I was wondering if there was any way to compile ImageMagic on my VM and then copy the utility "convert" into my hosting space (linux server).
I'd like to use imagemagick rather than GD library because of customizable antialias which I use whenever I produce jpg graphs in Linux. The intermediate images have always been looked awfully blurry.
We can't support you on webserver setup, so the long answer is to tell you to read up http://documentation.coppermine-gallery.net/en/requirements.htm#what_minimum_self-hosting and http://documentation.coppermine-gallery.net/en/install_faq.htm#whatIsImageMagick
The short answer is: forget about it.
It was obvious, but you never know if there's some trick.
I may consider trying the Timos Welt sharpening plugin, it uses the thumbnails sharpening settings, so it should be interesting.