Joy of joys! Debian is going to try to get a new logo. They are doing this in conjunction with the latest Gimp Contest. My cheesy entry is on my gimp page *grin*. Anyway, there are more details on the pages linked above- and the winner gets a Debian CDs for their platform of choice (no fair asking for for something that runs on your C64)

Couple of web sites worth mentioning: gman wrote in to plug LinuxHardware.net, a new "driverbase" that aims to make it easily to find drivers. Gman says it already has over 250 submissions. Need more help? Sure we all do, well Patrick wrote in to plug his new site, dotfiles.com. Guess what it's for? The first 2 tries don't count. And Some fun bits to keep you entertained for the evening, Evelyn Mitchell sent us a link where you can read the tummy.com 2.2 pool results and find how who predicted when 2.2 would be released. A similiar pool is upcoming for 2.4 CaseyB sent us an entertaining rumor from BeDope that Be will reincarnate the BeBox- building it out of Legos. Don't I wish. And finally, Hans sent us another funny one ls.themes.org where you can theme ls. I can't decide if its a parody or not- but it made my day.

Zachary Kessin writes "There is a new Script-Fu Webpage , Covers details of programing The Gimp in Script-Fu. " Not really much there yet, but it hopefully will be cool.

Stig Hackvän apparently really wanted this story since he emailed it to me twice, and he also submitted it the right way. Anyway, he submitted a nice interview with S&P on LinuxWorld if you're interested in reading it.

Greg Roelofs writes "Graphics developers (yo, GIMP folks!) will be mildly amused to know that the PNG Development Group has released version 1.1 of the Portable Network Graphics specification. It includes a significantly rewritten section on gamma correction, a couple of new chunks for color correction, and some little stuff relating to suggested palettes, alpha-channel processing, etc. A complete pseudo-context-diff is available. Note also that ISO/IEC standardization is underway, and the PNG home page has even been spiffed up a tiny bit. Whoa. "

Anthony Ball writes "Michael Hammel's new book "The Artist's Guide to the GIMP" is now available at SSC. " How long before we can see that on the shelves right next to the Photoshop books?

Sven Neumann writes "A first release of the developers-series 1.1.x has appeared on ftp.gimp.org and should soon be available on a mirror near you. What a nice xmas present. " Just a reminder that the Gimp has adopted a version naming convention similiar to the Linux Kernel, so since this is an odd numbered release, it is for developers and risk takers, and not graphic designers with deadlines. And FWIW I'm not planning on announcing devel gimp releases unless they have significant changes in them in the future. There are other sites that already do a fantastic job announcing software.

Vincent Renardias writes "Tor Lillqvist has recently tried to port The Gimp on Win32; and not only it works great under Windows 95/98/NT, but it also runs under Linux (Screenshot!) thanks to the Wine emulator.
Now who will dare do say there are no usefull applications running under Wine? ;) " That is amusing.

Chris Frost writes "After the worry sprouted by an earlier article, Sven Neumann has posted what's going on with respect to Gimp 1.1 To cut right to the chase, there's also a list of new features " The list is huge, my favorites include GimpPerl, XInput support (finally I'll have a reason to dig my pen out of the drawer), the Guillotine plugin (useful if you make web pages) and a ton of excellent UI enhancements

ggoebel writes "Daniel Egger is forking The Gimp. Why? Read his editorial. The short version, is that he would prefer a more open development model, and a more structured development path. " So folks, what do you think?

slana is desperately seeking assistance with the following issue: "Help!!! After three years I am almost MS free, yet each season my Cristmas and Business Card making needs have easily been met by "MS Pub." Hours and days with WP8, GIMP, SANE, SOffice 5.0 have met with limited and convoluted results. I am at what one might call 'an advanced novice at wits end.' Set me free from this seasonal 'Off the Wagon' syndrome!" Can anyone give tips on how to do these things using some of of the software listed? Is there better free software out there for this purpose?

A new book and some Slashdot e-mail makes it clear why people like me have to learn how to use Linux and help spread its message beyond the Rarefied Geek Enclave. And also just what a nightmare that's going to be.

After a long night in the darkroom working on photography projects, nothing will make me happier than cleaning out the submissions box. So hit the link below and read the huge flood of stuff that has been accumulating while I've been trying to vanquish my end-of-the-semester projects. There is a ton of cool stuff in there worth checking out.

Greg Briggs asks this burning question "My question for Slashdot is... What can I do? I don't know any programing languages, (I'm learning) but would like to help support Open Source Software. I am good with Photoshop and The GIMP, but have not been able to get in contact with anyone that could use my services. For some time I have been thinking of starting a database that could link people with projects that can use their services. It would be a "OSS help search" of sorts. Well, if anyone at Slashdot has any ideas for ways that I (and other slashdot readers) can help post them on the site. Also if you know of anyone that could spare some space and bandwidth I would be happy to run a "OSS Help Search" site." There are plenty of ways for non-coders to support Open Source Software, but I figure you all knew all the answers better than I did. And does that "OSS Help Search" sound like a really good idea to you all? I know I can could it, since a lot of people like submitting questions that would be better off on such a site...

Toast writes "According to CNET, Linux (and some other alternative OSes) are the #1 trend for 1998. They cite the Gimp and StarOffice as two reasons why alternative OSes are gaining popularity. According to CNET, 'Alternative OS-makers no longer need rely on their "Microsoft sucks, and we're not Microsoft" appeal. This year, the sentiment is "Our OSes stand on their own merits." And this year, they can back it up.' " Ya know, a year ago nobody in the media mentioned Linux. Sure, Slashdot was easier to run because there were fewer articles to pick from, but now, Linux is recognized everywhere. Very cool.

Steve Moore asks: "...any idea what the status of working in a four color (i.e. CMYK) space is within gimp? is it that the algorithms used to go from RGB to CMYK is too complex, or is it a copyright issue (on the algorithms) that's preventing gimp from getting into the prepress realm?" I've seen this issue come up a lot when discussing GIMP, and its ability to compare with other paint programs, so I figured a lot of you out there might want to see this one.

The almighty Yosh asked me to announce the return of the monthly GIMP contest. The site returns under the management of tc, and the new topic is a photo collage. Go forth and GIMP!

Con Zymaris wrote in to tell us that APC (Australian Personal Computer Magazine) has Given some awards to a few familiar faces: Productivity Sofware of 1998 to The Gimp and their Just Plain Cool Award 1998 to Red Hat Linux 5.1

Magus311X writes " Even during the usual marketing of Windows 98 and how to effectively nuke your system resources using it, Linux once again is mentioned! The wonder OS was featured on Computer Chronicles with a cool segment featuring Linus Torvalds over national cable access. Linus bashes the OS market by claiming that all the OS's "Just... suck." and self-proclaimed himself as "the best programmer in the world". The show also included snippets of the ever-glorious "Slashdot.org" using Netscape 4.5, as well as The Gimp, KDE. It also featured VA Research, and that they make custom Linux boxen. (Mooo!) So, thanks to WGBH 44 and all the other cable access channels that featured Computer Chronicles, for showing the world "The growing alternative to the Windows platform". The show usually reruns the following Saturday, so tune in on 10-17-98 for some Linux action. And check out the Computer Chronicles website"

The release of The GIMP v1.0.1 has recently occured. Updated plugins, bug fixes, some new odds and ends. And as if that isn't enough software to clutter up the poor modem to my house, we also have Linux 2.1.123 available as well. Download. Compile. Reboot. Repeat.