Ideas by Millan

I’ve just created a WordPress theme for public release. IbM Retro. There are a few, very few, Retro themes out there, most of them 70′s or 80′s style.  I wanted to more of a 50′s Retro feel and could not find one. So here it is the one I made.

Retro Theme

In the Admin panel you can input your links for the Social Media Icons, the eight ad spot areas, the Featured Video, the Featured Twitter, and the Photo Gallery.

Feel free to take if for a test drive, let me know what you think and tell me how I can make it better.

Check the Demo and Download Page.

IbM Retro

Preview Theme

Description: A Retro theme designed by Ideas by Millan with Theme Options. In the Admin panel you can input your links for the Social Media Icons, the eight ad spot areas, the Featured Video, the Featured Twitter, and the Photo Gallery.

These plugins are required for the IbM Retro Theme
Download Plugins

If you use my theme please

If you have a computer that does not have Windows XP or its just too slow, and can’t afford to upgrade or purchase one with Windows 7, then Xubuntu (pronounced zoo-BOON-too) might be a solution for you. Download Xubuntu Here. You could buy a Netbook which most of them are in the $300 range and now come with as striped-down version of Windows called “Windows 7 Starter” like this ASUS 10.1-Inch Eee PC. Another option is to just replace your PC (not monitor), but this might also be out of range since the lowest prices are in the low $200 like this Acer or this E-machines, at this price they come with XP Home edition.

The best option is FREE! Use the computer you currently have and install Xubuntu. Now why I’m I promotion Xubuntu, well there’s several reasons…for one, its FREE, two, I have it installed and loved it, and three, I can reuse the old computer I have and save the Environment ; ).

You might think that your computer is too old to run anything, specially if you have Windows ME or XP with less than 512 MB of memory, if it is so then your are wrong. Xubuntu only requires a 300 MHz processor and at least 192 MB of memory (the recommended is 256 MB RAM), and 2 GB of free space.

Here are a few things to know before taking on the task of trying or/and installing Xubuntu:
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Paint.Net is an alternative to Photoshop if you are used to Microsoft Paint

Paint.NET

If you who don’t need the complexity of Adobe’s Photoshop or the GIMP (a free alternative), and still want more options when editing images, Paint.NET is another great free alternative for you.  The learning curve is minimal, the program is actually very intuitive and  if you have ever used Microsoft Paint, then there is no learning curve.

Paint.NET has support for layers, blending, and transparency. There are quite a few plugins that can further extend its functionality.

Download it here:

The following resources are very helpful:

Paint.NET Forum  http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/

Paint.NET Tutorial http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=15

Paint.NET Plugins http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=16

GIMP

If you need more control when tweaking your images than just Windows Vista’s image editor’s options , ie: Auto Adjust, Adjust Exposure, Crop Picture, and  Fix Red Eye, then there is a great alternative if you cannot afford Adobe’s Photoshop. 

The best  raster graphics editing program that comes loaded with many similar features as Photoshop, but does not cost a dime, is the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP).   GIMP has many similar features you would find in a lot of proprietary software, but without the cost or use limitations .  Among the many format extensions the GIMP handles is: BMP, JPEG, PNG, PSD, GIF and TIFF to name a few.

The GIMP is Open Source which means is free software and you can use it for anything.  It is not mean to be a clone of Photoshop, but if you are a previous Photoshop user and want to have a lot of the same menus and hot-key shortcuts, then I recommend you also download the GimpShop.

Get the GIMP here:

If you want to add the feel of Photoshop also download the GIMPShop here:

http://www.gimpshop.com/download.shtml

Alternative to Adobe Acrobat

If you only have Adobe Reader and want an alternative to Adobe Acrobat, you can be sure that PDFCreator from PDFforge will allow you to print any document into pdf format. The program installs as a virtual printer so you can print anything to a pdf so you can save the file or email it.  The virtual printer is very handy when you quickly need to archive a document to your computer, or when you want to save it for later printing to your conventional printer.  It comes with an optional toolbar for web searching and for instantly converting web pages to pdf format, which comes in very handy when surfing online. The program also allows you to individually select files and convert them into pdf.

Check out this great alternative to Adobe Acrobat:
http://www.pdfforge.org/

OpenOffice

You can’t live without Word, Excel or Powerpoint, but don’t have the money to buy the most recent Window’s Office… Don’t worry you have alternatives. Open source is your solution. Open source is the term used for programs that are freely distributed and developed. This means is that there are no costs for licenses and there are fewer legal risks. What does this mean to you…that it is free! You are not required to pay in order to download the programs, nor to renew their license, nor to receive updates, and yes, it is completely legal to use this software.

Without you even knowing it, you may already have used open source programs when checking your email or visiting some Internet sites.

Your best alternative for Word, Excel or Powerpoint is OpenOffice.
Download it here:
www.openoffice.org