• Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 241

Topic: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

I found a new lightweight image viewer called viewnior recommended here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? … ;p=7388768

It is inspired by gpicview's lightweightednesses ... It also only uses GTK+2.0.

http://xsisqox.github.com/Viewnior/

It fixes a couple of problems that gpicview has, eg not zooming in to the center of the image, or where the mouse is.

Also, it does animated gifs - Yay!

The "fit" button still doesn't stretch small images to fit a larger window though, it limits the "fit" to the original image size.  Why do they all do that?  I can always view the image at original size if I want to with the "original" button.
It would also be nice to be able to do the opposite of "fit image to window", ie "fit window to image", or "resize window to image size, as long as it fits on the desktop"

Hacking up the code to do it my way now....

Last edited by jackbang (2009-06-03 01:10:09)

  • Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 241

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

line 195 of uni-image-view.c

// Disallow to small zoom factors, they eat up all memory because
// the filter matrices becomes to large. See #80925.
//zoom = CLAMP (zoom, UNI_ZOOM_MIN, 1.0);

I've commented this out, so "fit" now stretches smaller icons to fill the window if necessary.  Haven't looked at the bug referenced, but I can't see it's any different to the situation where you manually zoom a small image to larger than orginal size.

  • Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 241

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

When in "fit" mode, resizing the window also resizes the image, but when you've manually set the zoom, it keeps it as you set it.  Properly done.

In fact this is a really nice little viewer.  When images are zoomed bigger than the window, you get a little "navigation map/radar" accessible in the bottom-right corner of the window, so you can see "where you are" in the image, and pan around.

Also, if you select a few images from the desktop and drag them into viewnior, it correctly sets the "list of images" to the set that you dragged, rather than the entire directory, like gpicview.

It seems faster than gpicview too; I think gpicview is redrawing the entire image when you pan, for example, whereas viewnior is only redrawing the new parts.

I think viewnior would make a better default viewer than gpicview - there's no un-necessary (for a viewer) file save functionality.  The developer is working on image rotate, which is useful for photos where the camera/scanner have goofed the orientation.   I think I'll contact them and suggest a "brightness/contrast" control, which can also be useful when the camera has messed up the lighting, or the image is just very dark on an LCD, etc - as long as it would be lightweight.  Anything more complex, and file saving should be reserved for an image editor, IMHO.

Last edited by jackbang (2009-06-03 01:50:55)

  • Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 241

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Yo!
Just checked, and there's a new version which fixes the problem I hacked above (fit to window), autohides the toolbar in full-screen, and now includes rotate/flip and a right-click menu.

Plus, theres now a jaunty .deb, so easy to try out.

I really like this app, I don't know what other people think, but please consider it for the default image viewer next #! release.

  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,246

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

jackbang wrote:

I really like this app, I don't know what other people think, but please consider it for the default image viewer next #! release.

You make a convincing argument, at least convincing enough for me to want to give Viewnior a try. So, off I went to download the deb file, only to find it was only available for i386. sad Not letting this deter me, I set about rebuilding the package. Long story short, it is now in the CrunchBang repositories (it is also in the CrunchBangers PPA) and can be installed with the following command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install viewnior

I have installed it on my 64-bit machine and I have to admit that I think I prefer it over GPicview. I have not really looked into how it compares with memory footprints etc, but first impressions are good. I especially like the full screen slide show feature!

Anyhow, I would like to encourage as many people as possible to give it a try, so I will make this topic sticky and invite others to leave feedback.

Thank you for the recommendation! smile

My website | Follow me on Twitter | CrunchBang on DistroWatch

corenominal's Website

  • From: Montréal, France
  • Registered: 2009-01-15
  • Posts: 679

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

installed, tested, adopted smile
thanks for pointing out wink

arpinux's Website

  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
  • Posts: 8,647

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Thanks for adding it to the repo corenominal.

