My System specs and speed review

A popular topic in the Linux world is how old of a computer can you run . So here are the specs on my computer:
Originally a Compaq Presario desktop

AMD Duron 900mHz CPU
370 MB of PC100 SDRAM - 3 slots with 128 MB each
Hard drive - Maxtor 20 GB D740X-6L
Some sort of network card with a blessed ethernet port - let's me run high speed DSL
CD/RW drive - on old one - I rarely use it

This computer is mainly used for surfing the internet and my boys playing games.

I'm currently running Ubuntu 7.10. My system keeps it up just fine. I don't exactly max it out all that much. I ran the system monitor one day and looked at it closely as I did various commands. I found out that the CPU seems to be the holdup. Most of the tasks I did rarely maxed out the RAM, but the CPU hung at 100% for a bit after almost everything I did.

GIMP - Change Image from Grayscale to RGB

This post is going to take a drastic turn from my other posts to date. I am currently teaching myself how to use the GIMP software. To my knowledge, GIMP stands for:

Gnu
Image
Manipulation
Program

It's an excellent image and photo editor and it's FREE. I've really been interested in the Linux and Free Software movement (call it what you like) in the past few years. One of my reasons for developing this hobby is that I give my entire paycheck away to the wife and children and that leaves about $0 left over for any of my hobbies or side ventures.

But a wonderful thing exists in this world. For one, good people around me who are kind enough to throw out their leftover computer parts and peripherals. From this (free) stuff, I have put together this computer from which I'm writing this post. Another wonderful thing - Linux, GIMP, Blender and all the other free software made readily available for all to partake. It continues to blow me away that so many people around the world would put so much work into something and then give it away for free.

On to the topic of this blog's title. Today I downloaded an image for use on a website. It was an outline of the states of the USA. I wanted something simple that I could fill a select color in select states. When I opened it up in GIMP and tried the Fill command, it kept giving me a gray color. Then I noticed on the header, it said the file was in "grayscale." I did an internet search to figure out how I could fill on this image in color. (Hey, you GIMP experts, cool it and sit down - I'm getting there.) So here's the command of the day that was the solution to this problem.

In the toolbar in the window of your image go to Image>Mode, then change to RGB. In the Mode pulldown menu, you can toggle between RGB, Grayscale and Indexed. Basically, RGB is color. Grayscale is black and white. Indexed is something more complicated. You'll have to search on your own for a better explanation.

Sorry for not citing references. I don't remember where I learned this. It's so elementary, and the GIMP is free, I'm sure it's ok.

But I will say that
http://gimp-tutorials.net/
has been an excellent resource so far.

Don't Dump Your Life on the World; Leave a Legacy of Great Things

I. The Setting

Recently, I was driving my family home from a visit to the Chicago area. We were passing by the southern side of the greater Chicago area during the early morning hours just as the sun rose above the horizon. Looking off in the distance, I came across an interesting site. Perfectly positioned in front a beautiful sunrise, was a dump truck dumping something in a large, open area. The sharp contrast of the dump truck in front of the beautiful, multi-colored sunset shined home a valuable lesson to me.

II. The Lesson

The lesson gave my mind some quick impressions that I pondered over the next few hours of driving (we had a long way to go). I realized that we live in a beautiful world with many amazing things happening all around us. We can see evidence of both beautiful scenery and people making contributions to make the world a better place. Yet, in spite of this, we also see evidence of those who dump trash, both figuratively and literally on this world. The take home lesson of this day: Don't dump your life on the world; leave a legacy.

III. World of Ugliness

We can see evidence of ugliness in many places. In some places, litter lines the street sides. Messes are made and not cleaned up. People do things that are inconsiderate, not thinking of how this affects others. There are even those who seek to hurt their fellow brothers and sisters. Motivation for these actions can vary across different circumstances. But most cases can be traced back to a common thread. These people have a problem in their life that they would dump on the world, rather than keep it inside or even change. For whatever reason, they are driven to do something that degrades the beauty of this world. They dump their problems on the world.

IV. World of Beauty

However, the world is also filled with beauty. As I noticed that morning, beautiful sunrises happen every day, all across the world, for everyone to see. The world is filled with beautiful mountains, valleys, clouds, rivers, countrysides and urban skylines. There are also people of this world who contribute to it's beauty. Many freely give of their time and resources for the betterment of others. Service is rendered every day to make the world a better place in great and small ways. In some cases, there are those who put their own safety on the line to protect others. Whenever the Ultimate Sacrifice is made, some how and some time, the world notices. The beauty of this world is enhanced by people like this.

V. The Solution

Be the kind of person who makes the world more beautiful. Think about what you do each day. Be mindful of how your actions might affect others. But even more important than staying out of others' way, do something each day that makes the world better. Arrange your habits, your mindset and your life so that you can make a positive contribution to the world around you. Don't dump your problems on the world. Do something good for those around you and leave a legacy of beauty and happiness.