Hi everybody on the list,

I'm testing the GIMP on various operating systems for my masterthesis (in that i want to show the capabilities of open-source-software for technical writing) and i hope that somebody could answer me the following question (more to follow ;-) :

As a programmer and technical writer for software i love the ability of getting screenshots directly from and into the GIMP via the "Acquire" submenu -> "Screen shot".

I've already tested that function successfully under (Ubuntu-)Linux and Windows (XP).

But under Mac OS there are some problems. I've installed the GIMP on two different ways under Mac OS. The first way is via Mac Ports and the Acquire-Screenshot-function can only get screen-shots of programs running under the X11-server I'm running under Mac OS (like OOo.org).

The other way I've installed the GIMP via GIMP.app (http://gimp-app.sourceforge.net/), the self contained application bundle of GIMP, that uses X11, too. On that installation the point "Screen shot" in the "Acquire"-submenu doesn't even exist.

Here's my question: is there any plugin that i can install to have this cool function under Mac OS? Is anybody working on a plugin (and is it even possible to get a Mac-Screenshot into an X11-application?). It's a great functionality and it would be very useful for Mac-users.

Regards

Akki Nitsch

############################################ The freedom of meaning one thing and saying something different is not permitted.

E.W. Dijkstra

Andreas "Akki" Nitsch akki@akki-n.de
Mobile: 0171/ 54 12 63 1

Hi Sven,

thanks for your reply.

Of course it's possible to take screenshots under Mac OS - but in a very clumsy way:

1. Use the system-wide keyboard shortcuts for taking screenshots into the Clipboard:

Control + Shift + Command + 3 ----> a shot from the entire screen Control + Shift + Command + 4 ----> a shot from a selection of the screen
Control + Shift + Command + 4 and then press SPACEBAR ----> a shot from only one window

By the way, if you use these commands without pressing the CONTROL key, the images are stored in a file, not the clipboard.

2. In GIMP, use File > Acquire > From Clipboard

The thing is that it is NOT possible to get the screenshot into GIMP via clipboard – so you've got to save them into files, open them, doing cropping and other work, to save them and at least to delete that files Mac OS generates on the desktop automatically. So you've got to to very clumsy things instead of going the very elegant way using the GIMP-functionality.

But for me the most important part is answered: i know that I've got to mention in my masterthesis that this functionality is not available under Mac OS (yet).

Hope that someone will close this gap sometime

Thank you very much for your answer

Regards

Akki Nitsch

############################################ The freedom of meaning one thing and saying something different is not permitted.

E.W. Dijkstra

Andreas "Akki" Nitsch akki@akki-n.de
Mobile: 0171/ 54 12 63 1

Sven Neumann schrieb:

Hi,

On Tue, 2007-07-17 at 01:01 +0200, Akki Nitsch wrote:

But under Mac OS there are some problems. I've installed the GIMP on two different ways under Mac OS. The first way is via Mac Ports and the Acquire-Screenshot-function can only get screen-shots of programs running under the X11-server I'm running under Mac OS (like OOo.org).

That seems to be a limitation of the Apple X11 server then. To work around that, someone would have to write code specific to Mac OS X. There's currently no one working on this but it shouldn't be difficult for someone who knows a little about Quartz.

Mac OS X certainly offers the capability of taking screenshots, doesn't it? Shouldn't you be able to get that screenshot into GIMP quite easily? Perhaps using the clipboard?

Sven