An Ubuntu question: where the hell is the photo folder?

[elocs]

I used F-Spot to import photos from a cd and it sent it to the photo folder (the picture folder would have been too easy). The trouble is that I cannot find the photo folder anywhere. I asked this question on a Linux forum and the answer I received was less than helpful and over my head. I like simple and my years on both a Windows pc and a Mac have been relatively very simple. When I import photos I should not have to jump through hoops to find them.

I have a brand new pc after 4 years on a Mac and wanted to avoid the Vista problems I read about so that is why I decided to give Ubuntu a try after reading about it here. I went to Vista and imported pictures from a cd and it took a minute and they were right there--I didn't have to go search for them. I may limit use of Ubuntu to simply web surfing and use Vista for other things. Plus, I don't want to have to enter line code commands to get things done.

[Fumesucker]

1. I asked a question about using my wide carriage printer with Ubuntu..

On the "Yo, Windows users" thread.. Never got a reply, let alone an answer.

I went ahead and tried Ubuntu, found a printer driver that seemed to work fine, after about three pages my printer started printing all black, a solid block of black.

It wasn't the printer because I went back to WinXP and the printer is working OK again even though I have to use the drivers for the next model of printer up because XP drivers don't exist for my particular model.

I would like to get away from Windows but getting good help for Linux to do things that are quite simple on a Win machine seems to be difficult to impossible. I got my first computer in 1984 and have had one continuously ever since, I've used Sinclair, Commodore, Rat Shack, MSDOS, PCDOS and most of the Win flavors so I'm not exactly a n00b.

[RoyGBiv]

6. Printing can be a problem ...

Printer manufacturers make their money by locking you into using their after-market products, and to do that most efficiently they require proprietary drivers that they do not supply for Linux. The worst offenders are the cheap manufacturers, e.g. Lexmark. You will not get a Lexmark printer to work and play well with Linux without some hacking/hacked drivers and help from non-official sources. Lexmark doesn't want it to work and play well with Linux. It's too easy in Linux to bypass their "your ink is a quarter full but we're going to tell you it is empty and stop letting you print" system.

So, just be aware of that.

There are several projects that are attempting to advance open-printing.

This is the first place to start:

http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi

OpenPrinting.org is a treasure trove of information about printing on Linux.

HP has its own Linux printer driver project. It has been among the most helpful in providing support for its hardware products to the free software community.

http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/index.html

[ChromeFoundry]

2. Found this solution from a search...

The location of the photo folder can be changed by opening gconf-editor and going to apps -> f-spot -> import and changing the storage path to whatever you want. This way the home folder doesn't need to be cluttered with symlinks.

It can be set in Ubuntu 8.04 from within the menu in F-Spot.

Hope that helps!

[elocs]

3. I've gone to f-spot and changed where the imported photos are sent,

but they still end up going to the mysterious photo folder which I have been unable to find anywhere. (I admit that I have absolutely no idea where gconf-editor is either). So I have hundreds of imported photos on Ubuntu, but I have no idea where they are. I have never before appreciated how simple and easy both Windows and Macs are to use.

For me personally Ubuntu is way too much work and a pain in the ass to use. I will use Ubuntu to surf the web and use Vista for other things. All I need a computer for is to surf the web, email, storing photos and making photo cds and making music cds as well as a little word processing. That's it. Ubuntu is too much trouble for me.

[Syrinx]

4. just go to...

Places->Search For Files.

Enter a whole, or partial file name, and it will show you where they are.

[elocs]

8. I've tried that too and cannot find anything. The point is why should I have to do a hunt

for something that should be right there? If the photos were imported to the photo folder, then why isn't there plainly a photo folder to view? When I would import pictures to my Mac I would look on iPhoto and there they were. On this new pc I have now with Vista I import pictures and they are right there. This is what I want and this clearly is not what I will experience with Ubuntu so I think I will stick to using it for simple things like surfing the web for which it works fine for me.

[RoyGBiv]

9. Have you opened Nautilus?

Nautilus is the file manager in Gnome, which is the desktop environment that a default Ubuntu installation uses.

[elocs]

12. Yes, I have opened Nautilus even though I didn't know it was Nautilus.

I went to f-spot and the preferences was set to import to "picture". I unchecked the box to copy to the photo folder (which I have never found) and imported the photos from a cd again. Went to Nautilus and looked in pictures--nothing there.

My entire point of using Ubuntu for my photos was because I was already there doing my web browsing. I was never unsatisfied with how either Windows or when I had my Mac in how they managed my photos and I could easily find them so I'll stick with what I know works for me.

[Syrinx]

19. it's not like you would have to search everytime

Just doing it once will reveal the location that your program is saving the files to. I've had similar problems before, but they weren't difficult to rectify.

[RoyGBiv]

7. Too much work ...

As I tend to tell people before they embark on a Linux adventure, they will save themselves a lot of frustration if they first understand it will not work the same as Windows or Mac because it is different. That must be understood and accepted; otherwise one will be annoyed and fed up after using Linux for a couple days.

