As I anticipated, I am feeling increasingly comfortable with my new laptop. My fingers still occasionally hit the wrong keys and I am relying heavily on my trackpad while I learn a whole new set of keyboard commands. My remaining issues are with application compatibility.
re I decided on a Linux laptop, I had done my research and found ways to use my favorite applications without a Linux version by using Codeweavers, the fee-based (and therefore somewhat easier) version of Wine. I have also convinced my system to (grudgingly) let me listen to Spotify, even though it doesn’t support the free version (shhhh, don’t tell anyone). What I didn’t anticipate was a complete inability to upload photos to Picasa. That is, until I could. Let me explain.
I tried to upload my photos to a web album while I had Picasa open and I kept getting nasty error messages telling me that Google doesn’t support my system. This did not make me happy. I had already had more than enough hassle just trying to edit the photos in the first place. I had tried to bypass Picasa’s compatibility issues by trying to use a photo editor that was already designed to work in Linux. First I tried Gimp, an open source photo editing program that is as complex as Photoshop. I did a fairly reasonable job manoeuvring my way through it, but it was slow going. I missed the simplicity and ease of Picasa. Then I tried Shotwell, which came pre-installed. That was a little too simplistic for me. I know, I know, I was suffering from some serious Goldilocks Syndrome.
I finally bit the bullet and went ahead and installed Picasa. It was not as challenging as I had first imagined and it really was worth it. Until I got to the part where I wanted to upload my photos so I could share them with my family. This time I didn’t get any error messages. I just got blank screens. After banging my head on the problem for a little while, I gave up and decided that I would just dump the photos in my Dropbox account and upload them from my Mac. I closed Picasa and went on to my next project.
That is when I stumbled on the solution. Turns out I could navigate around the web version of Picasa and even upload my photos. The only trick? Picasa needed to be closed.
I am relieved that I got my Picasa back and that I will still be able to upload my photos without swapping machines. So, I guess all is well that ends well.