So far I like Viewnior, however there are some suggestions I will post on its Launchpad page.

Note: ** Please read before posting **

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  • Kuno
  • #! Die-hard
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  • From: Osnabrück - DE
  • Registered: 2009-01-09
  • Posts: 549

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

corenominal wrote:

Anyhow, I would like to encourage as many people as possible to give it a try, so I will make this topic sticky and invite others to leave feedback.

Thank you for the recommendation! smile

Tried it - and must say i do not see so much difference from GPicView. Coming from Windows and beeing used to (the possibilities) IrfanView my recommandation now would be "Geeqie", which i just discovered a few days ago. Seems to need more memory, but therefore has alot more options, like i.e. a thumbnail preview...

  • Registered: 2009-07-05
  • Posts: 13

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

so in your opinion geeqie is similar to irfanview?  and by similar all i really want is an image viewer that can resize, crop, and convert image files.  i don't like having to use more than one program to do something that one program should be able to do.

Last edited by agktmte (2009-07-12 00:36:10)

  • Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 241

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Personally I like viewnior because it's JUST a viewer (Oh alright, the latest version lets you save any images that you rotate).

I don't think it's much different to gpictview, which is sort of the point - except that it fixes what I consider some bad behaviour of gpictview - ie zoom into the image doesn't zoom at your mouse position, and the latest version defaults to "scroll thru images" instead of zoom for the mouse scroll wheel (plus the scroll wheel zooms the wrong way when it does zoom), fit image doesn't scale images upwards, the toolbar is at the bottom, drag-and-drop a set of images still sets the "set" to the entire directory, etc, etc.

Plus viewnior adds a couple of nice touches, like the "radar view" when images zoomed bigger than window, animated gif support, etc.

Sorry, I won't bang on about it anymore.  I have no connection with the developer BTW, just think it's a job well done.

  • From: Tours, France
  • Registered: 2008-12-11
  • Posts: 75

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Hello everybody!
I was looking for a simple viewer, and "viewnior" is perfect for me.
Thanks jackbang for sharing this info.
Thanks corenominal for the repositorie and the PPA. I installed "viewnior_0.5-crunchbang2_amd64.deb"; run well for me.

A+ Francis.

  • Kuno
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  • Registered: 2009-01-09
  • Posts: 549

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

agktmte wrote:

so in your opinion geeqie is similar to irfanview?  and by similar all i really want is an image viewer that can resize, crop, and convert image files.  i don't like having to use more than one program to do something that one program should be able to do.

I think, Geeqie goes into that direction, but still is far from being a substitute for IrfanView: resize, crop, convert, gamma-corect, etc...  are not (yet ??) supported. Therefore I still use IrfanView under wine for just those things , without having to load the big ones like Gimp.

jackbang wrote:

Sorry, I won't bang on about it anymore.  I have no connection with the developer BTW, just think it's a job well done.

Hi Jackbang! Didn't want to critizise your recommendation (and neither intended to hijack your thread either... so sorry, if it may appear so). roll

I just couldn't not get viewnior to run, when I first heared about it, so sticked with Gpicview. Then tried the *.deb you posted - but that was after i stumbled upon Geeqie, which has the same zoom-feature like viewnior (Strg+mousewheel). What i like over Viewnior is the thumnail-preview and possibility, to scroll through the pictures in the main window (mousewheel only). Gives me a better overview on what' s on my harddrive. Just personal preference.

  • Registered: 2009-05-28
  • Posts: 241

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Hi Jackbang! Didn't want to critizise your recommendation...

Not at all Kuno, and even if you were, that's what progress is about.  I think I should take a look at your suggestion of Geeqie.

  • Registered: 2009-07-06
  • Posts: 25

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Yeah,  I'm really liking it.  The fact that gpicview couldn't handle Animated GIFs annoyed me.

I'm also a big fan of Irfanview and think this is a good lightweight replacement for it sans quick editing.

