November 07, 2008     Picasa For Linux Beta Release    Version 3.0.5744-02


THANKS:
-------
The Picasa product was brought to the Linux platform with the
help of a variety of Free and Open Source Software projects.
We are grateful to the authors and owners of these projects for
allowing us to use their work.  The nature of the licenses for
these projects does give you some additional rights,
please refer to the LICENSE.FOSS file for more details.


INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
--------------------------
To install either the RPM or Debian package format version of Picasa,
use your normal procedures to install the Picasa package.  Consult
the documentation for your Linux system for more help.

On many distributions, you can set up your package manager to
automatically download and install Picasa for Linux. For more
information, see: http://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/.


CHANGES
-------
 New features since Version 2.7
    * Improved integration with Picasa Web Albums - You can sync your Picasa 3
      and Web Albums edits, change your online album settings from Picasa, and
      delete online albums from Picasa.
    * Better uploading with the upload Drop-box and bandwidth throttling.
    * New Retouch tool to remove unsightly blemishes and improve photo quality.
    * Improved Collage tool lets you have total artistic control over your
      collage content and layout.
    * Auto red-eye: same results, less work for you.
    * Easily add text or watermarks to your photos.
    * Other goodies - Improved EXIF, RAW, and TIFF support, better file
      management, suggestions for cropping, multiple word tags, and more.

 Linux specific changes / improvements
    * This is an English only release.
    * User data are now stored in ~/.google/picasa/.
    * Camera/media detection integrated with Gnome/KDE.
    * Export Picture to an existing folder now works correctly.
    * Mozilla/Firefox browser integration done via a plugin.
    * picasa:// urls work in Firefox 3.
    * Downloading albums from Picasa Web Albums launches faster.
    * Uploading from behind the proxy works a bit better.
    * Better OpenSSL support on 64-bit Fedora.
    * Better Xinerama support.
    * Setting menu font to 'Courier' no longer results in cutoff text.
    * In Blogthis, the palette selector is no longer truncated.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
---------------------------

*** Installing and running the software ***

Q: What versions of Linux does Picasa support?

Picasa should run on any x86-compatible Linux system. We've tested it against
the following Linux distributions:

    * Debian 4.0 (Etch)
    * Fedora 9
    * Mandriva 2007
    * Mandriva 2008
    * OpenSuSE 10.2
    * OpenSuSE 10.3
    * Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper)
    * Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty)
    * Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy)

Q: Will Picasa run on a 64-bit version of Linux?

Yes, Picasa runs on 64-bit versions of Linux.

For RPM-based distributions, just install the normal 32-bit RPM of Picasa;
this works on the RPM-based 64-bit distributions we tried, as they're pretty
good about letting you mix 32 and 64-bit packages.

For Debian-based distributions, install the amd64.deb instead of the i386.deb.
This is still 32-bits, but it knows to reference the system's 32-bit libraries.
If you use apt-get to install Picasa from our 64-bit repository, the system's
32-bit libraries will be automatically installed if needed.

Q: Will Picasa run with XFCE, Blackbox, or another Window Manager?

Yes. The core functionality of Picasa should work well with any Window Manager,
though some desktop-integration features may not work with all environments.
These features -- automatic camera detection, setting the wallpaper, creating a
screen saver, and using the native email client, for example -- usually require
KDE or Gnome.

We've also provided the means for advanced users to customize Picasa for their
particular environments. If you refer to the files in
/opt/google/picasa/3.0/desktop, you'll see examples of how to tailor Picasa to
your own environment.

Q: What are the Picasa for Linux system requirements?

Picasa should work on any Linux system with Intel 386-compatible processor,
glibc 2.3.2 or greater with NPTL support, and a working X11 display system.

* XVideo extension on your display driver. (to view things full screen)
* having a newer kernel (>= 2.6.13) to get notified of file changes.
* having a new kernel and HAL to automatically detect new media insertion.
* KDE or Gnome for automatic integration with the desktop environment's
  browser / email / file manager preferences.

Q: How do I install Picasa for Linux?

* Download the Picasa for Linux software. This will open the File Download
  screen.
* Install the downloaded package with your Linux distribution's package
  manager. (We'll show you how after the download starts.)
* Start Picasa by looking in your Linux distribution's Graphics menu.

