Fotoxx 7.7

Get The latest version of the Fotoxx digital image editor by clicking here.
Click here to read more about Fotoxx.

Fotoxx 7.2

Download the latest version of the Fotoxx image editor by clicking here.For more details about Fotoxx click here.

Designing covers for home made discs in Ubuntu .

'Discwrapper' is the application that allows you to create customized CD covers in Ubuntu.Discwrapper provides a set of templates that can be customized according to the CD case.Customization primarily involves changing text fonts and colors.
The four standard templates that 'Discwrapper' provides are the 'Standard Cd Case', the 'Slim Cd Case', the 'Standard DVD Case' and the 'Slim DVD Case'.With each standard template you get two variations.Just choose a specific template to get started.


The left side of the 'Discwrapper' allows the user to edit the 'Title' and the 'Date' section.The same section also provides the options for the customization of fonts and colors.
The remaining part of the window allows you to preview the Cd cover.It also provide the tabs to edit the remaining.With these tabs you can create the 'front','inside','back' and 'disc' portions of the disc.


'Discwrapper' can also save individual projects in it's own specific format.

Specimen Font Previewer - Preview and compare fonts.

With the 'Specimen Font Previewer, you can preview all your system fonts in regular, medium, bold, italic and bold italic formats.This program allows you to write a custom text
and then preview it in the font selected in the left sidebar.Preview text size can also be adjusted.Comparison between different fonts becomes pretty easy by simply selecting a font category and then clicking on the 'Add' button.
To find a particular font, simply click on the 'Edit' menu and then 'Find' or use the 'CTRL + F' shortcut.Text and background colors can also be customized under the Edit' menu.

'Specimen Font Previewer' can be installed from the 'Synaptic Package Manager'.Search for 'gnome-specimen' and mark for installation.


Watch a Specimen Font Previewer video here.

Scan Documents In PDF

To save a scanned document as a PDF file you can use 'gscan2pdf'.It provides an easy to use GUI to aid the process of converting a scanned document to PDF.
This package is available in the 'universe' repository of ubuntu.Install it from the 'Synaptic Package Manager'.
Launch 'gscan2pdf' from the 'Graphics' menu.Click on the 'scan document' button on the toolbar.A window allowing you to configure your scanner appears.Under the 'Scan Options' tab you can set the paper size,choose the compression format and set the resolution.Under the 'Page Options' keep the '# Pages' to 1 and check the '#' radio button otherwise the same document would be scanned again and again.


To scan a document click on the 'Scan' button at the bottom.Once the document is scanned save it in the PDF or an image format from the 'File' menu.You can even email the document in PDF.
Use the buttons provided on the toolbar to zoom in/out of the document and rotate it by 90 or 180 degrees.
Copyright 2006--2008 Jeffrey Ratcliffe
Home Page:http://gscan2pdf.sf.net

Desktop Drapes-Wallpaper manager

'Desktop Drapes' is another application for Ubuntu that changes wallpapers after regular intervals.Install 'Desktop Drapes' from the 'Synaptic Package Manager'.Just search for 'drapes' and mark for installation.'Desktop Drapes' much more stable and configurable as compared to the 'wallpaper-tray'.Launch 'Desktop Drapes' from the 'Preferences' menu.This application also goes straight to the notification area.It automatically categorizes wallpapers according to their resolution such as 'wide screen','Perfect fit' 'Regular' and other resolutions.Right click on the 'Desktop Drapes' icon in the notification area and add wallpapers to it.Under the 'General' tab,you get to configure the rotation interval and other options.
'Desktop Drapes' is pretty stable as compared to the 'wallpaper-tray' but the minimum rotation interval that can be set is 5 minutes.
Don't just go on adding wallpapers.Add your favorite wallpapers only,otherwise it would become difficult to remove them later.This could also slow down the application.

Enable automatic wallpaper/background Change in Ubuntu.

To change wallpapers after regular intervals in ubuntu,you can use a very small application called 'wallpaper-tray'.Install this application from the 'Synaptic Package Manager'.Search for 'wallpaper-tray'.Now go to the 'Graphics' menu to launch this application. Have a look at the notification area.Right click on the 'wallpaper-tray' box in the notification area to configure it.The interface is very simple.Simply add your wallpaper directories.Under the 'More Options' tab configure the wallpaper rotation interval.Remember to check the 'Timed Wallpaper Change' box.
Although 'wallpaper-tray' is pretty simple and does its job well,it is not very stable.It can crash pretty frequently.
Do not add too many or too large directories in the 'Directory List' which could lead to a crash.

Google Picasa 3 (Beta) For Ubuntu.

