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<H4>
"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>

<P> <HR> <P>
<!--===================================================================-->

&nbsp;
     
<!-- =============================================================
		These pages are designed by Michael J. Hammel.  Permission to 
		use all graphics and other content is granted provided you give 
		me (or the original authors/artists) credit for the work and this
		copyright notice is not removed.

		(c)1997, 1998 Michael J. Hammel (mjhammel@graphics-muse.org)
     ============================================================= !--><!--  The Button box as a client side imagemap --><MAP NAME="nav-main"><AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="#mews" coords="20,18 185,40"><AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="#webwonderings" coords="10,60 185,83"><AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="#musings" coords="90,102 185,130"><AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="#resources" coords="70,152 185,180"></MAP>
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<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=2 WIDTH="100%" >
<TR>
<TD><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/gm3.gif" ALT="Welcome to the Graphics Muse" NOSAVE HEIGHT=216 WIDTH=441 ALIGN=LEFT></TD>

<TD VALIGN=BOTTOM>
<CENTER><FONT SIZE=-1>Set your browser as wide as you'd like now.&nbsp;
I've fixed the Muse to expand to fill the aviailable space!</FONT></CENTER>

<CENTER><FONT SIZE=-2>&copy; 1997 by <A HREF="mailto:mjhammel@csn.net">mjh</A>&nbsp;</FONT></CENTER>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
&nbsp;
<HR WIDTH="100%">
<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=2 WIDTH="100%" >
<TR>
<TD WIDTH="185"><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/muse-image-map.gif" ALT="Button Bar"
BORDER=0 USEMAP="#nav-main" HEIGHT=200 WIDTH=185 ALIGN=LEFT></TD>

<TD VALIGN=TOP><B><FONT SIZE=+1>muse:</FONT></B>&nbsp;
<OL>
<LI>
<I>v;</I> to become absorbed in thought&nbsp;</LI>

<LI>
<I>n;</I> [ fr. Any of the nine sister goddesses of learning and the arts
in Greek Mythology ]: a source of inspiration&nbsp;</LI>
</OL>
&nbsp;<IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/w.gif" ALT="W" HEIGHT=28 WIDTH=36 ALIGN=BOTTOM>elcome
to the Graphics Muse! Why a "muse"? Well, except for the sisters aspect,
the above definitions are pretty much the way I'd describe my own interest
in computer graphics: it keeps me deep in thought and it is a daily source
of inspiration.&nbsp;
<CENTER><FONT SIZE=-1>[<A HREF="#mews">Graphics Mews</A>][<A HREF="#webwonderings">WebWonderings</A>][<A HREF="#musings">Musings</A>]
[<A HREF="#resources">Resources</A>]</FONT></CENTER>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
&nbsp;
<BR><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/t.gif" ALT="T" HEIGHT=28 WIDTH=26 ALIGN=LEFT>his column
is dedicated to the use, creation, distribution, and discussion of computer
graphics tools for Linux systems.
<BR>&nbsp;
<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Can it be true?&nbsp; Has it really
been a whole year for the Muse?&nbsp; Time surely travels more quickly
as we grow older.&nbsp; The lazy days of youth have left me forever, replaced
by the hectic life of adulthood and responsibility.&nbsp; I love it.&nbsp;
No wonder life was so confusing for me as a youth.&nbsp; I was bored.

<P>So, another busy month gone by.&nbsp; I'm still in the throws of pre-shipment
testing at work but fortunately my code seems to be pretty stable now.&nbsp;
I've even managed to get far enough ahead that I've been able to work at
home on other projects while the rest of the gang catches up.&nbsp; To
their credit, their stuff was harder to work on than mine.&nbsp; I got
to design and write my code from scratch.&nbsp; No legacy code for me.

<P>One of the things I've been working on is getting deeper into the GIMP.&nbsp;
If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at the November Linux Journal.&nbsp;
The first of a 4 part series I wrote on the GIMP was published in that
issue.&nbsp; I also have started to learn much more about how to create
interesting effects.&nbsp; If you have some free time and online-money
to burn, check out my <A HREF="http://www.csn.net/~mjhammel/gimp/gallery.html">GIMP
Gallery.</A>&nbsp; I've put most of my more interesting images there.

<P>This month I'm going to talk a little about how to use the GIMP to create
a frame with a 3D metallic or plastic look.&nbsp; The process turns out
to be fairly simply and is one you will probably get to know by heart if
you use the GIMP very often.

<P>I'll also cover my notes from SIGGRAPH '97.&nbsp; I wish I could have
done this right after I got back when the conference was still fresh in
my mind, but things didn't work out that way.

<P>Finally, I'll be covering JavaScript image rollovers - those cute little
image swapping thingies that many people have added to their Web pages.&nbsp;
You can do these using a number of different techniques, but I'm only familiar
with JavaScript right now so that's what we'll talk about.

<P>As usual, feel free to <A HREF="mailto:mjhammel@csn.net">send me comments</A>
on any of this.
<BR><A NAME="mews"></A>
<BR>&nbsp;
<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="100%" >
<TR>
<TD><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/mews.gif" ALT="Graphics Mews" HEIGHT=53 WIDTH=242 ALIGN=LEFT></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Disclaimer: Before I get too far into this
I should note that any of the news items I post in this section are just
that - news. Either I happened to run across them via some mailing list
I was on, via some Usenet newsgroup, or via email from someone. I'm not
necessarily endorsing these products (some of which may be commercial),
I'm just letting you know I'd heard about them in the past month.
<BR>&nbsp;
<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=3 WIDTH="100%" NOSAVE >
<TR>
<TD COLSPAN="3" WIDTH="100%" BGCOLOR="#000000"><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" ALT="indent" HSPACE=30 VSPACE=2 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1 ALIGN=LEFT></TD>

<TD></TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD WIDTH="50%" NOSAVE>
<H2>
CurveSoft announces release of FontScope.</H2>
CurveSoft(tm) is pleased to announce the availability of <B><I><FONT COLOR="#CC6600">FontScope</FONT></I></B>(tm):
A commercial, high-performance portable rasterizer ibrary for Type 1 scalable
fonts sometimes also called PostScript(tm) fonts.&nbsp;

