Digital camera/gphoto?

[Pat]

Hello.  First off I am not an expert so please bear with me.  I have a Polaroid PDC 2300Z 2.3 megapixil camera.  I would love to be able to link up through Gphoto, but I can't get it to work, and I haven't been able to find anyone on the net that has been able to get it to work either.  I guess Gphoto isn't life or death, I am open to suggestions regarding other methods.  Any ideas?

One thing I was thinking.  I know this camera writes it's pictures to the Compact Flash card as JPEG's.  I was thinking it would be easier to get either a Compact Flash reader, or Smart Media reader and an adapter, and get that working.  I am willing to buy a reader if that would be any easier.  Does anyone have any experience with any certin model Compact Flash or Smart Media readers in Linux?  Or any to avoid?  Or any other idea's?  Thank you all very much in advance for your help.  Pat

[gump420]

Getting a reader is probably the way to go - you can probably find some good recommendations on brand names on the internet, though.

I don't have any personal experience hooking digital cameras up to a Linux box, but a friend of mine does. Next time I talk to him I'll ask him to stop by these forums and post . . .

[voidmain]

Here is a list of supported cameras for gphoto 2.0: http://www.gphoto.org/cameras.html

I see the PDC 640 is listed and I wonder if that driver will also work with the 2300.

If this does not work, I would think a Linux compatible CompactFlash reader would be your best bet.  I am no expert in this area but it is something I will be investigating for myself shortly. I used to have the Sony Mavica w/Floppy disk drive so it wasn't a problem for me.

Here is a site that has some equipment that looks like it will work: http://www.amtron.com but it is the first one I ran across on a web search. You might want to do some more searching.

[Pat]

Thanks alot, I'll try that link.  The PDC 640 is too different to work I guess, I tried it and it said it captured the camera configuration, but then it won't do anything else.  I've heard that the PDC 640 isn't like other Polaroid cameras, but it is similar to another popular camera (not sure what one) and that is why it is supported.  I'm gonna to keep my eyes open for a reader that will work, so if anyone knows of one that would be great.  Thanks all for your help.  Pat

[Pat]

After my research I have decided to go with a Sandisk USB Compact Flash reader model# SDDR-31.  Costco online has it for $17.99, which is $8 to $20 cheaper than anywhere else I have found it.  Thank you for your help.  Pat

[voidmain]

It does appear there is kernel support for this device and there is a FAQ on Sandisk's website that states all you have to do to get it to work with Linux is "plug it in".  I looked over the kernel driver for it and I believe it should show up as a SCSI disk when you plug it in, which means you would have to "mount" and "umount" it just like you would a floppy, CD, or hard disk partition.  If this is the case you might be able to set up the automounter to mount it automatically when a card is inserted (I do this with my Zip drive). Would you report back to us how you like it?  I will surely get one if it works for you.

Thanks Pat!

[ January 31, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]