sound and video, Linux only networks and of course wireless. Mixed platform networks are well documented.

I've been struggling through several Linux distros trying to find one that would work on my ancient Win98 vintage laptop (Gateway 4026gz). I've tried a dozen or so and most fell short in one way or another. Fedora 9 and 10, OpenSuse 11.2, Xubuntu, Ubuntu, Elive, #!Crunchbang, Mandriva, and a bunch more. The final choice was Ubuntu 9.10.

The reason was setup. Even though all the other distros had strong points, when it came to setup, I was able to setup wireless and sound with ease in Ubuntu. I don't care how savvy a techie you are (savvy = macho), if you are a typical desktop user, setting up wireless and sound should be painless. Like step one scan hardware, step two apply drivers, step three test system, done. Ubuntu has a System Testing module that test various systems that require drivers and protocols. This makes it easy to change drivers if the present one doesn't work.

The reason being not every Linux user is going to be an OS mechanic. The whole idea of a popular Linux is not to dumb it down but make it so it takes less specialized configuration knowledge. Still, if that deep tweak is your passion, your ma-cheese-mo glory, you can do that. I have seen many compile every kernel and application to make their own distro because they could. But please don't think I'm not a true believer because I don't compile. That works for you but not for me. Linux users no longer have to be extra savvy to use it.

So, in my experience I have suffered through many very good looking Linux distros that didn't have the conveniences built-in that Ubuntu has. But Ubuntu is so bloated, it can't run fast! What does fast mean? If you have the resources, it is fast enough, else you need to shut down services, get a leaner desktop or try another distro that suits your needs. That zippy fast distro may require hand tweaking of config files. This is just like sport cars, many like them, few buy them (real need over speed).

Now if you are still hooked into "Linux the sacred OS" it is still there, only now the desktop GUI has been well developed. You can click an icon which is a shortcut to a script or command that runs a function or app. I don't have to remember and type a script or command. I capitalize on the work of others to save me time, effort and mental band-width. I am quite impressed with the variety of Linux desktops, and I can change it if I am not.

further revelations in Jedi training.

I am used to working at a desk, even at home. I need a PC to be up and running all day long. To this end a desktop PC is fine. I have an old laptop that no longer charges the battery, it overheats and shuts down. I don't have experience running a newer laptop all day, I would hope they are engineered better. I have several desktops in my computer room, I can't use them all at once to any real advantage. So, I am thinking of putting one in the upstairs, one in the living-room.
This means I will have to get wireless cards so that I can avoid stringing cables all over the house and LCD screens (they take up less room). I plan to keep my working data on flash drives or devise a file server on the network.

There are advantages to being mobile, but I'm not in the habit of taking my laptop out into the public space. Laptops are energy lean and space saving, regardless. At home the desk is my peaceful place, other spots are too busy, I can't concentrate so good or feel I can stay without interruption.

Users are a strange lot, their PCs an extension of their personal strivings. I've met ones who retreat into a gaming closet, ones who game everywhere and  families of gamers. I've met small business owners and folks who bring work home. I know some IT people who seem more involved with networked systems than single PCs. And a few who are just plain geeks, like me.

Computers run cars and spaceships and weapon systems, I've met a few who are into those areas. The scariest people are the ones who don't need nothing but a cell phone or PDA. The iconic figure of a person hunched over a keyboard and staring into the glare of a monitor has nothing on a PDA/cell phone user seen everywhere. We have virtually invented the virtual phone booth. We are in a crowded mall, shoulder to shoulder, the cellphone rings (buzzes, clicks, chirps or jams), we evoke the cone of silence as if walls of glass surround us.

Mark my words, first the cell phone privacy force field, then the cell-portation device.  People will get lost in the network and their DNA recaptured on a server. Soon DNA sequences and digital technologies will be parallel, then merged. Doctors will convert you to a DNA stream, run you through a filter and reconstitute you healthy on the other side. All divergent DNA will beamed into space out of the galaxy via laser or stored in giant underground server bunkers. Prisons will be replaced by server farms. So behave yourself or you'll get the bits blasted out of you or you could wind up as a PC operating system in a robot.

