Craig Maloney writes with this review of The Linux Cookbook, a hope-inspiring entrant in the still too-small category of generalized, readable references for non-programmers, as well as the even-smaller category of books with a complete free version online. Craig's found some flaws as well as bright spots, but it still sounds like a good book to check out for users who aren't sure which FM to R, no matter what their level of experience.

It's not a contradiction: Free software costs money. (That's because server space, bandwidth, coffee, electricity, computers, and workspace all cost money.) Besides which, the time it takes to code new window managers, programming libraries (and languages), web browsers, and all the other goodies which make a modern computer useful may be spent as a labor of love, but it's time that competes with real-world jobs, family time, vacations in the Riviera and sleep. Besides the relative few who work at work on their Free software projects, the programmers, project managers, web-site maintainers, documentation jockeys and QA volunteers behind the programs we enjoy every day don't seem to be in it for the money, so much as the thrill of releasing new software, a desire to make their own world a little better, and for plain old fun. The staffers and volunteers who put long hours and dedication into organizations trying to safeguard online freedoms are also obviously interested in rewards that go way beyond salaries. This New Year's, consider giving them a little money anyhow. Here are a few ideas; you're invited to point out projects and organizations that I've left out.

weierophinney asks: "In a past job incarnation, I was a graphic artist and page layout technician for a small guidebook publisher. We were a Windows-based shop, and I used Macromedia Freehand for drawing maps, Adobe Photoshop for scanning and sizing images, and Quark XPress for book layout. I have since moved on to web programming, but occasionally want to do something that would use these tools. While I use GIMP regularly, I have yet to find a -good- free, open-source, alternative to the 2D vector graphics programs I used, or a page layout program with the power of Quark XPress. Is anybody in the Linux community doing publishing or using such tools, be they commercial or otherwise? Is Linux a viable option for small publishers (where profits are often slim and money for software upgrades is sparse)?"

albamuth asks: "A friend of mine recently handed me $1000 (in the form of her credit card) and asked me to put together the best artist-friendly PC possible. Though I enjoy reading system guide recommendations put out by the likes of Arstechnica and Sharkyextreme, it seems that most, if not all, of these guides are geared towards gaming purposes. My friend is an artist and was surprised when I approaced with a list of decidedly non-Apple recommendations. I countered that the lousiest new iMac would cost $999 and the reason why "all the other artists" use them is because of brand loyalty. However, now I'm tediously looking through motherboard and monitor reviews for things like Firewire ports and color accuracy, respectively. There's plenty of other things to think about as well: Photoshop vs. GIMP, [slide] scanners, video capture, etc. Though I'm pretty dogmatic on getting an AMD, I would like to hear opinions on hardware/software for a media/arts-oriented box."

ILikeRed writes: "TrollTech is offering some big prizes, including $10,000 USD for coming up with a hot application for the new Sharp pda previously mentioned." The site says that "entries must function with the Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D and must be compiled with Qt/Embedded, version 2.3.2," but the rules make no demands one way or the other regarding licensing. How about making a GIMP-based ultra-mini photo studio tool?

V_IL_Len writes: "I'm the administrator of a university NT based animation lab. I have a Sun Ultra 60 sitting unused in the corner which seems like a travesty. I don't have any Unix experiece but am willing to learn. I'm not sure what the best use for it is." Read on for more on the circumstances here; perhaps you've tried something similar?

Ivo asks: "I'm a webdeveloper working almost exclusively in Linux. But I currently still use Windows to use Adobe's ImageReady, to splice up the designs that we get from our webdesign partners. Usually, if someone asks 'can I do Adobe Photoshop stuff on Linux', the answer is of course, Gimp. Gimp rules. No doubt about that, and I use it all the time. But I miss the features that ImageReady has, like automatic generation of a lot of small images and buttons for a website, including mouseover and mouseoff variants. Doing that manually in Gimp or Photoshop takes hours. Is there a program for Linux, or even better a plugin for Gimp, that does what ImageReady does?" How difficult would something like this be to do using Script-Fu?

It seemed like a shame to delete all the Hallowe'en submissions coming in today, so let's see if we can figure out something useful to do with them. Tonight is a full moon, which is a bad thing if you happen to be around animals. Several readers sent in Mac O' Lanterns of various types. One soul sent in a Jack O' Linux. This guy carves big pumpkins (be sure to click the arrows to see the finished versions). And if all else fails, bring out the Gimp.

proclus writes "OSX.1 users can now install the GNU-Darwin base distribution automatically with one command. As Root: "curl http://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/one_stop | csh"." This assummes you have curl or wget or something. From there you can install gnome, abiword, gimp or whatever. Looks pretty smooth (although I'm kinda confused how you get back to OSX.1 from there ;)

Tonight's slashback with news of how you can help rebuild the foundations of the Internet (at least a small corner), more on slimming down the old Cathode Ray Tube, a new compiler which costs a bit more than GCC, and more.

