On 2009-01-29, Christopher Tidy wrote:
Hi Don,
Yes, that is the version of GIMP that I have installed. I think it's
version 1.2. I found it more stable and faster than every copy of
version 2 that I could find.
As far as the speed is concerned, I find 2.0.2 is quite fast
enough -- at least on a Sun Blade 2000 with dual 1.2 GHz CPUs. And the
thing which makes the biggest difference in speed for *any* serious
image processor is the amount of RAM present. Running the Ultra-2 with
a full 2 GB of RAM made a significant difference. Running my SB-2K with
6 GB of RAM (instead of the 3 GB which I was running before) makes a big
difference in the speed of gimp 2.0.2.
BTW -- "the GIMP" is now up to version 2.6.?, though I am
running 2.0.2.
The version which I am running (from an earlier Solaris 10
distribution) is 2.0.2
I think 1.2 was the last version which Sun distributed with Solaris 9,
unless it has been updated in the last year or so, and I don't think it has.
I believe that it was included in the Software_Companion in
earlier versions of Solaris 10 as well (installing in /opt/sfw), while
gimp 2.?.? came standard in /usr/sfw.
But sadly it won't write PNG or GIF files.
Yet I'm sure that there was a version of GIMP 1.2 that could write those
files.
2.0.2 will save both.
As would one version of GIMP 1.2, or possibly 1.x, which I had from
http://www.blastwave.org/ in 2004. And it was stable. But I can only use
it now if I use all the software dating from 2004.
Wrong! Install once and run "ldd `which gimp`" on it.
Note where it finds each shared lib. Here is what my gimp on
the SB-2K shows up:
================================================== ====================
Katana:dnichols 21:33:28 ldd `which gimp`
libgimpwidgets-2.0.so.0 = /usr/sfw/lib/libgimpwidgets-2.0.so.0
libgimpcolor-2.0.so.0 = /usr/sfw/lib/libgimpcolor-2.0.so.0
libgimpmodule-2.0.so.0 = /usr/sfw/lib/libgimpmodule-2.0.so.0
libgimpbase-2.0.so.0 = /usr/sfw/lib/libgimpbase-2.0.so.0
libgimpthumb-2.0.so.0 = /usr/sfw/lib/libgimpthumb-2.0.so.0
libgimpmath-2.0.so.0 = /usr/sfw/lib/libgimpmath-2.0.so.0
libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0
libatk-1.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0
libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0
libm.so.2 = /usr/lib/libm.so.2
libmlib.so.2 = /usr/lib/libmlib.so.2
libpangoxft-1.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libpangoxft-1.0.so.0
libpangox-1.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libpangox-1.0.so.0
libart_lgpl_2.so.2 = /usr/lib/libart_lgpl_2.so.2
libpangoft2-1.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libpangoft2-1.0.so.0
libpango-1.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0
libgobject-2.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
libgmodule-2.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libgmodule-2.0.so.0
libglib-2.0.so.0 = /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
libfontconfig.so.1 = /usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1
libfreetype.so.6 = /usr/local/lib/libfreetype.so.6
libpthread.so.1 = /usr/lib/libpthread.so.1
libc.so.1 = /usr/lib/libc.so.1
libsocket.so.1 = /usr/lib/libsocket.so.1
libnsl.so.1 = /usr/lib/libnsl.so.1
libXft.so.2 = /usr/openwin/lib/libXft.so.2
libXrender.so.1 = /usr/sfw/lib/libXrender.so.1
libX11.so.4 = /usr/openwin/lib/libX11.so.4
libXrandr.so.2 = /usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2
libXi.so.5 = /usr/openwin/lib/libXi.so.5
libXext.so.0 = /usr/openwin/lib/libXext.so.0
libz.so.1 = /usr/lib/libz.so.1
libexpat.so.0 = /usr/sfw/lib/libexpat.so.0
libgcc_s.so.1 = /opt/gcc/lib/libgcc_s.so.1
libmp.so.2 = /usr/lib/libmp.so.2
libmd.so.1 = /usr/lib/libmd.so.1
libscf.so.1 = /usr/lib/libscf.so.1
libdl.so.1 = /usr/lib/libdl.so.1
libdoor.so.1 = /usr/lib/libdoor.so.1
libuutil.so.1 = /usr/lib/libuutil.so.1
libgen.so.1 = /usr/lib/libgen.so.1
/usr/lib/cpu/sparcv9+vis2/libmlib.so.2
/platform/SUNW,Sun-Blade-1000/lib/libc_psr.so.1
/platform/SUNW,Sun-Blade-1000/lib/libmd_psr.so.1
================================================== ====================
Next -- copy each of those shared libs into a directory and burn
a CD-ROM of it. Many of the shared libs are in /usr/lib, or perhaps
/usr/openwin/lib. Others in /usr/sfw/lib.
