12.3-32 with lxde can't copy photos from Nikon P7000.

Hello list, moderators!

This may be some sort of a HW problem, but I would like to get some help troubleshooting this behavior.

I have this now down to basic file copying from a terminal where the cp command hangs. A zero length file appears at the destination with the correct file name. The permissions seem OK.

At another location, I have a 12.3-64 and a 12.3-32 box on different PC HW, both with lxde. I know the 64-bit box can download photos, and I think the 32-bit can also.

So let me show what I can of the behavior, to see if it suggests some troubleshooting procedure.

Here’s the permissions and a single file copy attempt:

-rw------- 1 frank users   477272 Nov  6 13:04 DSCN1275.JPG
-rw------- 1 frank users   476625 Nov  6 13:05 DSCN1276.JPG
frank[5074] whoami
frank
frank[5075] l /run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C003%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG 
/run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C003%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG
frank[5076] cp /run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C003%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG .
^C^C^C^C

This hangs until the gphoto process is killed.

frank[5067] ps -ef | grep -i photo
frank     1061     1  0 15:03 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volum
frank     1240     1  0 15:09 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-gphoto2 --sp
frank     1327  1318  0 15:18 pts/1    00:00:00 grep --color=auto -i photo
frank[5068] kill 1377
kill: kill 1377 failed: no such process
frank[5069] kill 1327
kill: kill 1327 failed: no such process
frank[5070] kill 1327  1318
kill: kill 1327 failed: no such process
frank[5071] kill 1240
frank[5072] 

Here’s what got copied:

frank[5072] l
bin/      Documents/  DSCN1276.JPG  Pictures/  public_html/  Templates/
Desktop/  Downloads/  Music/        Public/    share@        Videos/
frank[5073] ll DSCN1276.JPG
-rw------- 1 frank users 0 Nov  6 15:14 DSCN1276.JPG
frank[5074] 

The HW is Pentium4 HP Pavilion Desktop with Intel modo. Does this behavior suggest a course of action to track this problem down? Heboland.

So where is the file named “/run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C003%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG” really located? This naming format is not clear to me with cp failure to be assumed.

Thank You,

Thanks for the reply jdmcdaniel3!

I would say this code shows where the jpg file is at:

frank[5086] find / -iname \*dscn1276\* -print 2>/dev/null
/var/run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C003%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG
/run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C003%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG
/share/DocsFHK/13-14/Shepard/Well13/DSCN1276.jpg
frank[5087] 

I don’t know what the /var match is, but I have deleted the 0 length copies. The match in /share is the same file I copied in with XP from my dual boot. The HW works with XP.

To me, the fact that cp gets the correct filename, indicates the copy command has the correct address to the file for the copy. Using gui file dragging between file manager windows also results in a hung window and a zero length file copied.

There is a second Pentium4 box here with 12.3-32 and lxde installed, that I had a chance to experiment with tonight. This second box is quite a different desktop PC platform. It’s a Dell.

This Dell reacts the same way to the Nikon Coolpix 7000. That is, an attempt to copy a file from the camera memory card to ~ just gets the filename with a zero length file.

On the gphoto website, the Nikon 7000 is supported. I haven’t tried digikam or fstop, but I expect if the low level stuff like cp doesn’t work neither will the guis. Heboland.

So, I’m not sure of the problem either, but you could try using the ‘gphoto2’ CLI utility directly to see whether that works as expected

To detect camera

gphoto2 --auto-detect

To list photos in camera storage

gphoto2 --list-files

To download photos from camera (to present working directory)

gphoto2 --get-all-files

or

gphoto2 -P

Download particular photos (eg photos 30 to 40 as listed previously)

gphoto2 -p 30 40

Read the following for more options

man gphoto2

If gphoto2 works, then at leat you know the issue is with the graphical file manager (or perhaps a supporting library).

Thanks deano_ferrari!

I think you are on the right track here, but no cigar yet.

