Prakash Advani's Blog

If you are looking for replacing Photoshop with Gimp and are finding limitations, here is a nice article:

Handy Tweaks To Make GIMP Replace Photoshop

Some more links.

• 1000 HQ Brushes
• 30 Exceptional GIMP Tutorials
• GIMP Equivalent of PDSTuts
• 17 Awesome Plug-Ins for Web Designers
• 25 Plug-Ins for Photographers
• Official Online GIMP Manual

Happy Gimping

LG launched a new LCD TV Monitor (Flatron M197WA) , here is my mini review of the product:

• Its a 18.5″ Wide, I was actually looking for 22″ but this turned out to be good enough.
• 1366 X 768 resolution which is HD ready (1080p).
• Built-in HDMI port which can be used with Blueray, new generation of up-scale DVD players and the new breed of HD digital cameras. They all use HDMI. Note: HDMI cable is not included and has to  purchased separately.
• 20000:1 Contrast Ratio: Not sure if that made any significant different but nice.
• 5ms response time: that’s good enough, but if you are into serious action gaming, you may want a 2ms.
• Built in TV function, for the couch potatoes. Also includes remote.
• Built in speakers, the sound quality is functional but nothing to write home about.
• Comes with a detachable stand, so it can be used on the desk or can be wall mounted. Wall mounting bracket needs to be purchased separately.
• She’s got the looks, the monitor is a good looking baby.
• Lots of ports: DVI, HDMI, D-Sub (standard monitor input), Composite AV.
• Power Consumption 35W, 1W on Standby.
• I tested this on Ubuntu 9.04 and was detected immediately with, no additional tweaking needed.

Street Price in India: Rs. 12,500/-

Overall a good buy. I have only tested the PC functions, have yet to test the TV capabilities.

Here is a nice article on how Kim Cascone switched from Mac OS X to Ubuntu for setting up a Music Workstation using very inexpensive hardware costing a tenth of what a similar solution from Apple would cost.

“The solution to my financial constraint became clear, and I bought a refurbished Dell Studio 15, installed Ubuntu on it, and set it up for sound production and business administration. The total cost was around $600 for the laptop plus a donation to a software developer — a far cry from the $3000.00 price tag and weeks of my time it would have cost me to stay locked-in to Apple. After a couple of months of solid use, I have had no problems with my laptop or Ubuntu. Both have performed flawlessly, remaining stable and reliable.”

This is an interesting article which talks about building a solar water heater using a discarded refrigerator and few other things without spending much money.

Read more if you interested.

Important Bits:

• Runs Linux, so full multitasking and no more crashes
• 3.5G and WiFi connectivity
• 5-inch resistive WVGA screen
• slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• ARM Cortex 8 processor @ 600 MHz
• 32GB of internal memory, big enough than most other phones.
• MicroSD slot for expansion
• FM transmitter
• 3D Graphic accelerator
• Flash Player
• 5-megapixel camera
• 3.5mm jack