When you start Picasa, it will scan your home directory and begin to
automatically find and sort the photos it finds into folders, organized by name
and date taken. For more information on Picasa's features, please visit
http://picasaweb.google.com/.

Q: How do I set up my package manager to download and install Picasa?

Please see the instructions on: http://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/.

Q: OK, I installed it (I think). Now how do I start it?

On most Linux systems, you'll see a Picasa menu entry in your menu; it will
be under either "Photography" or "Graphics."

On older systems that do not support the freedesktop.org menu standard, such as
Red Hat 9, Picasa might not show up in your system menus, but you can still run
it from the command line. If you install as the root user (e.g. using a .rpm or
.deb file), the command to type is picasa, /usr/bin/picasa, or
/opt/google/picasa/3.0/bin/picasa, depending on how verbose you're
feeling at the moment.

These are default locations. The install target can be changed at installation
time. However, the .deb or .rpm packages do not support installing to other
locations.

If you use an unusual desktop environment, you're welcome to place the Picasa
menu link in your environment. A XDG compliant DESKTOP file along with an .xpm
file with the icon are located in "/opt/google/picasa/3.0/desktop."

Q: How do I uninstall Picasa?

For instructions on how to uninstall Picasa, start Picasa, then open the Help
menu and select Uninstalling Picasa.

Q: I got a message that "Picasa was unable to determine the default web
browser." What happened?

Picasa does its best to try to determine the default web browser, particularly
for the Gnome and KDE environments. Because this isn't well standardized
on Linux, sometimes Picasa won't be able to find an appropriate browser. In
such cases, you'll see this message.

Q: How do I choose which native web browser Picasa uses?

On Gnome, go to System, Preferences, Preferred Applications, and select your
preferred web browser.

On KDE, open the KDE Control Panel, KDE Components, Component Chooser,
and select your preferred web browser.

Q: Why did Picasa register itself with Firefox?

Picasa registers itself with Firefox (and Mozilla-based browsers) to enable
the Download Album feature on Picasa Web. The preferences added are:

network.protocol-handler.app.picasa
network.protocol-handler.external.picasa

Q: How do I choose which native email client Picasa uses?

Please follow the directions here:
http://portland.freedesktop.org/wiki/EmailConfig

On Gnome, go to System, Preferences, Preferred Applications, and select your
preferred email client.

On KDE, open the KDE Control Panel, KDE Components, Component Chooser,
and select your preferred email client.

Q: Will Picasa work over a remote X11 connection?

Yes, but you won't enjoy it. Picasa is a very graphics-intensive application
and, as such, may not work well over remote links. It won't work well over
a dedicated gigabit link, either.

Q: I use NFS, and Picasa runs very slowly.

You can use the Folder Manager (under the Tools menu) to limit what directories
Picasa scans. Otherwise Picasa can get bogged down scanning all your network
directories!

Q: When I start Picasa from the command line, I get another shell prompt
before the Picasa window pops up.

That's normal. Picasa runs in the background.

Q: I started Picasa on my Linux box remotely from my Mac via ssh, and it's
not working.

That's not a supported configuration; Picasa doesn't work well over remote
X connections.

Q: Why does Picasa not work well with Compiz?

Picasa seems to work well with newer versions of Compiz, though there may be
occasional glitches. Older versions of Compiz were experimental and did not
work as well.  If you are using an older version, please considering upgrading
or disabling it.

Q: Some keys on the keyboard do not work in Picasa with KDE.

This is a known issue that affect certain keyboard layouts when running Picasa
on KDE. You can work around this by running setxkbmap first. For instance, if
you have a Greek keyboard, run the following command on the command line:

setxkbmap gr, us

Q: How does Picasa handle hidden files?

Picasa ignores hidden files. (files that start with the letter ".")

Q: How does Picasa handle symbolic links?

Picasa follows symbolic links (symlinks) and scans the files / folders
pointed to by the symbolic links. Symbolic links pointing to folders will
show up as regular folders in Picasa.

When Picasa scans both a folder and symlinks pointing to that folder, the
folder will show up multiple times in Picasa. This can lead to confusing
behavior. We strongly recommend removing the duplicate folders, since changes
to one folder will affect its duplicates. To remove a duplicate folder, right
click on the folder and choose "Remove from Picasa" from the pop-up menu.