Meanwhile, back at the Linuxville chateau, I am wondering how I got in this PC business in the first place.

We are making progress

Right here in the heart of the city, my local public library is making progress. Aside from the flurry of Windows 7, Microsoft Office version whatever and Photoshop books, there is now a spanking brand new GIMP book. This is the GIMP Bible by Jason van Gumster and Robert Shimonski. I am excited because for years Photoshop has ruled the roost with 50+ books and it cost how much?? GIMP does what most folks would use it for and it is free. That's free for folks who have no need to purchase professional level software just to tweak family photos and dabble. I also saw two new Open Office books. Open Office is also free and I am speaking especially to you students who need word processing but don't really need or can't afford M$ Office. Go figure, a public library with a truck load of software books on software no one can really justify the cost of and very few on freely available software. It is even more tragic because open source software is 100 times better than the freeware of the past. And quite a lot of it is enterprise quality, yet not fluffed with fancy trimmings and embedded security problems.

Even if you love or are work bound to Microsoft Windows, Open Source Software can relieve many mental stress fractures and plug financial black holes in wallets and purses. I always hear from ones who try open source but it doesn't work well in their situation. These are usually business folks who rely on Microsoft products and folks with the name-brand loyalty thing. I also see so many who would greatly benefit, who are clueless. Why clueless? Because Open Source stuff is not on the store shelf. Open Source doesn't have that cute mind sticking advertising thing going on.

I have lots of tutorials by users and videos but, I still do not own a printed GIMP reference book. I have PDF docs and users guides and yet there is something about a printed book that is handy and reassuring. Still I am like most, I lightly use many kinds of software. Of late my realization is that to do graphics I need to get more in-depth experience. And if you profess to know anything of anything, people expect you to be somewhat an expert. Sorry folks I use what I use the way that I use it. I am open to learn new tricks if it's something I can use. But overall, GIMP expert and graphics guru I am not. Let's face it, there are some who like to be seen as authoritative. For me to do or be that I would have to study all kinds of stuff I am not interested in, then make myself available to you. In that case I would definitely write a book.

This brings up another good thing, community information. Linux and Open Source both have a history of posting up-to-date information on the internet. And much of that information is maintained by the whole community of users, not just the authors of the software. This is because uses often find innovative ways of using and redefining intent of a software. They discover bugs, flaws, shortcomings and devise work-around, patches, scripts, customizations, tips, etc, The community from the noobe to the developer/maintainer all put in to support software. This is not true with customer/client based commercial software.

So, getting back to GIMP or any other software application, If you want to use it either dabble with it or set aside some time for structured learning. If you can not find a formal class or hire a tutor, I tell you the online and downloadable video tutorials are the way to go. You might find a surveying Open Source Software class before you find a specific class for Open Office or for GIMP. If you have a local computer group, use that as a focal point to gather like interested people and start a SIG (Special Interest Group). Even if you just have email communication, the fact that you are pursuing together is great encouragement and support. As a friend of mine said to me, "if you want to learn IT, hang with computer geeks." To associate and commune is great for learning stuff. This is even more appropriate for graphics because we need to show and tell.

The cool thing is that you don't have to use Linux to use Open Source Software. Some will run on Windows, Linux and Mac. The point is it is out there and not different than other software doing the same thing. It may have a different look and feel or have more or less features but for sure you won't need a defibrillator to revive your wallet.

the dead zone, revisited

Ever gotten a piece of hardware as a discount or a gift for a favor or even in lieu of cash? Your excitement is off the chart, until you explore what you got. How many times the big thrill became an albatross, the proverbial white elephant or my favorite, the door-stop? Believe it or not, lots of Linux users have experienced this, because Linux is supposed to run great on old stuff. The caveat is hardware with proprietary drivers (made for Microsoft OS).

