Graphics with Linux

I use linux to download photos from memory cards, sorting them into the right folders automatically based on their EXIF information; backup photos on DVDs; automatically extract thumbnails, make reduced versions of photos, watermark them and embed digital IPTC/EXIF data.

This page has information about a few of the Linux tools I use to create the graphics and process the photographs on this website.

Canon Digital Rebel (300D)

This camera uses CompactFlash memory cards. I download the cards to my Linux PC using a ScanDisk imagemate card reader (model SDDR-91). It was recognized by Linux, and can be mounted. After inserting a CF card into the reader, I run: fdisk -l. There should be a new hard drive listed, such as /dev/sdb. I then mount the drive with:

Xfig

This is a free vector drawing program which generates a textfile with the extension ".fig". I actually use this for making documents as well as graphics, because a fig file can be converted to a pdf file using: fig2dev -L PDF file.fig file.pdf. The fig file has vector and color information as plain text, and other utilities use this data to generate the actual images in jpeg, gif, pdf, or other formats. If you click on the map of Minneapolis above, you can see the .fig file used to create it.

While GUI drawing program is Xfig, the command-line utility to convert fig files to graphics is called fig2dev, which is included in the transfig package. The same .fig file can be used to create images of any size or compression factor, in most any format.

The Gimp

This site's homepage logo and other graphics were created with the gimp (short for the GNU Image Manipulation Program). It is comparable to Photoshop in it's tools and features (it has layers, masks, bezier curves, and a variety of filters). Many Photoshop techniques can be executed in the Gimp unchanged.

sample graphics

Seasonal design done with XFig Product illustration done with the gimp, using bezier curves.