ANNOUNCE: gphoto 0.4.0 - the GNU Digital Camera Program

[Ole Aamot <ole gnu org>]

**** ANNOUNCE ****

The gPhoto development team is pleased to announce the public
release of version 0.4 of the GNU Digital Camera Program.

gPhoto is a universal, free GTK+ application that will allow
downloading, saving, and manipulation of images from several 
different digital camera models or from the local harddrive.

gPhoto has a basic command line interface, which is handy, 
if you want to set up a web camera, and use gphoto in a 
script, e.g. with Perl/PHP.  

gPhoto sports a new HTML engine, that let's you create special
gallery "themes" (HTML with special tags) for publishing images 
on the web.


AVAILABILITY

* Source Code Distribution:
  ftp://ftp.gphoto.org/projects/gphoto/pub/tar/stable/gphoto-0.4.0.tar.gz

* i386 and source RPMs (built on RedHat 6.0) of 0.4.0 are also available:
  ftp://ftp.gphoto.org/projects/gphoto/pub/rpm/i386/gphoto-0.4.0-1.i386.rpm
  ftp://ftp.gphoto.org/projects/gphoto/pub/rpm/SRPMS/gphoto-0.4.0-1.src.rpm

( Debian GNU/Linux 'slink' packages (for the i386, m68k, powerpc and
  alpha architectures) of gphoto-0.4.0 will be available - from your
  local Debian GNU/Linux mirror. )


REQUIREMENTS

* GNU autoconf 2.13: ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.13.tar.gz
* GNU automake 1.4: ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/gnu/automake/automake-1.4.tar.gz
* GNU libtool 1.3: ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-1.3.3.tar.gz
* GNU sed 3.02: ftp://gnudist.gnu.org/pub/gnu/sed/sed-3.02.tar.gz
* X11 Window server, e.g. XFree86 3.3.5: ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/3.3.5/
* GTK+ 1.2.5: ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/v1.2/gtk+-1.2.5.tar.gz
* glib 1.2.5: ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/v1.2/glib-1.2.5.tar.gz
* Imlib 1.8+: ftp://www.rasterman.com/pub/enlightenment/enlightenment/imlib-1.8.1.tar.gz


WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE?

* Canon PowerShot A5 support (Oct 03, 1999)

  Ole W. Saastad <o.w.saastad@kjemi.uio.no>
  has done some additions to the Canon A50 
  library, for Canon PowerShot A5 support.

* Sony DSC 55E still library (Oct 02, 1999)

  Mark Davies <mdavies@dial.pipex.com> has 
  written a Sony DSC 55E still library.

* Konica QM 100/200 library and FreeBSD/Linux patches (Oct 02 1999)

  Toshiki Fujisawa <gphoto@fujisaw.gr.jp> from Development Dept. Camera
  & Digital Imaging Division at Konica Corporation has released free 
  sample source code for Q-M100/Q-M200 under the GPL.

  Mr. Fujisawa also submitted a patch that makes the latest gPhoto 
  release compile on FreeBSD 3.2.

* Mustek MDC 800 driver (Sept 28, 1999)

  Pedro Miguel Caria <pmiguel@maquina.com> and Jose Gabriel Marcelino
  <gabriel@maquina.com> have written a gPhoto driver for the Mustek 
  MDC 800 digital camera.  The base code was done in a few hours and 
  gphoto integration was done in 2 days. You get to see the results 
  right away.

* Canon A50 driver (Aug 29, 1999)

  Despite Canon Inc's lack of co-operation on releasing specifications,
  we're happy to announce that this release has a free Canon A50 driver.

  Werner Almesberger <almesber@lrc.di.epfl.ch> reports that it's the
  work of Wolfgang Reissnegger and himself.  Most of the details were
  found by staring at Ray Newman's A5 traces. Also, the analysis of the
  PS350 protocol by Anne Bezemer was quite helpful for understanding the
  overall design.  (Ole W. Saastad <Ole.W.Saastad@chem.sintef.no> works
  on gPhoto support for the Canon PowerShot A5, based on this library.)

* Kodak DC240 serial/USB driver (Aug 27, 1999)

  Randy D. Scott <scottr@wwa.com> has implemented a Kodak DC240 
  library based on open specifications from Eastman Kodak, Inc.