Next, copy the program to your newer system (e.g. my Solaris
10), put all of these libraries in (except probably the
/platform/SUNW.... ones), set up a wrapper script which sets
LD_LIBRARY_PATH to look at the directory of shared libs you just built,
and try running that version of gimp. (Or even just run ldd on that
gimp and look for "not found" reports.)
Try removing (moving into a subdirectory) one shared lib at a
time. starting with the /usr/lib ones, and see if ldd gimp still finds
all the shared libs without complaint. Usually the newer shared libs
which come with the system will work fine. It is just that BlastWave's
installer doesn't know this, and insists on installing up-to-date libs
for everything, whether they are needed or not.
I'll bet that at the end, you will find only a very few shared
libs which need to be added. Keep them in the directory, and keep
invoking gimp via the wrapper. If you discover that *all* of the shared
libs can be removed form that directory, you will have proven that it
will work without needing to add anything to the system.
I wish I could find a version of GIMP 1.2 which would save GIF and PNG
and was not dependent on shared libraries.
Compile your own! It will require a bit of tweaking of the
configure script and the produced Makefile, (and probably re-compiling
of some of the other things to provide a static library to link when you
compile gimp).
Remember that the primary form of "the GIMP" is freely
distributable source code, not pre-compiled binaries. :-)
Even if I can find a stable
version of GIMP 2, it was seriously slow when I tried it. Any idea where
I might find a later version of GIMP 1.2?
Here is the latest version (1.2.5) at this URL (and others):
http://mirror.umoss.org/gimp/gimp/v1.2/v1.2.5/
================================================== ====================
Name Last Modified Size Type
Parent Directory/ - Directory
README 2003-Jun-14 14:17:30 0.4K application/octet-stream
gimp-1.2.5.tar.bz2 2003-Jun-14 14:21:30 10.3M application/x-bzip
gimp-data-extras-1.2.0.tar.bz2 2000-Dec-24 19:16:30 4.2M application/x-bzip
gimp-data-extras-1.2.0.tar.gz 2000-Dec-24 19:14:30 4.5M application/x-gzip
patch-1.2.4-1.2.5.bz2 2003-Jun-14 14:35:30 153.3K application/x-bzip
================================================== ====================
But again, this is in source code form, and you have the great fun of
compiling it (and all the needed libraries which you don't have). And,
you'll probably need a lot of them, if you insist in sticking with
Solaris 9. :-)
[ ... ]
PNG was developed as a work-around for the fact that no open
source programs could save GIF files. (Actually, early versions of 'xv'
*did* write GIF files -- until the owners of the patents started
enforcing it.
Was it Compuserve's patent?
I believe so.
I'm trying to remember. I seem to remember
that at one time there was an anti-GIF movement and banners which said
"This is a GIF-free site", etc. But I haven't seen one in a long time.
Both standards seem to be in common use.
Now that the patent has expired.
[ ... ]
The biggest problem I've had is when you try to install a new piece of
software months after installing everything else. The new piece of
software requiries the latest shared libraries, so you have to update
everything. At least that's the way it works with the
http://www.blastwave.org/ packages.
That is because you are downloading pre-compiled packages, which
have (of course) been compiled against the most recent packages.
Normally shared libs are backwards compatible, and you will often find
several shortened names of shared libs which are symlinks to the current
name, so the program can call for it by any of a number of version
names. The links are not created where a newer version introduces an
incompatibility with an older one.
If you were to download the source for the packages, and compile
it locally, you would (usually) be able to compile it to use the shared
libs which you already have.
Except for ones which you might need to download.
[ ... ]
So -- get the GNOME source from the earlier version which you
like, and compile it under Solaris 10 after pkg removing the current
version.
I would, but right now I feel there are more urgent things I should do.
I can live with Solaris 9 a bit longer.
:-)
[ ... ]
I thought ST would have been smart enough to use one of these
rechargeable types in the NVRAM chip, but it seems not.
Physical size, what to do with the hydrogen from charging the
cell while it is potted in epoxy, wrong voltage, and not available when
the chip was first designed and made.