Thanks all!

  • From: /emerald-city
  • Registered: 2009-05-30
  • Posts: 392

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Im using viewnior as my default viewer now, and it just seems to work a little better...for me anyway.
I did however discover that the screenshot function in the crunchbang menu stops working.
To get it working again, you need to change the menu xml a tiny bit.

The screenshot command in menu.xml is...

scrot -d [number of seconds delay] '%Y-%m-%d--%s_$wx$h_scrot.png' -e 'mv $f ~/images/ & gpicview ~/images/$f'

If you change 'gpicview' to 'viewnior' it works fine.

Diaspora    identi.ca     Jamendo
God never ends anything on a negative; God always ends on a positive. -- Edwin Louis Cole --
  • From: Stockholm, Sweden
  • Registered: 2009-07-22
  • Posts: 37

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Thank you for this tip, will check it out when I get back to my workstation. Lightweight image viewers that do just enough (but not too much!) are hard to find in my experience.

lillis's Website

  • plic
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  • Registered: 2009-07-17
  • Posts: 19

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

I had stumbled upon viewnior a week or so back in freshmeat. Never knew it would become a crunchbang favorite! I had built and found it similar and yet somewhat better than gpicview. But i was in need of a viewer that provided me with a basic crop function. ( I dont like opening up gimp to crop screenshots and such ). So i started searching for viewers and found Mirage which was exactly what i was looking for. It's in the repo too.

http://mirageiv.berlios.de

I think viewnior is great too just that mirage has more 'basic' functionality that i was looking for. Infact i am thinking of suggesting atleast the crop function of being implemented in it or rather try to contribute. ( though viewnior i think is a one man project )

  • craigh
  • #! CrunchBanger
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  • From: UK
  • Registered: 2009-08-02
  • Posts: 209

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Just installed viewnior and I really like it definitely an improvement over gpicview.

Running Crunchbang on eee pc 701 and Dell Mini 10v.
  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
  • Posts: 8,647

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Viewnior 0.6 coming August 9.

Note: ** Please read before posting **

BTW if you wish to contact me, send me an e-mail instead of a PM.
  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,246

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

anonymous wrote:

Viewnior 0.6 coming August 9.

Thank you for spotting this. I will try and update the package when it is released. It would be good to know what the new features will be. I am not sure the following is the best way to promote a new release:

Viewnior website wrote:

What's the new stuff? Well ... it's pretty much a secret tongue
...but the git repo isn't.

Funny though. big_smile

My website | Follow me on Twitter | CrunchBang on DistroWatch

corenominal's Website

  • Registered: 2009-07-26
  • Posts: 18

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Viewnior has a memory footprint of ~10.5mb and gpicview comes it at 9.6mb FWIW.

*edit* Mirage comes in at 34mb admittedly it does have a few more features.

Last edited by ac3xyz (2009-08-04 15:44:27)

  • From: Tours, France
  • Registered: 2008-12-11
  • Posts: 75

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Hello friends!
I have just seen that a new version of viewnior has been released. Here is the link:

http://xsisqox.github.com/Viewnior/download.html

A+ Francis.

Oups! didn't seen that you told about it corenominal.

Last edited by astrocisco (2009-08-15 22:10:30)

  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
  • Posts: 8,647

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Now we can just use a PPA:

https://launchpad.net/~xsisqox/+archive/ppa

Yay!

Note: ** Please read before posting **

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  • From: /emerald-city
  • Registered: 2009-05-30
  • Posts: 392

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

^
nice!

Diaspora    identi.ca     Jamendo
God never ends anything on a negative; God always ends on a positive. -- Edwin Louis Cole --
  • Kyte
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  • From: midwest usa
  • Registered: 2009-07-19
  • Posts: 275

Re: New lightweight image viewer - viewnior

Just installed it, the animation is what caught me.

Kyte

Kyte: Always flittin' around with his head in the clouds!