There are quite a few image editing tools for Linux desktop. ‘Drawing’ is the one that promoted itself a Microsoft Paint alternative for Linux.

The app provides basic editing features, including crop, resize, skew and rotate images, apply simple filters, insert or censor text. As well, it supports for drawing with pencil, straight line, curve tool, many shapes, several brushes, with colors and other common used options.

Drawing. Tools with text

The app is targeted for GNOME, but also works on other desktop, e.g, elementaryOS Pantheon. And, it should also be compatible with the Pinephone and Librem 5 smartphones.

Other features of Drawing include:

• follow system color (light or dark).
• support PNG, JPEG, and BMP.
• Copy to clipboard.
• Keyboard shortcuts.
• Undo/Redo.
• Full-screen mode.

Drawing Dark Mode

How to Install Drawing in Ubuntu:

The app is available in Ubuntu repositories but old! For the latest release, user may use either the Flatpak package, or the Ubuntu PPA.

The Ubuntu PPA so far provides the packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and derivatives, e.g., Linux Mint 20.

1. Add the Ubuntu PPA

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to add PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cartes/drawing

Type user password (no asterisk) feedback when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Update package cache:

Ubuntu 18.04 user need to manually refresh package cache after adding new software sources:

sudo apt update

3. Install Drawing:

Finally, install the app via command:

sudo apt install drawing

Remove ‘Drawing’:

To remove the image editing tool, use command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove drawing

And remove the Ubuntu PPA either by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cartes/drawing

or use the ‘Software & Updates’ utility under Other Software tab.

The new development release for the next major 3.0 of the popular image editor, GIMP 2.99.10, is out last night!

The GIMP website does not announce the release at the moment. According to the welcome dialog, the new release introduced the new ‘Layer set’ concept to replace ‘Linked layers’. It also added Microsoft Windows Cursor file format (.cur files) support, and improved support for Wayland, macOS Big Sur, as well as PSD / JPEG-XL / HEIF files.

other changes in GIMP 2.99.10 include:

• Lock icons in item dockables (Layers, Channels, Paths) moved next to the visibility (eye) icon
• Alt-click on visibility and lock icons in item dockables massively toggles visibility and locks among selected items
• Item dockables now display icon headers for visibility and locks column
• The System theme shows visible hints around unset visibility and locks icons when hovering them in item dockables
• New checkbox to enable or disable dynamics in paint tools’ options (replacing “Dynamics Off” dynamics)
• “Fill by line art detection” in Bucket Fill tool has a new option
• Channels and paths multi-selectable with part of relevant actions working
• Removed KDE and GNOME screenshot portals in favor of Freedesktop one
• Windows screenshot implementation now has an “Include mouse pointer” option
• New and modified libgimp API for plug-in developers

Install GIMP 2.99.10 in Ubuntu:

The develop team publishes the Dev package via Flatpak package. Just open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. Then run the commands below one by one will install it:

sudo apt install flatpak

flatpak remote-add --user flathub-beta https://flathub.org/beta-repo/flathub-beta.flatpakrepo

flatpak install --user flathub-beta org.gimp.GIMP

For more, see this detailed how to install guide.

The Paint.NET inspired bitmap image drawing and editing software Pinta 2.0 was released a few days ago.

Pinta is finally ported to GTK3, though GNOME now is shifting to GTK4. Along with .NET6 the UI now looks more native in Ubuntu:

• The tab bar looks more native in GNOME.
• Use the standard GTK font chooser (pop up dialog) instead of drop-down selection for Text tool.
• Change several tools to use spin buttons rather than editable combo boxes.
• The position / selection information, zoom, and the color palette now moved to bottom status bar.
• The tool palette displays in a single column with “>” button in the bottom to reach more tools.
• The “Open Recent menu” is gone. And, “Add-ins” has been removed.
• The color palette now remember recently used colors.
• The primary and secondary palette colors are now saved in the application settings
• And the canvas can now be panned by clicking and dragging with the middle mouse button

How to Install Pinta 2.0 in Ubuntu Linux:

Pinta is available to install as 3 different package formats: native DEB, universal Flatpak and Snap. You may choose one to install or install all of them side by side (will cause duplicated app icons).

Option 1: Snap

The Pinta snap package is available to install from Ubuntu Software. And, if you already install the package before, it should now update to v2.0 automatically.

Option 2: Flatpak

Like Snap, Flatpak is another universal package format runs in sandbox. It installs updates automatically but takes more disk space.

Ubuntu user may install Pinta as Flatpak by running the commands below one by one:

• Install Flatpak daemon:

  sudo apt install flatpak

• Install Pinta from flathub repository:

  flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/com.github.PintaProject.Pinta.flatpakref

Option 3: Classic Deb package:

For those prefer the native deb packages, Pinta has a stable PPA though NOT updated at the moment.

User may press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pinta-maintainers/pinta-stable

Once the PPA is updated, Pinta 2.0 will be available to upgrade along with other system packages in Software Updater.

