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Hey. This is the Linux Sofware review page. If you're looking for Windows software, go to the "Windows Software Review page (which is still under construction). Unless noted, all software listed on this page is for Linux only.
GIMP
GIMP(Gnu Image Manipulator)-Bitmap/Raster graphics editor.
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Now, GIMP is a fine image editor/creator. It has all the fancy feature of Photoshop, and even the tools are the same. It has a very large selection of brushes, that rival those of Photoshop. Color selection is done by a triangle-like selection wheel, similar to that of Corel Painter. GIMP is available for most builds of linux, and for windows. It has no help file, though. Even without help, I was able to start using GIMP rather quickly. For those of you using graphics tablets, GIMP's brushes support pressure sensitivity. There's even an "Ink" tool, which varies with pressure. All this, at a relatively small file size. GIMP can run on a Macintosh, with X11, and there's a version of GIMP called seashore for macs. If you know Perl, Python, or Tcl, then you can develop your own plugins for the GIMP. It loads much faster, works fast, and has almost all of the features of photoshop, at the low, low price of zero. My only complaint is that the toolbar and the panels are all seperate windows, so it will be somewhat unusual to windows users. Overall, its a great bitmap editor, which can also be used to create art.
Krita
Krita means "crayon" in Swedish.
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Krita, like GIMP, is a bitmap graphics editor. Unlike GIMP, it is more focused on the creation of images. It has many option not available in GIMP, such as: a rectangle tool, a circle tool, and a shape tool. It also has many brush selections. But you can only undo up to 5 levels, and that can't be changed(I think?). Also, the eraser tool isn't very useful. GIMP's eraser is better, and it has more undo levels. It has many select options, though. It doesn't have as many image editing options, rather it has image creation options. It is one window, though. But every time you want to create a new document, an new Krita window will appear, instead of a new tab. Choose Krita if you don't mess up too often, and can live with only 5 undo levels and an ineffective eraser.
Inkscape
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Inkscape is a good vector graphics program. Vector graphics can be scaled infinitely, withiut loss of quality, so vector graphics are good for logos. Inkscape is easy to use, and has some good tools. It can create shapes, and freehand lines. The fill and color are not as easy as MS paint (or GNU paint for native Linux users). You can easily create gradients, and the calligraphic tool is fun to use. Unfortuantely, there's no easy to use eraser tool, and no paintbrush tool. Its easy to zoom, with - and +. It exports a wide variety of common formats, such as: SVG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, and BMP. Its good for logos and such, but its not really good for drawing. Its available for Windows, though. Make sure you have a relatively large hard drive, because it eats up ~116 mb of disk space.
Xara Xtreme LX(Now known as Xara Xtreme for Linux.)
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Sorry, no screenshot avilable at the time.
Xara Xtreme is an awesome programs, with some very good tools. Fill and stroke are accomplished very easily, with right-clicking and left-clicking the color pallet on the bottom. Kind of like MS paint. There is also a shadow and transparency tool, which I find somewhat useful. Its available for Windows, but at a cost. The Linux version is free and open-source. Xara Xtreme Linux Edition is very easy to use, and a very good vector graphics programs for Linux. Plus, it takes up much less hard drive space than Inkscape.
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