"How Did This Happen? My Adventure with Linux - Stone Pathway" PE5

Stone Pathway

UPDATE: I have been able to get Debian 8 LXDE to work on my Dell 1100! I still have some screen issues with funny lines and some missing words on login, but it is working. Added Audacity for recording and it works with a condenser microphone I have. Having fun with Linux issues!

I recently was given a Dell Inspiron 1100 Laptop with only 256MB of RAM and a 20Gig HDD and a CD Reader. Have you ever tried to install a form of Linux on a computer with so little RAM and no DVD-RW? My experience shows it is very difficult! I tried a number of flavors of Linux: Puppy; Lubunto Mini; Debian; and a 45MB version with a forgettable name.

Hours and hours later after Debian gave me a Login Screen. I logged in - OOPS! Something went wrong - White Screened! Not enough RAM I'm certain. Puppy Slackware version - no lettering on window Icons. Did not know what to pick for what, but I had a nice bunch of Icons on the desktop. Lubuntu Mini same story, Icons but with lettering, but CRASH! Not enough RAM! The 45MB version was a command line screen, not GUI, stuck without enough Linux knowledge for that! It Ran, though.

Days later I have now let the project sit for a time, frustrated, I need more RAM and I have a tight budget for toying around with an old laptop. Fun but time consuming and I have neglected my blog!

I decided to continue with my Pathways Series of Images. I selected this "Stone Pathway," which appears to be in a Park. Opening it in Painter Essentials 5 (PE5) I applied the Effects Adjust Color choosing Image Luminance to enhance the colors. Then I used the Equalize tool to add depth to the colors and saved the image.

I selected the saved image to auto paint. I chose the Pastel Drawing, Photo Painting Brushes, Chalk Cloner and Digitally painted the image. Picking the Soft Cloner Brush, I added back in some of the details of the photograph. I saved this image.

I opened it in Picasa 3+ and used the HDR tool with the Radius set low and the Strength Medium-low, and the Fade at 0. I then went and applied the Museum Matte for Framing the image. I saved again.

Next in Corel PhotoPaint, I added my signature layer and merged them. Applied the Tone Curve for more Depth of color. I saved again. I resampled the image at 72dpi 1200 X 823 pixels and set Compression at 75 and Smoothing at 25. I saved with another name for the display JPG file.

This took me a few hours to accomplish, but I am glad to be making Digital Visual Artwork again! I will look into used RAM on sale for that Laptop and see if I can make it work. Someone with a little knowledge of Linux would probably like to own it. If I can just get it working!