[Glastonbury] Re: Photographs

[Ian Dickinson]

Hi Maurice,
Today's word of the day is "tarball".  Just like you need a trained
specialist to get a hairball out of your cat, you need a trained
specialist to get a tarball *in* to your linux box.

To explain: Once Upon A Time, unix software was only distributed by
giving away the source code, typically in C. People would download the
source, compile it with their local C compiler, and install it on
their machines. People who do this also like servicing their own car
engines. In both cases, there are about a zillion things that can go
wrong. Which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but if you just
want to drive to the supermarket for extra lettuce, or just download
photos from your camera, it's a right pain. In response, automated
alternatives have been invented, such as RPM and APT which you have
heard talked about on this list. Some developers of software, however,
eschew such convenience tools as being for weaklings and still only
distribute their software according to the Old Ways. Which means a
collection of source files, bundled up as a Tape ARchive, aka tar
file. Hence "tarball". GPhoto is just such a case. Usually, a tarball
comes with a set of scripts for compiling and installing the code,
and, usually, these are all slightly different from each other. Which
makes it hard to coach someone through a tarball install by email.

Is your computer portable? If so, the least worst approach might be to
bring it to the next meeting (which is Weds next week, I believe) and
let one of the local veterans show you what to do hands-on.

Ian

On Sat, 8 Jan 2005 15:03:04 +0000, maurice <mail at mauricebutler.co.uk> wrote:
> I have a Sigma SD9 dSLR which produces just RAW image files. No internal
> conversion to Tiff or Jpeg. Sigma's PC application comes in MS Windows format
> only.
> 
> So I discovered: http://gphoto.sourceforge.net/
> 
> Four hundred cameras supported including, it seems, my Sigma. But the site is
> so confusing to my really ancient mind. Would anyone please tell me what I
> should download and what I do then.
> 
> Thank you once again.
>