rootninja

Google Picasa is available as an rpm and deb for Linux. You can get it from the google package repository if you already have that installed, but the latest version doesn’t appear to be available from there just yet. To get the newest release, visit:

http://www.google.com/picasa/linux/download.html#picasa30

And now for the surprise. Picasa is run under a self contained wine installation. If you’re running a proxy between you and your ISP, don’t bother trying to login and upload pictures to your web albums because this instance of wine isn’t configured for it. System wide Linux proxy settings won’t get noticed. Other than that, everything seems to work well.

New Features:

* Improved integration with Picasa Web Albums
* You can sync your Picasa 3 and Web Albums edits, change your online album settings from Picasa, and delete online albums from Picasa.
* Better uploading with the upload Drop-box and bandwidth throttling.
* New Retouch tool to remove unsightly blemishes and improve photo quality.
* Improved Collage tool lets you have total artistic control over your collage content and layout.
* Auto red-eye: same results, less work for you.
* Easily add text or watermarks to your photos.

If all you’re looking for is some resizing, a little red-eye removal, and fixing some color problems, you will find that the GIMP and Cinepaint are completely bloated destroyers of worlds. But if you’re trying to remove dust, fix smudges, or perform other detailed image manipulation, they’re definitely the right tool for the job.

Like other google apps, Picasa will install under /opt/google/. Browser plugins for konqueror and mozilla are installed by the rpm. There are a couple of prerequisite packages you’ll need to install manually if you’re not taking the automated repository route:

* audiofile
* esound-libs

Audio related packages needed for a photo managing application??? Weird.