Digital BW, The Print

Peter Nelson wrote:

>
> I recently set up SuSE Linux on a PC at home, mainly to experiment
> with server-side programming on Apache.   All my other PC's are
> Windows.   But it did make me wonder whether Linux would be feasible
> for any photo-related work.     I know GIMP isn't in the same league
> as Photoshop but what's the stoy on these other topics:
>
> 1.  Nikon RAW (.nef) files.   Can I upoad RAW files from my D100 via
> USB?   What if I put them on a CF card first?     What can I use to
> convert them to 16-bit TIFF'?
>
> 2.  Printer drivers - what is the quality and stability of printer
> drivers - especially for the 2200?   Is there a complete set of
> functionality for profiles, head-cleaning, ink-supply monitoring, etc?
>
> 3.  Scanner drivers - espcially Nikon Coolscan V - quality,
> reliability?
>
>
Hi Peter,

There is a commercial version of wine called CrossOver that will allow 
you to run Photoshop on a Linux distro. I had PS 7.01 running with no 
serious glitches using  CrossOver including a couple of commercial plug 
ins such as photoKit. I didn't try CS since I now run that on a mac.

VueScan has a Linux version that last I looked was a freebee. It should 
run your Nikon scanner. I piddled with it for my 4000ED and it isn't 
exactly straight forward but it can be made to run. Looks and works 
about like the windows version.

The gimp print drivers for the 2200 aren't bad at all for color. I 
dropped Linux as a print engine because I just couldn't get QTR to drive 
that printer (2200) successfully. No problem with an 860 though so go 
figure. It ended up being easier to pick up an old mac on ebay and use 
that for QTR.

I routinely moved images back and forth from PC to linuxbox using one of 
those USB key chain units. Worked with no problem and was fast. Of 
course you can put the linuxbox on your network and swap files that way 
as well. I never tried loading directly from a CF card or for that 
matter from the camera but I would bet it would work.

Roger

-- 
Roger L Sopher
rlsopher@...
http://deCorrales.com