In the further adventures of "This old PC", my Gateway 4026 laptop has reached another milestone. I've read about dozens of 4026 owners ready to convert their laptops into Frisbees after trying to install Linux on them. Here's what I did. First the total XP, then dual-boot via normal installation. This yielded a laptop with working XP and a silent off-line Ubuntu. Then I installed XP with Ubuntu installed via WUBI the Ubuntu windows installer. I had XP and Ubuntu joined at the hip. I discovered sound by installing the Alsa libraries (the Alsa Linux Sound Architecture), then interrogated the PC by Ubuntu's System Testing module. The sound jumped into life.

Next, since I discovered I could get sound, it was worth nuking the whole hard drive and installing Ubuntu by it self, goodby XP. This went great and I got sound and a wired Ethernet. Wireless, will I have wireless? There was a driver for the Broadcom wireless card, so I went with that. After I matched my card and access point configs, wireless happened and I pulled the Ethernet cable.

Here's what didn't happen. I popped in the Ubuntu 10.4 live-CD, it did not boot-up. So upgrading to the latest did not happen and since 9.10 is not broke and works unexpectedly well, I am not going to fool with it. By all accounts my Gateway 4026 is not supposed to run Linux and get sound and wireless. All I need now is a new battery pak and a new keyboard assembly, the resurrection will be complete. And I just tore off the "Made for Win98/XP" stickers and pasted on a "Linux Inside" sticker in its place, totally redefining the laptop in the mind of this user.

If you can get lower power consumption and reasonable performance, along with portability, then laptops, even larger ones are the thing to get. And there is something magical about Linux springing to life on a laptop. I am so used to ATX boxes stuck in one room. Break out the Glade new car scent air-freshener folks, we are new again.

padawan training - building a light saber

There are far too many ways to get Ubuntu on your PC.

1. the network install

2. the live-CD install over everything.

3. the live-CD run off the CD - take out when done - no install

4. Dual-boot two operating systems, same hard drive - two partitions

5. Dual-boot two operating systems, two hard drives

6. Linux on a flash drive

7. Linux as a guest operating system in a virtual machine

8. Used WUBI to install Ubuntu inside a XP folder.

WUBI is the official Ubuntu Windows Installer and It works!! Here's the story. My laptop a Gateway 4026 runs XP with all the stuff. I popped in a Ubuntu 9.10 live-CD and it runs but no sound. Then I boot-up XP and insert the Ubuntu disk to read it, behold, Wubi comes up and asks me if I want to install it into XP??????
This is not exactly a virtual machine but it makes a folder in the XP file system and formats that space to run Linux. So...........what I did was make a large windows partition and let Wubi put Ubuntu in it. Ubuntu installs just like normal and installs GRUB. I reboot, select XP or Ubuntu and have at it.

Ubuntu runs fine, no sound but fine. I went into Synaptic application loader, got the Alsa, universal linux sound architecture, hoping it would work. Then I ran the system testing stuff under System Admin. It found the sound chipset and now I got sound. I am so amazed it worked, old laptops are so proprietary.

There is something so magical about a laptop booting up to Linux. I keep saying the PC should be bigger. I keep looking behind the screen. Next I will look into the wireless connection, I've got a driver for that! 

Jedi, no not yet, you have to face Vader

Who is Vader? Vader is when you must use your talents and tools on the fly. It's not a drill. But wait, let's not jump ahead so fast. Vader will look at your tools, your light saber and say your skills are complete, then test your knowledge of the force. How are your tools/skills? We are so eager to start slicing off limbs.

Click on the GIMP icon or menu button, it comes up and the Swiss Army knife of graphics applications is set before you. What do I do next? If you are serious about graphics and not just an occasional user, you need to put things in order according to your way of working. If you are doing animation, identify the animation tools, if painting, the painting tools, etc. This is suffering for the occasional user, "I ain't got time for this!" Imagine every time you want to pencil sketch, you have to find a piece of paper and sharpen a pencil. You also need a pencil sharpener and a flat surface to rest the paper on. If you have to do this every time, it gets in the way.

