So, I installed Gimp, it is a few years (as the MX designation on my Macromedia - remember them? - software may hint) since I last tried Gimp. It has improved beyond recognition, back then it was ugly, difficult to use and crashed the machine often - in short, no advert for open source software. Now it is good looking, stable, and most tasks (once I began to learn different menu structure and keystrokes) are fairly easy. Brilliant!I just wish I could find a good way to export a picture as JPG, but then Gimp is not designed as a Fireworks replacement, but one for Photoshop, I guess... Does anybody know a better freeware way to adjust photos and export them for the web? Or a quick way to export JPG and GIF from Gimp?
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Hi Tim, I use GIMP all the time. Simply do a save as and change the extension to jpg.
By 
Graham Doel, at
July 21, 2008 11:39 PM
Hi, Graham, that's what I am doing, but since Gimp then asks me to export the file first it is a multi step process. Also I miss the information Fireworks gives about the filesize as I change the quality.
But I recognise that I am once again examining the teeth of donated equines - Gimp is an all purpose graphics tool and brilliant as such. Firefox is aimed at web use and brilliant at that more restricted task.
By 
Tim, at
July 22, 2008 6:44 AM
When you change the extension to .jpg (or .jpeg) and click Save, the Gimp wants to know what JPEG quality to use---this extra step is understandable. If you then tick the box to "Show preview in image window", you get not only the filesize, but also (as the words suggest) a preview of the image at the quality you've chosen (but you might have to move other windows out of the way to see it). Moving the Quality slider will update both the filesize and the preview.
<><
By , at
July 22, 2008 2:24 PM
Oops, sorry, stupid of me, yes there it is ;)
Blame my oversight on it being the start of a new semester and trying to get pics ready for the first class as well as blogs... Now I am even more sold on Gimp!
By Tim, at
July 22, 2008 4:30 PM
Actually, I think that bit's a bit unintuitive---if you want to know the filesize, you have to ask for a preview---so I can't blame you for missing it at first.
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By , at
July 22, 2008 5:33 PM
For quick and dirty format conversions, resizing and cropping I use IrfanView. Does the trick for most simple tasks and is quick to start up.
By Stephen G, at
July 23, 2008 9:08 PM
Thank you both, Irfanview is also brilliant! Now I do not need to install ANY of the graphics programs I have bought and used over the years ;)
By Tim, at
July 25, 2008 6:27 PM
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You all (except doubtless smugger than thou Mac users) know that annoying Windows dialogue box, when you are copying a load of files and some exist in the target directory already:
If you really do want to take "Yes to All" it is fine, but what if you want as I often do to say "NO to all"? Bill Gates refuses you permission, so you'll just have to click "No" till your clicker falls off... except, apparently if you SHIFT click "No" then it acts like the long awaited, but never offered "NO to all" button. But only, they say in XP - Bill must have dixed that bugin Vista, so all you Visterians will still have to click for your lives, he, he!
Labels: pc
¶ 11:16 AM
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Hat tip to LifeHacker for pointing me to this new addon for Open Office. Now those who do not enjoy paying for a copy of Microsoft Office to do basic office tasks (or indeed most complex tasks) do not have to write without any computerised grammar checking.
LangaugeTool is free it works in Java, and so anywhere OpenOffice does and checks your grammar and some word usage. This does not replace a sensible fluent friend, but does help you avoid many common errors. [Students and blog authors take note - this can considerably improve your credibility!]
LifeHacker's instructions read:
In OpenOffice.org: Do not unzip the archive, just call Tools -> Extension Manager -> Add... to install LanguageTool-0.9.zip (note that the menu item is called Package Manager in OpenOffice.org 2.0.x). Open a new window of OpenOffice.org (Ctrl-N) and you'll see a new menu entry "LanguageTool" that will check the current text.
One less excuse for many of the simple errors in the essays I read. One happy (well at least happier) marker! One more reason not to "upgrade" to MS Office 2007, and make all your documents unreadable by others (unless you use the tip in the comments to this post ;-)
Labels: pc
¶ 8:56 AM
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The other problem though was a tutor whose DOCX documents could not be opened by students... I can't really expect all the students to download the converter, and anyway many of them are using Open Office. So I suggested the tutor Save As "Word 97 etc." DOCs. That's a bit of a pain for her. Does anyone with Office 2007 know a way to make Word save in a compatible format as its default? If so please tell me the menu steps to achieve this and I can pass the good news on.
And MS call this OpenXML - in my view it is "open" like George Bush is a pacifist - in theory perhaps, in practice not really!
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Go to Word Options, from the main Office button menu right down at the bottom. In the dialiogue select "Save" from the menu, and choose 97-2003 format as your default.
Hope that helps.
By Doug Chaplin, at
June 9, 2007 10:03 AM
Thanks, Doug, I'll pass this on, could help those who use Word 2007 to communicate with the rest of us!
By Tim, at
June 9, 2007 11:55 AM
Did you know that OpenOffice is now into 2.2... they may have fixed it.
By Graham, at
June 9, 2007 7:22 PM
Thanks Graham, I haven't downloaded OO 2.2 yet, waiting for a day when I'm at home (so as not to tie up the college connection, and not using the Internet much... perhaps I should just start overnight downloads! (I suspect that for this issue it does not help, at least it's not mentioned on the "What's New" list.
By Tim, at
June 10, 2007 6:58 AM
The latest Tyndale Tech makes me thank God daily that I was created a PC user not a Mac addict ;-)
Update and confession: Since I was taken to task recently for not mentioning all the good features in a service I mentioned in passing, I'd better confess, the Mac woes with Unicode that the Tyndale Tech email focuses on are mainly for people using MSWord. People who have wordprocessors designed with the needs of Hebrew in mind as Danny of Deinde points out (in Latest Tyndale Tech: some clarifications) probably have something almost as good as a PC, even if the machines still normally come with one mouse button missing ;-)
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One Laptop Per Child at last a human computer interface?
Pentagram has some first ideas about how the user interface of the laptop in "One Laptop Per Child" will work.
Four views:
- Home: where you "set preferences like color"
- Friends: where you "chat with their friends"
- Neighborhood: where you "locate other users and gather around an activity"
- Activity: where you "focus on a project at hand"
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In his post "LazyWeb: OS Printers" AKMA proposes the brilliant and simple idea of a good enough repairable reusable printer:
isn’t there an opportunity for a company to manufacture printers specifically designed to be reparable, reuseable, and refillable — precisely the attributes that the present instant-obsolescence printer industry resists? Can’t someone on the LazyWeb develop a standard chipset and reservoir design that do a good-enough job for most family and small-office purposes, that can be repaired and refilled rather than replaced?Like him, rather than replace our current elderly and somewhat temperamental ink-jet with a newer but doubtless equally disposable printer, I'd love to buy a printer that I expect to be running in ten years or twenty, we can do it for cars, so why not Lazers?
Labels: pc
¶ 11:11 AM
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My laser printer drum needs replacing but the part costs another $100 more than buying a new laser printer containing exactly the same drum. Do I treat the new printer as 'packaging'?
By Stephen G, at
December 14, 2006 12:47 PM
Exactly, with an "Open Source" printer (i.e. one whose specs and design were standard and public property) the drum must cost less than the printer, because then we'd have a free(r) market...
Hey, this is a horrible rightwing conspiracy...
By Tim, at
December 14, 2006 2:49 PM
