Please read all of this message before jumping in and getting your feet 
wet!!!!!


There is a version of Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program --- 1.2.3) 
that has been ported to OS-X and is "ready" to go along with several 
other X11 apps available at

http://opendarwin.org/projects/darwinports/en/x11.php


To run this you will need to have Apple's X11 app installed on your 
system (or some other X11 system such as XFree86, etc).
Hit Apple's site to get the latest version if you don't have it yet.


Download and install in this order

Package : gtk
Version : 1.2.10

Package : Gimp
Version : 1.2.3

Don't worry about getting gtk2 yet. Gimp will NOT run with it (which is 
a shame, because the tools in gtk2 are better *[see note])

Start up X11 and enter the command '/usr/local/bin/gimp-1.2 --no-shm 
--no-xshm' without the quotes into one of the xterm windows (Or better 
yet, add the command in to the applications menu of X11 and then you 
won't have to fool with using the xterm window --- There you go Bill!)

You now have a very powerful graphics editor at your disposal. Enjoy!

Notes:
* gtk is an older obsoleted version, but many of the older Unix, Linux 
programs still make use of it. These are being slowly changed to use 
gtk2, New ones are being built from the ground up with gtk2.

Problems: If you have Console.app set to open and holler whenever 
something crashes, it is going to do so whenever you start Gimp 
running. DON'T PANIC! Gimp is not crashing. The gtk toolbox is calling 
obsolete PERL methods which are not part of the PERL installed in Mac 
OS-X. This does not bother Gimp, it runs just fine. Did I mention that 
gtk is obsolete?

Gimp does support direct scanner input and it may be possible to make 
your current or old scanner work with Gimp <--- something that is 
tricky to do now with other OS-X programs. I will write more about this 
later.


Disclaimer: The following comes from the SANE website (Scan Anything 
Now Easy) which is involved in writing scanner drivers (Vue-Scan from 
Hamrick makes use of some of their work)... but the thought is worth 
repeating here:

Status : A vague indication of robustness and reliability.

unsupported means the device is not supported at least by this backend. 
It may be supported by other backends, however.
untested means the device may be supported but couldn't be tested. Be 
very careful.
alpha means it must do something, but is not very well tested, probably 
has bugs, and may even crash your system, etc., etc.
beta means it works pretty well, and looks stable and functional, but 
not bullet-proof.
stable means someone is pulling your leg.

With any software, keep this in mind!

                        Jerry
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