2006-04-19
I made a comment about The GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program) the other day, mostly to the effect that I didn't know much about it. I thought I'd better check it out, which I did.
This isn't a review of The GIMP, just a progress report. And I'm measuring its progress along only one dimension, which I'll explain in a moment, although regular readers of my blog already know what that dimension is. I'm sure most people who are in The GIMP's target audience would measure its progress along some other dimensions. They can write their own progress reports.
The first thing that has bothered me about The GIMP since I first heard of it a few years ago is its name. Isn't that what they called the miserable creature tied up in the basement that figures in one of the more memorable scenes in the movie Pulp Fiction? Not that we should hold a grudge against a system because of its name; after all, we think pretty highly of the Eunuchs OS.
So, down to the basement for my copy of the screenplay, hoping that I'd remembered the movie wrong. But I didn't. On p. 103 I read:
The Gimp is a man they keep dressed from head to toe in black leather bondage gear. There are zippers, buckles and studs here and there on the body. On his head is a black leather mask with two eye holes and a zipper (closed) for a mouth. They keep him in a hole in the floor big enough for a large dog.Yuck.
Aside from its dictionary meaning of crippled, gimp also can mean "spirit; pep," so it's one of those interesting words with multiple, opposite meanings.
OK, so its name isn't one of its most attractive qualities.
Anyway, back to The GIMP. I shoot raw images in my camera, convert them to Adobe DNG and (as you know) print them with color management. So, to see if it would handle raw files, I went to my Ubuntu system, started the package manager (a really well-done system), and discovered I already had The GIMP installed. But, not the raw plug-in, which the package manager easily downloaded and installed for me, quick, clean, and smooth, as it always is.
Then I moved two raw files over: One a NEF (Nikon's raw format), and one a DNG.
The GIMP opened the NEF, but not the DNG. (Maybe there's a plug-in somewhere for DNGs, but I only had time to go with what Ubuntu knows about.)
There was some control over the conversion of the NEF, but not even close to what Adobe Camera Raw offers. And, no color management.
What Ubuntu installed was version 2.2 or something like that. The GIMP developers are at 2.3.8 or so with a development release, and are close to 2.4, which I understand has some preliminary color management, although I don't know yet whether it will be enough.
I also discovered that there are Linux drivers for many Epson printers. My R1800 isn't on the list yet, but the R2400 is, so it won't be long.
The GIMP looks like a fine program, but it's not yet where it needs to be for me. That's why I called this Part I. When 2.4 is stable enough for Ubuntu, I'll check it out and write Part II.
You may find The GIMP OK for what you do. It's certainly popular. I do wonder how you print without color management, but that's your business, right?