Image editing recommendation wanted

[Lona]

My vote goes to Irfanview, highly recommended.

I agree with you Noreen. I've used it for years.  I love it

[Rik]

It's getting my vote at the moment, small and powerful, able to use Photoshop plupins. Perfect for netbook use. 

[Lona]

It's getting my vote at the moment, small and powerful, able to use Photoshop plupins. Perfect for netbook use. 

I've never heard of plupins, Rik, is this something new to computing? 

[Noreen]

   Perhaps it's some sort of computerised flower.

[Rik]

I've never heard of plupins, Rik, is this something new to computing? 

No, but it's new to typing.

[john]

There's an Irfanview entry on Wikipedia here Rik and near the bottom of the page is a link to a comparison of raster image editors.

[Rik]

Thanks, John.

[alhenderson]

Thanks, guys, a little play time is called for. 

One really powerful thing you can do with GIMP is write scripts which automate common tasks.  I was playing with this a while back, and when you get the hang of it its really powerful.  I wrote a script to put a black border around my pictures and add a label.  Fairly simple thing to do manually, but time consuming - would take me a good couple of minutes or so.  Now I have an entry in one of the menus which will do it for me in a second. 

Al.

[Rik]

GIMP would be good if I didn't already have Photoshop, Al, but for the jobs I want to do on the Sammy, Irfanview wins hands down atm.

[sparky]

Another one that doesn't often get a mention is paint.net http://www.getpaint.net/ .

I didn't want all the fancy extras and have to pay for photoshop, so I went with this. It seems to work really well and has a very good user forum to go with it.

[Rik]

Thanks, Sparky, I'll take a look. 

[alhenderson]

GIMP would be good if I didn't already have Photoshop, Al, but for the jobs I want to do on the Sammy, Irfanview wins hands down atm.

What's the Sammy??  Am I being dense? 

Al.

[Rik]

Samsung NC10, as I refer to it with some affection, Al.

[alhenderson]

Samsung NC10, as I refer to it with some affection, Al.

Aha - all is clear now.  Thought that was some kind of cockney slang I couldn't make sense of 

[Rik]

No, I just fell in love with the machine the moment I got my hands on it, and it needed a name.

[alhenderson]

No, I just fell in love with the machine the moment I got my hands on it, and it needed a name.

I have to admit to not knowing a lot about netbooks.  Am I right in thinking they're 'lightweight' PCs intended mainly for webs surfing etc?  Did a quick google for your Sammy and saw they were £300+ (that was Dixons, mind you!), which is not much different from a Dell laptop.

Just curious.

[Rik]

Yes, essentially, they are small notebooks, Al, with a 10.2" screen (though Samsung have one with a 12" screen which seems to me to defeat the object). Keyboard is about 93% of the size of a full notebook, but they are much lighter and more portable, with a battery life of 6-7 hours. I wouldn't attempt to run Photoshop on it, hence this thread, though the screen is actually very good, but when I'm travelling, it's an ideal companion, big enough to surf, email, handle online banking etc, to plays DVDs from the HD, but small and light. Coupled with a mobile broadband dongle or a WiFi hotspot, it's a gem of a machine.

[Simon]

Except, it creates havoc when designing new forum themes. 

[Rik]

Or checks to ensure they work.