The GIMP isn't listed among apps, but I thought it was included. Do I have to d/l it?

Btw, don't know if it's relevant to non-install of the GIMP, but I'm using a 6-year-old Dell PC, GX1, with an old ATI video (Rage 3D) apparently embedded on the motherboard. I don't seem to have xconfsetup installed, either. Video is basically illegible, unless I increase text size at least twice (in browser).

While I'm asking... I like to play chess, and need xboard to use my (expensive) subscription with a Linux machine. I 'installed' it under Synaptics, but it's not working. Guess I needed to be root to do that? Is there some way to get the installer in Synaptics to ask me for passwd when I'm trying to do something like this?

And it can't find (or can't id?) my 'sound card,' also embedded. I only need sound to play chess, and for now I have the system bell enabled, instead of 'system notifications.' Maybe that will work. Or, I might be able to install a sound card from another old PC lying around here.

When the system boots, it says something about a bus (smbus?) it's not handling, or not finding. Should I bother trying to track this down? Is it related to sound/video problems?

Sorry, I don't know the answer to your other questions. They should be split into separate threads.

But Yes, Synaptic needs a Root password to install software.

And the GIMP was left off of MEPIS 6.0 due to space constraints on the install CD; use Synaptic to install it. Instead, the newly-open-sourced Xara was included. It is an attempt to differentiate MEPIS from the other distros out there. I've not tried the program, so give us a review!

Well, my video/monitor combination is all but illegible, so it would be rather difficult to review a graphics program at the moment. I increase text size twice just to read browser text, and I'm sure icons won't be readable.

Later, I hope to have a somewhat newer PC to replace this one (from Dec. 1999), a tower where I can replace video boards, sound cards, etc. As to Xara, the only thing I can say currently is that its splash screen features a car (I hate car culture ), and a warning that it probably won't work properly.

Thanks for letting me know about the GIMP. It's probably not worth installing it on this machine, but I will d/l and install it to the next box I use for Linux.

Okay, I see visitors are viewing this thread, so I have a GIMP-related question perhaps someone can answer. (I feel guilty about starting so many threads in such a short time. )

I just 'marked for download and installation' some of the GIMP files. One of them was the GIMP-SVG, but there was an inconsistency with dependencies, such that it apparently wanted me to do something non-automatic. The inconsistency appeared to be merely a later version of something, but apparently this was enough to prevent automatic d/l and installation. What am I supposed to do in a case such as this? Is there a way for me to separately mark the dependencies manually and use them anyway?

Related (but more general) question: The package manager (Synaptic) kept warning me I was about to d/l packages that could not be authenticated. I went ahead anyway, since my philosophy is that an online PC may be treated as a throwaway installation. (That is, if I have a problem I'll just reinstall the system; it's great that this reinstall is fast and easy with MEPIS ).

Yet I recognize that very few people separate their 'computing' into online and offline PCs. For most, there is really just one PC (perhaps supplemented with a laptop). The one box is used both to store valuable data created by user (which could be difficult to reconstruct, unless good, uncorrupted backups in current formats are created and protected), and to browse or collect online (pre-existing), generally available data.

So, what do Linux oldbies do? Do you download using Synaptic, but then find a way to check the whatever (checksum equivalent) before installing?

After d/l The GIMP I installed it. But it freezes when I try to run it. *sigh* Why does this board seem so much quieter these days?

I just signed up to see what's happening here (not much). I do like the spell check feature. Have you tried MEPIS Lovers forum? Strictly MEPIS, but very active.

not sure why its slowed down -- maybe we're all smarter?

i had the same problem ... Gimp started working after I removed sane and xsane the scanning software ... this is clearly a serious bug, gimp is crashing when it loads up the sane modules.
I did notice a few fixes on the mepislovers forum but I didn't bother myself as I haven't got a scanner..

regards
karlos

Hey guys, new to Mepis and testing it out.

I also cannot get GIMP to work. It loads the splash screen and then waits, and then it just dies. I downloaded GIMP via the Synaptics. Looks like Mepis is not ready for prime time.

I don't have answers about GIMP not working, but it works fine here. I have not changed any settings or removed any modules, like sane. I use GIMP regularly in producing html versions of ebooks for Project Gutenberg. I am using a Compac Presario 2.8 Ghz with 80 Gbyte hard drive and 512 Mbyte ram. I use Mepis 6.0 and Gimp 2.2. Especially critical is the amount of ram. Lesser amounts are iffy at best, especially for GIMP. I also recommend Mepis Lovers as a good place to get more accurate information for these kind of problems. They also have a wiki that might answer some of your questions.