Google releases Picasa 2.7 Beta for Linux

by Brad Linder Dec 9th 2007

Google has released a new beta version of Picasa for Linux. Like earlier Linux releases, Picasa 2.7 Beta requires WINE to run, which would indicate that this isn't a 100% native Linux port of Google's popular photo organizing tool. But it does work well with your Linux desktop, seeking out all the photos stored on your PC and allowing you to sort them by albums or folders.

Here are a few of the new features in Picasa 2.7 for Linux:

Upload to Picasa Web Albums using the "Web Albums" button.
Save edits to disk
Browse folders using a hierarchy view
Import photos to an existing folder
Better RAW image support
Larger thumbnails
Better caption editing
Starred Photos album

You can download Picasa 2.7 for Linux by adding Google's testing repository to your source list or by downloading the deb or rpm files directly.

[via Google Operating System]

Tags: picasa, picasa-2.7-beta-for-linux

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rumble said 8:13AM on 12-10-2007

I'm still waiting to come across an image editor for Linux with the simplicity and features of IrfanView without the extra tools in the GIMP that I don't need. Maybe the GIMP's UI overhaul will create a friendlier experience. I've run IrfanView in Wine, but it wasn't what I wanted.

Any (GNOME) suggestions?

Brad Linder said 8:16AM on 12-10-2007

I'm actually in the same boat. I've been dabbling with Linux for years, but am just now starting to use it more consistently. One of the first things I wanted to install was a good program for viewing, resizing, cropping, and making simple program edits. While Ubuntu/Kubuntu both come with some basic image viewers, none are as powerful as Irfanview. And GIMP seemed to be a bit too complex for my needs.

I struggled to get Irfanview running with WINE and had all sorts of problems. Eventually I discovered that Irfanview 3.97 seemed to work better than newer versions, but by that time I'd kind of gotten used to GIMP. It really doesn't take up THAT much space, and while it takes a few seconds longer to load than Irfanview, the truth is there's nothing you can do with Irfanview that you can't also do with GIMP. And there's a whole lot more.

That said, if anyone knows of a good Irfanview clone for Linux/Ubuntu/Debian, please let us know.

Alex M said 1:16PM on 12-10-2007

About time, I say!

I became a picasaweb user because I liked it better than flickr for sharing family photos, but that was back when I was a 100% windows user (ages ago!). Once I became 40% linux (WXP@work, xubuntu@home), I was pretty annoyed that picasa for linux didn't have the picasaweb integration.

So, all I'm saying is, nice update!

james 42 said 7:06PM on 12-10-2007

I don't know Irfanview, but RawTherapee (http://www.rawtherapee.com) is a nice app for Windows and Linux that is like a lite-weight version of Lightroom.

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