<P>FontScope allows developers and programmers to build Type 1 scalable
font support directly into their applications thus roviding a fast, efficient,
high quality platform-independent solution to the problem of providing
scalable font support.&nbsp;

<P>See <A HREF="http://www.curvesoft.com">http://www.curvesoft.com</A>
for further details about the product.&nbsp;

<P>FREE DEMO&nbsp;
<BR>You can download a free demo for the Linux(x86) and SunOS(SPARC) platforms
from the web page at <A HREF="http://www.curvesoft.com">http://www.curvesoft.com</A>
. The demo lets you arbitrarily scale, skew or rotate characters from any
Type 1 font you may have and view either the bitmap or the outline on the
screen. If you have Multiple Master fonts, it lets you create instances
and then view characters from those instances.&nbsp;

<P>If you have access to a Linux(x86) or a SunOS(SPARC) machine, we strongly
suggest downloading the demo program since that allows you to test FontScope
on your own Type 1 fonts as well as get an idea of thespeed and quality.
If unanswered questions still remain, please email them to info@curvesoft.com</TD>

<TD ROWSPAN="3" WIDTH="2" BGCOLOR="#000000" NOSAVE><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" ALT="indent" HSPACE=1 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1></TD>

<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="49%" NOSAVE>
<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="100%" NOSAVE >
<TR NOSAVE>
<TD NOSAVE>
<H2>
The GRASP Environment for Ada 95, C, Java, VHDL</H2>
<B><I><FONT COLOR="#CC6600">GRASP</FONT></I></B> is commercial grade GUI
front-end for GNAT, gcc, and JDK. Users can compile, edit, and run programs
directly from GRASP. The editor provides complete syntax coloring with
user selected colors and fonts.&nbsp;

<P>GRASP provides complete support for generating, editing, and printing
Control Structure Diagrams (CSDs) from Ada 95, C, Java, and VHDL source
code. The CSD is a diagram intended to increase the comprehension efficiency
of source code.&nbsp;

<P>GRASP runs under SunOS/Solaris, IRIX, Linux, and WinNT. It is freely
available via the GRASP homepage at&nbsp;
<BR><A HREF="http://www.eng.auburn.edu/grasp">http://www.eng.auburn.edu/grasp</A>
<BR>&nbsp;
<BR>&nbsp;</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD BGCOLOR="#000000" NOSAVE><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=3></TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD VALIGN=CENTER NOSAVE>
<BR>&nbsp;

<P>The Texture Library-mirror in Vienna has changed. Please update your
bookmarks and links from:&nbsp;
<CENTER>http://klein.htu.tuwien.ac.at/~rs/</CENTER>

<CENTER>to</CENTER>

<CENTER><A HREF="http://freibier.ml.org/texlib/">http://freibier.ml.org/texlib/</A></CENTER>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
&nbsp;</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD NOSAVE><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" HSPACE=1 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1></TD>

<TD NOSAVE><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" HSPACE=1 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1></TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD></TD>

<TD></TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD COLSPAN="3" WIDTH="100%" BGCOLOR="#000000" NOSAVE><IMG
SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" HSPACE=1 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
&nbsp;
<BR><!--
		  -- Did You Know Section
		  -->
<H4>
Did You Know?</H4>
... Adobe Acrobat contains some nice fonts you can use with your X Windows
environment? You get these scalable PostScript fonts:
<BR>&nbsp;
<CENTER><TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=4 WIDTH="70%" NOSAVE >
<TR>
<TD>Courier-Bold</TD>

<TD>Courier-BoldOblique</TD>

<TD>Courier-Oblique</TD>

<TD>Courier</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD>Helvetica-Bold</TD>

<TD NOSAVE>Helvetica-BoldOblique</TD>

<TD>&nbsp;Helvetica-Oblique</TD>

<TD>Helvetica</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD>Times-Bold</TD>

<TD>Times-BoldItalic</TD>

<TD NOSAVE>Times-Italic</TD>

<TD>Times-Roman</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD>AdobeSansMM</TD>

<TD>AdobeSerifMM</TD>

<TD>Symbol</TD>

<TD>ZapfDingbats</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
I checked the License file and there doesn't appear to be anything against
using these for general use on your system, but you should read the License
yourself to be certain. Then search all the old CD-ROMs you can find for
*.pfa and *.pfb files. For example, Lotus 123 v1.1 for Windows has these:
<BR>&nbsp;
<CENTER><TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=4 WIDTH="70%" NOSAVE >
<TR NOSAVE>
<TD NOSAVE>ArialMT</TD>

<TD NOSAVE>Bodoni-BoldCondensed</TD>

<TD>BrushScript</TD>

<TD>Courier</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD>DomCasual</TD>

<TD>LetterGothic</TD>

<TD>NewsGothic</TD>

<TD NOSAVE>Perpetua</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD>Symbol</TD>

<TD>TimesNewRomanPS</TD>

<TD>TimesNewRomanPS-Bold</TD>

<TD>TimesNewRomanPS-BoldItalic</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN="4" NOSAVE>TimesNewRomanPS-Italic</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
You can then use the <A HREF="http://goblet.anu.edu.au/~m9305357/type1inst.html">Type1Inst</A>
script to set up the directories with the new files. Don't forget to run
<B><I><FONT COLOR="#CC6600">xset</FONT></I></B> to tell your X server about
the new directories!

<P><!--
		  -- Q and A Section
		  -->
<H4>
<B><FONT SIZE=+0>Q and A</FONT></B></H4>
<I>Q:</I>&nbsp; Whats the latest on VRML?

<P>A:&nbsp; Check out the VRML update on BUILDER.COM:
<CENTER><A HREF="http://www.cnet.com/Content/Builder/Authoring/Vrml/index.html?dd">http://www.cnet.com/Content/Builder/Authoring/Vrml/index.html?dd</A></CENTER>


<P><I>Q</I>:&nbsp; Whats the latest news on commercial game development
for Linux?

