Photos on the Server

I have a FreeBSD-based box acting as a file server. One thing digital photography does is allow one to accumulate a lot of photo files.

The system that seems to work for Diane and I is to put photos into directories named for the date and broad subject the pictures were taken, say “2008_203-hawks”. But the files are large, so browsing photos across the network can try one’s patience.

I started a script on Sunday that is working backwards through these photo directories. In each directory, it finds original JPEG files and applies the “jhead” autorotate procedure to them. If no thumbnails and other size photos are there, it creates an “alt” directory, then makes a thumbnail, a version sized for the web, and another version sized for use in PowerPoint presentations. The original, thumbnail, and web size versions are being put in the “alt” subdirectory, leaving just the PowerPoint sized files.

Those are large enough to provide a good view on screen, while being small enough to transfer efficiently across the home network.

The script has gotten back to photos taken in early 2006 so far.

Via FreeBSD, I’m using the XnView program for browsing. So far, that seems to be working well enough.