Simplicity is relative to what you're familiar with. I find OSX to be the most complicated mess I've ever seen. Why? I don't use Macs, but I don't go about claiming Macs are complicated. The blame for this is with my own lack of familiarity.

Anyway ...

It sounds to me as though you're unfamiliar with the way the file system is organized and with the language used in Linux docs. I've never used F-Spot, but based on what you've written, it is telling you the photos were saved in a directory called Photos. This would be in your Home directory. We represent this in writing as ~/Photos where the ~ character is shorthand for /home/<username>/, so the files are saved in /home/<username>/Photos

Syrinx gave the easiest advice on finding the files.

As for getting help, there are several of us here who use Linux on a daily basis, but we're not around all the time. However, many, many forums exist for Linux generally, your distribution specifically, or even individual applications. It is usually simply a matter of Googling to find a good forum. I have found a lot of help at:

www.linuxquestions.org

They have an Ubuntu specific sub-forum.

Do note that seasoned experts will often give you advice and instructions in the form of command line statements. They do this because the command line statements are always the same. It doesn't matter what version of Linux you are using, what distribution, what desktop environment, etc. ls -l will always give you a long listing of items in your directory. So, just be aware of that.

[elocs]

13. Point taken, lesson learned. Had I realized this entirely before I wouldn't have bothered.

I will not be using Ubuntu for anything other than web surfing. Yes, I am annoyed and fed up. I had absolutely no trouble at all going from a pc to a Mac with OS X, so that is what I based simplicity on. Although I consider Linux to be complicated in comparison to either the Windows pc or Mac I have used I am sure I could learn it. The bottom line is that I personally have no desire to do that and I'll stick with what I know. For me, that's simple and that's what I personally like. I accept that Linux is different, but I'm not interested in different.

[RoyGBiv]

14. ...

Never mind.

[elocs]

15. Nope, no hostility, so maybe you'll have to recalibrate your hostility detector.

Now that I know what Linux is all about, I'm not interested. That's simply my choice and it doesn't mean anything is wrong with Linux. You like Linux, that's fine--your choice. We all do not have to like and desire the same things.

You know, RoyGBiv, I had to take you off my ignore list in order to respond. I had no idea why I might have placed you there once upon a time, but now I have an idea. I appreciate the sincere help you offered, but you seem to take offense when none was offered and are able to detect hostility when none was intended. I don't think we will be having any more conversations. Again, it's about choice and again, thanks for the help.

Good luck and goodbye.

[RoyGBiv]

17. Yes, I'm sure ...

My tenure here clearly bears this out. In fact I rarely help anyone except by accident. My main purpose is to draw you into a web where you think I'm helping then slam you with some complex set of instructions that no one could understand then make fun of you for it.

Caught me.

I tried to help you before, elocs, with something else. You ignored the advice I and a number of others gave you and said the explanations of the problem were too complicated. I hesitated to offer advice in the first place because of that experience. Should have gone with my gut.

[Why Syzygy]

5. Do you have the F-Spot Users Guide?

http://f-spot.org/Main_Page

By default, F-Spot copies your photos to the ~/Photos folder. You can change the folder F-Spot uses in Preferences dialog (Edit » Preferences). You can also disable physical copying of images to that directory and make F-Spot only reference to existing files. For that you need to disable checkbox "Copy files to the Photos folder".
...

Expert Tip: F-Spot uses a database stored at ~/.gnome2/f-spot/photos.db. Note, to access it, use the sqlite3 command. You can also manually specify path to a database by running F-Spot with -b option.

...

Maybe that can help. I don't use Linux, though have been tempted at times. When a lot of you guys were just gleams in your GRANDdaddy's eyes, I was a 'computer operator' in the pre Windows era. We used JCL (job control language), so I have some idea what you deal with. In those days, when we programmed the input media, there were no file names. Everything was designated with track and sector numbers. Fun!

Since you say you'll use Linux for browsing, you might be interested in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=242x23530

[elocs]

10. Linus is not for everyone and it is clearly not for me. (Thanks for the help, though.)

I learned DOS back in 1993 when I took Introduction to Microcomputers in college (I got an "A", so I could do it). I didn't like it then, so I have absolutely no desire to enter line commands for anything 16 years later. I would have recommended Ubuntu to some friends, but I know they are no more interested in typing in line commands than I am. I have been spoiled by simplicity and it works for me for what I need. Ubuntu works fine for me for surfing the web, so I'll stick with that. (I cannot read your final link because for whatever reason I am ignoring its author.)

[Why Syzygy]

11. Then you are

ignoring one of the Linux experts in this group.

Are you sure? Are there ignored comments in this present thread?

The thread I linked discusses matters of ensuring browser security with Linux.

[RoyGBiv]

16. .

[elocs]

18. As an end to this thread, let me say that I have just deleted Ubuntu.

Thanks to all who offered help, but ultimately I've learned I am not interested in doing in Ubuntu what I would need to do to use it successfully. Nothing wrong with it, it's simply just not for me, not a pleasant computer experience for me. Nothing is right for everyone.