<P>A:&nbsp; There was an important announcement from Crack.com recently.&nbsp;
Check out
<CENTER><A HREF="http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,1190,00.html">http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,1190,00.html</A></CENTER>
&nbsp;
<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="100%" BGCOLOR="#000000" NOSAVE >
<TR>
<TD><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=1></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>

<H2>
Reader Mail</H2>
Dr. Norman Fahrer &lt;<A HREF="mailto:fano@norcov.com">fano@norcov.com</A>>
wrote:&nbsp;<IMG SRC="./gx/hammel/nolimits.jpg" HSPACE=10 VSPACE=10 BORDER=3 HEIGHT=235 WIDTH=356 ALIGN=RIGHT>
<UL>I read your article in the Linux journal. I was running the older version
of gimp (0.5..) and yesterday I wanted to get the new gimp version running.</UL>
<B><I><FONT COLOR="#993300">'Muse</FONT></I></B>:&nbsp; The 0.5 is quite
old.&nbsp; 0.61 was the last publicly released Motif version.
<UL>I configured + compiled + installed.&nbsp; Everything built fine. Now
when I type 'gimp' it says :
<UL><B>gimp: can't load library 'libgtk.so.1'</B></UL>
I have that library built and installed into /usr/local/lib where it is
symboliclly linked to 'libgtk.so.1.0.0'. Do you have any idea what I can
do to get the Gimp running ? Thanks for your help,</UL>
<B><I><FONT COLOR="#993300">'Muse</FONT></I></B>:&nbsp; After installing
the GTK library, be sure the loader knows about it.&nbsp; First run "ldconfig
-p | grep gtk" to see if it already does know about the GTK library.&nbsp;
If you get no output from this then run "ldconfig" again, but without the
-p option.&nbsp; When that completes, run "ldconfig -p | grep gtk" to verify
the library can be found.&nbsp; You'll need to run ldconfig as the root
user if you've installed the library in /usr/local/lib.

<P>ldconfig generally looks in /usr/local/lib, along with a few other places,
for libraries.&nbsp; To make sure it does, check /etc/ld.so.conf and make
sure that directoy is listed there.&nbsp; Check the man pages for ldconfig
if you have any further problems.

<P>If ldconfig -p shows gtk is already installed then the other possibility
is to add the following to your .profile:
<UL><B>LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/lib</B>
<BR><B>export LD_LIBRARY_PATH</B></UL>
This may help the loader find the library at run time too.

<P><A HREF="mailto:kar@webline.dk">kar@webline.dk </A>wrote:
<UL>Do you know of a tool that can convert Corel's cdr and wpg formats
into a more commonly accessibly format?</UL>
<B><I><FONT COLOR="#993300">'Muse</FONT></I></B>:&nbsp; Image Alchemy supports
wpg.&nbsp; It may also support cdr by now although the version I have doesn't
list it (I know there are a number of formats it supports that aren't listed,
however).&nbsp; Check out my Graphics Muse column in the August 1997 Linux
Gazette.&nbsp; There are links there to their web site. The Linux Gazette
is at http://www.ssc.com/lg.
<UL>It's a little much to buy a package just for that - perhaps you could
ask in your column if anybody knows other programs that can?</UL>
<B><I><FONT COLOR="#993300">'Muse</FONT></I></B>:&nbsp; Ok.&nbsp; So readers,
anyone know of a cheaper method?&nbsp; If so send it to him.&nbsp; I'm
satisfied with knowing there is a commercial solution.

<P>Tethys &lt;<A HREF="mailto:tethys@ml.com">tethys@ml.com</A>> wrote in
respose to a Musing last month about NetPBM not having JPEG conversion
tools:
<UL>Yes, you're right. Netpbm doesn't come with tools to convert to and
from JPEG. Maybe it should. However, this is probably because the libjpeg
distribution that it would use already comes with cjpeg and djpeg. By default,
these already act like ppmtojpg and jpgtoppm. They also accept other formats
like GIF, BMP, TGA etc.</UL>
David Maha &lt;<A HREF="mailto:cmulator@pacific.net.sg">cmulator@pacific.net.sg</A>>
wrote:
<UL>My installation diskette for my image256 software was destroyed by
coffee, and I've been looking for the software for quite some time now.
I have a A4 Tech A4Color AC 4096 hand-held scanner. Do you know of which
software can be used to operate the scanner and if possible in Windows
environment? Can you tell me where I could download it or get it on the
net?</UL>
<B><I><FONT COLOR="#993300">'Muse</FONT></I></B>:&nbsp; I'm not familiar
with MS platforms.&nbsp; I don't use them.&nbsp; However, there are apparently
some Linux drivers for this scanner on the Sunsite Linux archives. Take
a look at: <A HREF="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/graphics/scanners">ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/graphics/scanners</A>.

<P>I did a review of all the Linux scanner information I could find in
my Graphics Muse column in March of this year.&nbsp; You can take a look
at it starting at the Linux Gazette's (which is the online magazine that
carries my Graphics Muse column) table of contents at <A HREF="http://www.ssc.com/lg">http://www.ssc.com/lg</A>.

<P>Gregory Gardener &lt;<A HREF="mailto:GardenerG@code20nl.npt.nuwc.navy.mil">GardenerG@code20nl.npt.nuwc.navy.mil</A>>
wrote:
<UL>I work for the DOD.&nbsp; From reading your column in Linux Journal
it appears that you have expertise in the area of PC graphics...so I'm
directing my question to you. If I wanted to develop a PC software product--an
interactive educational system--what PC graphics package is "state of the
art" for Linux or Windows?</UL>
<B><I><FONT COLOR="#993300">'Muse</FONT></I></B>:&nbsp; Good question.

<P>Don't choose a platform, choose a technology:&nbsp; Java and/or VRML.&nbsp;
Why?&nbsp; By doing so you remove the need for your end users to be required
to have a particular platform to use your software.&nbsp; Second, you can
more easily fit into any organization no matter what platforms they might
already have.

<P>Problems:
<OL>
<LI>
Java is not quite standard on all platforms yet.</LI>

<LI>
VRML is very new and has the traditional problems with new technologies
(acceptance, standards, etc).</LI>

<LI>
VRML requires the availability of a VRML browser on your end-users platforms.</LI>
</OL>
#1 is not going to be a problem by the middle of next year (my guess).
Depending on your roll-out date it might be worth starting with Java right
from the start.&nbsp; In fact, I'm investing my own time in learning Java.&nbsp;
I do GUI development for a living and feel my skills in X may not be enough
for the long run.&nbsp; Java GUI is the next big thing for people like
me.

