56cb651470
git-svn-id: https://svn.code.sf.net/p/gphoto/code/trunk/libgphoto2@14051 67ed7778-7388-44ab-90cf-0a291f65f57c
145 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
145 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
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libgphoto2
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Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of gphoto! This is libgphoto2, the
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successor of gphoto with lots of new features and additional camera
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drivers.
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If you miss a feature, would like to report success or failure, or have any
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questions, please don't hesitate to contact our mailing list.
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What is libgphoto2?
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-------------------
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libgphoto2 is a library that can be used by applications to access various
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digital cameras.
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For more information on gphoto, see
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@URL_GPHOTO_HOME@
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There, you can also get information on mailing lists, supported cameras,
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and availability of gphoto2. Another source of information is
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@URL_GPHOTO_PROJECT@
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where you can access our SVN server to fetch the source code of
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gphoto2, gtkam and GnoCam (see below).
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What is libgphoto2 not?
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-----------------------
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libgphoto2 itself is not a GUI application, opposed to gphoto. There are
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GUI frontends for the gphoto2 library, however, such as gtkam for
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example.
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libgphoto2 can only talk to cameras the language of those it understands.
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That is, if you own a camera that speaks a language that isn't published
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anywhere and nobody has been able to figure out the meaning of the sentences,
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libgphoto2 cannot communicate with those cameras.
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Then, there are cameras supporting the so-called USB Mass Storage protocol.
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This is a protocol that has been published and lets you access any storage
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device, be it a camera or a disk connected via USB to your computer. As there
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are already drivers for this protocol out there, you don't need an additional
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library like libgphoto2. The list of camera that use USB Mass Storage is getting
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longer everyday, so we won't publish it.
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For a more up to date list, you can consult
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@URL_DIGICAM_LIST@
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Your operating system will tell you about that because it is likely to recognise
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the device as a SCSI disk that you can mount (for Linux 'dmesg' will tell you).
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Again, those cameras *cannot* be accessed through libgphoto2. Some of them can
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be switched to use a different communication protocol and might be in that case
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useable with libgphoto2.
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Other camera support a protocol called PTP or USB Imaging Devices that has
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been developped by Kodak and other. libgphoto2 does support PTP. Also working
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will be cameras labeled as "PictBridge", which is a extension to PTP.
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Almost all cameras that are not mass storage support it these days, including
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but not limited to all Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Sony, Panasonic, HP and more.
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PTP camera unknown to libgphoto2 will be detected as a generic PTP camera and
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will work as-is without any changes.
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MTP (Microsoft Transfer Protocol) capable devices will also be accessible,
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since MTP is based on PTP.
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Platforms
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---------
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libgphoto2 should compile and run on pretty much all Unix-like platforms.
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libgphoto2 has _not_ (yet?) been ported to any operating system from MicroSoft.
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How to set up libgphoto2
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------------------------
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For information on how to set up libgphoto2 and its frontends, see
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The gPhoto2 Manual.
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It is available at the following places:
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- At the gphoto website: @URL_GPHOTO_HOME@
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- In the SVN module gphoto2-manual
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The gPhoto2 Manual includes information about setting up USB
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hotplugging.
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If you run into problems, you may also consult the FAQ (also included
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in The gPhoto2 Manual).
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Frontends
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---------
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gphoto2 is a command line frontend which is quite powerful,
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especially in combination with scripts. See The gPhoto2 Manual
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for a short description.
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For the GUI lovers, there are for example digikam (KDE), gthumb (GNOME),
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f-spot (GNOME / Mono) and more. We also have a GTK2 reference GUI
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called gtkam, which is unmaintained, its only special features are
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capture abilitiy.
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Additionally, there are plugins for other programs available like
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kio_camera (KDE - Konqueror) and a fuse plugin, gphotofs.
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Reporting Bugs
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--------------
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Every piece of software contains errors and flaws. So does
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libgphoto2. When you encounter something that does not work, please do
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the following:
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1. Find out whether this is a known problem.
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2. Reproduce the problem with debug output enabled and the language
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set to English, so that the development team will understand the
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messages. You can do this by running:
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env LC_ALL=C gtkam
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if you're using the gtkam frontend or running:
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env LC_ALL=C gphoto2 --debug-logfile=logfile.log --debug <options>
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using the gphoto2 command line interface.
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3. Report the problem on the mailing list with the corresponding debug
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output if it is small. If it is more than a few kilobytes, please
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don't post the complete debug output on the list.
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