Backed up photo files from previous OS installation problems

atrip36

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Down loaded picture files from my previous windows 7 into Linux Mint, bumbling around I ended up creating a single file called Pictures.tar.gz. containing all my photos in my new LM picture file. Ideally I would have preferred the same format of seeing all the picture thumbnails laid out as before in windows instead of a single file that only identifies the photos by name. I see I can relocate them as individual thumbnails in the picture file one by one, this is going to take some time, GREAT!, one problem, they have a lock image over the thumbnail obscuring the view. BTW, my method of back up is burned DVD+R's.

I did do some researching on this and see that even though I'm the original owner of many of these photos, LM sees it as someone else's property and thus puts the lock image over the thumbnail.

My question is, could I have done or do any of this better and am I stuck with those lock images forever. I was thinking I could upload images to emails or something and create new files from old pics, but what a hassle for a couple thousand pics. I don't use 3rd party photo storage services btw, strictly old school digital camera and image search downloads.
 


Pictures.tar.gz

This is a compressed archive file, like a zip file. You can extract it on linux with the following command :
Code:
$ tar -xzf Pictures.tar.gz

If you still have some ownership issue, you can use the following command to set yourself as the owner of the extracted files :
Code:
# chown -R your_username:your_username Pictures/
 
This is a compressed archive file, like a zip file. You can extract it on linux with the following command :
Code:
$ tar -xzf Pictures.tar.gz

If you still have some ownership issue, you can use the following command to set yourself as the owner of the extracted files :
Code:
# chown -R your_username:your_username Pictures/

Where do I enter these code commands?
 
I'm not a Linux Mint expert so what I would say would be confusing.
Lets summon the great Wizard of the thousands distros !
 
0cd7RxV.gif


You rang?

Crikey Julien, don't wish 1,000s on me, it's hard enough keeping up with 100 or so. :mad::p

What are we on, was it Tina Cinnamon or MATE?

No matter, hit Ctrl-Alt-t and Terminal will appear.

By default you will start in your home folder. You can check that with

Code:
pwd

which stands for "print working directory" - by print it prints to the screen output, not print to a file. I usually think of it as present working directory.

Say your userid is atrip36, it will show as

/home/atrip36

List

Code:
ls

will likely show

Code:
Desktop  Documents  Downloads  Music  Pictures  Public  Templates  Videos

Note the capitals.

So if you put that archive (tar) file into Pictures, then you can apply that command Julien gave you above.

Our erstwhile Administrator, @Rob has some good tutorials in our Tutorials Section, on commands, which includes

https://www.linux.org/threads/command-chmod.291/

https://www.linux.org/threads/file-permissions-chmod.4124/

and

https://www.linux.org/threads/file-permisions-chown.4125/

... and you'll note in that last one Rob refers to a Windows scenario.

Friday here in Oz, so enjoy your Linux and

Avagudweegend

Wizard

See how you go
 
I already have the (tar) file in pictures

From what I gather, there is no getting around a tedious one at a time process transferring images into the regular pictures format, i.e. regular unobstructed icon views of my picture portfolio.

If that's the case, may as well stick to my copy and pasting to emails, sending them to myself a batch at a time, and downloading as new images with "save as".

Certainly not an expert at operating systems and how all of them work, but seems there is definite room for improvement here.
 
From what I gather, there is no getting around a tedious one at a time process transferring images into the regular pictures format, i.e. regular unobstructed icon views of my picture portfolio.
Ah, you gather wrong then. :D

And you have yet to learn the power of the Linux command line. The simple command given you above would bring all your pictures out of the compressed file you created. Another simple command takes away all of the "locked icons" and makes everything normal again.


My question is, could I have done or do any of this better and am I stuck with those lock images forever.
I think that if you had copied your photos via a USB flash drive instead of DVD that you would not have had this issue (with locked icons).


Where do I enter these code commands?
The Wizard answered this... use CTRL-ALT-T to open a Terminal. This is where you enter Linux commands. It begins in your home folder, and he described what that might look like. So if you read through what has been given, you get these 3 steps to start with:

1. CTRL-ALT-T to open your Teminal.
2. Enter cd Pictures to go inside your Pictures folder.
3. Enter tar -xzf Pictures.tar.gz to extract all your photos.

This is assuming that Pictures.tar.gz is in your Pictures folder, which is what you said. Be sure with every command that you type it EXACTLY as shown, or use copy/paste to avoid mistakes. Linux is case sensitive, so pictures.tar.gz is not the same as Pictures.tar.gz. The cd and tar commands must be lower case.

Now, looking in Pictures with your File Manager, you should see thumbnails of all your photos... right? If the "locked icon" is still there, one of us will talk you through that step next.

Cheers
 
First, thanks for the help.