<P>#3 is a problem.&nbsp; There are only a few VRML browsers for Linux
right now and I don't know much abou them.&nbsp; Liquid Reality is one
- it requires you have the Java runtime environment installed and working.&nbsp;
VRML on non-Linux is actually better supported right now, but that's probably
a situation that will be fixed within the next year (again, my guess).

<P>Now, assume you go with these two.&nbsp; Now you can choose your *own*
development platform.&nbsp; I'd pick Linux.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Because MS
is not being very forthcoming about their support of Java - Linux has embraced
it quite happily.&nbsp; I'm just getting started with Java development
so I can't tell you how to use the tools, but the Java Development Kit
(JDK), all the way up to version 1.1.3, has been ported to Linux.&nbsp;
There is a commercial Java IDE kit, Vibe, for Linux already.

<P>VRML is like HTML and you can write it using vi or EMACS or whatever
text editor you'd like.&nbsp; Eventually there will be WYSIWYG editors
for VRML, but for now it shouldn't be difficult to do by hand.&nbsp; In
fact, many of the current VRML texts are written from the point of view
that you <I>are</I> writing it by hand.

<P>Alternatives:&nbsp; OpenGL/Motif/C.&nbsp; This is the way I'd do it
<I>right</I> now simply because I already now Motif and C and OpenGL is
something I've been studying off and on for a few months now.&nbsp; I really
like OpenGL, but if you use Motif/C your application is less portable across
platforms (i.e., it's not very easy to port to MS or Macs).&nbsp; OpenGL has
been ported to lots of platforms, but it doesn't provide a windowing toolkit
so you have to use it with a toolkit native to your platforms (Motif/X,
MS Windows, etc).

<P>Now, this still might not address your problem because "an interactive
educational system" can encompass all sorts of display data so it's hard
to say if Java/VRML will work for you.&nbsp; What sort of graphics do you
need to display?&nbsp; How do they need to be displayed?&nbsp; User Interfaces
(UI's) is a big area of study that few people hear about because the hype
from the technologies you use for them gets more attention.&nbsp; The problem
still exists - which technology do you use?&nbsp; The answer - whatever
one you're most comfortable with for now.&nbsp; Eventually, you need to
get familiar with Java and VRML.

<P>
<HR WIDTH="100%">
<BR><A NAME="webwonderings"></A>
<BR><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/webwonderings.jpg" HEIGHT=57 WIDTH=246>
<H2>
Adding JavaScript rollovers to Web pages.</H2>
Last month I talked about browser detection with JavaScript.&nbsp; Like
most Web technologies, JavaScript is new and prone to problems, even within
the applications for which it was developed - the Netscape Navigator Web
browser.&nbsp; In order to make the best use of JavaScript with Netscape
Browsers you'll want to make sure you understand what versions of the browser
support which JavaScript constructs.&nbsp; Browser detection helps you
do this.

<P>This month we'll talk about a common trick many people are using in
their Web pages today:&nbsp; image rollovers.&nbsp; An image rolllover
is an image that changes based on user input.&nbsp; For example, if you
look at my <A HREF="http://www.csn.net/~mjhammel/gimp/gimp.html">GIMP pages</A>
(you'll need Netscape 3.x or later for this) you'll see image rollovers
in the menus.&nbsp; When you place the mouse over the text for one of the
menu items, the Gallery for example, the text background changes to a light
blue or cyan color.&nbsp; The text is actually an image, not ordinary HTML
text.&nbsp; When you place the mouse over the image it is swapped out for
another image, the cyan colored version.&nbsp; Thats a rollover.

<P>Adding rollovers is actually fairly easy.&nbsp; First, you need to make
two copies of an image (we're taking a very basic approach to this - you
can actually create multiple versions of the image to be displayed based
on different types of user input).&nbsp; The first copy is the original,
the image to be displayed initially or when no user input is being applied.&nbsp;
The second is the image to be swapped in when the user moves the mouse
over the original or clicks on the image.&nbsp; Creating these images can
be done in any number of ways.&nbsp; Personally, I use t<A HREF="http://www.gimp.org">he
GIMP.</A>&nbsp; It's well-designed for these kind of image processing tasks.

<P>Next you need to understand how JavaScript interprets user input.&nbsp;
These are called events.&nbsp; There are number of different events that
JavaScript can recognize&nbsp; Not all are applicable to images, however,
nor to use with rollovers.&nbsp; The ones of interest are:
<BR>&nbsp;
<CENTER><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=3 COLS=3 WIDTH="70%" BGCOLOR="#FFCC00" NOSAVE >
<TR NOSAVE>
<TD BGCOLOR="#66FFFF" NOSAVE><B>Event Name</B></TD>

<TD BGCOLOR="#66FFFF" NOSAVE><B>Meaning</B></TD>

<TD BGCOLOR="#66FFFF" NOSAVE><B>JavaScript and Netscape versions</B></TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>onclick</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>User clicks on an image.</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>1.0 (Navigator pre-3.x)</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>onmouseover</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>User moves the mouse over the image</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>1.0 (Navigator pre-3.x)</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>onmouseout</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>User moves cursor out from link or image
map.</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>1.1 (Navigator 3.x)</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>onmousedown</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>User presses a mouse key down but doesn't
release it.</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>1.2 (Navigator 4.x)</TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>onmouseup</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>User releases the mouse button.</TD>

<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>1.2 (Navigator 4.x)</TD>
</TR>

<CAPTION ALIGN=BOTTOM><B>JavaScript Events useful for rollovers</B></CAPTION>
</TABLE></CENTER>
These are all fairly self explanatory.&nbsp; They are all associated with
the way a user handles the mouse in relation to the image. Note also that
the event name is case insensitive.&nbsp; You will often see examples where
the evens are written like onMouseOver or onClick.

