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<span class="sect1">
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<a href="ch02.html#gimp-using-introduction">1. Using Gimp</a>
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<a href="ch02s02.html">2. Image Window</a>
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<a href="ch02s02.html#id2945889">2.1. Introduction</a>
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<a href="ch02s02s02.html">2.2. QuickMask</a>
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<a href="ch02.html#gimp-using-setup">1. Starting Gimp the first time</a>
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<a href="ch02s02.html">2. Running Gimp</a>
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<a href="ch02s03.html">3. Basic Gimp Usage</a>
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<a href="ch02s03.html#id3305623">3.1. Introduction</a>
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<a href="ch02s03s02.html">3.2. The Main Toolbox</a>
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<a href="ch02s03s03.html">3.3. Image Window</a>
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<a href="ch02s03s04.html">3.4. Dialogs and Docking</a>
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<a href="ch02s03s05.html">3.5. Basic Gimp Concepts</a>
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<a href="ch02s04.html">4. Working with Images</a>
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<a href="ch02s04.html#id3307365">4.1. Image types</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s02.html">4.2. QuickMask</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s03.html">4.3. Layers</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s04.html">4.4. The Selection</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s05.html">4.5. Undoing</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s06.html">4.6. Grids and Guides</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s07.html">4.7. Paths</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s08.html">4.8. Brushes</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s09.html">4.9. Gradients</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s10.html">4.10. Patterns</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s11.html">4.11. Palettes</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s12.html">4.12. Text and Fonts</a>
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<a href="ch02s04s13.html">4.13. Stroking a Selection or Path</a>
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<a href="ch02s05.html">5. Files</a>
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<a href="ch02s06.html">6. Working with Digital Camera Photos</a>
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<a href="ch02s06.html#id3314219">6.1. Introduction</a>
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<a href="ch02s06s02.html">6.2. Improving Composition</a>
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<a href="ch02s06s03.html">6.3. Improving Colors</a>
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<a href="ch02s06s04.html">6.4. Adjusting Sharpness</a>
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<a href="ch02s06s05.html">6.5. Removing Unwanted Objects from an Image</a>
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<a href="ch02s06s06.html">6.6. Saving Your Results</a>
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<a href="ch02s07.html">7. Preparing your Images for the web</a>
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<a href="ch02s07.html#id3315595">7.1. Squeezing Filesize a bit more</a>
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<a href="ch02s08.html">8. Plugins</a>
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<a href="ch02s08.html#id3315567">8.1. Introduction</a>
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<a href="ch02s08s02.html">8.2. Using Plugins</a>
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<a href="ch02s08s03.html">8.3. Installing New Plugins</a>
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<a href="ch02s08s04.html">8.4. Writing Plugins</a>
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<a href="ch02s09.html">9. Using Script-Fu Scripts</a>
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<a href="ch02s10.html">10. A Script-Fu Tutorial</a>
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<a href="ch02s10.html#id3316524">10.1. Getting Acquainted With Scheme</a>
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<a href="ch02s10s02.html">10.2. Variables And Functions</a>
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<a href="ch02s10s03.html">10.3. Lists, Lists And More Lists</a>
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<a href="ch02s10s04.html">10.4. Your First Script-Fu Script</a>
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<a href="ch02s10s05.html">10.5. Giving Our Script Some Guts</a>
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<a href="ch02s10s06.html">10.6. Extending The Text Box Script</a>
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<a href="ch02s11.html">11. Getting Unstuck</a>
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<div class="sect1" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
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<div class="titlepage">
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<h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="gimp-using-introduction"></a>1. Using Gimp</h2>
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<a id="id2945854" class="indexterm"></a>
302
<h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="gimp-using-setup"></a>1. Starting Gimp the first time</h2>
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<a id="id3304559" class="indexterm"></a>
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The first time you run Gimp, it goes through a series of steps to
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set up options and directories. This process creates a subdirectory
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of your home directory called <tt class="filename">.gimp-2.0</tt>. All of the information
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about the choices you make here goes into that directory. If you
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later remove that directory, or rename it as something like
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<tt class="filename">.gimp-2.0.bak</tt>, then the next
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time you start Gimp, it will go through the whole setup sequence
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again, creating a new <tt class="filename">.gimp-2.0</tt> directory. You can exploit
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this if you want to explore the effect of different choices without
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destroying your existing installation, or if you have screwed things
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up so badly that your existing installation needs to be nuked.
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For the most part, setting up Gimp is very easy, and you can just
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accept the defaults at each step, and possibly adjust things later
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using the <a href="ch04s18.html" title="18. Preferences">Preferences</a> dialog. The
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main thing you might want to give a little thought to at the start
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is the amount of memory to allocate for Gimp's tile cache.
