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Dad and I have been shopping for a digital camera this last week. One of my concerns was; what models would work with my Linux operating system? It has turned out to be a moot question. Meaning, linux or unix systems can handle pretty well any of the newer camera models. Unless it is a very old model, so so new and invovating that it is totally different from the current rash of digital cameras sold, your computer will simply treat it as a mass storage device, similar to your CD drive, or your floppy drive, or whatever.

I had done some online checking for price ranges and descriptions of models ahead of time, but last week Thursday, Dad and I went to the city and shopping around in six different stores that carried the cameras. Fortunately, we were too broke to be talked into buying instantly, but I took notes. That night at home, I researched the ones we had liked the best. Those were brand new names to me. They were not listed in my DigiKam program either.

Turns out they are so new hardly anything is available on them. One was the Centrios in piano black at The Source, a chain of stores that bought out the Radio Shacks in Canada. This one came with a special deal, if you spent $179 for a camera, you would get an HP photo printer with it, FREE. Dad, who doesn’t know much about cameras to begin with, but who has been hankering for one ever since some others have showed their cameras off to him, decided he liked the looks of that Centrios.

When I got to handle it, I turned it over and saw a tiny sticker saying it was made in China. The salesman said it came from the same company as NexxTech. I had received a little toy digital camera with that brand name and I hadn’t been super-impressed, but this man assured me they made some good quality stuff. I’d check it out.

The other one we liked was at WalMart because it was the lowest price we found. It was a Digital Concepts for $99. But it looked like a kit for kids camera. I found absolutely nothing on it online. I decided to put that at the bottom of our list, in case none of my first, second and third choices worked out.

Yesterday we went to pickup the Centrios and the HP printer. We bought 4 special rechargeable batteries, and a 512 SD memory card that will allow us to take 200 photos before we have to download them to the computer. That should do us fine for this reunion weekend coming up!

When we got home I let Dad handle it while I read instructions to him, so he would know how to use it on this family reunion weekend coming up tomorrow. At first, nothing seemed to work. I was beginning to feel wary, when I asked him to check whether he had put the batteries in the right way. Turned out, he had reversed them. When he got them in right, the camera came alive, buzzing and whizzing when we pressed buttons, and in a matter of minutes we were taking photos.

When Dad tired of that and went to catch up on his nap (he’s 90, you know), I took the camera to the computer, and got out the USB cable, and plugged it in. While I was looking up what to do next, the computer popped up a screen saying, to wait - it had detected a new storage device. Moments later Suse had opened a new Konqueror screen, and there were the first three photos I had taken! Ah-ha! What could be nicer than that?

Dad put the special rechargeable batteries into his recharger over night. However, we are still experimenting with the original plain AA batteries that came in the box. This morning I took it out for a walk and took pictures of whatever caught my fancy. Right now Dad is out for a picture-taking walk. We’re all set to drive off tomorrow to capture those relatives on our digital camera.