We recently looked at Installing Linux for someone completely new to it, where I hopefully proved that Linux is really easy to install.

For the next part of this occasional series focusing on the potential Linux user, we will undertake a quick tour of the default applications, to show a little of what you can do with Linux. This time we start with the 'Graphics' category.

So let's go to the main Applications menu. We can now see the default graphics applications:

Digital Camera Support

A logical place to begin is to import some photos from a digital camera. We do this by setting the digital camera to the correct mode (on my camera it is the play symbol) and then we plug it in to the computer.

A helpful dialog will automatically pop up:

When we click the button, the 'Import Photos' window appears. The main thing to do here is to click on 'Import'.

It then downloads the images from the camera. You may notice that I decided to delete the imported images from the camera.

gThumb Image Viewer

When that has finished, we are presented with an application called "gThumb Image Viewer". This program allows us to browse through our photos. You can also use this program to organise your photos and add comments to them.

The GIMP

The GNU Image Manipulation Program is the one of two main raster graphics editors for Linux (the other being Krita). The GIMP is very common on Linux and some have argued that it is fast becoming the second most used raster graphics editor on Windows too (after Photoshop).

The GIMP is used a lot by web designers and so on. However, it is also useful for 'digital darkroom', i.e. cropping and resizing your photos. Time spent learning the GIMP will not be wasted. I use the GIMP if not daily then at least several times a week as I edit images and rastor graphics in my work and my personal photos at home. I have personally never needed any features the GIMP did not have, but then I have probably only ever used 20% of the GIMP's features.

For vector graphics (high end illustration - i.e. really arty stuff), Inkscape is a fantastic application.

OpenOffice Draw

OpenOffice Draw is useful for creating diagrams and plans. You can also export these to the Flash format (so you can put easily publish them on a webpage) which is a useful feature.

You can also do most basic desktop publishing tasks in Draw, but for more professional tasks, you want to check out Scribus.

XSane

XSane is a scanner application, I don't have a scanner here so I can't show that now, but I have used it before and it does what it says on the tin. Scanners are not the most trouble-free devices on any operating system, but the list of supported scanners can at least give you an idea of your chances.

F-Spot

F-Spot is a simple all-in-one photo application, if you found the GIMP too intimidating then F-Spot might be right up your street, you can use it instead of both gThumb and the GIMP. F-spot contains the same viewing, indexing and tagging capabilities as gThumb but also contains a few simple digital darkroom tools. You can crop photos, adjust the colours and remove red-eye.

You can do an incredible amount with the included five graphics applications, and there are many more advanced tools a few clicks away. When it comes to images and graphics, the vast majority of us can do everything we ever need in Linux.

In the unlikely case that you are a professional graphics expert working in a very specialised area and you cannot do something you need to using free software, then let the makers of the above applications know about it! It won't be long until someone fulfils your need.