Useful links for graphic designers/publishers on a budget

I am toying with the idea of starting up some sort of graphics/publishing business. Of course, I want my start-up costs to be minimal... and so I am looking for software that is free!

Anyway, here are some links that are legal and free. I will probably add to them later...

Enjoy!

Software:

GIMP - This is the free, open source alternative to Adobe Photoshop.

Inkscape - This is the free, open source alternative to Adobe Illustrator.

Scribus - This is the free, open source alternative to Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Office's Publisher.

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Other things:

Beautify is a really cool GIMP add-on with tons of filters. http://gimpchat.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4811

TextureMate - Gives free brushes and textures for use for commerical purposes.

I'm coming at this from an obvious visual communicator/designer-in-training angle, but I say that, if you're serious about the business, the professional software tends to justify the price in the long run.

That's not to say that all free software is bad, though!

I've actually heard very good things about Inkscape, and not much about Scribus (but it looks pretty neat from what I saw) -- but when it comes to GIMP, it has one drastic difference from Photoshop that might affect you: it works with RGB format and not CMYK. Basically, both refer to colours and how they're displayed: RGB works with red, green and blue pixels, and is used to capture and show images on a digital screen, while CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) is what commercial printers use, and what you pretty much need if you're planning on printing your work. (ETA: your home printer will print things made in RGB mode just fine, of course. It's only if you're planning on producing high-quality prints for a wider audience that CMYK really comes into play, but that's what I think of when you say "publishing business"). There are ways to install certain plug-ins, though, that allow for CMYK mode in GIMP, which might be worth looking into if you realise you need it but still don't want to spend money on Photoshop
GIMP also comes with less tools, but if you're not looking into a lot of image-editing and such, you might not need all the things Photoshop offers anyway.

Just a thing to keep in mind: while often the free alternatives can do a lot of things the paid versions does, sometimes they prove lacking in some regard, and it's important to read up on the differences and know what kinds of results you're expecting before settling for either. Sometimes, sadly, a very small difference might prove huge somewhere down the line of the process, and having to go back to the beginning because of such a thing sucks.
Not saying you're not aware of that, just noting a thing that everyone considering the same thing as you might want to consider.

Are you also looking for any tutorials/advice on how to go about it and how the practical side of it works, or do you have that covered and are just focusing on finding the right software to make it happen?