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Thread: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

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    F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    http://www.techdrivein.com/2010/06/m...ch+Drive-in%29

    I see this as a move sideways rather than a move forward.
    I don't use F-Spot, and will probably never use Shotwell. Why? because one must "import" the pictures into their proprietary file structure. What is wrong with using the already existing file system? Why must these programs impose their own idea of how the pictures should be organized? The only program I have so far used that handled this correctly was Zoom Browser on Windows. It was incomplete, but the organization it displayed was the way the pictures were organized in the file system. If you changed directories, or moved photos around outside of the program, they showed up changed the next time you ran Zoom Browser.

    My father uses F-Spot. I can not convince him not to use it, and I can not convince him not to move photos around using the file system. This means he is continuously corrupting F-Spots idea of where the photos are, and he keeps calling me to help him straighten out the mess he has made.

    What I want out of a photo organizing tool:

    1) Use the file system to keep the files organized, and use what the user has already done! There should be no option to "import" files, just point the software at the top level directory and use it in place, the interface should be similar to Nautilus, showing the file system. Zoom Browser would be a good model for this. Doing it this way means that one is not required to use a specific tool to organize or access the pictures.

    2) If you allow notes or audio comments, they should be included as part of the photo file itself. I believe that jpeg has the capability to store audio comments & notes, it would be nice if one could actually use this feature. Any other means of storing this information means this data will be lost when your tool becomes obsolete and a new tool comes out.

    3) Slide shows should be able to play videos interleaved with the slides. Nearly every camera available today has the capability of recording video. I would very much like to be able to show a slide show with the slides and videos in chronological order.

    I want a tool that lets me find pictures easily, setup & view slide shows easily, and does not try and take over control of my pictures.
    Things not working for me in Ubuntu64:
    Horizontal scrolling on my mouse. USB to Parallel port adaptors, HP 8200 scanner driver, floppy disks, FAX through network attached multi-function printer.

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    Re: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    Digikam; it's kde, I admit, but it is very good as long as you don't mind all the kde libs etc etc that are also installed with it.

    Or for something very much simpler, have a look at gthumb.

  3. #3
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    Re: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    Shotwell has an option to import without making a copy.
    I tried that, it spent about an hour "importing" my 40 GB of photos. It did NOT import any PNG photos, and ignored any videos.
    It stores all of its info in a hidden database file. What happens if I move a picture in one of the directories it scanned? does it crash?
    Things not working for me in Ubuntu64:
    Horizontal scrolling on my mouse. USB to Parallel port adaptors, HP 8200 scanner driver, floppy disks, FAX through network attached multi-function printer.

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    Re: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by ajgreeny View Post
    Digikam; it's kde, I admit, but it is very good as long as you don't mind all the kde libs etc etc that are also installed with it.

    Or for something very much simpler, have a look at gthumb.
    Digikam seems to be more of the same. It still insists on "importing" the files.

    gthumb is closer to what I am after, but its file browser could use some work, and the slideshow ignores videos.

    Thanks for pointing that out.
    Things not working for me in Ubuntu64:
    Horizontal scrolling on my mouse. USB to Parallel port adaptors, HP 8200 scanner driver, floppy disks, FAX through network attached multi-function printer.

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    Re: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    Digikam does not "import" in quite the same way as f-spot, and it is possible, though not the default to get it to scan your pictures folder. or even all of /home if you want, every time it is started, it just take a bit longer to start then, but at least it keeps updated with any changes you have made to your files, such as moves or deletes, etc etc.

    With f-spot, as far as I can see, you do need to import files every time you have added any photos to the folders, and you also need to uncheck the "Copy files to Photos folder" button or you will end up with two copies of every photo on your system.

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    Re: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by ajgreeny View Post
    Digikam does not "import" in quite the same way as f-spot, and it is possible, though not the default to get it to scan your pictures folder. or even all of /home if you want, every time it is started, it just take a bit longer to start then, but at least it keeps updated with any changes you have made to your files, such as moves or deletes, etc etc.

    With f-spot, as far as I can see, you do need to import files every time you have added any photos to the folders, and you also need to uncheck the "Copy files to Photos folder" button or you will end up with two copies of every photo on your system.
    Shotwell took an hour to scan my 40 GB of pictures, did not import any raw or PNG files, did not even look at the movie files. Would I need to wait an hour every time I started Digikam for it to update its database? Does it handle any picture format or is it stuck with jpg like Shotwell? Does it handle movies?

    gThumb at least lets me play movies even if it won't include them in the slide show.
    Things not working for me in Ubuntu64:
    Horizontal scrolling on my mouse. USB to Parallel port adaptors, HP 8200 scanner driver, floppy disks, FAX through network attached multi-function printer.

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    Re: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by AKADAP View Post
    Digikam seems to be more of the same. It still insists on "importing" the files.

    gthumb is closer to what I am after, but its file browser could use some work, and the slideshow ignores videos.

    Thanks for pointing that out.
    If you are using the version of gthumb in the Lucid repos then forget it. For some reason the recent stable version of gthumb wasn't included in Lucid. Install the latest gthumb version instead (I'm assuming you don't already have it). It is a vast improvement.

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    Re: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by alphacrucis2 View Post
    If you are using the version of gthumb in the Lucid repos then forget it. For some reason the recent stable version of gthumb wasn't included in Lucid. Install the latest gthumb version instead (I'm assuming you don't already have it). It is a vast improvement.
    Care to point me at a repository that has the current version?
    Going to gthumbs home page and clicking on the install button says it is already installed.

    The about page on the one I have installed is:
    gThumb 2.10.11
    Things not working for me in Ubuntu64:
    Horizontal scrolling on my mouse. USB to Parallel port adaptors, HP 8200 scanner driver, floppy disks, FAX through network attached multi-function printer.

  9. #9
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    Re: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by AKADAP View Post
    Care to point me at a repository that has the current version?
    Going to gthumbs home page and clicking on the install button says it is already installed.

    The about page on the one I have installed is:
    gThumb 2.10.11
    webupd8 ppa

    https://launchpad.net/~nilarimogard/+archive/webupd8


    Some of their stuff is experimental so take care what you install but I haven't found any issue with their version of gthumb (2.11.3-2) which is a really big feature update over 2.10

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    Re: F-Spot -> Shotwell, a move sidways. (rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by alphacrucis2 View Post
    webupd8 ppa

    https://launchpad.net/~nilarimogard/+archive/webupd8


    Some of their stuff is experimental so take care what you install but I haven't found any issue with their version of gthumb (2.11.3-2) which is a really big feature update over 2.10
    The directory tree is a great improvement to what 2.10 had. It still won't play videos as part of the slide show though. Also, a slide show can't span multiple directories.

    It seems to handle most video formats, but with very large tif or psd files (not sure which since the directory where this happens has both) it allocates huge chunks of memory (2.5 GB) and hangs with one of my CPUs stuck at 100%. I think it is trying to calculate thumbnails, but it is taking WAY too long. Biggest file in this directory is a 3.4 GB TIF file.

    Edit: The problems in the above paragraph were caused by a corrupted 3.4 GB TIF file (it caused the same problem with Nautilus, and other image viewers). That file was from a scanner, recorded at 16 bit color resolution that it appears nothing on Linux can deal with. Gimp also reported other problems with the image, so I deleted it.

    gthumbs recognizes that PSD files are pictures, but will not display them.
    Last edited by AKADAP; June 17th, 2010 at 11:24 PM.
    Things not working for me in Ubuntu64:
    Horizontal scrolling on my mouse. USB to Parallel port adaptors, HP 8200 scanner driver, floppy disks, FAX through network attached multi-function printer.

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