SONET writes: "Why aren't all laptops made like this? I'm always putting my lappie in my otherwise empty briefcase. Even if it's just Photoshop/GIMP vapor, I really like the idea of a more rugged shell ... and the design is exceptionally clean. I know there are ruggedized laptops for the military and the like, but they really aren't for the average consumer as I envision something like this could be. The page is in Japanese, but the images really speak for themselves." I'm assuming it's just a mockup, the nicer to be proved wrong about ;) For the Exacto knife-and-firesale crowd though, an anonymous reader whispers that "Some guy modded his G4 Cube to have a Propaganda tile mapped inside the case. Looks excellent. That it does.

Linux won't ever be accepted as a truly mainstream OS by most vendors. The reason for this is quite simply the users. And I'm not talking about everyone, I'm talking about the 31337 h4x0r kids with the bad attitude. They're posting right here on this system, intermixed with others who often share the attitude, but also have a bit more civility. I saw this once again while learning about the Hewlett Packard 3300C flatbad scanner ... which has zippo Linux support from HP. And I don't see that changing. Keep reading and maybe I can explain why.

XRayX asks: "I'm currently installing a Windows 98 PC and I'm trying to install just Open Source Software (except Windows and Drivers). Okay, there's Freeamp, GIMP, Mozilla, OpenDivX, VirtualDub, Audacity, Abiword, Tuxracer and FlaskMPEG for Windows; but I'm still missing some good Open Source Tools for Windows: a picture viewer and a GUI Zip-program. Can anyone help?" While an interesting thing to try, I don't think it will be as easy as it sounds. How many others of you have tried to pull this off and how successful were you?

Recently, I've had two readers come looking for some obscure graphical tools. Their requests were similar enough in a sense that I felt I would post them both in a single article. For those of you who remember, there was a tool that would display Tux the penguin in colored text from the Linux source code. Well, I'm sure there are several tools like that out there creating images out of things more interesting than that. This article is for those people looking for those or similar programs.

l-ascorbic writes: "In 1999, Internet Pictures Corporation (IPIX) started persecuting anyone who made software to produce 360 images. They succeeded in forcing Professor Helmut Dersch, the creator of the GPL Panorama Tools to remove certain functionality from his software. Well, they're at it again. They have now forced him to shut his website. IPIX hold several US patents on remapping fisheye images, and first went after US sites that linked to the PanoTools site. Prof Dersch says he may now have to distribute his software using tricks similar to those needed by GIMP to avoid the Unisys GIF patents."

mblase writes: "A MacCentral article talks about progress being made on the MacOS X conversion of GIMP; they hope to have the installer ready by the MacHack conference at the end of June. This is great news for this open-source graphics editor; making it available under MacOS X puts it in front of thousands of Mac-based graphic designers who have only had access to Photoshop for years." There are some things PhotoShop can do which The GIMP so far cannot (color separation stuff, for instance), but for online publishing and correcting amateur digital photos before burning to CD-R, it's a great tool. Cross-OS, cross-platform is a nice trick, too.

strredwolf asks: "Has anyone tried using GIMP with MOSIX? I have a few computers here doing nothing, and I'm wondering if GIMP could be spread out through multiple computers (x86, of course, they're 486's and Pentiums). That would help out the render times I have with just the 500Mhz AMD K6-2 I have."

As usual, updates and tangents from previous stories in tonight's Slashback. Read on for more on toys from Pittsburgh, the newest iteration of the Magician-named distro, open source directory entries, and everyone's favorite trademark dispute. So hit the button.

Snowfox writes: "Crosley Bendix, Director Of Stylistic Premonitions, U.M.N., has this excellent article explaining Squant, the fourth primary color. He managed to get his hands on a new Apple Quicktake 1500sq, in advance of the US release, to snap some photos. You can view them with the plugins available on the site. -- Sorry, no Linux plugins. :( -- Seeing a new color jumping off your screen is a real head trip though. Just try and imagine a color you may well have never seen before." While it's true that no Linux plugins exist yet, a GIMP plug-in can't be far away. Considering Squant's olfactory characteristics, that might not be the greatest idea, though.

hardgeus writes: "A lot of people (including me) have said that what the Open Source world needs is a 3D counterpart to GIMP. Well, it looks like it's finally here: The OpenFX Open-Source 3D modeling, animation and rendering suite . It has a renderer and raytrace engine, NURBS support, kinematics-based animation, morphing, a plugin API - and it's under the GPL. Currently only for Windows, but they're working on a Linux and FreeBSD port." There's this and Blender - what other options are there?