Computer System for Digital Photography: MS-Windows, Apple, or Linux

"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" writes:
I would switch over to linux completely if photoshop CS and later
versions were on it, as well as a few other programs. ... However,
I still use a windows XP machine for digital photography. Why?
There is no choice for the work I do. If I only used photoshop, I
would get a mac. If all the programs I need were on a mac, I would
switch. If they were all on linux, I would switch.

What programs? All you mentioned was Photoshop. Maybe you don't
need those other programs. I get by ok with Gimp instead of Photoshop,
but a more serious photog might have problems with that.

Apparently, _Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)_, on 25/12/04
22:23,typed:
wrote:
SNIPSNIP
My son's computer (XP) was taken over by spyware this summer.
Spyware software removed it, but it was back in a couple of
days (1800 spyware programs)!!! Another attempt at deleting
the spyware resulted in the computer being disabled at would no
longer boot. He switched to linux, and ran with linux for
6 months and had not spyware/virus etc problems.
But he was frustrated by loss of some features,
including his digital camera software. He had to use my
xp machine to download pictures from his camera, then transfer
them to the xp box. He now has a new xp box with the latest

Must have been years ago. We have gphoto2 and gtkam in Linux now which
deal with transfering pics from most digital cameras painless and even
more effecient than in Windows.


-HS

H. S. wrote:
Apparently, _Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)_, on 25/12/04
22:23,typed:

wrote:

SNIPSNIP

My son's computer (XP) was taken over by spyware this summer.
Spyware software removed it, but it was back in a couple of
days (1800 spyware programs)!!! Another attempt at deleting
the spyware resulted in the computer being disabled at would no
longer boot. He switched to linux, and ran with linux for
6 months and had not spyware/virus etc problems.
But he was frustrated by loss of some features,
including his digital camera software. He had to use my
xp machine to download pictures from his camera, then transfer
them to the xp box. He now has a new xp box with the latest


Must have been years ago. We have gphoto2 and gtkam in Linux now which
deal with transfering pics from most digital cameras painless and even
more effecient than in Windows.


-HS

Do these to raw conversion to 16-bit tif files?

Roger

Paul Rubin wrote:

"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" writes:

I would switch over to linux completely if photoshop CS and later
versions were on it, as well as a few other programs. ... However,
I still use a windows XP machine for digital photography. Why?
There is no choice for the work I do. If I only used photoshop, I
would get a mac. If all the programs I need were on a mac, I would
switch. If they were all on linux, I would switch.


What programs? All you mentioned was Photoshop. Maybe you don't
need those other programs. I get by ok with Gimp instead of Photoshop,
but a more serious photog might have problems with that.

The problem with gimp is it is not 16-bit.
I do a lot of image processing on unix and linux in
16 and 32-bit using custom programs, some I've written
myself and others contracted for, and others
public domain. But they are not photoshop,
and do not do the things photoshop can do in 16-bit.

On XP, things like ImagePlus (16 and 32 bit image
processing, stacking imges, many more filters than
photoshop) and raw converters like CS RAW or C1.

Roger

TheNewsGuy(Mike) wrote:

On Sat, 25 Dec 2004 20:23:04 -0700, "Roger N. Clark (change username
to rnclark)" wrote:


...I bought my wife a new XP
machine because spyware took over her old one and made it totally
unusable

Simple spyware maitenance would stop that. It is easily cleaned up. I
have helped many friends get rid of spyware using the free spyware
elimination programs.

Actually they don't. While they get many, they don't get
all, the the spy writers keep working on better ways
to exploit the multitude of holes in the windows system.

My son's computer (XP) was taken over by spyware this summer.
Spyware software removed it, but it was back in a couple of
days (1800 spyware programs)!!!


Better keep a closer eye on your son and find out what sites he is
visiting and what he is doing there...

I agree, but supposedly legitimate sites, especially sites offering
free software can be spyware. For example, realplayer.

You need more than spyware these days. You need virus protection,
analyzers that check what installed programs do (ever run strings
on windows executables to see some of the urls being addressed?),
anti-virus, trojen horse detection, setup of tripwires,
intrusion detection, etc, etc. It getting ugly.

Roger

"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" writes:
Do these to raw conversion to 16-bit tif files?

I saw a program some years ago that converted Canon raw files to bmp
(which can then be converted to tif by standard utilities). It may
not have done as fancy image processing as the Canon software. But you
might be able to run the Canon stuff under Windows emulation (WINE).

"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" writes:
The problem with gimp is it is not 16-bit. I do a lot of image
processing on unix and linux in 16 and 32-bit using custom programs,

FilmGimp (now called Cinepaint) can do 16 and 32 bits. I think Gimp
3.0 is supposed to do 16 bits as well.

http://cinepaint.sourceforge.net/

Paul Rubin wrote:
"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" writes:

The problem with gimp is it is not 16-bit. I do a lot of image
processing on unix and linux in 16 and 32-bit using custom programs,


FilmGimp (now called Cinepaint) can do 16 and 32 bits. I think Gimp
3.0 is supposed to do 16 bits as well.

http://cinepaint.sourceforge.net/

This would be very good news. When is Gimp 3.0 coming out?

Roger

Paul Rubin writes:
Do these to raw conversion to 16-bit tif files?

I saw a program some years ago that converted Canon raw files to bmp
(which can then be converted to tif by standard utilities). It may
not have done as fancy image processing as the Canon software. But you
might be able to run the Canon stuff under Windows emulation (WINE).

Also, the dcraw program can convert Canon and Nikon raw files:

http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/

And there is a Gimp plug-in for raw import that uses dcraw:

http://ptj.rozeta.com.pl/Soft/RawPhoto

Mike wrote:
wrote in message oups.com...

I need a new computer. The major jobs are internet serfing and digital
photography. What're the pros and cons between these three systems:
MS-Windows, Apple (iMac G4 or G5), or Linux-PC? I'm focusing on the
digital photography.


Stick with Wintel. Unless you've already used unix or a
unix variant, the learning curve for Linux will be ridiculous.

As for Apple, they're dying a slow painful death, in spite
of their marketing claims. The only reason they're still in
business at all is because of investments by MS.

What a load. Learn to read financial statements, get a grip on cash flow.

Macintosh remains at the top for those who don't want to be tied to a
tech department, like to fix things themselves, without having to live
in the guts of the OS.

PC's are just fine, too.

--
John McWilliams