Likewise, the same picture can show up multiple times if there are symbolic
links pointing to it. Again, this can lead to confusing behavior where
changing one picture affects another. We recommend hiding the duplicate
pictures in this case. To do so, right click on a picture and choose "Hide"
from the pop-up menu.

Q: How does Picasa handle hard links?

Picasa treats hard linked files as separate files.

For example, if photo.jpg is a hard link to p1000.jpg:

* deleting photo.jpg will not affect p1000.jpg.
* changing photo.jpg will cause a new file to get created, resulting in
  photo.jpg and p1000.jpg no longer being linked together.

Q: Why are my deleted pictures not in the system trash folder on Gnome?

Picasa follows the trash-spec from Freedesktop.org, but Gnome has not
implemented this spec yet.

The deleted files are stored in ~/.local/share/Trash.

Q: I am running in a locale other than en_US, how come some characters
are missing/displayed incorrectly?

Picasa may not have picked up your font settings correctly. You can
correct this by using the Font Linking tab in the Picasa Font Settings
tool to select which fonts to use for glyphs that are missing in the
base font.

Q: I have a high resolution screen, display text is way too small for
me to read.

The Picasa Font Settings tool has a tab for setting Screen Resolution.
Higher resolution results in larger font size. If it is just the menus
that are tiny, try increasing menu font size from the Menu Font tab.

*** Importing and finding photos ***

Q: Will Picasa support my camera?

Probably; see the list below. However, your system has to be fairly modern
in order for Picasa to find it.  You'll need kernel >= 2.6.13, hal >=
version 0.5.6 (and a running hald), and you'll need to have the equivalent
of gnome-volume-manager running (that is automatic in modern versions of
Gnome and KDE).

If you leave the Picasa Media Detector running, when you plug in your camera,
Picasa should automatically pop up and help you import the pictures.  If you
don't, you should be able to start Picasa and select 'Import', and pick your
camera from the list.

Picasa uses the gphoto library for camera support. The list of cameras
supported by the latest version of gphoto2 is here:

http://www.gphoto.org/proj/libgphoto2/support.php

However, your system may not have the latest version of the gphoto library,
so it may not support every camera on the list above.
To get a list of cameras your system supports, run the following command:

gphoto2 --list-cameras

Below is a list of the cameras we have tested.

Passed our tests:
Canon 1D mk 2
Canon EOS 10D
Canon EOS 20D
Canon Powershot A520
Canon Powershot A70 and A80
Casio Exilim EX-Z40
FujiFil FinePix 1400Z
FujiFilm FinePix S7000
HP photoSmart 318
HP Photosmart R717
Kodak DX3900
Kodak DX4800
Konica Dimage x31
Minolta Dimage S404
Nikon Coolpix 3100
Nikon Coolpix P2
Olympus C-700
Olympus FE-100
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC20
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3
Pentax Optio w3
Sony Cybershot DSC-S600
Sony DSC-P50
Toshiba PDR M70

Failed our tests:
AGFA ePhoto CL20
Toshiba PDR-M21

Q: Why does Picasa default to Winefile for finding files on a disk?

Picasa tries to find an appropriate program to display files on your disk. If
it's unable to find an appropriate program, it will use a built-in program
called Winefile.

Q: With what file types does Picasa for Linux work?

Picasa for Linux works with the following file types:
Images -- JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, PSD, TIF, RAW data files, including but not
limited to cameras from Canon, Nikon, Kodak, Minolta and Pentax.

Q: I got a message that "Picasa was unable to find a default handler for
that file." What happened?

You may get this message if you ask to open a file (usually a picture)
with your native Linux program and Picasa can't figure out what program to
use. Again, because there's no standard way to do this on Linux, Picasa just
does its best to figure it out; if it can't, it will present you with this
dialog box.

Q: Hey! I have a bunch of movie files that Picasa skipped.

This version of Picasa for Linux does not support movie files. The program will
not attempt to find or play movies. (Note: under Options > File Types, the
Movies checkbox is visible but not functional.)

Q: I used File / Add Folder, but it didn't work.

