Is there anything similar to Snippit?

LNXlady · 02-05-2009, 03:56 PM

I've been trying to find some Linux compatible software that is similar to the Snippit program that came on my Vista laptop. It lets you take a screenshot of any part of the screen and then write directly on that image and save it. Snippit lets me write freehand, using my tablet, but if there was something similar that just let me type notes directly onto the image, that would be good enough. I'd prefer the save type to be an image file so I can easily scan through the thumbnails to find what I want later. I know there are screen capture programs, but I want to be able to add the annotations. Does anyone know of something similar to this for Linux? TIA

alan_ri · 02-05-2009, 04:29 PM

Hi and welcome!
Maybe ImageMagic is what you need.
I know that with Gimp you can edit any image and write on it,also there is Byzanz and Kim that might help you.I never needed to do what you're doing so maybe there is more apps for what you need(most likely)but I don't know about them.

rweaver · 02-05-2009, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LNXlady

I've been trying to find some Linux compatible software that is similar to the Snippit program that came on my Vista laptop. It lets you take a screenshot of any part of the screen and then write directly on that image and save it. Snippit lets me write freehand, using my tablet, but if there was something similar that just let me type notes directly onto the image, that would be good enough. I'd prefer the save type to be an image file so I can easily scan through the thumbnails to find what I want later. I know there are screen capture programs, but I want to be able to add the annotations. Does anyone know of something similar to this for Linux? TIA

Gimp will do what you need to do, but it's not a little simple application like what you're looking for.

LNXlady · 02-06-2009, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rweaver

Gimp will do what you need to do, but it's not a little simple application like what you're looking for.

Right, I have GIMP and it's great but not a quick way to do what I need and not a small app to keep loaded and ready, either. I'll check out the others Alan mentioned and see if they would work. Thanks, both of you.

EDIT: I just checked the others and none of them seem to have the ability to annotate the image. This is really such a useful tool, it seems like someone would have created something similar for Linux. Anyone have other suggestions?

rweaver · 02-09-2009, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LNXlady

Right, I have GIMP and it's great but not a quick way to do what I need and not a small app to keep loaded and ready, either. I'll check out the others Alan mentioned and see if they would work. Thanks, both of you.

EDIT: I just checked the others and none of them seem to have the ability to annotate the image. This is really such a useful tool, it seems like someone would have created something similar for Linux. Anyone have other suggestions?

Hmm... this url lists some various ways to aquire the image, and imagemagick can add text but its hard to do unless you're using a static location to put the text. You an find an example of how to do that with ImageMagick here.

You might be better off setting up a command that execute a program like gpaint / kolourpaint / mtpaint (all small simple paint programs) on the resulting screenshot.

Maybe something to the tune of (using imagemagick and gpaint)...

ss.sh

Code:

#!/bin/bash
DATE='date +%h-%d-%Y-%H:%M:%S'
import -window root ${DATE}.png && gpaint ${DATE}.png

Then bind that to a key combo or make an icon on your desktop/menus/panel to execute it. Only limit there is about 1 ss/sec.

Another program to check out to see if it has the functionality is "xv" I've not used it since the late 90s, but it does basic image viewing and some image editing and its fairly lightweight. It may have a function to add text, but I can't say for sure.

tdos20 · 02-09-2009, 02:11 PM

in compiz fusion theres a screenshot plugin and an annotate plugin, using the annotate first followed by the screenshot may do what you desire

LNXlady · 02-10-2009, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rweaver

Hmm... this url lists some various ways to aquire the image, and imagemagick can add text but its hard to do unless you're using a static location to put the text. You an find an example of how to do that with ImageMagick here.

You might be better off setting up a command that execute a program like gpaint / kolourpaint / mtpaint (all small simple paint programs) on the resulting screenshot.

Maybe something to the tune of (using imagemagick and gpaint)...

ss.sh

Code:

#!/bin/bash
DATE='date +%h-%d-%Y-%H:%M:%S'
import -window root ${DATE}.png && gpaint ${DATE}.png

Then bind that to a key combo or make an icon on your desktop/menus/panel to execute it. Only limit there is about 1 ss/sec.

Another program to check out to see if it has the functionality is "xv" I've not used it since the late 90s, but it does basic image viewing and some image editing and its fairly lightweight. It may have a function to add text, but I can't say for sure.

Thanks, but that's a bit beyond me right now. I haven't heard of xv, but I'll look it up.

LNXlady · 02-10-2009, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdos20

in compiz fusion theres a screenshot plugin and an annotate plugin, using the annotate first followed by the screenshot may do what you desire

I don't normally like to run compiz fusion, but it sounds like it might be worth a shot. Thanks.

rweaver · 02-10-2009, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LNXlady

Thanks, but that's a bit beyond me right now. I haven't heard of xv, but I'll look it up.

Make sure you check out the paint programs I mentioned too, one of them may have screen shotting capabilities and if it does they will let you do annotation in them. They're all small and fairly simple compared to gimp (think mspaint).

LNXlady · 02-11-2009, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rweaver

Make sure you check out the paint programs I mentioned too, one of them may have screen shotting capabilities and if it does they will let you do annotation in them. They're all small and fairly simple compared to gimp (think mspaint).

OK, I'll check them too, but they'd need to be really small as I'd planned to keep the app running all the time. Or either they'd need to load almost instantly. I thought I'd found an experimental Firefox plugin that would do the trick yesterday, but I couldn't get it to work. Maybe after they've tweaked it a bit more it will, though.