<P>Finally, you need to understand how JavaScript references images on
a Web page.&nbsp; The trick to rollovers is to update the correct image
- in some cases the image to update is not the image over which the mouse
currently rests.&nbsp; For example, see my <A HREF="http://www.csn.net/~mjhammel/nav-top.html">contents
page</A> where I update a central image when the mouse is placed over images
that surround the central image.&nbsp; That page doesn't do a good job
checking which browser is being used and as a result it doesn't work well
with non-Netscape 3.x browsers, or even 3.x browsers on non-Unix platforms.&nbsp;
Still, the rollovers do work right on the Linux Netscape browser.

<P>JavaScript references images as objects and as such treats them just
like any other object.&nbsp; Images in a document (documents are HTML pages)
are referenced using names, such as
<BR>&nbsp;
<CENTER><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=3 COLS=1 WIDTH="350" NOSAVE >
<TR NOSAVE>
<TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER NOSAVE><A HREF="javascript:void(null)" onmouseover="navInfo('Happy Dog, eh?', 1); return true;" onMouseout="clearInfo(0);return true"><IMG SRC="./gx/hammel/dog-1.jpg" NAME="dog" BORDER=0 HEIGHT=240 WIDTH=320></A></TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER NOSAVE><B>document.dog.src</B></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
The <I>document</I> name means the current document (page), the <I>dog</I>
name references the NAME= tag given to the above image, and the <I>src</I>
name refers to the name of the image, such as "dog-1.gif".&nbsp;&nbsp;
You'll notice, if you have an appropriate browser (I was lazy - there is
no browser detection code included!), that the above image changes when
you place the mouse over the dog.&nbsp; So does the text in the status
bar at the bottom of the document.&nbsp; Lets look at the code that handles
this.

<P>First, lets look at the image's HTML definition:
<UL><B>&lt;A <FONT COLOR="#009900">HREF="javascript:void(null)"</FONT></B>
<UL><B><FONT COLOR="#009900">onMouseOver</FONT>="mouseIn('Happy Dog, eh?',);
return true;"</B>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#009900">onMouseOut</FONT>="mouseOut(); return true"></B></UL>
<B>&lt;IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/dog-1.jpg" <FONT COLOR="#009900">NAME</FONT>="dog"
<FONT COLOR="#009900">BORDER</FONT>=0 HEIGHT=240 WIDTH=320></B>
<BR><B>&lt;/A></B></UL>
Notice the name of the image:&nbsp; NAME="dog".&nbsp; This gives JavaScript
the object reference it needs to access the correct image.&nbsp; You can
also access images using a documents <I>images</I> index, but that's a somewhat
haphazard method (one I use with my contents page) and a bit harder to
use.&nbsp; I recommend using NAME tags for rollovers.

<P>A few other things we should note about this bit of HTML:
<OL>
<LI>
There are event handlers for when the mouse enters the image area (<B>onMouseOver</B>)
and for when the mouse leaves the image area (<B>onMouseOut</B>). We'll
discuss the values we associate with each of these in a moment.</LI>

<LI>
The event handlers are placed in an anchor with an HREF tag.&nbsp; The
HREF points to a JavaScript function called "void", which is a simple method
for doing nothing.&nbsp; In this case we want only the event handlers to
do anything and the anchor to do nothing.</LI>

<LI>
We've set the border width to 0 for the image so that no border will be
placed around the image.&nbsp; If we didn't do this a border would be added
that used the link and visited-link colors because the image is wrapped
in an anchor tag. This way, the image doesn't really look like a link.&nbsp;
Thats good, since it's not really a link to anything.</LI>
</OL>
Before we talk about the event handlers, we should take a look at the JavaScript
code:
<UL><B>&lt;SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"></B>

<P><B>&lt;!-- Hide script from older browsers</B>

<P><B>numitems=2;</B>
<BR><B>SampleImages = new Array(numitems);</B>

<P><B>SampleImages[0] = new Image();</B>
<BR><B>SampleImages[1] = new Image();</B>

<P><B>// Establish the two image objects we want to use.</B>
<BR><B>SampleImages[0].src="../gx/hammel/dog-1.jpg";</B>
<BR><B>SampleImages[1].src="../gx/hammel/dog-2.jpg";</B>

<P><B>// Event handler called for onMouseOver event</B>
<BR><B>function mouseIn(input_status)</B>
<BR><B>{</B>
<BR><B>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; status = input_status;</B>
<BR><B>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; document.dog.src = SampleImages[1].src;</B>
<BR><B>}</B>

<P><B>// Event handler called for onMouseOut event</B>
<BR><B>function mouseOut()</B>
<BR><B>{</B>
<BR><B>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; status="";</B>
<BR><B>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; document.dog.src = SampleImages[0].src;</B>
<BR><B>}</B>

<P><B>// End of hidden script --></B>

<P><B>&lt;/SCRIPT></B></UL>
For this example you are safe in placing this bit of code inside the &lt;HEAD>
&lt;/HEAD> section of your HTML.

<P>The two event handlers call JavaScript functions.&nbsp; The mouseIn()
function is called to change the image when the mouse enters the image
area.&nbsp; As you see in the HREF tag the event handler associated with
this function is the onMouseOver event.&nbsp; This function has two lines.&nbsp;
The first takes the text passed as an argument and places it on the status
bar at the bottom of the browser.&nbsp; The second line replaces the image
referenced as "dog" by the second image in the SampleImages array. Pretty
straight forward, don't you think?

<P>The second function, mouseOut(), is called when the mouse is moved out
of the image area.&nbsp; It, too, has two lines.&nbsp; The first clears
the status bar and the second places the image in the first element of
the SampleImages array over the image currently in the object called "dog".&nbsp;
In this case, the SampleImages array's first element holds the same image
source as the original image displayed in the IMG tag in our HTML source.