In the Folder Manager, clicking on a folder and the OK does nothing unless
you also click on an action, e.g. Remove, Scan Once, or Scan Always.

Q: Picasa only seems to scan a folder, but not its subfolders.

In some cases, Picasa for Linux may miss files when it tries to scan folders
that overlap due to drive letter mapping, virtual folders ("My Documents",
"My Pictures", ...) or symbolic links. If this happens to you, try deselecting
everything in the Folder Manager, then reselecting your folders starting from
the / folder instead.

Q: When I import from my camera, the camera shows up multiple times in the
import dialog.

This is an issue with camera support from libgphoto2. Newer Linux distributions
may ship with updated versions of libgphoto2 that do not have this problem.
For instance, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 camera shows up multiple times in
Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper) which includes libgphoto2 2.1.6, but not in Ubuntu 7.10
(Gutsy) with libgphoto2 2.3.1.

Q: When I import photos from my camera, I don't get any of of the EXIF data
my camera stores!

If your camera uses the PTP photo protocol, Picasa's import feature does not
preserve the EXIF data created by the camera.  If you need to import your
photos with the EXIF data preserved, some cameras also support another mode of
communication, usually called "USB Mass Storage", or "Mass Storage". Consult
your camera's user manual to find out if you can use this mode.

Q: My camera doesn't support Mass Storage mode, but I need my EXIF data anyway!

You can still retrieve the files with EXIF data by removing the memory
card from your camera and using a memory card reader to access your data,
as external card readers use USB Mass Storage mode.

Q: Picasa acts funny when I use Import to tell it to index a directory.

To get Picasa to see pictures on your hard drive, click "File / Add Folder"
(NOT "Import"). "Import" is for copying pictures from removable drives.
Doing that with a folder on your hard drive would result in duplicate copies.


*** Viewing and printing photos ***

Q: Why doesn't sound play during the slideshow?

For licensing reasons, we were concerned about distributing code to play
MP3 files.

In a future release, however, we hope to provide an interface for you to
select your own MP3-playing software.

Q: Why are movie files so big?

Due to licensing issues with movie codecs, we can't include a
motion-compressing codec for making movies. As a result, we can only produce
movies that are uncompressed.

If you can obtain a license to use a better codec on your Linux system,
we recommend that you use that licensed software to compress the resulting
movie files; they should drastically drop in size with any such codec.

Q: How do I change my print settings?

By default, Picasa uses a high print quality setting. To save on time and
media costs, you can change your print settings by going to the Tools menu,
select Options, and then the "Printing" tab.

Q: Picasa only lists one printer, but I have forty!

If you have 10 or fewer printers on your network, Picasa shows them all to
you. But if you have more, it only shows the default printer (otherwise it
takes too long to start up; each printer takes about a second).

Q: Why is "Configure Screensaver" greyed out?

Older versions of Gnome and KDE used the xscreensaver standard, but newer
versions do not offer a standard method of controlling the screensaver. We
hope to deal with this in a future release, but for now, you can still get
the Picasa screensaver by configuring Gnome or KDE's screensaver to run
/opt/google/picasa/3.0/bin/showpicasascreensaver.


*** Advanced Configuration ***

Q: How do I set up Picasa to use a customized web browser / email client / file
manager / external image viewer?

You can explicitly tell Picasa how to open the browser you'd like by editing
the /opt/google/picasa/3.0/desktop/picasa-hook-urlhandler.sh.template file on
your disk. You'll need to follow the instructions in that file to customize
your installation of Picasa for your desktop.

Similarly, follow the instructions in picasa-hook-email.sh.template,
picasa-hook-filemanager.sh.template, and picasa-hook-mimehandler.sh.template
in the /opt/google/picasa/3.0/desktop directory to customize your email client,
file manager, and external image viewer settings, respectively.

Q: Why when I try to use Internet features (e.g. "Upload to Web Albums")
behind a proxy do I get the following error:
You must have an internet connection to use this feature

Run the following command to start Picasa's regedit:

/opt/google/picasa/3.0/bin/wrapper regedit

Then follow this guide to set the proxy:
http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/292/

Some proxies that require authentication still does not work correctly, though.

*** General ***

Q: How do I send feedback on Picasa for Linux?