Presets is what it's called. Presets are used to save the adjustments to GIMP so that when you are ready to work GIMP is already setup for you. What would be immediately cool for GIMP and other apps like this is to have a number of prefigured and selectable presets. These presets or profiles or user preferences would include sets of tools for the kind of work. If I am doing 2D sketching I don't need animation tools, I shouldn't have to work around them. But I should be able to make and select custom presets according to the way I work.

Ramon Miranda is the man behind GPS (GIMP Paint Studio). This is a group of presets and files for painting and drawing. I am looking at this now. It is cool because when you are doing a kind of art process, you want the things you need handy. I am also looking to see if there is an easy way to save multiple setups or if I even need to worry about this. GPS is a good start.

There is another setup called GIMPshop, which is GIMP setup to look similar to Photoshop.  It tries to put menus and tools in the same place as in Photoshop, not to mimic Photoshop but to shorten your work flow while using GIMP if you are used to using Photoshop.

Now that you have a stack of paper, a bundle of sharpened pencils and a clear space to work, you can draw when the urge strikes, not having to prepare every time. And that's my point, you must spend time to get to know what GIMP can do, then tweak it so that it will do what you need it to do. No piece of software that has a wide range of settings is instantly intuitive. You set it up so that your work paths are short and your tools are not the obstacle to getting your ideas down.

Now the only thing left to do is to do it.

put the blastshield down Luke. stretch out with your feelings

You want to jump into Open Source graphic applications and you look to the experts for advice because they are experienced, right? I'm not saying they aren't great at digital graphics but.......so many former and crossed-over from Photoshop and Illustrator users are all voicing their frustrations along with their amazements. It's like wearing a too long for you open bath-robe and unsecured slippers while ascending the stairs. You get there by tripping on the robe fringes and trying to grip the insides of the slippers with your toes. Finally you get dressed, memory kicks in and you can climb the stairs blindfolded.

Not having used Photoshop, Illustrator or others, I don't have to work through re-programing myself. It is so obvious when an digital art wizard says GIMP is wonderful but.......it's not like......it doesn't have or do........not up to........not quite.....it still making strides...........not ready for mainstream, bigtime or serious projects in a paid work environment. An artist must suffer, but not like that. That kind of grunting should not be over emphasized in reviews. If you, an expert find switching over to use GIMP is hard, awkward, and not like whatever, how the heck do you expect a newbe like me with no history to grab it and use it. You struggled, it must be hard for everyone. Crap-da-monious nonsense!

I can't tell you how many times I've seen newbies, shell shocked and forewarned by experienced folks, get over it after they find they have no problem at all. They have no history, the learning curve has flat-lined for them. The real truth is most can deal with one all consuming graphics application, two or three gets complicated. It becomes apparent when one app becomes the favorite and you have to use or want to use another. Some people have more bandwidth than others. In all, if you spend enough time with one application, others are difficult to learn. I've been looking at GIMP for a little while, already I find Pixel, which has a Photoshop like interface, strange and awkward.

What if there was one Universal Graphics Interface and all graphics tools were third-party plugins? Won't happen too soon! Each graphics package does have some overlap. GIMP can do some vector and Inkscape can export to raster.

What's on my plate today? GIMP, Inkscape, Blender 3D, My Paint, Open Office Draw. What I need is more time with each one, away from the comparison mill. Perhaps I am risking my graphics career on Open Source graphics applications. I don't know if that thought is applicable to me, just that I am willing. As an artist I am committed to Open Source graphics as a starting point.

Hey Arno, how's the artist's eye?

The artist's eye is an innate thing. The problem I am having now is passion. Passion brings art to the top of your agenda. Passion allows you to work all things out so that you can do art. Also make the effort to display/promote/sell. It is a big thing to make the jump from art dabbler to artist in residence for profit.

