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On 08/07/13 05:33, bad apple wrote:
I've had mint 15, cinnamon, installed on my laptop (celeron, samsung R519) and it's great. However I'm thinking of switching back to kubuntu (mint KDE freezes after installation on my lappy) simply because there is no photo management application for gnome that even approaches digikam in terms of functionality.On 07/07/13 22:22, L Smith wrote:The machine is a circa 2007 HP 6720s laptop with 2 gig of memory. Picasa will run hapily for two or three weeks and then causes the machine to lock up for no apparent reason. Third time it has happened and I am now fed up and thinking (after 5 years) of going back to windows xp. Please don't suggest usig gimp as I am too much of a simpleton to use it. Is there any way of solving this problem, I never had these issues with versions earlier than Mint 13.There are a few obvious issues here. 1: Upgrade your OS. Mint 15 is available now. 2: Are you really willing to switch from Linux to XP over Picasa? 3: Windows XP will be retired in less than one year. 4: Maybe you've seen in the news recently that Google suck. Unless you're willing to roll your sleeves up, enable some kernel flags and start posting us (and the relevant devs) crash dump logs I'd say you want to first upgrade, and then evaluate some different programs. I'm guessing that you don't just use Picasa as a dumb photo library as you seem quite attached to it: indeed, some of the simple editing functions are pretty handy. I don't really have any experience in this area (working in professional print/design shops for years I'm used to Adobe Bridge by default) for consumer level red-eye correction, image rotation and the like... anyone else want to chime in with suggestions? Shotwell does pretty similar stuff I think. Two further points: you may be hesitating about upgrading your Mint version as it's not "officially" supported: I do this all the time via the usual simple trick of sed'ing /etc/apt/sources.list to reflect the updated repo names and doing apt-get dist-upgrade afterwards. Just make sure your important data is backed up first and give it a go, it's vanishingly unlikely it's going to destroy your box. Caveat emptor, etc, etc. Second, remember that if you migrate your modified image library away from Picasa, that all the changes you have made to the originals (cropping, re-alignment, etc) have only been stored in metadata fashion as diffs against the originals, meaning if you just backup the raw original directories you're going to lose all the modifications you've made. I run into this all the time recovering client's machines where they've tried to migrate between Picasa/Windows Live Photos (*barf*) and other best-left-unmentioned crapware. So, export your library correctly first if you decide to move programs, or there will be tears. Regards
gthumb is just very basic, shotwell is OK, but imports everything to date taken folders and pics then need to be tagged. I'm no expert on windows software, but digikam is streets ahead of the photo applications that come packaged with windows 7 and I think you'd need to pay out for anything that approaches it.
Picasa I personally find annoying as it scans the entire drive for images so I have to plough through hundreds of CD covers and ebook covers to find my snaps.
I would guess that the only thing Picasa does that digikam doesn't is that montage thing. There is no easy install Picasa on Kubuntu from the repo's, but as it runs under wine you could install that and then download the windows version from google. Or maybe install playonlinux, which has an easier user interface and then grab Picasa. Mint 15 has Picasa packaged, it is a windows under wine version as the linux version was dumped a couple of years back, so if Mint KDE is OK for you, you can have digikam and an easy install Picasa.
If you're going to do a new install of mint or kubuntu I find luckybackup is good. So long as you restore the home partition before installing anything like firefox or thunderbird (and probably Picasa) (they create default config files if they don't find them already there) everything should be much as you left it.
But XP! I cannot imagine this will be nice for you after years with a good linux distro, clunky, non intuitive, security problems. And you won't be able to restore any desktop defaults just by copyng over .share/.mozilla/.etc etc
good luck Si -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq