[regken]

Bear with this old fart that is getting tired of paying through the nose every time a “Newer, Better, Faster” program hits the market. The idea of open source appeals to us tightwads so I keep looking at Linux as a possible answer. Finding an all inclusive program that will do RAW conversion, image tweaking, and put key words in the exif file seems to be impossible today. All the programs I've seen use a sidecar file whatever that is,

I'm hoping some of you technically savvy people will take a look at what seems to be a reasonable approach to this dilemma. I'm not very computer smart so the first step seems to be to have a local shop install Linux as a second boot on my machine. Right now I have 75 GB of free space so there should be plenty of room. This should run me $100 to $200 tops. Have them put all my photos in the FAT 32 file so both programs can access them. When downloading new photos put them in that file.

This would allow me to use Lightzone on the Linux because it is free for that platform. Raw Tharapee is a great program but painfully slow at this time. If the next release is speeded up I could use that on either the Windows or Linux boot. I do like Photoshop CS for sharpening and other tweaks that might be needed and understand the program somewhat. If someone comes up with an open source program that can do the same things I would be in a position to try it. The same thing for DAM programs. Are there any DAM or Photshop type open source programs for Linux now?

Thanks for any ideas you can throw my way.

Regards,

[tswill2]

Gimp is billed as the Linux answer to Photoshop. I can't verify the claim, since I don't use either of them. Umbutu Linux is free if you have the download speed to get it, or very cheap if you want to buy the latest CD. One of these days I'm going to have to get around to doing it myself.
From another old fart....

[aabram]

Have them put all my photos in the FAT 32 file so both programs can access them. When downloading new photos put them in that file.

Linux can read-write NTFS too, though supposedly writing is not recommended. Depends on the linux distribution you/they choose, you may want to check. FAT32, while sensible, is somewhat bad choice since it doesn't contain advanced features which make filesystem resilient. When you loose power or by accident hit reset, you may corrupt FAT32. NTFS and modern Linux filesystems are much more resilient for failure.

Best of both worlds would be standalone network storage but that would be additional hassle and perhaps overkill for you.

If someone comes up with an open source program that can do the same things I would be in a position to try it. The same thing for DAM programs. Are there any DAM or Photshop type open source programs for Linux now?

Windows version of GIMP can use UFRaw (windows binary available here). It supports K100D PEF-files, I don't know about K10D. It looks kind of ugly but does the job. If you're willing to use GIMP for basic image manipulations then you can get away with single tool.

But if you already have Photoshop then why don't you use ACR? I currently use ACR beta version (download was free) which works just fine, only nag being message on startup about it being beta but working indefinitely.

What is DAM?

[Branimir]

As far as I know, most linux distributions are free for home use. I would suggest SuSe, since it comes with a lot of programs (Gimp included), and has user firendly setup tool.
However, before you venture into linux, make sure that the distribution you will have is compatible with all of the hardware you have.
From personal experience, making non-lan networking work can be pain in the rear end.
Of course, there is always possibility of actually going to the shop and buying linux distribution, but that does not have to be buying stuff that everybody else is downloading for free, since many of the distributers are then giving you support, which can sometimes be crucial in order to make your computer work smoothly.
If I scared you, than I've done what I wanted. Now I sound like an evil Microsoft person, but I am saying that one has to be prepared to install computer for one whole week.
Sometimes it happens that you can install everything in a single afternoon, but that is usually not the case.
I did see that you'll have linux installed in your local shop, but before you do that, ask them what kind of linux they'll install, since installation of additional software in Debian distribution is usualy linked to a lot of stress and broken furniture I do not know Ubuntu, but am pretty sure that SuSe linux is user-friendly enough for nongeeks like me.
To make this picture less pitch-black, once linux is succesfully installed, you'll have computer which can crash, but extremely rarely and you do have to be creative to do that. My computer at work is running all the time for the last year or so, and I restarted my computer only after I updated kernel, or had to do something in windows, which was a rare event.
By the way...my next home computer will be dual boot Win-Linux with 20% of HDD space going to windows and the rest to linux.

[TheCubanSpy]

Funny, I had been planning to post a similar thread when I got home from work. I just installed Ubuntu 6.10 last night (had a lot of experience with Linux during college, figured I'd stay current), and I've actually had no success reading RAW files from my K110D with either UFRaw, or another plugin for Gimp which I found. Both give me a message to the effect of it being an unrecognized format. The RAW files are on an NTFS partition, but I can access files there just fine.

When I get back tonight I'll see of moving them over to my Linux partition helps any, but I really can't think of what may be causing this.

[Tom Brown]

...installation of additional software in Debian distribution is usualy linked to a lot of stress and broken furniture

Then again, there are freaks around who like Debian. Take me, for example.

UFRaw/GIMP opens PEF files for me. What versions are you running, CubanSpy? I think PEF support is fairly recent.

[TheCubanSpy]

Then again, there are freaks around who like Debian. Take me, for example.

UFRaw/GIMP opens PEF files for me. What versions are you running, CubanSpy? I think PEF support is fairly recent.

Well, whatever it was the update manager found last night . In a few hours I'll be able to try again and I'll have all the pertinent info.

[Tom Brown]

Here's what I'm running.

ii gimp-ufraw 0.10-1 gimp importer for raw camera images
ii libraw1394-8 1.2.1-2 library for direct access to IEEE 1394 bus (

[TheCubanSpy]

Ok, so I have it sorted now. Using the latest version of Ubuntu (6.10), at the moment, if you try to download the ufraw gimp importer through the regular update manager, you will get a version 0.5X....which does not support RAW files from the K110D (or the K100D obviously).

However, after a little searching, I was able to find a newer version here: Download Page for gimp-ufraw_0.9.1-1ubuntu1_i386.deb on Intel x86 machines

Before installing the package above, I also had to install the following:

Package: libexiv2-0.10 (0.10-1.3ubuntu1)

Gimp 2.2 now opens my .PEF files, Hope this helps anyone else looking to try out Gimp under Ubuntu with their Pentax .


Now I just need to get pspi to work, so I can use my favourite plugin, virtual photographer

[rm2]

Bear with this old fart that is getting tired of paying through the nose every time a “Newer, Better, Faster” program hits the market. The idea of open source appeals to us tightwads so I keep looking at Linux as a possible answer. Finding an all inclusive program that will do RAW conversion, image tweaking, and put key words in the exif file seems to be impossible today. All the programs I've seen use a sidecar file whatever that is,

Cost is certainly a factor, but not the most important one. Personally, I use Linux primarily because I feel that I can trust it. The code is out there for me and for thousands others to examine. I feel good knowing that my computer is doing what I tell it to do and only that. There are many other reasons that make me use Linux, but I won't go into them at this point.

I'm hoping some of you technically savvy people will take a look at what seems to be a reasonable approach to this dilemma. I'm not very computer smart so the first step seems to be to have a local shop install Linux as a second boot on my machine. Right now I have 75 GB of free space so there should be plenty of room. This should run me $100 to $200 tops. Have them put all my photos in the FAT 32 file so both programs can access them. When downloading new photos put them in that file.

If you haven't yet spent the money on this, you really don't have to. If you head over to a newbie friendly Linux forum you will find many people more than willing to walk you through the process. For example, the forums at PCLinuxOS are very friendly to newbies as the distribution itself is geared towards making things easy for newcomers to Linux. You can try this one for example:

PCLinuxOS

This would allow me to use Lightzone on the Linux because it is free for that platform. Raw Tharapee is a great program but painfully slow at this time. If the next release is speeded up I could use that on either the Windows or Linux boot. I do like Photoshop CS for sharpening and other tweaks that might be needed and understand the program somewhat. If someone comes up with an open source program that can do the same things I would be in a position to try it. The same thing for DAM programs. Are there any DAM or Photshop type open source programs for Linux now?

Thanks for any ideas you can throw my way.

Regards,

I just recently downloaded the free Lightzone program for Linux. It is an impressive program, but I have not yet used it much. I think I used it for one picture, just as a test.

My favorite program for working with Pentax RAW files under Linux is Cinepaint. Cinepaint is installable in PCLinuxOS with a couple of clicks from its software manager (Synaptic). I also downloaded Adobe color profiles, which Cinepaint can make use of:
Adobe - Downloads

Cinepaint's interface is based on the Gimp's, but it allows you to work in 16 bits all the way through the point of saving the finall image, which the Gimp can't do. Its Levels and USM tools are top notch, certainly equal, at least, to Photoshop's.