There are all kinds of formulas out there and many artist are eager to share their experience as advice. Please share your experience, keep your advice. Why? There is no generic situation we art prone come out of or exist in, and there is no generic situation we are going to fit into. It might be different for an "art job" but crafty and fine art people usually don't have an art career tract in mind. An awful lot of us just art because we like it. We like to do art for a while without the "job" persona turning it into a dislike.

Commitment is another big hurdle. If you are like most, multi-talented and in the midst of immediate needs, it is often hard to focus on the thing you prefer when the things lower on your list are paying off and meeting your needs. Sometimes it's not about you but about your spouses view of the world. If I made big bucks from art, I'd be set with her. The more traditional jobs appear more a sure bet with her for now. I am inclined to agree, but also if you don't spend time to develop the preferred avenues, they remain on the back shelf and are destined to be regrets and I should'ves later. My wish is not to be supplied in living expenses yet unfulfilled as a person.

Opportunity is key to any interface with the world. There are opportunities you create for yourself and opportunities others present to you. There is always a cost. Time, expense, principles, inputs, outputs and consequences are all the currency of opportunity. The flip of opportunity is risk. You must risk some or all of yourself in hope of return or what's the point. Profit for you, for others, long turn, short turn, what ever is gained is because something was risked.

Do you have the passion?

Can you commit?

Will you choose and/or make opportunity?

Will you take the risk?

Are you prepared to deal with whatever the profit or return is?

The funny thing is that much of this assessment happens on the fly, while the play is in motion. As the things change, you make adjustments and move on. My hope is to stay in the game, go forward. It's about endurance and sustaining good play, not going down in a blaze of gory, I mean glory. Yet for others it might be different.

This is stuff I think about when I sit down, while in motion it's a little fuzzier cuz I gots others to care for. Endurance and learning to make art on the run.

you need a cyber plumber tool #z23.5 ver2, series 9rc

Ever do a plumbing project and it takes you hours because you don't have the tool to do the job easy? You run to the hardware store, the clerk says, "you need one of these!" It's just like the one you have but the head is bent over and the handle is really long. You reluctantly stick out your battered hand to fork over the cash. When you get back home the job takes 5 minutes.

Computing can be like plumbing. All the wires are in place but it's sometimes hard getting the data to flow where it needs to go. Here in the Linuxville guide office lab, I have a Compaq Proliant DL380, humming like a vacuum cleaner and my main PC (HP Pavilion a1030e). One runs Ubuntu 10,04 the other #!CrunchBang Linux (Ubuntu 9.04). I first needed them to share a keyboard and mouse. This is done via Synergy. Sort of a KVM in software. You run the server module on one and the client module on the other. The server's keyboard and mouse can now be used for both machines depending on where the cursor is positioned. In their specs, they say Synergy can cut-n-paste between server and client. I have not been able to discover how and if this works.

"Let them share data." There are so many ways to do this, FTP, NFS, remote, and others.......just get a little app called "Giver". Giver runs on both computers and they see each other through the network. Sort of like a data chat. Now I can pass files and folders back and forth with no effort.

Let's go back to the DL380. Why you got a big old rack mounted server in there? Well I don't really need it for a network resource manager or a user manager or web server. I could, but right now it's a beefy computer. Older yes, but it's got dual processors, RAID 1 disk array and I can learn a lot by tinkering. It needs more memory and there is no USB (I can get a PCI card for that!) and it is SCSI (scuzzy) inside. Some parts of computing you only learn by fingering the hardware.