Second, the above must have worked because I do now have access to my old picture library, just not the way I expected, which I guess I should expect with a different OS. Anyway it works and that's what matters.

Here's proof, easy access upload from that file
 

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That's GREAT news, @atrip36 - and what a classic photo :D

A good read (and no criticism), we find is

https://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

BTW it mentions FOSS - Free and Open Source Software. The "free" does not just mean free of cost, which for the major part it is, but freedom to do with it what you want, even to modify or rebuild it.

Another tip for you is alternativeto.net

If you had/have a Windows-based Photo Album Manager, it may help.

Just Google

alternative to <name-of-app> and there will likely be an entry. At alternativeto.net look for the ones marked Linux.

Cheers, and it's late Saturday here in Oz, so all enjoy your Linux and

Avagudweegend

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
Yes, many thanks.

Part of my confusion was how to use code commands in the terminal, code commands period is not something I've seen before or at least had to use. The above instructions said to enter CTRL-ALT-T to bring up a terminal, what about the terminal that's already there in my task bar? Made me think there are special terminals for everything. Those terminals are pretty ominous looking not having seen one before, was thinking a couple irresponsible clicks in that and the whole system would go haywire.

Well, I'm still going to need to down load my documents and downloads files from a back up DVD, I hope to do it without a lot of dumb questions on my own.

Thanks again!
 
"dumb" questions are always welcome.

I remember encountering the same "scratch head" moment re Terminal.

Dont be hard on yourself....you are doing really well. !

4630
 
...what about the terminal that's already there in my task bar?

It's the same thing. There is an entry point on the taskbar usually but not always. There is one in your Menu tree, usually either under Administration or System Tools or sometimes Accessories. And there is Ctrl-Alt-t. The keyboard shortcut is usually confined to what are called Debian-based Distros - Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Peppermint and the like. But it can be set to that with any Distro for convenience.

...What are we on, was it Tina Cinnamon or MATE?
... or Xfce?

If you are not sure, go to Menu and start to type in

welcome

The Welcome screen will tell you.


Made me think there are special terminals for everything.

There are a couple of different types. One is called tty (for the old teletype) which is fullscreen activated by a function key, and some things can be fixed there.
Those terminals are pretty ominous looking not having seen one before,

They are in Windows and Macintosh but most people are not aware of them.

Over the years, Bill Gates emasculated MS-DOS, removing a lot of the features, which then "dumbed down" users.

...was thinking a couple irresponsible clicks in that and the whole system would go haywire.

Remotely possible but not likely if you go steady - slow and steady wins the race. And we've got your back :)

If there is nothing else you do at Terminal, then when you install/ed you should do this - the Linux Firewall is not on by default.

Enter the following and enter your password when prompted and then press Enter

Code:
sudo ufw enable

It generates a tiny script that activates immediately with a basic level of protection and it will run every time you reboot. Between the Uncomplicated Fire Wall and a firewall at your router, many people, myself included, have no need for antivirus software.

Linux is the best thing since sliced bread, perhaps even bacon and eggs. Naah, B & E would win out for Stan @atanere :p

Cheers

Wizard
 
i've had a quick look through replies can't immediately see that somebody has shown you to resize ALL images rather than one by one.

-------------------------------
don't try any of these commands until you have read everything!!!
-----------------------------------
A little preamble :

images will be in different heights and widths; so first we need to think how to keep them in proportion. Well you will supply a "width" that appeals to you and makes sense , so without height , so that that will be done auto and keep dimensions to scale.So you will be able to do this from the command line. (Thats after you have untarred everything following other posts)

So say you have directory on your Desktop called myImages

// if you dont have one make one:
mkdir myImages

open up a terminal window:

you should be located at /home/yourUserName
lets check ?

$ pwd

output should be /home/yourUsrName

change directory to Desktop:

cd Desktop

note first letter capital.

cd to inside myImages:

$ cd myImages

//lets see whats inside
$ ls --color

lets say you have .jpg .gif .png

if you did this :
mogrify -resize 500x *.jpg

//it would resize all jpg images to width 500 pixels and height auto

probably you dont want to resize just have thumbnails ,so first you will need to make a copy of each file , maybe rename each then resize .

[have to get back to you on renaming properly - i have forgotten more than i know now!]
 
ok this will do it:

for f in *; do cp "$f" "${f%.*}_bk.jpg"; done


it will take a copy of each jpg , it will keep each image name but add "_bk" (backup) just before the .jpg

you could then use : mogrify -resize 500x *_bk.jpg
//to resize all giving you thumbs of originals

you could move all thumb to new folder using :
mv *_bk.jpg /path/to/dir

repeat with .gif png

for viewing images i use Geeqie or Gwenview
 

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