  David Brownell <david-b@pacbell.net> has got gPhoto and Linux 2.3
  kernel support talking to his DC-240 over USB.   You'll need a new
  driver in your Linux kernel. (2.3 development.  2.3.14 works, but
  grab the latest from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.3/ )


CAMERA SUPPORT

gPhoto 0.4.0 ships with 16 different camera libraries and supports 80+
different digital still camera models, from Agfa, Apple, Canon, Casio,
Chinon, Epson, Fuji, Hewlett Packard, Kodak, Konica, Minolta, Mustek, 
Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Philips, Polaroid, Ricoh, Sanyo, and Sony. 

A directory browse mode is also implemented by Scott Fritzinger.

* Canon A50 library by Werner Almesberger <almesber@lrc.di.epfl.ch>
* Canon A5 library supp. by Ole W. Saastad <o.w.saastad@kjemi.uio.no>
* Casio QV library implemented by Gary Ross <gdr@hooked.net>
* Fuji DS/DX library implemented by Matt Martin <matt.martin@ieee.org>
* Kodak DC-2x library implemented by Del Simmons <del@cimedia.com>
* Kodak DC-2x0 library implemented by Brian Hirt <bhirt@mobygames.com>
* Kodak DC-240/280 library by Randy Scott <scottr@wwa.com>
* Kodak DC-240/280 USB support by David Brownell <david-b@pacbell.net>
* Konica Q M-100 library implemented by Phill Hugo <phill@gphoto.org>
* Konica library improvements by Ed Legowski <edlegowski@pobox.com>
* Konica Q-M200 library by Toshiki Fujisawa <fujisawa@konica.co.jp>
* Minolta Dimage V library by Gus Hartmann <hartmann@cs.wisc.edu> 
* Mustek MDC 800 library by Pedro Caria <pmiguel@maquina.com>
* Nikon CP 600 library by M. McCormack <mccormac@aals27.alcatel.com.au>
* Philips ESP library written by Bob Paauwe <bpaauwe@bobsplace.com>
* PhotoPC library written by Eugene Crosser <crosser@average.org> 
* PhotoPC library for gPhoto by Scott Fritzinger <scottf@scs.unr.edu>
* Ricoh 300 library implemented by Clifford Wright <cliff@snipe444.org>
* Sony DSC library written by M. Adam Kendall <joker@penguinpub.com>
* Sony DSC-F55E library written by Mark Davies <mdavies@dial.pipex.com>

Check http://www.gphoto.org/cameras.php3 for a list of camera models.


VENDOR SUPPORT

Casio, Kodak, Minolta, Mustek, and Konica provide free, open camera
communication specifications.  The gPhoto developers encourage other
vendors to also release specs to old and new digital camera models.

It is always a great help for potential camera customers to ask
companies if they support gPhoto before you invest in a camera.

Many companies don't have time to look at the issues involved unless 
there is an financial incentive to do so.  The more open we can make
them, the better gPhoto can be and the more enjoyment you'll get from 
your digital camera.  

See http://www.gphoto.org/supporting.php3 for further details.

The file ``CONTACTS'' in the distribution contains a list of companies
that you can write to asking for GPL drivers or camera specifications.


REPORTING BUGS

Please visit http://bugs.gnome.org/db/pa/lgphoto.html and read the
distribution file ``BUGS'' for details on how to report new bugs.


MAILINGLISTS

<gphoto-devel@gphoto.org>
  is the developer mailinglist, with bug reports, camera
  reports, etc.  If you would like to get involved in
  gPhoto development, then you may want to read it.
  Subscribe at http://lists.styx.net/mailman/listinfo/gphoto-devel/

<gphoto-kodak@gphoto.org>
  is a list for gPhoto Kodak library discussion. 
  Subscribe at http://lists.styx.net/mailman/listinfo/gphoto-kodak/

<gphoto@gphoto.org >
  is a general list where gPhoto user issues are discussed, 
  and announcements are posted by the gPhoto contributors.
  Subscribe at http://lists.styx.net/mailman/listinfo/gphoto/ 

See http://www.gphoto.org/ for more details on the gPhoto effort.


LEGAL NOTICE

gPhoto - the GNU Digital Camera Program
Copyright (C) 1998-99 Scott Fritzinger <scottf@unr.edu>

For each camera library, see the authors' source code.  The authors
have been contacted, and the author's permission was kindly granted 
to publish derived libraries based on the efforts with gPhoto under
terms of the GNU GPL (see COPYING, to read the full license terms).

gPhoto is free software; you can redistribute it and/or 
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as 
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of 
the License, or any later version.

gPhoto and each gPhoto library is distributed in the hope that it
will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  
See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
USA.

All trademarks are properties of their respective respected owners.