So many techies only use computers to manage data. Caring for big and small data systems for businesses is fine. But since I worked as a drafter at NASA and seen engineers make boards from scratch and write software to run on them, I have an appreciation for "creative computing." I just wish I was smarter, techier, nerdier, etc. Also my fav movies are "TRON and Star Wars". For both of these movies, computers to produce the movies were invented as needed. They designed the hardware and software to do the jobs required. They were pie-n-ears (LOL) that's pioneers. I think that's the part missing with kids today. We want them to grow-up to be data managers, they resist (of course). It's like taking typing class in the old days. Creative computing looks more inviting. You can still manage a businesses data but the computer can do so much from remote controlling your car to designing your belt buckle (you wear a belt?).

And of course I will promote Linux. Linux does not put the $ and legal restraints on you. It is very handy when creative computing is before you. It will do the normal stuff too, quite well I might add. So with that, I take off, but take a look at these tools, next time you boot up. Guake Terminal, Synergy, Giver and the distro #!CrunchBang.

still in the lab - the next day

Back here in the lab there is great excitement, but I told you that already. Along with the stuff I got a few days ago, I procured two servers from a friend. Now what good is old servers? I can see your minds racing as did mine. But you got to think, if you don't know much about servers, you've gotta find out.  First of all a server is a "C", not a "PC" as far as hardware is concerned. A server in software can actually exist on any hardware it will run on. A server is the eye of the resource storm and is used to manage, direct, deploy, store, allocate, etc, etc, etc, connecting users to data. Don't take it personal, it's not a Personal Computer.

BUT when you pop the top, you find it's just like a "PC" inside. The hardware may be more robust or the divice connections different (mine is SCSI or scuzzy). So, what am I doing with? I have no web hosting aspirations, no need for business type infrastructure data processing configurations. The most logical thing for me was to see if I could use this advanced fire power for a "PC".

Well, it's got dual CPUs and a RAID disk array, needs more memory and maybe it will run Blender 3D better than my regular PC.

I tried a dozen different Linux versions on it. All the mainline Linuxes have too much whizbang to work. I tried #!CrunchBang Linux and it worked. It installed almost without a hitch. I had to exchange the CD ROM drive from one server to the other. Always get two junkers, one for spare parts!


The servers are rack mount sound like a vacuum cleaner and are designed to run forever.............................What kind? Compaq Proliant DL380.


This is why I have a lab and use Linux. Useful work is over rated, IT'S ALIVE!!!

day in the lab, the play by play

Gee, I am excited. The other day I got 2 flash drives @ 2 gig each. I used them for back up so that I could install Ubuntu 10.04 and still have my stuff. Then after that was done I put Wolvix 2.0.0 live-CD in, booted it up. Of course it runs great! Wolvix is Slackware based. I plugged in one flash drive, installed Wolvix on it.

I discovered my second machine wouldn't boot from a flash drive via the bios setup. Neither could my laptop, they are both older. It might be possible to boot from the flash drives using Grub the boot loader. My laptop has XP, will boot from hard drive or CD Rom. I will see if a MS platform boot loader is out there or install Linux inside XP via Wabi or something.

My second machine has XP and #!Crunchbang Linux on it along with Grub. I could write a config in Grub to see and boot from the flash drive.

I did however plug the flash drive into my first machine. Via the bios, I adjusted the boot sequence to see my flash drive. It booted without a whimper. It was totally weird not to hear the hard drive or the CD Rom revving and humming. In fact, if I had a LCD monitor there would be no sound, not even the clicking of my CRT going from blank to signal present. That was awesome.

Many of todays OSs have that Cylon style indicator going back and forth or a series of dots moving from left to right while booting up. I actually like to see the script being executed and scrolling. There is often a switch to turn it off/on called verbose. It reminds me of the "Matrix". There is something totally magical about seeing Linux boot up, especially on a laptop. That screen with the thin borders and black background and the text. That is the real face, the real software running, then it constructs the face or GUI to cover those inner workings. I still find that fascinating.  Some things in the PC world you can't fix or adjust via the GUI, you need to go deep inside, go behind the scenes. This is true in MS OSs as well as with Linux OSs.