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Here is a walk-through of the setup process:
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<div class="variablelist">
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<span class="term">Welcome</span>
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<div class="informalfigure">
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<div class="mediaobject">
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<img src="../images/using/ui-welcome.png" />
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<div class="caption">
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Since this window mentions the GNU General Public License you
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know it is truly a Welcome dialog you are entering into. Also,
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note the "Continue" button. The Gimp does not even ask that you
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agree to it, merely whether you want to continue. Feel free to
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press the continue button.
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<span class="term">Personal Gimp Directory</span>
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<div class="informalfigure">
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<div class="mediaobject">
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<img src="../images/using/ui-personal.png" />
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<div class="caption">
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The Personal Directory screen.
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<span class="term">User Installation Log</span>
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<div class="informalfigure">
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<div class="mediaobject">
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<img src="../images/using/ui-log.png" />
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<div class="caption">
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The User Installation Log screen.
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This window shows you the files that Gimp will make. It will
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have some complaints if you told it to install some place that
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it didn't have permission to be. There is a scroll bar to see
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all the things Gimp has created for you.
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<span class="term">Gimp Performance Tuning</span>
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<div class="informalfigure">
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<div class="mediaobject">
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<img src="../images/using/ui-performance.png" />
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<div class="caption">
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The User Performance Tuning screen.
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Setting your memory usage is not an easy thing. So much depends
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on what your needs are for the gimp and what hardware you have
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to work with. You have two options at this point. Go with the
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default value the developers have set here, or determine the
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best value. A brief <a href="ch02.html#gimp-using-setup-tile-cache" title="How to Set Your Tile Cache">tile-cache</a>
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explanation. might help you
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determine this value. The tile-cache information might also be
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helpful to you if you are encountering memory problems when
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On a Unix system, <tt class="filename">/tmp</tt>
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might be a good place for the swap.
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<a id="gimp-setup-monitor-resolution"></a>
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<span class="term">Monitor Resolution</span>
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<div class="informalfigure">
426
<div class="mediaobject">
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<img src="../images/using/ui-monitor.png" />
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<div class="caption">
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The Monitor Resolution screen
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Monitor Resolution is the ratio of pixels, horizontally and
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vertically, to inches. You have three ways to proceed here:
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<div class="itemizedlist">
443
Get Resolution from windowing system. (easiest, probably
454
Push the Calibrate Button.
463
<span class="term">The Calibrate Dialog</span>
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<div class="informalfigure">
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<div class="mediaobject">
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<img src="../images/using/ui-calibrate.png" />
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<div class="caption">
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The Calibration dialog
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My monitor was impressively off when I tried the Calibrate
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Dialog. The "Calibrate Game" is fun to play. You will need a
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<span class="term">Finally . . .</span>
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So now you have Gimp installed and configured, and are ready to
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go. Just a couple of suggestions before you start, though:
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First, when you run Gimp, by default it shows a "tip" each time it
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starts up. These tips tell you things that are very useful but
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not easy to learn by experimenting, so they are worth paying
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attention to. If you find it too distracting to look at them
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each time you start, you can disable
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them; but please go through them when you have the chance: for
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your convenience, you can read them at any time using the menu
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<span class="guimenu">Help</span>-><span class="guimenuitem">Tips</span>. Second,
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if at some point you are trying to do something, and Gimp seems to
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have suddenly stopped functioning, the section <a href="ch02s11.html" title="11. Getting Unstuck">Getting Unstuck</a> may
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help you out. Happy Gimping!
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<div class="simplesect" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
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<div class="titlepage">
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<h3 class="title"><a id="gimp-using-setup-tile-cache"></a>How to Set Your Tile Cache</h3>
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Image processing can require a lot of memory. Gimp uses the
515
operating system services to handle memory, up to a given point,
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past which it uses its own system so that it does not eat all system
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memory resources. This system consists in sending old data to files
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in the disk. The decision point is what the Tile Cache size
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determines–the maximum amount of operating system resources to
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use–and is measured in Bytes (or multiples, like MegaBytes). It does
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not include Gimp's own memory, just the space required for the image
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A low value means that Gimp sends data vey quickly to disk, not
526
making real use of the available RAM, and making the disks work
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without any real reason. Too high a value, and other applications
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start to have less system resources, forcing them to use swap space,
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which also makes the disks work; or maybe some will even get
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killed or start to malfunction due lack of RAM.
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How to choose a number for the Tile Cache size? Here are some
534
ways you could decide what value to use, as well as a few tricks:
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<div class="itemizedlist">
540
The easiest method is to just forget about this and hope the
541
default works. This was a usable method when
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computers had little RAM, and most people just tried to make small
543
images with Gimp while running one or two other applications at
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the same time. If you
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want something easy and only use Gimp to make screenshots and
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logos, this is probably the best solution.
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If you have a modern computer with plenty of memory–say, 512 MB
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or more–setting the Tile Cache to half of your RAM will probably
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give good performance for Gimp in most situations without
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depriving other applications. Probably even 3/4 of your RAM would
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Ask someone to do it for you, which in the case of a computer
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serving multiple users at the same time can be a good idea: that
562
way the administrator and other users do not get mad at you for
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abusing the machine, nor do you get a badly underperfoming Gimp. If
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it is your machine and only serves a single user at a given time,
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this could mean money, or drinks, as price for the service.