<P>A few things to note about the code: I used an array to hold the images
I wanted to use for my rollover.&nbsp; In this simple example I could just
have easily used
<CENTER><B>document.dog.src = "../gx/hammel/dog-1.jpg"</B></CENTER>
instead.&nbsp; If you use an array be sure to define the storage for the
array objects.&nbsp; I first defined the array with
<CENTER><B>SampleImages = new Array(numitems);</B></CENTER>
I then defined the image storage for each element of the array with
<CENTER><B>SampleImages[0] = new Image();</B></CENTER>
Of course this could be done in a loop, like with a for() statement.&nbsp;
The definition of these objects with the "new" keyword causes JavaScript
to load the image but not actually display it.&nbsp; You could use these
scripts to preload images to a page so that when subsequent pages were
accessed the images could be pulled from cache immediately.

<P>The image object also contains a number of other properties, such as
the BORDER width, image HEIGHT and WIDTH, and the VSPACE attribute for
setting the vertical space around the image.&nbsp; By not specifying the
HEIGHT and WIDTH for the document.dog object in the functions I have assumed
the new image has the same dimensions as the old.&nbsp; If this were not
the case you might want to update the image dimensions in your functions
as well.

<P>Well, that should get you started.&nbsp; Image rollovers are kinda cool
to play with and can add a little pizazz to an otherwise drap Web page,
but be careful.&nbsp; Like most of the neat toys on the Web, too much of
anything can be annoying.

<P>
<HR WIDTH="100%">

<P><A NAME="musings"></A>
<BR>&nbsp;
<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="100%" >
<TR>
<TD><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/musings.gif" ALT="Musings" HEIGHT=52 WIDTH=247 ALIGN=LEFT></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
&nbsp;
<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=3 WIDTH="100%" NOSAVE >
<TR>
<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN="3" WIDTH="100%" BGCOLOR="#000000"><IMG
SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" ALT="indent" HSPACE=1 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1 ALIGN=LEFT></TD>

<TD></TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP ROWSPAN="3" WIDTH="50%">
<H2>
SIGGRAPH 97 Notes</H2>
For those that don't know, SIGGRAPH is the yearly conference on computer
graphics sponsored by the ACM.&nbsp; To be exact, SIGGRAPH is the Special
Interest Group - Graphics of the ACM and the conference is an extension
of that, but in the past few years this conference has grown into a major
exposition where all the big names in the computer and entertainment industry
show their latest wares.&nbsp; This year the conference was held in Los
Angeles.&nbsp; It was also my inaguaration into this madhouse.&nbsp;

<P>I should tell you that what follows is not specifically Linux related.&nbsp;
I will try to associated what I saw or learned with Linux as much as possible,
but in general Linux is not a powerhouse at SIGGRAPH,&nbsp; In fact, with
the exception of one technical course and a couple of engineers manning
booths at the show, I didn't hear anyone talk about Linux.&nbsp; We have
some work ahead of us to get real notice.&nbsp;

<P>For me, SIGGRAPH lasted 4 days, Sunday through Wednesday, even though
the conference actually ran for 6 days.&nbsp; I went as my vacation (sick,
isn't it) and after 4 days had been run so ragged I decided my last full
day would do something quite and peaceful - so I went to Universal Studios.&nbsp;
SIGGRAPH, for those who've never been, is non-stop energy drain, both physically
and mentally.&nbsp;

<P>My first day there I spent going through lines - at the airport, at
the car rental (my god, what a mess), and at the conference registration
booths.&nbsp; I had preregistered and so I only needed to pick up my conference
materials, but that took about 45 minutes.&nbsp; Having not been to a conference
of any kind since a trip to Interop back in 1991, I was a bit disappointed
to see no texts provided for the courses.&nbsp; In fact, the courses weren't
really courses, they were presentations in front of monster sized audiences.&nbsp;
I remember the Interop courses being a bit more personal, more like real
classes.&nbsp;

<P>Although I got there late, I did managed to get into the Introductory
class on OpenGL that was given by SGI staff members.&nbsp; It was mostly
a discussion on basic OpenGL syntax.&nbsp; I did manage to wind up sitting
right next to Bruce Peren's office mate at Pixar - a very nice fellow named
Jim W. (my notes didn't include his last name - hope he doesn't get made
at me).&nbsp; That seemed strange until I found out that Pixar sends just
about everyone to SIGGRAPH.&nbsp; A few days later I saw Larry Gritz but
didn't get a chance to talk to him.&nbsp; Like most people at SIGGRAPH,
he was in a hurry to get somewhere.&nbsp;

<P>The rest of the day I spent wondering around the LA convention center
looking for where other classes and events would be held.&nbsp; There was
a career center downstairs where people could post resumes and companies
posted job positions.&nbsp; Xi Graphics had a posting there, but other
than that I didn't see any Linux-related postings.&nbsp; By the time I
got back to my hotel it was about 9pm - and I had yet to eat that day.&nbsp;
One word of warning to future attendees:&nbsp; take snacks!&nbsp; Finding
food can be hard and what you do find can be awful (at least in LA by the
convention center) and you <B><I>will</I></B> need the enegy!&nbsp; Being
a running, I should have brought a few energy bars with me.&nbsp; Well,
that's a lesson learned.&nbsp;

<P>The next day I went to the Advanced OpenGL course, also taught by SGI
staff.&nbsp; This was a more interesting class to me, since it talked about
techniques a bit more than just syntax.&nbsp; There were some good discussions
on using environment maps (mapping an image to surface), projecting textures,
and billboarding.&nbsp; This last one is a cool technique I wasn't aware
of.&nbsp; An image is mapped onto a planar surface and that surface is
programmed to always face towards the viewer.&nbsp; It is sort of like
taking a photo of a tree, cutting away all of the photo except the tree,
and pasting it to a popsicle stick.&nbsp; The stick is then rotated so
that the photo of the tree always faces you.&nbsp; It simulates a 3D effect
without all the overhead of huge polygon counts for a real tree.&nbsp;
This technique works well for scene objects that are in the distance but
looses its effect up close.&nbsp; You can see billboarding effects in many
games.&nbsp;

<P>Another effect they covered was the creation of fire.&nbsp; They used
a noise function along with what are called "quad mappings" to blur regions
of the noise.&nbsp; They then added some turbulence and an absolute value&nbsp;
<CENTER><TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="100%" NOSAVE >
<TR NOSAVE>
<TD ALIGN=CENTER NOSAVE><IMG SRC="./gx/hammel/flame.jpg" HEIGHT=256 WIDTH=256></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
function to create veins in the fire.&nbsp; It turns out you can do something
similar with the GIMP by using the solid noise filter, followed by some
blurring and waves adjustments, and cleaned up with a combination of curves/color
balance adjustments (for color), and sharpening (for details).&nbsp;

