Image viewers

Install some image viewers:

# aptitude install gpicview
# aptitude install qiv
# aptitude --without-recommends install geeqie

and a useful tool to read EXIF data:

# aptitude install metacam

Now configure geeqie, for your regular user:

$ geeqie

Select Preferences... from the Edit/Preferences menu. In the "General" tab, select "96 x 72" Size and "Tiles" Quality for thumbnails, check "Cache thumbnails" and "Use standard thumbnail cache", and uncheck "Use EXIF thumbnails when available"; as far as slide show is concerned, set 15.0 seconds as "Delay between image change", uncheck "Random" and "Repeat"; as far as image loading is concerned, set 128 "Decoded image cache size (Mb)", check "Preload next image" and "Refresh on file change". In the "Image" tab, select "Bilinear" Quality for zoom and check "Two pass rendering", but uncheck "Allow enlargement of image for zoom to fit" and "Limit image size when autofitting", then set 0.5 Zoom increment; choose "Leave Zoom at previous setting", and "Keep the region from previous image", uncheck "Use custom border color in window mode", check "Use custom border color in fullscreen mode", set black "Border color", and uncheck "Auto rotate image using Exif information". In the "Windows" tab, check "Remember window positions", uncheck "Remember tool state (float/hidden)", "Fit window to image when tools are hidden/floating", and "Limit size when auto-sizing window"; select Location "Determined by Window Manager", uncheck "Smooth image flip", and "Disable screen saver"; leave the image overlay template to its default value. In the "Keyboard" tab, leave the accelerators to their default values. In the "Files" tab, check "Show hidden files or folders", and "Case sensitive sort", uncheck "Disable file filtering", leaving grouping and file type settings to their defaults. In the "Metadata" tab, uncheck all options, so that metadata are not written. In the "Color management" tab, leave input profile fields blank, check "Use system screen profile if available" and leave screen field blank. In the "Behavior" tab, check "Confirm file delete" and "Enable Delete key", uncheck "Safe delete", "Rectangular selection in icon view", and "Descend folders in tree view", check "In place renaming", set 10 as "Open recent list maximum size" and 48 as "Drag'n drop icon size"; uncheck "Progressive keyboard scrolling", check "Mouse wheel scrolls image", set 99 for "Custom similarity threshold" and 0 for "Debug level".

Select Configure this window... from the Edit/Preferences menu. Leave the "Home path" field blank, uncheck "Show date in directories list view" and "Exit program when this window is closed", choose "No change" for Start-up directory, choose the first layout (1 Tools and 2 Files on the left, 3 Image on the right).

Raster image manipulation programs

Install a suite of raster image conversion and modification tools:

# aptitude install graphicsmagick-imagemagick-compat

Then, install a JPEG image lossless transformation tool:

# aptitude install exiftran

and an Exif data manipulation tool for JPEG images:

# aptitude install jhead

Also, install a PNG image optimizer:

# aptitude install optipng

Now, install a well-known raster image manipulation tool:

# aptitude install gimp

and a useful tool to choose or grab colors from the screen:

# aptitude install kcolorchooser

You may also want to install an evolutionary image generator:

# aptitude install evolvotron

Taking screenshots

Package imagemagick includes a number of tools: one of them may be used to conveniently take screenshots of window contents or of rectangular screen areas. To make this process quick and handy, you can configure a Fluxbox key binding:

$ echo 'Mod4 Print :ExecCommand FILE=$(mktemp ~/Pictures/s$(date +%s)_XXX.png) && import $FILE && display $FILE' >> ~/.fluxbox/keys

This way, [Logo+PrtScr] will take a screenshot, save it into ~/Pictures/, and finally show it.

Taking pictures with the webcam

Install a tiny webcam capture tool:

# aptitude install fswebcam

Scanning QR and bar codes from pictures or using the webcam

Install a nice package for scanning and decoding QR codes and bar codes from pictures (zbarimg) or directly using the webcam (zbarcam) as code scanner:

# aptitude install zbar-tools

Vector image manipulation programs

Install a vector image drawing tool:

# aptitude install inkscape

You may also want to install a tracing tool:

# aptitude install potrace

A diagram drawing program can be useful too:

# aptitude install dia dia-shapes

Video players

Install a movie player:

# aptitude --without-recommends install mpv yt-dlp+M

configure it for your regular user:

$ cat ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf
[default]
ao=jack,alsa
audio-channels=2.0
volume=100
volume-max=300
vo=gpu,xv

and elect it as your default video player:

$ xdg-mime default mpv.desktop \
   video/mpeg video/x-mpeg video/x-mpeg2 video/mp4 \
   video/msvideo video/x-msvideo video/ogg video/quicktime \
   video/vnd.rn-realvideo video/x-ms-afs video/x-ms-asf video/x-ms-wmv \
   video/x-ms-wmx video/x-ms-wvxvideo video/x-avi \
   video/x-fli video/x-flv video/x-theora video/x-matroska video/webm \
   video/x-ogm+ogg video/mp2t

Moreover, if they are not already present, install some video plugin packages that are useful to support HTML5 videos in web browsers:

# aptitude install gstreamer1.0-plugins-good
# aptitude install gstreamer1.0-libav
# aptitude install gstreamer1.0-alsa

Video recording

Install a screen recording application:

# aptitude install simplescreenrecorder

Video manipulation tools

Install a multimedia framework:

# aptitude install ffmpeg

Modellers and renderers

Install a fast 3D modeller/renderer:

# aptitude install blender