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Start changing the value a bit each time and check that it goes
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faster and faster with each increase, but the system does not
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complain about lack of memory. Be forewarned that sometimes lack
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of memory shows up suddenly with some applications being killed to
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make space for the others.
579
Do some simple math and calculate a viable value. Maybe you will
580
have to tune it later, but maybe you have to tune it anyway with
581
the other previous methods. At least you know what is happening
582
and can get the best from your computer.
588
Let's suppose you prefer the last option, and want to get a good value to
589
start with. First, you need to get some data about your
590
computer. This data is the amount of RAM installed in your system,
591
the operating system's
592
swap space available, and a general idea about the speed of the
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disks that store the operating system's swap and the directory
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used for Gimp's swap. You do not need to do disk tests, nor check
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the RPM of the disks, the thing is to see which one seems clearly
596
faster or slower, or whether all are similar. You can
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change Gimp's swap directory in the Folders page of the
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The next thing to do is to see how much resources you require for
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other apps you want to run at the same time than Gimp. So start
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all your tools and do some work with them, except Gimp of course,
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and check the usage. You can use applications like free or top,
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depending in what OS and what environment you use. The numbers you
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want is the memory left, including file cache. Modern Unix keeps a
607
very small area free, in order to be able to keep large file and buffer
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caches. Linux's <span class="emphasis"><em>free</em></span> command does the maths
609
for you: check the column that
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says "free", and the line "-/+ buffers/cache". Note down also the
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Now time for decisions and a bit of simple math. Basically the
615
concept is to decide if you want to base all Tile Cache in RAM, or
616
RAM plus operating system swap:
618
<div class="procedure">
622
Do you change applications a lot? Or keep working in Gimp for a
623
long time? If you spend a lot of time in Gimp, you can consider free
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RAM plus free swap as available; if not, you need to go to the
625
following steps. (If you're feeling unsure about it,
626
check the following steps.) If you are sure you switch apps
627
every few minutes, only count the free RAM and just go to the
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final decision; no more things to check.
633
Does the operating system swap live in the same physical disk as
634
Gimp swap? If so, add RAM and swap. Otherwise go to the next
640
Is the disk that holds the OS swap faster or the same speed as the
641
disk that holds the Gimp swap? If slower, take only the free RAM; if
642
faster or similar, add free RAM and swap.
647
You now have a number, be it just the free RAM or the free RAM plus
648
the free OS swap. Reduce it a bit, to be on the safe side, and
649
that is the Tile Cache you could use as a good start.
655
As you can see, all is about checking the free resources, and
656
decide if the OS swap is worth using or will cause more problems
660
There are some reasons you want to adjust this value, though. The
661
basic one is changes in your computer usage pattern, or
662
changing hardware. That could mean your assumptions about how you
663
use your computer, or the speed of it, are no longer valid. That
664
would require a reevaluation of the previous steps, which can
665
drive you to a similar value or a completly new value.
668
Another reason to change the value is because it seems that Gimp
669
runs too slowly, while changing to other applications is fast:
670
this means that Gimp could use more memory without impairing the
671
other applications. On the other hand, if you get complaints from
672
other applications about not having enough memory, then it may
673
benefit you to not let Gimp hog so much of it.
676
If you decided to use only RAM and Gimp runs slowly, you could try
677
increasing the value a bit, but never to use also all the free
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swap. If the case is the contrary, using both RAM and swap, and
679
you have problems about lack of resources, then you should
680
decrease the amount of RAM available to Gimp.
683
Another tricks is to put the Swap Dir in a very fast disk, or in a
684
different disk than the one where most of your files
685
reside. Spreading the operating
686
system swap over multiple disks is also a good way to speed up
687
things, in general. And of course, maybe you have to buy more RAM
688
or stop using lots of programs at the same time: you can not
689
expect to edit a poster in a computer with 16MB and be fast.
692
You can also check what memory requirements your images have. The
693
larger the images, and the number of undos, the more resources you
694
need. This is another way to choose a number, but it is only good
695
if you always work with the same kind of images, and thus the real
696
requirements do not vary. It is also helpful to know if you will
697
require more RAM and/or disk space.
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<div class="navfooter">
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<table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer">
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<td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ch01.html">Prev</a> </td>
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<td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ch01s04s03.html">Prev</a> </td>
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<td width="20%" align="center">
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<a accesskey="u" href="index.html">Up</a>
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<td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ch02s02.html">Next</a></td>
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<td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Chapter 1. Introduction </td>
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<td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">4.3. What Happens to a Bug Report after you Submit it </td>
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<td width="20%" align="center">
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<a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a>
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<td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 2. Image Window</td>
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