[Techtalk] Mac or Linux for photo printing?

[Helen Rosseau]

<snip>
> Elements. $100 and very worth it. The newest version
> even has a Curves
> feature, which used to be the main reason folks gave
> up the training
> wheels and went full version
> > 
> > For multi-image layouts I use KWord. It's faster
> and easier to slap a bunch of 
> > images onto a KWord page in frames than to mess
> with Gimp layers. But it 
> > still has some limitations, mainly requiring way
> too much trial-and-error and 
> > manual tweaking.
> > 
> > I have a Canon Pixma 4200 printer using the Turbo
> Print drivers. 64-bit 
> > Kubuntu. I've tried the Gimp, Digikam, Krita,
> Konqueror, some weird Gnome 
> > apps I forget now that had the usual annoying
> fatal flaws and 
> > unfinishednesses. I'm ready to take a look at
> Macs, but I want to hear from 
> > the smart kids before I work up an attack of New
> Computer Lust.
> 
> Dual booting is probably in your future.  The
> cheapest way is just to
> dual boot Windows.  While it is the evil empire, it
> doesn't lock in your
> hardware choices.   For $200, you can leave a lot of
> headaches behind.
> And while reading the fresh out of the mailbox Linux
> Format, that
> www.fs-driver.org will let you mount your ext2/3
> partitions in Windows.
> (If you prefer Reiser, you need rfstool.)
> 
> > What makes the Mac so beloved of graphics artists?
> Is it the skillions of 
> > dollars they have invested in Photoshop and other
> Adobe products? Are there 
> > lower-cost apps that do the job for normal people?
> Am I missing some magic 
> > Linux app that does what I want? Editing images
> for print is very different 
> > from optimizing images for the Web. I want to be
> able to do nice print 
> > layouts that actually come out the way I want,
> instead of in some weird 
> > unpredictable manner, or that require waaay too
> much hassle to set up. Help 
> > meeee....

I have been using Jasc now Corel Paint Shop Pro for
the past approx 8 years so I am biased.  I use a Nikon
70 and during the football season I can take up to a
1000 photos or more per weekend.  I love the batch
processing ability for photos so that I can quickly
create thumnails and resize the useable photos for the
web page.  When they ask, I can also create much more
artistic effects and vector drawing as well.  I have
used Adobe photoshop, corel paint and draw for work. 
I keep returning to paintshop pro. I also like the
ability of using my wacom tablet for fine tuning my
special effects via paintshop pro.

I have tried Gimp and KDE, but I get very frustrated
at not being able to create the same effects and
revert back.

Helen