Uninstall Pinta:

To remove Pinta Snap and Deb packages, use Ubuntu Software or run one of the commands below:

sudo snap remove --purge pinta

sudo apt remove --autoremove pinta

And remove the PPA using “Software & Updates” tool under “Other Software” tab.

For the Flatpak package, use command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.github.PintaProject.Pinta

And clear useless run-time libraries via flatpak uninstall --unused.

GIMP image editor got a new bug-fix release for the current 2.10 stable series today. Here’s what’s new and how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04 & Ubuntu 21.10.

GIMP 2.10.30 improved several file format supports. PSD support received various types of improvements allowing it to load more sub-cases of PSD. And, AVIF export now favors AOM encoder.

Color picking from Colors dockable can now use the Freedesktop API when available. The screenshot plugin for GNOME 41 has been dropped due to restricted API. And, in KDE it uses in priority the Freedesktop API.

Other changes in GIMP 2.10.30 include:

• Do not follow subpixel font rendering choice from system settings for text layer rendering.
• Rewrite the core selection drawing logics so that it works on macOS Big Sur and over.
• On Windows, move from GetICMProfile() to WcsGetDefaultColorProfile() API because the former is broken in Windows 11.
• Extension .avif now associated to GIMP.
• Various improvements to metadata support.

How to Install GIMP 2.10.30 in Ubuntu:

1. GIMP Flatpak:

The project team recommends the flatpak package, the universal Linux package format runs in sandbox. Flatpak works on most Linux though it takes more disk space.

The package is available at flathub.org. Users need to follow the setup guide and install the flatpak via the command in the bottom of the link page.

2. GIMP Snap:

The image editor is also available as Snap, another universal package format developed by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu.

The snap version is not updated at the moment. It however will automatically update to the latest (once published) after installed it. And the snap is available in Ubuntu Software:

3. Ubuntu PPA

For those stick to the NATIVE .deb package, GIMP 2.10.30 is available to install via this unofficial PPA in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and Ubuntu 21.10 for 64-bit PC and/or arm64/armhf devices (e.g., Raspberry Pi).

Ubuntu 18.04 is excluded due to outdated system library. For choice, user may use this PPA which depends updated FFmpeg library that may break other packages in your system.

1.) Firstly, either search for and open terminal from the Activities overview screen, or press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp

Type user password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2.) Next, install GIMP 2.10.30 either by running apt command in terminal:

sudo apt install gimp gegl libgegl-0.4-0

or upgrade the editor using Software Updater (Update Manager):

Remove PPA and restore GIMP:

For any issue, you can purge the Ubuntu PPA which will downgrade the installed packages to the stock versions. To do so, firstly install the ppa-purge utility:

sudo apt install ppa-purge

Next run command to purge the Ubuntu PPA:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp

Free and open-source clone of Paint.Net 3.0, Pinta, released version 1.7.1 a few days ago with improvements and bug-fixes.

The release is the final version based on GTK2, as the GTK3 / .NET 6 version is nearly ready!

Pinta 1.7.1 is a small release with minor new features to improve user experience. For image with large resolution (or zoomed in), you may use mouse wheel to scroll up / down. Now by holding Shift + mouse wheel, the canvas can be scrolled horizontally.

Same to GIMP, user may now press X to exchange background and foreground palette colors quickly in Pinta since v1.7.1. And, zooming in and out can now be done without pressing the Ctrl key

The release also improved the pop-up dialog when you trying to open an unsupported file format. The file open dialog by default shows only supported images, including ani, png, bmp, jpg, gif, icns, ico, jpeg, ora, pnm, qtif, svg, tga, tif, tiff, xbm, xpm. If you chose show “All files” and selected an unsupported file, it will prompt that file not support and show you all supported file formats.

Error when opening unsupported file and display all supported formats

Other changes in Pinta 1.7.1 include:

• Use arrow keys to move per pixel in Move Selected Pixels and Move Selection tools
• Use Shift to constrain to a uniform scale when scaling using Move Selected Pixels tool
• Text in ‘About’ is selectable to copy version for use to report bugs.
• Improve handling of memory allocation failures for large images
• And various bug-fixes.

How to Install Pinta 1.7.1 in Ubuntu Linux:

Option 1: Install Pinta via Snap:

The app is easy to install in Ubuntu using the Snap package, by simply searching for and installing from Ubuntu Software (Snap Store):

Pinta Snap app in Ubuntu Software.

Option 2: Install Pinta via Ubuntu PPA:

NOTE: the PPA package crashes randomly due to outdated Mono library in Ubuntu. It’s highly to upgrade mono library if you want to install Pinta in native deb package.

The app has an official Ubuntu ppa that contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and Ubuntu 21.10 so far.

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pinta-maintainers/pinta-stable

Secondly, run command to update system cache if you’re still running Ubuntu 18.04:

sudo apt update

Finally, install Pinta via command:

sudo apt install pinta

Or, upgrade the app if an old version present in your system using Software Updater:

In addition, Pinta is also available to install as Flatpak package. Check in Flathub if you’re interested in it.

