Here is one way that I’ve found to accomplish this.  I’m using Ubuntu so any install stuff will be specific to that distribution, but the software I’m using should work on any Linux distro.

First, you’ll need Gimp.  I’m assuming that’s already installed.

Gimp won’t save a multi-layer image to a .ps, .tif, or .pdf by itself, though, so you need to install a script called “Save Layers as Individual Files” (this script can be downloaded for Gimp 2.4 or newer from Panotools) .

Once you download this script it needs to be put in your Gimp scripts directory.

unzip -d ~/.gimp-2.6/scripts Save-layers-tiff-24.zip

Your scripts directory may be named something else if you are using another version of Gimp (other than 2.6). Once the script is in that directory, it will appear in the Script-Fu > Utils menu within Gimp (and can be applied to any open image).

Next, you need to install imagemagick.  If you don’t already have it installed, it’s as easy (on Ubuntu) as:

sudo aptitude install imagemagick

Once that is installed, you’ll be able to use the mogrify program which comes with ImageMagick. From within the directory that contains all your TIF files, type:

mogrify -format pdf *.tif

This will generate PDFs for each of your TIF files. You can then merge all the PDFs files into one using a program called PDFTK. To install that, just type:

sudo aptitude install pdftk

Running that program is as easy as typing:

pdftk filename*.pdf cat output singlename.pdf

The filename*.pdf argument will catch all the individually named files created by the mogrify program (filename1.pdf, filename2.pdf, filename3.pdf, filename4.pdf, etc.)

And, that’s it! You can open your new singlename.pdf file and have all those XCF layers now represented by individual pages within the PDF. This is the easiest way that I’ve found to accomplish this task, but if you know of a better/easier way I’d love to hear it!

I don’t own an iPod (I bought an iRiver instead precisely because of the ogg support). Seeing this post though makes me want to go out and buy a stylish iPod just to put RockBox on it.

Thanks to the Lossless Audio Blog for bringing this event to my attention (even though I don’t live in the Boston area). I’m very curious about these alternatives to the standard Apple software and would love to hear from people who are using RockBox or iPodLinux.

And the, now, obligatory haiku:

Can you hear the sound –
The thrash of a song bird’s wings
in a small white cage

There are some apps I want to have unstable versions for, but I’ve learned how to manage those more efficiently through the /etc/portage/package.keywords file. Of course, in the whole process of downgrading I’ve lost access to my IPW2200 wireless card again (this seems to always happen with any big change). I need to figure out which version is the version of the drivers I need to be using. I seem to remember that the latest ones don’t work right.

In the process of trying a bunch of other things (not all related to the wireless problem), I’ve moved up to kernel 2.6.11-gentoo-r4 and switched to udev (so those are two good results (brought to you by The-Cup-IS-Half-Full department)). Anyway, it is good to be online again (well, you know, at home too… I’m always connected through the wire at work). Now to do a little work…

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “Maybe,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “Maybe,” said the farmer.

… This is one of my favorite Taoist stories. Though, there are so many great Taoist stories, it is hard to pick favorites. The connection to my life today is that I am now using my wireless connection again.

I’m not using ndiswrapper anymore though. I was disappointed when I overwrote my custom ndiswrapper config in the process of updating my system a couple days ago. A couple of days ago, I would have told you this was very bad news (in fact, I think I did).

I took the opportunity, though, to look at using ipw2200 (native Linux drivers for my Dell 600′s Intel/Pro wireless card). Well, they work great… and, better yet, I’m getting much better reception and speed than I did with ndiswrapper’s emulation. Before, with ndiswrapper, I never got better than a 60% signal strength; now, I’m getting 99-100% reception. What a difference!

So, great news? Maybe…