[BrianR]

I like that there's a 'portable' version of FastStone. Being able to quickly review raw files on any windows machine without having to install anything is great when you're on the go.

There's also the FastStone Photo Resizer, great for all your batch re-sizing needs. I've suggested it to many "non-techie" people as a simplified re-sizing program.

[fb_penpho]

Thank you to all that replied. Out of interest to others I run Linux fedora21 distro. I checked out codeweavers and their compatibility list does not look good for Faststone. Whether Faststone is a good RAW convertor or not is irrelevant for my usage, it does the job I need and that is all I want.

I reluctantly may have to turn the crank and get the Windows machine running. At some point Wine which is nearly there, may solve some of the final problems, at which I will be back to Linux like a shot. Nice to find others that are as enthusiastic as I am using Faststone.

[tibbitts]

Faststone is amazing. The main feature I miss is selection feathering, and of course it's limited to 8-bit processing. But overall it does a great job, especially considering it's free. I've contributed money a couple of times, which provides a license key that prevents the donation request boxes from popping up. I haven't tried it on Linux, since all the reports I've read indicated it has issues.

[arkav]

I haven't tried it on Linux, since all the reports I've read indicated it has issues.

I've used it via Wine, and it works well enough for occasional use.

[fwcetus]

I have used FastStone Image Viewer for years. (And I'm assuming theat, when people say "FastStone", they are likely referring to the Image Viewer, even though there are other FastStone apps.)

I use FIV strictly for handling JPEGs (since I don't do RAW), and it does nearly everything I need to process JPEGs (as long as the changes are global - i.e., the changes apply to the whole image). Or,when I do have to make a change to just part of the image, I just hit "e", and up comes The Gimp (the editor I have configured to open with the "e" for "edit" command in FIV) -- I make my changes, save the file, and the image back in FIV is instantly updated to show the change. Easy-peasy.

I do have some minor gripes about FIV, mostly about the lack of certain (often fairly Windows-standard) keystroke combos, and the inability to be able to configure the app to accept new keystroke combos (or keystroke changes) that the user might like (in order to simplify his/her workflow). But, these are minor gripes (mostly...).

I do hope that regular users of FIV will opt to register it, of course... [Registrations are "for life" - i.e., they cover all future version upgrades.]

By the way, FastStone MaxView is great for browsing the image files within compressed (ZIP or RAR) files without having to unzip (or unrar) the files first. And FastSone Capture is also a nice utility, for making all sorts of screen grabs.