Turns out I didn’t have gphoto installed, just the library, so no man page. After installing gphoto, I have the man page, but there’s not much change:

frank[5098] l /run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C004%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG
/run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C004%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG
frank[5099] cp /run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C004%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG .
cp: reading ‘/run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C004%5D/DCIM/103NIKON/DSCN1276.JPG’: Input/output error
cp: failed to extend ‘./DSCN1276.JPG’: Input/output error
frank[5100] 

This window hangs until killing the process:

frank[5094] ps -ef | grep -i photo
frank     1091     1  0 07:44 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volum
frank     1749     1  0 08:13 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-gphoto2 --sp
frank     1799  1299  0 08:15 pts/0    00:00:00 cp /run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:h
frank     1812  1803  0 08:16 pts/1    00:00:00 grep --color=auto -i photo
frank[5095] kill 1091
frank[5096] ps -ef | grep -i photo
frank     1749     1  0 08:13 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-gphoto2 --sp
frank     1799  1299  0 08:15 pts/0    00:00:00 cp /run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:h
frank     1814  1803  0 08:17 pts/1    00:00:00 grep --color=auto -i photo
frank[5097] kill 1749
frank[5098] l
bin/      Documents/  DSCN1276.JPG  Pictures/  public_html/  Templates/
Desktop/  Downloads/  Music/        Public/    share@        Videos/
frank[5099] ll DSCN1276.JPG 
-rw------- 1 frank users 0 Nov  7 08:16 DSCN1276.JPG
frank[5100] 

The path to the jpg file is different than before and there is a copy error shown. Note in the last code, the copied file does appear at the destination, but it’s an empty file.

I’m off now to try your other suggestions. Heboland.

deano_ferrari, I’ve had a chance to experiment now with gphoto2. It works, so I have a way to get my pictures off the Nikon.

One surprising behavior is that once gphoto2 detects the Nikon the /run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=%5Busb%3A001%2C004%5D/DCIM/ directory shows empty.

After a panic disconnect, the pictures are still on the camera, but the use of the cp command has nothing to copy. Similarly the file manager windows can’t move anything between them since the camera memory appears blank.

From the gphoto2 man page, I didn’t discover a syntax for a destination directory in which to deposit the downloaded pictures, but the current directory is the default.

Having to cd to the destination directory to execute a “get” command isn’t a hardship, so gphoto gives me a satisfactory way to get my pictures off the camera.

If there is something contrary with updates to 12.3 that my boxes, not accessible to me now might now don’t have, someone else will likely discover the differences and report them.

I don’t think the camera has changed since I last used it on those now inaccessible boxes, but there are a lot of buttons on the camera. The camera seems to work the same but I can guarantee it hasn’t changed somehow.

Thanks for giving me an alternative! Heboland.

I’m not a LXDE user, so I had to search to find the native file manager. I see that PCManFM is fie file manager concerned. As a quick test (or workaround), you may want to try installing and using an alternative file manager such as nautilus instead. If that works, then the issue may just be with the file manager. In any case you can get upstream support for PCManFM from

PCMan File Manager | Support for PCMan File Manager at SourceForge.net

Good luck.

I normally use Enlightenment, the only thing that has been able to recognize my Nikon D7000 is kde apps, Digikam works fine, and i have had it running in dolphin before. Oneday ill get around to looking at what is done differently to get it working but i haven’t had time yet. But if you just want to find out whether it will work i’d give digikam a shot.

Thanks for the comments!

deano_ferrari, pcmanfm has been working for me on other desktops I’m now away from. When I defect from the lxde default applications, I lean toward the kde apps like okular and k3b, so I installed dolphin.

Using dolphin as it installed, it doesn’t recognize my camera as a removable drive. If I walk dolphin down the path to the camera, the traverse stops at /run/user/1000/gvfs.

Yesterday I did get one jpg file to copy between two pcmanfm instances, but then the next jpg copy hung with just the filename transferred as a touch.

gphoto2 developers did give some thought to download destination in the form of environment variables, but I haven’t got that to work yet. From what I got out of google, the variable names seem too generic, like “ARGUMENT”, so I may have misunderstood what I read.

simotek, thanks for your input! I think I will try enlightenment. From the above, I’m going to uninstall dolphin. When I installed 12.3 from a DVD, I selected fspot, but it came with brasero, which I didn’t want. When I last used digikam, it was a complicated app that wasn’t a good match for me.

gphoto2 does recognize the P7000 and allows me to selectively download. If I can master the environment variables it may be just what I want.

In a couple of months I’ll be back to my other pair of desktops that had the transfer between pcmanfm instances working. If I remember, I may be able to selectively install the 12.3 updates to see if and where those transfers quit working. Heboland.