You get hydrogen from those little button cells? I'm surprised.
From *any* rechargeable battery while it is being recharged.
Does it come from water in the battery? If so, does it eventually cause
the battery to dry out?
It comes from the chemical reactions in the battery. Any acid,
combining with any base, should release hydrogen in the process -- *or*
produce water.
[ ... ]
With soldered connections, there is a point where the wire
exits the solder blob where it is going to flex the most, and where it
is most likely to fail in the presence of vibration.
That makes sense, but surely you've got to have some pretty serious
vibration to fatigue the wires, haven't you?
And what do you think happens in a telephone exchange, with
relays of all sizes vibrating the frames all the time.
I don't know. I've never been in a telephone exchange. But many of the
relays are solid state now, aren't they?
Probably so -- but you would have been amazed at the noise in a
dial telephone exchange in the early 1960s.
Same for circuits in aircraft or automobiles.
Presumably it's only a problem in the high vibration regions such as on
the engine itself, isn't it? Cars still have a fair number of soldered
joints, particularly on printed circuit boards.
Solder joints for mounting components to PC boards are fine --
though there is usually something done to keep the component from
vibrating.
However -- wires from the car's wiring harness to the boards are
almost always connected via crimp-on connectors, or crimp terminated
ring terminals mounted to screws on barrier strips and the like. A
*good* crimp-on terminal will have not only a crimp on the exposed wire,
but a support crimp on the insulation of the wire to control vibration
and keep it from flexing the wire between the insulation and the
terminal.
[ ... ]
[ ... backwards compatibility ... ]
snip
Hmm ... "rare and expensive". Try an ebay search for:
Toshiba DVD-ROM SCSI M1401
1) $14.99
2) $49.00 (In a Sun UniPack external chassis)
3) $9.99
4) $25.00
5) $49.99 (five drives not just one)
6) $39.99
Sorry, I made a mistake. At the time I was searching for a SCSI DVD
writer, as I wanted to have just a single drive in the machine. At the
time, those were rare and expensive.
O.K. For that, you want an ACArd bridge card to convert IDE to
50-pin SCSI. With that, you can mount an IDE DVD burner in the system
in place of the original SCSI drive. I have such a drive in my Sun
Blade 2000, and another one in a FlexiPack (like a UniPack, except that
it holds two drives). That one is connected via an ACard bridge card
which adapts to 68-pin SCSI instead of 50-pin. This particular ACard
can be a pain in the system, but outside with a 68-pin interface, it
works nicely.
The only problem is that while the IDE DVD-burners are quite
inexpensive, the ACard is something like $59.00 or so. :-)
I would think that some of those would be cheap enough to use
for the task. It saves a *lot* of CD swapping, and of waiting around
for the right time to swap when loading Solaris 10 (5 CD-ROMs or one
DVD-ROM. :-)
I even put a spare into an ancient SGI Indigo 2, and it works
fine with CDs and DVDs.
What do you think of the Indigo 2?
Slow once I'm using a Sun Blade 2000 with dual 1.2 GHz CPU
modules. :-) This particular Indigo 2 is the Teal colored one, and
happens to have an unusual CPU -- the R8000 -- only 75 MHz, but it can
do floating-point math as fast as integer math.
I've been disappointed trying to get it to work with a (SCSI) HP
ScanJet 5p, because the driver supplied with the 6.2 version of the OS
stops at the ScanJet III. However, I managed to get sane working in the
SB-2K (a couple of tricky things but I have the latest version running,
and just used it to scan all of the text section of a Bridgeport BOSS-3
and BOSS-4 manual. Unfortunately, the schematics are fold-outs, and
will either have to be scanned in multiple parts and then pasted back
together later, or I'll have to find a scanner which will handle 11x17"
pages. :-)
I love the colour. It looks
remarkable, especially the genuine indigo-coloured R10000 machine.
Pretty much all of their machines are colorful. But then recent
Sun machines have been getting more colorful. Look at the SB-2K for
example. (Of course, you will see two apparent colors in eBay auction
photos -- the duller ones were photographed by incandescent or
fluorescent lights, while the more garish ones were photographed by
electronic flash. :-)
I
almost bought one in 2003, but then I got a Sun Ultra 2 for nothing instead.
This one was free, too.
But I now need to get one of the original DAT drives for what I
wish to use it for -- transferring audio DATs to computer files, which
can then be burned into audio CDs.
Enjoy,
DoN.
--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. |
http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---