RawTherapee

Well as part of my search to get myself on to linux (Ubuntu 12.04), a lot of my work has been involved in replacing applications that I generally use in Windows with a Linux equivalent.

I've recently found myself having to process on batch Raw files (NEF) files, and I've come across this really great application that helps you to process RAW files and convert them to JPEG (jpg) - the application's name is called RawTherapee.

To get it on ubuntu simply execute the following command in a terminal :

sudo apt-get install rawtherapee

Once you have it, and if you're using gnome then move your mouse to the top right to where it states Activities. Then in the Search Term type in rawtherapee and the program should come up.

Using RawTherapee

When you first start with rawTherapee you be placed in the FileBrowser tab, from here select the folder in which you have placed your raw files. Once you have opened up the directory, or selected the directory you should see the files in large thumbs opening up in the middle section.

Simply select the files that you want to convert to a jpg, then while the images are selected right click on the images and select send to processing queue.

Then click on the Batch Queue tab, you should see the images to process in the bottom section. Select the directory or the template folder (the default is %p1/converted/%f this just means that it will use the path of the file and place the processed files in a directory called converted). Review the file format section, and once you are happy with everything click on the Start Processing button, found on the left hand side.

You should see the files slowly being removed from the processing queue section as each file is processed. If you navigate to the folder of the 'converted' directory you should see the converted files being written.

Hope this helps with your photography with Linux. 

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Seeing RAW files within Nautils

One of the most frustrating things that I have found whilst working with linux as the core operating system, well ubuntu/gnome etc... is that my NEF files are not displayed as a thumbnail.

While opening the NEF file is easy enough, I wanted a way to quickly search/browse my images and view the contents.

After a little digging up, I found that this can be easily accomplished by following these steps.

Install ufraw from the repos using aptget:

sudo apt-get install ufraw 

Next, you will need to create a file called raw.thumbnailer in /usr/share/thumbnailers. If you do ls /usr/share/thumbnailers/ you'll notice that a this file doesn't exist. To create this file simply execute :

sudo gedit /usr/share/thumbnailers/raw.thumbnailer

Once the file is open in gedit then copy and paste the following:


[Thumbnailer Entry]
Exec=/usr/bin/ufraw-batch --embedded-image --out-type=png --size=%s %u --overwrite --silent --output=%o
MimeType=image/x-3fr;image/x-adobe-dng;image/x-arw;image/x-bay;image/x-canon-cr2;image/x-canon-crw;image/x-cap;image/x-cr2;image/x-crw;image/x-dcr;image/x-dcraw;image/x-dcs;image/x-dng;image/x-drf;image/x-eip;image/x-erf;image/x-fff;image/x-fuji-raf;image/x-iiq;image/x-k25;image/x-kdc;image/x-mef;image/x-minolta-mrw;image/x-mos;image/x-mrw;image/x-nef;image/x-nikon-nef;image/x-nrw;image/x-olympus-orf;image/x-orf;image/x-panasonic-raw;image/x-pef;image/x-pentax-pef;image/x-ptx;image/x-pxn;image/x-r3d;image/x-raf;image/x-raw;image/x-rw2;image/x-rwl;image/x-rwz;image/x-sigma-x3f;image/x-sony-arw;image/x-sony-sr2;image/x-sony-srf;image/x-sr2;image/x-srf;image/x-x3f;


Then save the file (File > Save), and then close the gedit. At this point you can check nautilus to see if the raws have a thumbnail image. If it doesn't then execute the following command in terminal:

nautilus -q

Then open a new nautilus window and check the raw files and hopefully you'll be jumping for joy.

I hope this works, I had to go through several forum posts to work out what was wrong. I also installed gnome-raw-thumbnailer (sudo apt-get install gnome-raw-thumbnailer) before installing ufraw. But then in another post it stated that gnome-raw-thumbnailer is no longer required. If you have any problems then please try installing gnome-raw-thumbnailer. Futhermore, I also installed gconf-editor (sudo apt-get install gconf-editor) .

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JqueryUI 1.9.0

Whoa JqueryUI 1.9.0 is out... What a great effort by the team to release the JqueryUI 1.9.0, unfortunately this release has fealt like it has taken a long time to be released. 

Some of the key changes are: 

• Spinner Widget : While there has been a number of Spinner Widgets that have been available for a while with Jquery via separate plugins, this is coming directly from the jquery team. This is one control/widget that I have had my eyes on for a while, mainly because of the standard functionality that it provides. The demos are available here.
• Menu Widget: This essentially adds a drop down style control. Not much to write about this widget, I'm not sure that I would end up using this widget. 
• ToolTip Widget: Another nice addition to the toolset for JqueryUI. However, the current set of functionality is limited in certain areas, especially custom content, when compared to existing plugins that have already been available. 
• As well as API redesign for the Accordion, and Tabs widgets. 

The key control that I have been wanting with 1.9 has been the Spinner Control/Widget, and I've been waiting and holding my breadth for a long time for this release. 

The next control/widget that I'm waiting on is the grid control/widget, unfortunately this doesn't look like it will be available till v2 or 2.1 based on the roadMap. There are a still a number of grid controls available via thirdparty developers. 

Along with v1.9.0, the jqueryUI.com site design/layout has been updated. However, jquery.com is still in the existing format and the plugin page is still under-development and you need to use http://archive.plugins.jquery.com/ to get to it. 

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Ubuntu 12.10

Coming out shortly is Ubuntu 12.10, currently it is available to be downloaded using the http://releases.ubuntu.com as Beta 2. 

I've been trialling ubuntu 12.10 for the past couple of weeks using the live method, and my desktop is Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. 