I am in that gap between just running/using software and just managing data and monitoring systems. It's it called creative computing. A little hardware, a little software and let's try to do something besides mainstream use. Back in the day and not that long ago, hacking was a good term. Today hacking has been usurped and criminalized. The bad connotations of shared labels don't always defame the whole that do it. DIY home remodelers and backyard mechanics don't have a bad rap. Some how creative computer users get a bad name because "hacking" is easy to say and the consequences of bad guys/gals more visible. If it were not for hacking, there'd be no computer controlling and monitoring your car and other critical devices where humans can't stay awake 24/7 or be consistently vigilant on the job or in harsh environments, or handle the nuisances of media, medicine and entertainment devices. I can reluctantly give up the hacking label but don't criminalize all creative computer users.

No, "engineer" is a professional label. Many who have "engineer" knowledge and or ability are not pros in the professional sense. Some who have that "engineer" designation are evil doers, engage in "hacking", (if you will) and use creative computing as a means to gain access to  pillage and plunder. I am just fascinated by the technology and tinker and dabble. Some have a 57 Chevy under a tarp, I have some old/newer PCs, some build a shed, I a lab, some home stereo and multimedia centers, I could do that too! Hobbyist is an old school word or enthusiast more for today. When I turn on my lab the the neighborhood lights go out, I guess I've gone too far. OK, dressing in a Tux (Linux mascot) and passing out Gummy Fish to kids yelling "use Linux" is a bit much, LOL!

winds of change, but what's that smell?

OK, I just installed the latest Ubuntu 10.4 aka Lucid Lynx. Well it needs tweak'in and I just gotten to like the "Human" colors on Ubuntu 9.04-9.10. I was down with brown and being a brown guy myself, was groov'in on all things brown from rich Corinthian leather to chocolate bars. This purple haze thing is.........well good thing change is good.

Well, Ubuntu 10.4 is as fine as can be expected, boots a little faster, shuts down a lot faster. In between it is just Ubuntu which is very cool. But that Gnome Shell which I admired and enjoyed in the previous version does not work for me on my PC in this version. I am so disappointed, what a let down. Gnome Shell was very cool, yet needing some revising. I would have used it as is. It is coming but we will have to wait. Stay tuned for the sequel folks.

Why change? First of all let me say that change in Linux is normal, whether it is comfortable or not depends on how much work you have to do. This 10.4 version is what they call "LTS", which I think means Long Term Stable. Meaning it is the stable base from which minor upgrades will come until the next "LTS" version down the road. If you don't need to upgrade every whenever, you can just do it when the next "LTS" comes out and still be cool.

How do you prepare for change? Being a former Microsoft guy, now a Linux guy I think it is crazy to have one hard drive on a PC. With the advent of the thumb drive and the USB external drive, I think it is wise to put your personal files on a different drive than with the operating system and applications. This is very convenient for when your system crashes, the operating system gets hosed, you want to upgrade or you want to change. If you put your stuff on an external drive you don't have to back them up, just remove the USB and plug into another PC. Now if files are suspect you can remove them from the infected PC and scan them on a good one, and repair the OS separately or reinstall it.

For this change I bought two small thumb drives 2 gig each. I will eventually get a 4 or 8 gig for this file moving business. They are also handy for putting a boot-able OS on them, so cool. If you want a bigger thumb drive, the larger USB portable drives are better priced and bigger. I was at Best Buy the other day, a 1TB hard drive, that's one terabyte or 1000 gigs for $109.99 on sale!?! If your OS, apps and movie collection all on that thing gets lost because the OS crashes badly or you have to back up that big.......... sometimes even partitioning won't save you.

Now the question comes up, do penguins shed? Just like the guy with the bag on his head, you rip off the bag to find another bag. Oh, the other question, how do you like this new Ubuntu 10.04? It works fine, perhaps better, but the art work doesn't have the zest of the previous versions. I think we sometimes strain to be fresh and different. In the end a group of folks are trying to please the masses, which means the best part of Linux is that you can still change it to suit yourself.