How to Remove Pinta from Ubuntu:

To remove Pinta installed via PPA package, run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo apt remove --autoremove pinta

And remove the PPA either via ‘Software & Updates‘ utility under Other Software tab, or by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:pinta-maintainers/pinta-stable

For Pinta snap package, remove it either via Ubuntu Software or by using command:

snap remove --purge pinta

Linux has quite a few image annotation tools. “Annotator” is the one designed for Elementary OS with specific features. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 23.04, Ubuntu 22.04 via PPA.

Without using GIMP image editor, I sometimes uses Shutter to annotate image quickly. As well, Ksnip has some useful tools (e.g., drop shadow, invert color and add border) that I use regularly.

Annotator is an app looks kinda like MacOS Preview. Like other tools, it allows to add text, rectangle, ellipse, sequence number, line, arrow, blur effect, crop and resize image. What makes it different is the “Magnifier” tool. It adds a circle on your image and enlarge the area inside. By right-clicking on the circle, it offers option to change magnification.

Also, it allows to add stickers, such as industry, mobile and data icons, different type of arrows.

Install Annotator in Ubuntu:

Though the app is designed for Elementary OS, it works on other desktop environments. The developer team provides official package as Flatpak. Make sure the flatpak daemon is installed, you may then install the app via command:

flatpak install https://appcenter.elementary.io/com.github.phase1geo.annotator

However, the Flatpak package requires separated Elementary OS platform and SDK as run-time libraries. The run-times take about 700 MB space while the app itself is only a few hundred KB.

So I created this unofficial Ubuntu PPA for those want to try out this annotation tool with native DEB package. So far, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 22.04 are supported.

1. Add the PPA

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/annotator

Type user password, no visual feedback, when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Update package cache

Ubuntu 20.04 and higher refresh system package cache automatically while adding PPA, but some Ubuntu based systems may not. To do it manually, run command:

sudo apt update

3. Install Annotator:

Finally, install the app using command:

sudo apt install com.github.phase1geo.annotator

Once installed, search for and open it from start menu (activities overview) and enjoy!

Remove Annotator & Ubuntu PPA:

To remove the Ubuntu PPA, use command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/annotator

And remove the annotation tool via:

sudo apt remove --autoremove com.github.phase1geo.annotator

GIMP announced the 2.10.28 release of the popular image editor. The release includes mainly bug-fixes and stability improvements.

The source tarball of version 2.10.26 is available to download 2 weeks ago. Due to a build bug, the project team skipped it and announced GIMP 2.10.28 as the latest stable release with fixes.

Changes in GIMP 2.10.28:

For Windows users, the new GIMP released fixed some long standing issues, including:

• Fixed very slow file dialogs that happen on slow or unavailable network devices, removable devices connection, or even fake floppy drives.
• Fixed crash when opening files in specific third-party software.
• GTK outputting the wrong character on some keyboard input using Input Engines.
• TIFF exporting locks the TIFF files due to bug of Windows thumbnailer.
• GIMP prevent some apps to open, when they need to watch some specific directory.
• Apps with invisible windows, e.g., e.g. gesture shortcuts, screen capture, used to interfere and break some mouse interactions.

For macOS Big Sur, GIMP applied performance improvements to the packages since version 2.10.22 as experiments. Now the code has been moved to the main codebase.

The release also features GEGL 0.4.32, which introduced new edge_handling parameter allows to choose whether areas outside the input to be treated as above or below threshold for calculating distance. And the test system gets some nice improvements.

Other changes in GIMP 2.10.28 include:

• The Dashboard dockable now has memory support in OpenBSD.
• Fixes to plugins, including C-source, DICOM, GIF, PS, Sunras, BMP, DDS, PSD, TIFF, Gimpressionist, metadata viewer and several script-fu scripts.
• A new Script-Fu function (dir-make) enables to create directories from scripts.
• Fixed some accessibility issues in themes.

How to Install GIMP 2.10.28 in Ubuntu:

1. GIMP Flatpak:

The project team recommends the flatpak package, the universal Linux package format runs in sandbox. The package is available at flathub.org. Users need to follow the setup guide and install the flatpak via the command in the bottom of the link page.

2. GIMP Snap:

The image editor is also available as Snap, another universal package format developed by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu.

The snap version is so far GIMP 2.10.24. It however will automatically update to the latest (once published) after installed it. And the snap is available in Ubuntu Software:

3. Ubuntu PPA

For those stick to the classic .deb package, GIMP 2.10.28 is available to install via this unofficial PPA in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and Ubuntu 21.10.

1.) Firstly, either search for and open terminal from the Activities overview screen, or press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp

Type user password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2.) Next, install GIMP 2.10.28 either by running apt command in terminal:

sudo apt install gimp gegl

or upgrade the editor using Software Updater (Update Manager):

Remove PPA and restore GIMP:

For any issue, you can purge the Ubuntu PPA which will downgrade the installed packages to the stock versions. To do so, firstly install the ppa-purge utility:

sudo apt install ppa-purge

Next run command to purge the Ubuntu PPA:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp