Demented is an active member of the GimpTalk forums, and is known as DementedSnake on Deviant Art (http://dementedsnake.deviantart.com/). You can find links to Demented's GIMP tutorials here.
OpenArtBox: If you could, please give a little background information about yourself.
Demented: I'm just a lowly artist wannabe working my way up to an art hobbyist. No professional training or anything. So far I've been self-taught, though I'm looking into taking some classes to round out my pitiful knowledge. I live in the US, lower east coast. I love open source. If nothing else, the concept of thousands of people working to create free software to benefit the whole of humanity is an appealing thing.
OpenArtBox: What operating system do you use? If you use Linux, which distribution? In what ways do you feel that your operating system/Linux distribution of choice meets your needs as an artist/designer especially well?
OpenArtBox: What operating system do you use? If you use Linux, which distribution? In what ways do you feel that your operating system/Linux distribution of choice meets your needs as an artist/designer especially well?
Demented: I run Linux. I keep Windows 7 around for a few things like games and Netflix, but I spend most of my time in Linux Mint. I used Windows for a long time, and slowly started accumulating lots of FOSS like Firefox, GIMP, MyPaint, Audacity, etc.. One day I realized that most of the software I used was this weird thing called "open source". I looked into it and discovered that there was an entire open source operating system. I dabbed a bit with Debian on an old clunker and was hooked. It would be a year or so before I tried out Linux on my main computer (a Dell Latitude C600), but the moment I got to Debian's desktop, I knew it was something I just wanted to have. It was a GNOME 2 desktop.
Like I said, my programs were all already open source, so I was happy to find that everything I was used to was already on Linux. All of my needs were met before I even knew about it. I have a new machine now, and have only been using Linux full-time for a couple of years. It's a Gateway ZX4800 and came with Windows 7. The reason I mention this is that Windows 7 refused to let me use my tablet's drivers without forcing its own crappy driver instead. So I got a slow response time, buggy cursor issues, and random breakage where the tablet wouldn't work at all. I had to go around and start disabling Windows services in order to get my tablet working. But by doing that, I couldn't use my touchscreen. I was very pissed that I was being forced to choose what hardware I could use due to what I considered to be a greedy and unnaturally enforced monoculture. It was either use Window's broken software, or trash one of my devices. I think that's part of what drove me to take the plunge into Linux after years of dabbling. So far, it's been a bit bumpy, but a much...I don't know..."cleaner" experience, I guess.
(Continued in Part II)
Like I said, my programs were all already open source, so I was happy to find that everything I was used to was already on Linux. All of my needs were met before I even knew about it. I have a new machine now, and have only been using Linux full-time for a couple of years. It's a Gateway ZX4800 and came with Windows 7. The reason I mention this is that Windows 7 refused to let me use my tablet's drivers without forcing its own crappy driver instead. So I got a slow response time, buggy cursor issues, and random breakage where the tablet wouldn't work at all. I had to go around and start disabling Windows services in order to get my tablet working. But by doing that, I couldn't use my touchscreen. I was very pissed that I was being forced to choose what hardware I could use due to what I considered to be a greedy and unnaturally enforced monoculture. It was either use Window's broken software, or trash one of my devices. I think that's part of what drove me to take the plunge into Linux after years of dabbling. So far, it's been a bit bumpy, but a much...I don't know..."cleaner" experience, I guess.
(Continued in Part II)
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