SOLVED Gimp & UFRAW

As a fully paid up grumpy old man, I long to "salute" goodbye to Windows and associated software Unfortunately it does not seem that easy. Having tried the latest 3 versions of Ubuntu and each time found that it was just the start of "missing files" and "get app" etc aggravation I had just about given up. OK Windows has its faults, but generally speaking software comes complete and working.

So, when I read a report on GIMPSHOP for XP I thought OK lets give it a go.

First I discovered I needed UFRAW, but having installed it every time I run it I get a file "missing message" So far I have searched for, and downloaded, nine missing files and still it comes up saying yet another file is missing.

I do not think I have enough life left in me to wrestle with the "file missing" notification that seems to be the downside of open source.

So if any of you Gimp experts can point me in the direction of a UFRAW installation that is actually complete, I would be much obliged. Otherwise it a choice between reverting to PS or slitting my wrists, neither of which seems a good life style choice

Ubuntu installations are less of a pain then windows installations normally.
The most important thing with a ubuntu installation or any other OS installation downloaded as an .iso file is to check the disc for errors. With Ubuntu this is easily done during bootup there is a option to check the disc for errors.

About the GIMP, well I do use it occasionally and it works very good but if you are coming from Windows and Photoshop then it can be a little difficult to find your most used filters and such.

For me there are really two things which hold me back from switching to linux completely and that is that there is no Linux version of Silkypix (allthough it runs nicely with WINE) and the biggest drawback for me is the lack of a decent colour management system (Apple fans insert your OS X's CMS is better then the Windows CMS quotes here )

I really want to use my Eye-One Display 2 and for this unit and in fact for any unit I know there is no Linux software.

The basic use of ICC/ICM profiles is very difficult and sometimes impossible to use because of the video card drivers.

Since I only use RAW images a decent CMS is a must (just look at the images on screen before and after your first ever screen calibration with a colorimeter...)

[EDIT]
I just found out that ArgylCMS supports most colorimeters (spyder, display 2, etc) I am going to give it a go later. This might very well be the next step in saying farewell to Windows alltogether, only if Silkypix became availble....

http://www.argyllcms.com/
[/EDIT]

Normally, yes. but can I get it to communicate over the LAN? Not without a password - so I cannot run unattended backups.

Then there is the thorny subject of drivers. Anway, that is another story and not one for this forum.

To get GIMP to read DNG files, apparently I need UFRAW, but the version I downloaded (from the UFRAW site) is minus a whole string of files.

Perhaps I will try a different site, or a different version - unless someone knows better

I haven't used the Windoze version of UFRAW for a little while, but last time I did it just loaded and ran right off the bat.

Have you tried downloading it again? it might be a bad download.

what files is it missing?

very interesting Golf, please let us know how you get on!

I don't know how well Silky worked with Linux/WINE when you last tried it, but Ubuntu 7.10+whatever version of WINE is currently in the repositories runs it pretty flawlessly.

Many hours and several downloads later - it works.

Was it worth it? - Possibly, time will tell, but Raw Therapee is another freebee with possibilities and only one download

Cheers

PS I forgot to mention, the secret lies in downloading GTK+2

Until now I didn't get argylcms to work, I will have to try some more manual hacks to get it to work. The only distro for which there is a ready made package is Gentoo and I am not really looking forward on installing Gentoo.