making plan to return to kubuntu and do photo and video editing when moving off Google Photos at University

[pwrcul]

Hello,

I am looking for suggestions/advice.

It has been awhile.
I have been told to move my Google Photos from a University supported network, and I hope to make that the occasion of all sorts of digital work on photos and videos mainly based on Kubuntu.

I have been using KDE Neon for years.
I have many slides I will want digitized esp. from the Sierra Nevada of California
I have some digital photos from China and Japan in 2005.
I hope I have some digital photos taken in Rotterdam, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmadabad, other parts of Gujarat, Kerala, Bhubaneshwar, Bangladesh, Singapore, Bali and Japan in 2009
There are family photos....

Here's what I wrote to a discussion place for Digikam:

I am thinking of transferring photos and videos from Google Photos to pcloud and using both digikam and kdenlive as well as Google Photos to process my images and videos.
I have to move my Google Photos images and videos off of a University account and delete that part of my account and am still wondering about how to make it all work out.

I have used digikam and kdenlive before.
I used to use Picasa and have used Google photos a good amount.

Pcloud would be new to me.
I believe I can move my University Google Photos to pcloud while I am testing it.

I am also thinking of switching from KDE Neon to Kubuntu and looking for advice for that.

I am a largely self-taught user/hacker of good software and hardware on equipment of the last 4-5 years.
I have contacts who are linux users and have good backing from a local Windows/Mac store.

I am a former Kubuntu user.

Thanks.

- Jim

[oshunluvr]

I hope you've updated past Neon 18.04.... just sayin'

I scanned a ton (over 1000) of old family slides over a decade ago. I was working from home so I just scanned while I was working over a several month period. My scanner could preview 4 slides at a time, then I could scan them one at a time.

Here's what I have to say about that:

1. You will have to buy a scanner with slide scanning capability. They have a backlight.
2. You will want to get non-free photo scanning software.
3. It will take time and a lot of it.

1: I bought a Canon Canoscan 8800F. It was reasonably priced but not real fast. 10 years ago slide scanners with auto-feeders were like $2000. The Canoscan is a flatbed that holds 4 at a time and IIRC was closer to $300.
2: I paid for "VueScan" from Hamrick software
3: Slides are like 3000dpi+. They scan very slowly.

There are obviously newer options now for hardware. Keep in mind how much quality you want to achieve. More quality means more money but better results. Vuescan has a myriad of options so takes a few tries to get your settings right. It will do a lot of good stuff like color enhancement, white balance, scratch removal, etc. Worth it IME. I would verify the scanner you want is compatible with Vuescan before buying.



As far as switching back to Kubuntu from KDEneon and IF you are using the current KDEneon based on 24.04, in theory you could remove the KDEneon sources, add in the Kubuntu 24.04 sources, and do a full package upgrade. Seems likely it may not work perfectly. You would be moving from the Current Plasma 6 back to 5. IME I have far fewer problems with Plasma 6. You could, have successfully converting to Kubuntu 24.04, then upgrade to 24,10 to get back to Plasma 6, but seems like a fair amount of risk to basically gain only a kernel upgrade. IMO you'd be better off leaving KDEneon running.

If you are indeed still using KDEneon 18.04, there is no longer an upgrade path for you. You will need to reinstall.

[claydoh]

As far as switching back to Kubuntu from KDEneon and IF you are using the current KDEneon based on 24.04, in theory you could remove the KDEneon sources, add in the Kubuntu 24.04 sources, and do a full package upgrade. Seems likely it may not work perfectly.

Unfortunately It would not work at all, as the existing Plasma 6 packages would still be newer that the Plasma 5 ones, even with the repo removed.
It would take some apt config edits and probably a lot of apt foo to revert all of the Plasma and Qt packages, plus the small amount of other system configuration changes.
It would be less work and frustration than doing a clean install and restoring/recreating things.

This sounds like another rabbit hole for me to go down.....arghhh

And to go a bit off-topic, is Vuesacn useful if one doesn't have something specialized like slide scanning? Is it mainly for those devices that might still be missing SANE drivers?

I did use a generic Canon flatbed scanner way back circa 2012 to scan all my photos - no negatives were available. I am positive I used either Xsane or maybe Skanlite to scan 4 or 6 photos at a time which were scanned using predefined regions and saved 6 individual files. I am sure I must have looked at Vuescan back then, but I don't remember that far back.

[oshunluvr]

And to go a bit off-topic, is Vuesacn useful if one doesn't have something specialized like slide scanning? Is it mainly for those devices that might still be missing SANE drivers?

IME, Vuescan is very good for non-photo types of scanning, i,e. transparencies, slides, negatives, etc. and very good at very high resolution scans and it has good features to help keep what you're doing organized, like allowing you to set a naming scheme and auto incrementing it as you work through your scans. I just checked and I actually bought a lifetime license 17 years ago. Wow, time flies. The developer is very responsive as well. Many years ago, the Linux "install" method involved manual file copy instructions that included a reboot. I emailed him and pointed out a simple process restart did the required activation of the software and the very next release had my suggestion incorporated in the instructions. Now-a-days you can just get a DEB file and install.

I also don't shy away from paying for software when it serves my purposes because since literally everything about my operating systems is free, I owe it to developers to chip in. Especially whens it's as well done as Vuescan. The trial version is fully functional but includes a watermark on the scanned output. That allows you to try-before-you-buy and ensure it's compatible with your scanner. Note: to scan film and slides you have to get the "Professional" version that's at $150 right now. I think I paid $70 or so 17 years ago. Still, at $150 if you have a meaningful project to do, it's correctly priced IMO. I don't usually bother using it for everyday stuff because its complexity just isn't needed for scanning a regular document or photo. My HP all-in-one and "Simple Scan" does that just fine.

I even recently scanned my son's broken arm X-ray from when he was 14 so he could share it with his friends - now at 34, lol. It is quite impressive. The wrist was at a 90° angle to the arm bones. The Canon 8800F only has a 4" wide back-light for scanning transparent media so I had to scan it in three sections and stitch it together with GIMP, but it came out rather well.

FYI, skateboarding is dangerous:

[oshunluvr]

Also, I agree that trying to turn a Neon install into Kubuntu - any version - is a fools errand. You'd spend more time un-screwing things up than a simple re-install.