<P>When I got home I went to visit my sister and her kids and watched them
play Super Mario Bros on their ... Sega?&nbsp; Anyway, having just returned
from SIGGRAPH I could see the effects they talked about in the advanced
OpenGL course.&nbsp; It was very enlightening.&nbsp;

<P>One of my reasons for going to the OpenGL courses was to get an idea
for how multimedia applications could be built for Linux.&nbsp; An alternative
to an OpenGL based multimedia kit would be one based on VRML. I attended
the VRML Demo SIG on Monday night and it had some very cool demos using
VRML 2.0.&nbsp; If based on CD-ROM this could be a very good cross platform
environment for multimedia packages (edutainment, for example).&nbsp; The
current drawback is that the demos required 2.0 capable browsers, but there
should any number of those showing up in the next year or so.&nbsp; According
to CGW (freebie that was dropped at my hotel room - very nice touch), Netscape
4.0 has the SGI Cosmo Player embedded in it now.&nbsp; I haven't been able
to get this to work yet, however.&nbsp; Since I have a 2.0 kernel installed
now I can try some of the other VRML browsers available.&nbsp; Maybe I'll
get to that next month.&nbsp;
<CENTER><A HREF="#next-column">-Top of next column-</A></CENTER>

<CENTER>&nbsp;</CENTER>
</TD>

<TD ROWSPAN="3" WIDTH="2" BGCOLOR="#000000"><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" ALT="indent" HSPACE=1 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1></TD>

<TD WIDTH="49%">

<P><BR>
<LH><A NAME="next-column"></A><B>More Musings...</B>&nbsp;</LH>&nbsp;
<LI>
<A HREF="more-musings.html">GIMP Tip</A> - 3D metal and plastic borders.</LI>

<BR>&nbsp;</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD BGCOLOR="#000000"><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" HSPACE=1 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1></TD>
</TR>

<TR NOSAVE>
<TD VALIGN=TOP NOSAVE>On Tuesday I arrived 1/2 hour early to take the 3D
Animation Workshop.&nbsp; I was about 20th in line of 100 or so, but somehow
managed to miss getting a little blue ticket.&nbsp; Despite the people
at the door having seen me there for 30 minutes waiting (before others
had showed up) I still didn't get in.&nbsp; I was very pissed.&nbsp; This
class was one of my prime reasons for my going to SIGGRAPH.&nbsp; Hint:&nbsp;
if you get in line at SIGGRAPH, make sure you check with the people in
front of you to see if you need to have some special form, ticket, or sacrificial
offering to get in.&nbsp;

<P>My fallback course was the GUI/Multimedia class.&nbsp; There really
wasn't much multimedia discussion - mostly it covered how to design GUI
intefaces.&nbsp; Lots of design criteria which I'd learned by fire long
ago.&nbsp; When they finally did get around to multimedia they talked about
the lack of standards and how most applications are reinventing GUI rules.&nbsp;
This was my assessment before going to the class, but it was nice to have
it reinforced by someone who studies such things for a living.&nbsp;

<P>Next I skipped out to Mark Kilgard's OpenGL w/Windowing systems class.&nbsp;
Pretty good stuff.&nbsp; Brian Paul talked about MesaGL a little as well
as some portability issues.&nbsp; Both are very nice guys - I chatted with
them a bit after the class.&nbsp; One thing Mark mentioned was that there
arent' any toolkits specifically built with OpenGL, which makes sense.&nbsp;
There is an overhead in creating widgets using OpenGL that would make it
unsuitable for most applications.&nbsp; Instead, OpenGL is integrated into
applications using some other toolkit, like Motif, XForms, or Tk, using
a toolkit specific OpenGL-capable widget.&nbsp;

<P>Later on I stumbled into the Java3D class for a few minutes.&nbsp; Looks
interesting but I didn't get too many details.&nbsp; Sun is saying a beta
release of a sample implementation of the specification&nbsp; is due out
in December of 1997 but the course speakers said they hoped to have it
out much sooner.&nbsp; They also expect that since the specification is
public and being openly developed that sample implementations from non-Sun
sources are likely to show up before the Sun release.&nbsp; Or at least
they expect that - they didn't have any information on any specific implementations.&nbsp;
At this point I haven't heard of any Java3D announcements from my usual
sources.&nbsp;

<P>I talked to a couple of recruiters at the career fair, mostly just to
get a feel for what companies are looking for these days.&nbsp; They mentioned
that the best way people can avoid getting lost in the crowd of candidates
at the fair is to submit resumes based on job postings from the corporate
web sites.&nbsp; If you go next year looking for work, check out some of
the participating companies job listings before heading to the career fair.&nbsp;

<P>First day of the show for me was Wednesday.&nbsp; It looked more like
a cross between a theme park ride and a disco, especially when Intel rolled
out their MMX "clean-room dancers".&nbsp; SGI offered a 1/2 hour demo ride
with their O2 systems.&nbsp; Cute demo but really didn't give a good feel
for what you were really buying.&nbsp; After talking to some of the show
staff and taking the demo ride I still don't know exactly what applications
come with the stock O2 box.&nbsp; The $4995 price offered to conference
participants wasn't bad, however.&nbsp; Certainly compares well with a
comparably equipped PC running NT.&nbsp; There is a freeware/shareward
CD available for O2 developers according to one of the engineers I talked
to, but I didn't see it.&nbsp;

<P>The SGI O2 demo showed me one thing which I had hoped I'd find out from
the show:&nbsp; how to create multimedia applications.&nbsp; In fact, after
the demo a White Paper was passed out explaining how the demo was put together.&nbsp;
Some items, like the networking that allowed real-time texture mapping
of live video, are not really possible on Linux boxes with available software.&nbsp;
But most of the rest is:&nbsp; OpenGL rendered in Motif widgets was used
for the GUI and OpenGL and VRML were used for interactive 3D displays.&nbsp;
OpenGL is available commercially and with MesaGL.&nbsp; Motif is available
commercially. I'm not certain VRML is available for integration into applications
via an API, but animation could be done using MPEG.&nbsp; There are some
MPEG API's, such as MpegTV's API.&nbsp; ImageMagick's PlugIn distribution
appears to have an MPEG library, but I don't know if it provides a decent
enough API for commercial multimedia applications.&nbsp;