There are several other programs that you can use, including Picasa, and even Photoshop itself. That is right, Photoshop. See here for instructions:

PCLinuxOS

I use PCLinuxOS, and I recommend it to everyone I can. I have been using Linux for many years and tried all the top existing distributions, including Ubuntu, and none come close to PCLinuxOS. It is free, of course, and you can test it by simply downloading it, burning it into a CD (look for the 'Burn CD Image' option in your CD burning software). You can then place the CD in your CD drive and reboot your machine. The OS will be loaded from the CD without touching anything in your hard drive. After you are done testing it, you can install it right from there, or go back to Windows simply by shutting down and restarting the computer without the CD in the drive. I am sure you will have some questions, but head over to the forums and you will get more than enough help. I wish you well in you attempt to free yourself from the proprietary world. With PCLinuxOS it is now easier than ever.

[Entropy]

For those who are more hardcore power users:

ufraw has support for dcraw's wavelet noise reduction functionality in CVS, if you checkout the source via CVS and build it, it helps a lot with some pictures.

ufraw CVS does not support some of dcraw's latest features though - dcraw now has the ability to stretch/shrink the red and blue channels in order to correct for chromatic aberrations. Unfortunately since there's no GUI for that function and no preview mode, it requires a lot of trial and error to figure out what settings are correct for your lens/focal length combo.

[bc_the_path]

I will be repeating some of the comments above.
- Current Linux distributions are a lot friendlier for newbies in comparison to a couple of years ago.
- With Gimp, you can make "almost" anything you do using Photoshop. The user interface difference is not that important once you get used to it. However, if your workflow includes editing TIFF files or color spaces other than sRGB, this may be a limiting factor. (You can go for Cinepaint then..)

I use Lightzone under linux (Zenwalk, that is) and I am very happy with its workings.

[Asad_Masede]

I will be repeating some of the comments above.
- Current Linux distributions are a lot friendlier for newbies in comparison to a couple of years ago.
- With Gimp, you can make "almost" anything you do using Photoshop. The user interface difference is not that important once you get used to it. However, if your workflow includes editing TIFF files or color spaces other than sRGB, this may be a limiting factor. (You can go for Cinepaint then..)

I use Lightzone under linux (Zenwalk, that is) and I am very happy with its workings.

Silly question... where do I get Lightzone for Linux? I've looked all over the place for it but for the life of me, can't find it! No sign of the Linux version on their site, either that or I need to get my eyes checked.

Cheers,
-Asad

[bjsmith]

Linux can read-write NTFS too, though supposedly writing is not recommended.

I answered this in a new thread here:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-processing-software/8657-why-ntfs-da...al-drives.html

[Entropy]

Linux can read-write NTFS too, though supposedly writing is not recommended. Depends on the linux distribution you/they choose, you may want to check. FAT32, while sensible, is somewhat bad choice since it doesn't contain advanced features which make filesystem resilient. When you loose power or by accident hit reset, you may corrupt FAT32. NTFS and modern Linux filesystems are much more resilient for failure.

Best of both worlds would be standalone network storage but that would be additional hassle and perhaps overkill for you.



Windows version of GIMP can use UFRaw (windows binary available here). It supports K100D PEF-files, I don't know about K10D. It looks kind of ugly but does the job. If you're willing to use GIMP for basic image manipulations then you can get away with single tool.

But if you already have Photoshop then why don't you use ACR? I currently use ACR beta version (download was free) which works just fine, only nag being message on startup about it being beta but working indefinitely.

What is DAM?

There's pretty robust support for NTFS read/write via the NTFS-3G FUSE module.

The in-kernel NTFS support is nowhere near as good as far as writing goes.

I'm currently using the following combination:
digiKam for previewing thumbnails of images in my albums to figure out which ones I want to process
GIMP 2.2.x for the processing
UFRaw GIMP plugin, CVS version (as the currently released version does not yet support dcraw's noise reduction functionality)

I plan on trying cinepaint soon.

About the only thing I don't like about my current workflow is the fact that I haven't yet figured out how to set GIMP to default to saving to a different directory than where the image was loaded.