The latest version of Google Picasa 3 (beta) is available for Linux and can be installed in ubuntu using this Debian package.Picasa for Linux is made to work using wine that comes as a part of the Debian package.Picasa is great image organizer by Google.The windows version has a very attractive interface.The Linux version has some problems with the interface as it works with the WINE emulator.Picasa looks for image files in every nook and corner of your system.You might get to see some forgotten pics.All the images imported in Picasa are organized according to their folders.With every folder,there are options to play slide show,create a photo collage and creating a movie presentation.
The collage creating feature now provides a lot more options and is more configurable as compared to the previous versions of Picasa.Picasa also provides the options of posting your photos to web albums and Blogger.
As far as photo editing is concerned,Picasa provides various options under the Basic Fixes,Tuning and Effects tabs.Various effects like sepia,soft glow and tint can be applied to photos.'Basic Fixes' include cropping ,straightening and removing red eye effects.Picasa 3 automatically removes red eye effects from photos.



The slider provided at the bottom right of the Picasa window can be used to increase the size of the thumbnails in the photo library and for zooming into images while editing.
There is a search bar provided at the top right to quickly look for a photo.
There are number of features that do not work in the Linux version.Music playback during slide shows doesn't work.Forget about playing movie files in Picasa Linux.You can read the complete list of known issues here.
Picasa is a great tool for sharing photos on the web using web albums and blogs and provides a basic set of editing features.



Click here to download the Debian package for an easy installation.

Installing Gimp Scripts

Installing Gimp Scripts.
Gimp is installed by default in all ubuntu installations.It is a great open-source image editor.Gimp is also very expandable.Like Addons for Firefox,Gimp also provides the option of installing additional scripts.These scripts have the extension .scm and are submitted by Gimp users.Download Gimp scripts from here.Once you download these scripts,you need to install them.Installation of Gimp scripts just requires copying them into the scripts folder.This folder is hidden in the "Home" folder.Press Ctrl + h to view hidden files and folders.Locate the Gimp folder and inside it open the "scripts" folder.Copy the downloaded scripts in this folder.

Now open Gimp.Before using these scripts,you need to refresh the scripts from Xtns menu.Click on "Refresh Scripts" under "Scripts-Fu".View the screenshot for a reference.
Now the installed script may appear under various options.First of all check out the second "Scripts-Fu" entry under the Xtns menu.If you do not get to see your script listed here then look under the Filters menu.

Some of the scripts may not be compatible with a certain version of Gimp.

Fotoxx - Digital image editor for ubuntu

Fotoxx is a very simple and effective editor for digital images.
The latest version of fotoxx a better user interface as compared to the previous versions.Open an image file from the Etc. menu and start working on it.All the editing options are provided under the Edit menu.All the options provided are very easy to use and provide a basic set of editing options.fotoxx uses its default set of parameters for editing images.

To edit these parameters go to the Edit menu.If you are not happy with the Jpeg quality,change its value to 100.Click on "index" to view all your image files in a particular folder in a thumbnail format.

Uplaod your pics to Fickr without using a web-browser with "Postr".

When you open up Flickr Uploader from the Graphics menu for the first time,it asks you to log in your flickr account.Once you log in to you account,allow Postr to have access to your account.Sign out after granting Postr access to your Flickr account.
Postr would retain your account until you wish to switch to a new account which can be done from the File menu.
Now,whenever you open Postr or Flickr Uploader,you can simply add photos and upload them.You donot need to sign in unless you reboot your system.
From the file menu in Postr,click on "Add Photos" to select the image files you wish to upload.You can give your pics titles ,description and even set tags.
Postr allows you to send your pics to groups and set safety features.It does almost everything that you wish to do with your pics.
Download Postr by clicking here.

Cheese Webcam Booth

Have you been trying to use a web-cam with ubuntu or any other Linux distribution?If yes,then say "cheese".
Cheese is easily one of the best applications that can take photographs from your web-cam.That's not all,it can also record videos.Download the latest version of cheese by clicking here.
These interface is straightforward.Choose between the Photo and Video modes.
To take a photo just click on "Take a Photo".To record a video choose the Video mode and click on "Start Recording".Once you click on "Stop Recording",the video would be saved automatically and will appear at the bottom of the window.
Now comes the interesting part.Checkout the Effects button.Click on "effects" to view the twelve effects yo can apply to your photos and videos.Click on any of the listed effects.An activated effect turns blue.You can even apply multiple effects simultaneously.Just keep on clicking.After activating an effect
click on "Effects" again to return to the recording mode.

Change resolutions under the "Preferences" menu.Under the "Cheese" menu select the Countdown option to run a countdown before cheese takes a photograph.Also choose a full screen mode here.
So have fun with your photographs.Do checkout all the effects.

GPICview

GPIC View Image Viewer is a very light weight image viewer for Linux.
The best part about it is the speed which it loads up an image.It is pretty fast as compared to the Eye Of Gnome Image Viewer or the default image viewer of the Gnome environment.Install it to feel the difference.The only disappointment is the absence of a slide show view.But there is of course a full screen mode.

It provides you basic features like saving,deleting an image,zoom in and out and rotating the image.It is very basic and simple application worth an install.
Install from the Synaptic Package Manager.Search for "gpicview" and mark for installation.