Please send your comments and suggestions to: labs+picasa@google.com.

While we cannot reply to every message received, we do read your comments
carefully. Updates to the product will be announced on this site.

You can also find us on Google Groups here:
http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Labs-Picasa-for-Linux/

Q: What's different between the Windows version of Picasa and Picasa for Linux?

There are a few differences:

    * Picasa for Linux doesn't burn CDs directly, but the "Backup" and "Gift
      CD" functions will generate ISO images which you can burn to CD using
      your preferred Linux tools.
    * There's currently no Export to TiVoŽ feature.
    * The screensaver option is currently disabled.
    * The Create Movie feature does not work.
    * There's no integration with Google Earth for Linux.

Q: Will more Google applications be ported to Linux under Wine?

If Picasa for Linux is successful, then other Google applications (and future
versions of Picasa) may also be ported using Wine. For more info on Wine,
please visit http://winehq.org.

Q: What other Google applications run on Linux?

Google has released the following Linux applications besides Picasa:
Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Gadgets, and Google Earth.


Q: Is Picasa for Linux open source?

Picasa for Linux isn't open source; it uses a carefully tested version of Wine
to run the current Windows version of Picasa. Wine itself is an open source
implementation of the Windows API. It runs on top of the X Window System
and Linux or Unix.

Q: Where can I get the source code for the open source portions of Picasa for
Linux?

Most of our changes to Wine have already been applied to the main wine tree at
http://www.winehq.org. You can get a full archive of all the open source used
for the released version of Picasa at:
http://dl.google.com/linux/src/picasa-current.oss.tar

To source archives for previous releases can be found at:
http://dl.google.com/linux/src/picasa-<version>.oss.tar
where <version> is the Picasa for Linux release you are interested in
(e.g. 3.0.5611-1).

Q: What are the Picasa for Linux Terms of Service?

Please see the Google Terms of Service: http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS


KNOWN ISSUES:
-------------
This product is a test release, and as such, it has a number
of known flaws and shortcomings.  We will also update the web
site as we uncover new issues and information on how to workaround
those issues.

The known issues are as follows:

0001542  Picasa notices don't stay on a given desktop. Picasa pops up notices
         to let you know it's found new photos or has added photos to its
         library. These notices come on the current desktop; some users would
         rather they stayed on the same desktop that Picasa itself was on.

0001658  If you have an NFS mounted home directory, the performance may be
         poor. Picasa relies heavily on a lot of files in the
         ~/.google/picasa/3.0 directory, and if the home directory is slow,
         then Picasa will be slow. You can work around this by making
         a directory in /var/opt/google/picasa/$USERNAME/ that corresponds
         to your username.  You have to have full rights to that directory.

0529617  Cannot burn Gift CDs.

0529618  Timeline feature doesn't show in fullscreen.

0684271  A few print providers (namely Photobox) do not work correctly.

0733047  BlogIt!'s URL check availability feature reports
         'checking availability...' forever.

0733698  In blogger window, CreateLink and SpellCheck buttons are not
         functioning.

0864885  Music playback during slideshow doesn't work.

1158392  No camera/media detection on non Gnome/KDE systems.

1159541  The Create Movie feature does not work.

1160103  The Picasa Photo Viewer does not work well.

1160639  Importing from some cameras is very slow.

1160807  Picasa cannot use internet features if started without a network
         connection.

1162306  Greek keyboard cannot type certain characters.

1164273  Previously selected print provider is not remembered.

1166438  Cameras may show up multiple times in the import dialog.

1166735  Directories with quotes ignored by scan.

1167031  Picasa Menu items end up in "Lost and Found" on KDE 4.

1184852  Cannot upload to Web Albums from behind a proxy with authentication.

1215183  picasa:// urls do not work if Gconf is not installed.

1237170  Picasa does not handle display resolution increase correctly.

1254932  Images captured on different dates are not separated during import.

1336599  Search text box background color is wrong.

1355432  During camera import, sometimes the import dialog does not appear.

1365257  Picasa sometimes start up without window decorations.

1377833  Picasa splash screen not centered on some window managers.

1387875  Duplicate pictures are not detected when importing via PTP.

1450631  Picasa forgetting photos on removable drives.