Some of the improvements or changes in 12.10 are: 

• Linux Kernel is 3.5.4 
• Python 3.2, it doesn't ship with v2 but this can be easily installed
• A CD Image is no longer supported, those who want to try out Ubuntu 12.10 will need to either use a USB or a DVD
• Update Manager has been renamed to Software Updater
• The Dash now includes commercial results via the Shopping Lens, Canonical will get a kick back from you shopping which supports future Ubuntu releases
• Includes WebApps within the Launcher, specifically Amazon and Ubuntu One Music Store
• LibreOffice is shipped with version 3.6.1 and is integrated into the HUD

So should you upgrade to 12.10 when it is released, especially considering the Long Time Support (LTS) ? 

So my current version Ubuntu on the desktop is 12.04 LTS, and my preferred desktop at this stage is Gnome 3+. Based on the changes that are available in the Ubuntu 12.10 Beta 1/2, most of the change updates can be updated manually to bring you in line with 12.10 (i.e Python and LibreOffice). 

There's been some noticeable enhancements for Unity which makes it a little more usable, specifically the ability to move icons from the launcher etc... 

For now, my thoughts are that I can do without the upgrade. 

Amazon baked into the Dash

The Dash search results will also include a search on Amazon, this is a simplifies the search results for those who enjoy online shopping. Canonical will gain a kick back, not sure what the amount is, this of course will help Canonical support future versions of Ubuntu. 

Personally, it's very rare that I use Amazon for shopping. I do some times use the feedback and user reviews of products from Amazon to get understanding of the products based on real life user feedback. However, since I'm in Australia and most things contain shipping costs and I cannot take advantage of some of the free shipping offers from Amazon I normally tend to use other websites to purchase products. 

These commercial searches and activated by default and you can be turned it off within the System Settings, which is not a complex change. 

I read an Article on Business Insider not long ago about Google's immediate Threats, and I can understand why Google would be worried. The article basically states that Google generally obtains its revenue from searches, and offers links to products these attribute to about 20% of its revenue. When users don't use google to search for products and use alternative methods, then this eats into the 20% of its revenue. 

There's a short video on Business Insider that also summarises the article. 

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webplatform.org

A new site/community has opened up to promote open standards and a place for web developers. Essentially it is a resource site where web developers can obtain information on best practises for HTML5, CSS, Javascript, Accessability, and more.

This is a positive move from a number of organisations to bring together their knowledge and also to assist in promoting the internet and web development overall. Whilst the site and the community looks like it is still in it's infancy, it contains a number of articles as well as tutorials. 

Looking at the documentation that is currently there, it looks as though it is pitched new comers to the web such as students and other professionals who have basic knowledge of the internet. The articles and the information stored within webplatform.org is based on a wiki format (think of wikipedia) where everyone, or anyone can edit the information. The idea behind this is to be open, and allow people to update the content to keep it updated and relevant for the audience. 

My initial view on the site is that, like most tutorial/article sites, is that it is really verbose (think of large amounts of text). Take for example the page "how does the internet work" (http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/concepts/internet_and_web/how_does_the_internet_work), the information could have been improved for users (especially those who are new to this type of topic) by using diagrams, presentations, and videos. 

However, this looks like it is only the start of the site and there appears to be more to come. I'm certainly excited by the fact that there is a central repository to get information about web technology, and I'd encourage anyone and everyone to participate. 

There are a couple of anomalies with the site, namely it uses custom registration without proper identity management (i.e facebook, windows live, openID, etc...), and the registration page also doesn't use the best practises around CAPTCHA (although they are very annoying). Upon registration, I was also advised that the source couldn't be determined and recommended for me to enable cookies - after simply re-populating the fields and resubmitting the form it worked. 

There is also a forums sections in the form of stackoverflow (www.stackoverflow.com), which at the moment contains questions about the site rather than anything real about web platforms.

There are a number of backers behind this initiative such as W3C, Google, Microsoft, and facebook just to name a few.

Anyway, here's promo vid of webplatform.org:

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Whoa.. back on here again...

Ok, so the last time I took a long break I ended up going for a long time. Well I've had to shutdown the other site and have decided to come back here. Why, two reasons :

• Decided to move to Ubuntu for my desktop/server
• Accidentally deleted the partition with the blog database

So I lasted for about 1 year and a bit on blogEngine with Asp.NET running on IIS. However, the one thing that I wanted to get up and running (i.e image gallery) didn't end up happening. So I'm still in the lookout for an image gallery that I can integrate into a blog of somesort. 

Drop me a line if you know of one, or if you know if blogger can do it. 

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Jquery IPWEDITOR, tinyMCE, and Live

Hi,
I thought that I would share this with you: I wanted to add DOM elements and have the IPWEDITOR with tinyMCE fire everytime I clicked the element to launch tinyMCE. I found out how to do it when elements are in the dom and then have the jquery code fire-up, however, I couldn't get it to fire when I'm dynamically loading elements into the dom.

So here's what I did, I used the live function in jquery:

Normally:

//Create an instance of the TinyMCE    var ed = new tinymce.Editor(".f_editableArea", {                    some_setting: 1                });
//Apply this to a selection$(".f_editableArea").editable({                    type: "wysiwyg",                    editor: ed,                    onSubmit: function submitData(content){                        alert(content.current)                    },                    submit: 'ok',                    cancel:'cancel'                });

Now, to use the live function you would do it this way :

    var ed = new tinymce.Editor(".f_editableArea", {
                    some_setting: 1
                });
 $(".f_editableArea").live("click", function(){                    $(this).editable({
                    type: "wysiwyg",
                    editor: ed,
                    onSubmit: function submitData(content){
                        alert(content.current)
                    },
                    submit: 'ok',
                    cancel:'cancel'
                });
 });

The highlighted section is the new section, I simply called the live function on the selection passing in the event as click and using a function. I then used this to call the selection and launch the plugin.

I hope this helps...

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