Hello again! I’m back with a quick question for simotek.

What is the name of the executable that enlightenment installs?

I installed enlightenment, but I can’t find it! Nothing got added to the lxde menus and nothing named enlightenment is installed in my user path.

These kind of things happen with apps with long names. Ever build NetActivityVierwer? Look for netactview!

Please let me know what the enlightenment executable is so I can try it! Heboland.

deano_ferrari, pcmanfm has been working for me on other desktops I’m now away from. When I defect from the lxde default applications, I lean toward the kde apps like okular and k3b, so I installed dolphin.

Using dolphin as it installed, it doesn’t recognize my camera as a removable drive. If I walk dolphin down the path to the camera, the traverse stops at /run/user/1000/gvfs.

No, you don’t access the camera like a storage device. It is a PTP device (hence the need for the underlying libgphoto2 for dolphin, digikam, gphoto2 etc). With dolphin, you use the ‘camera:/’ kio-slave as the interface to retrieve the photos from the camera. You camera is treated like a PTP device (not a mass storage device).

So, try typing ‘camera:/’ in the location bar. A folder representing your camera should then appear.

Thanks deano_ferrari!

I rereinstalled dolphin. As it installed there is nowhere to type anything. Poking around, I found under “Control” a line “Location Bar”. From there I checked “Editable location”.

That gives me a line to type things in. Pasting in “camera:/” without the quotes gives “Invalid Protocol”. Perhaps I need to install that slave you mentioned to make this work.

lxde mounts the PTP camera like a USB drive, so maybe it pcmanfm is confusing dolphin. This time I’ll leave dolphin installed until I can get by this “Invalid Protocol”. Is there a way to make dolphin the default file manager? Heboland.

Likely because you don’t have the complete KDE environment. The ‘camera:/’ kio-slave is provided by the KDE ‘kio_kamera’ package.

I’m not a LXDE user, so I can only google for an answer.

Maybe this will help (just adapt for dolphin instead of nautilus)

How to make nautilus the default file manager in LXDE - Ask Ubuntu

Thanks deano_ferrari!

You were right about the kio-slave. It wasn’t installed. After installing the slave, dolphin will take the “camera:/” entry in the location bar. Then dolphin will traverse the path to the camera files. dolphin will allow dragging of files between dolphin instances, but won’t work with a lxde pcmanfm instance.

This gives me what I want, but now I’m tempted to take one shot at making dolphin the default file manager. So far I haven’t found any actual descriptions for dolphin, but there are some for nautilus and thunar.

Also I would still like to know what application I installed with enlightenment. Heboland.

As suspected. Glad it works for you.

dolphin will allow dragging of files between dolphin instances, but won’t work with a lxde pcmanfm instance.[/QUOTE]
No, because the latter is not a QT application.

This gives me what I want, but now I’m tempted to take one shot at making dolphin the default file manager. So far I haven’t found any actual descriptions for dolphin, but there are some for nautilus and thunar.

Also I would still like to know what application I installed with enlightenment. Heboland.

I’ll leave that to you to figure out. You could start another thread for that.

On 2013-11-10 03:06, heboland wrote:
>
> Thanks deano_ferrari!
>
> You were right about the kio-slave. It wasn’t installed. After
> installing the slave, dolphin will take the “camera:/” entry in the
> location bar. Then dolphin will traverse the path to the camera files.
> dolphin will allow dragging of files between dolphin instances, but
> won’t work with a lxde pcmanfm instance.

Can’t you extract the memory card from the camera, and plug the card
into an usb reader, and this on the computer? That way they appear as
files and you can do anything.

I don’t have access to a camera like yours, so I can not know if
extracting the card is feasible, nor if it is an standard card.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

Hello again! I’m back with a quick question for simotek.

What is the name of the executable that enlightenment installs?

I installed enlightenment, but I can’t find it! Nothing got added to the lxde menus and nothing named enlightenment is installed in my user path.

These kind of things happen with apps with long names. Ever build NetActivityVierwer? Look for netactview!

Please let me know what the enlightenment executable is so I can try it! Heboland.

I think you miss understood me, i said i can’t make it work with enlightenment, but i also have kde installed and use Digikam from kde to get the photo’s off my camera.