<P>After seeing the SGI demo and the VRML SIG demos I've changed my mind
about VRML - it's ready for prime time.&nbsp; I wouldn't recommend it for
network applications yet, at least not Internet based applications, but
for private networks (such as kiosks) or CD-based multimedia applications
it could offer some unique possibilities.&nbsp;

<P>Wacom was at the show and a few of the staff didn't get defensive when
I brought up Linux (it all depends on how non-abrasively you bring up the
subject). They were even quite apologetic about not having any info on
which tablets were supported by XFree86.&nbsp; They now have a pad that
is actually a full-color flat screen - you simply draw on it like you do
with the tablets.&nbsp; Very cool, but currently runs > $2200.&nbsp;

<P>Cosmo Software (new division of SGI) staff were pleasant as well, mentioning
that it might be possible to provide someone with the source to port the
Cosmo Player to Linux.&nbsp; The player (which plays VRML 2.0 scenes) is
free for various other platforms.&nbsp; I guess they just need someone
to ask for it and provide some credentials to prove they could do a decent
port.&nbsp; Unfortunately, I'm not certain who to talk to about this.&nbsp;

<P>Huge crowds formed around the Apple booth right at the entrance.&nbsp;
One demo I caught caused an OS lockup, but for the most part people were
quite excited about the products.&nbsp; I don't know much about Mac's so
didn't stay long.&nbsp; However, like LInux, Mac is an underdog in the
OS world and I can't help but hope they survive.&nbsp;

<P>The one thing about this trip that stood out for me was LA itself.&nbsp;
It was Hot.&nbsp; Outside.&nbsp; Inside.&nbsp; In classes.&nbsp; In the
car.&nbsp; In the hotel.&nbsp; Everywhere.&nbsp; Hot. LA also has an ugly
downtown compared to others I've seen.&nbsp; It also apparently has very
few restaurants anywhere near the Convention Center.&nbsp; A 6 block walk
in Colorado is no big deal, but a 6 block walk in LA in August....*sigh*.&nbsp;
Food was a big problem for me.&nbsp; I hope the same problem doesn't exist
in Orlando next year.&nbsp;
<BR>&nbsp;
<BR>&nbsp;</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD COLSPAN="3" WIDTH="100%" BGCOLOR="#000000"><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/cleardot.gif" HSPACE=1 HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1>submitted
resumes based on job postings from their web sites.</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
&nbsp;
<BR>&nbsp;
<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="100%" >
<TR>
<TD><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/resources.gif" ALT="Resources" HEIGHT=57 WIDTH=246 ALIGN=LEFT></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
The following links are just starting points for finding more information
about computer graphics and multimedia in general for Linux systems. If
you have some application specific information for me, I'll add them to
my other pages or you can contact the maintainer of some other web site.
I'll consider adding other general references here, but application or
site specific information needs to go into one of the following general
references and not listed here.
<BR>&nbsp;
<TABLE BORDER=0 COLS=2 WIDTH="100%" NOSAVE >
<TR NOSAVE>
<TD NOSAVE><A HREF="http://www.csn.net/~mjhammel/linux/lgh.html">Linux
Graphics mini-Howto</A>&nbsp;
<BR><A HREF="http://www.csn.net/~mjhammel/ugu/ugu.html">Unix Graphics Utilities</A>&nbsp;
<BR><A HREF="http://www.digiserve.com/ar/linux-snd/">Linux Multimedia Page</A>&nbsp;

<P>Some of the Mailing Lists and Newsgroups I keep an eye on and where
I get much of the information in this column:&nbsp;

<P><A HREF="http://www.gimp.org">The Gimp User and Gimp Developer Mailing
Lists</A>.&nbsp;
<BR><A HREF="http://www.irtc.org">The IRTC-L discussion list</A>&nbsp;
<BR><A HREF="news:comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing">comp.graphics.rendering.raytracing</A>&nbsp;
<BR><A HREF="news:comp.graphics.rendering.renderman">comp.graphics.rendering.renderman</A>&nbsp;
<BR><A HREF="news:comp.graphics.api.opengl">comp.graphics.api.opengl</A>&nbsp;
<BR><A HREF="news:comp.os.linux.announce">comp.os.linux.announce</A>&nbsp;</TD>

<TD><IMG SRC="../gx/hammel/gmuse.jpg" HSPACE=10 HEIGHT=270 WIDTH=190></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<A NAME="future"></A>
<H2>
Future Directions</H2>
Next month:
<BR>I don't know yet.&nbsp; Things are very hectic right now, but I'll
think of something.&nbsp; Thanks to everyone who has made suggestions in
the past!&nbsp; I do keep all your suggestions, even if I haven't gotten
around to all of them yet.

<P><A HREF="mailto:mjhammel@csn.net">Let me know what you'd like to hear
about!</A>

<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H4>Previous ``Graphics Muse'' Columns</H4></center>
<p>
<A HREF="../issue11/gm.html">Graphics Muse #1, November 1996</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue12/gm.html">Graphics Muse #2, December 1996</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue13/gm.html">Graphics Muse #3, January 1997</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue14/gm.html">Graphics Muse #4, February 1997</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue15/gm.html">Graphics Muse #5, March 1997</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue16/gm.html">Graphics Muse #6, April 1997</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue17/gm.html">Graphics Muse #7, May 1997</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue18/gm.html">Graphics Muse #8, June 1997</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue19/gm.html">Graphics Muse #9, July 1997</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue20/gm.html">Graphics Muse #10, August 1997</A><br>
<A HREF="../issue22/gm.html">Graphics Muse #11, October 1997</A>
<P><HR><P>
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1997, Michael J. Hammel<BR> 
Published in Issue 23 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 1997</H5></center>

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