Pinta: No-frills Graphics Editor

Productivity Sauce
The Gimp is undeniably a competent graphics editor, but it has a pretty steep learning curve, and it's a complete overkill if you only need to tweak a photo or a screenshot every now and then. In this case, you need something like Pinta, a no-frills image manipulation application that offers all the essential editing tools. Pinta is written in Mono which you must have installed on your system in order to run the application. The project's Web site provides binary packages for Ubuntu and openSUSE, so installing Pinta on these distros is as easy as it gets.
If you find the Gimp's multi-window interface confusing, you'll be pleased to discover that Pinta sports a more traditional single-window GUI. Pinta's toolbox includes pretty much everything you need to tweak images, including Paintbrush, Pencil, Shapes, Eraser, and Selection. Pinta is at a relatively early stage of development, and it looks like a few tools such as Clone, Text, and Recolor haven't been implemented yet. Despite its simplicity, Pinta does support layers and unlimited undo/redo; features usually reserved for more advanced graphical applications. The current version of Pinta also offers a couple of effects such as Invert, Sepia, Black and White, and Auto Level, with more to come.
Although Pinta is far from a finished product, it's pretty stable and includes the core features you're likely to use most. Even in its current form, it makes a good alternative to the Gimp as a fast and simple to use graphics editor.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusIssue 41: Linux Shell Handbook 2021 Edition/Special Editions
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
KDE Launches the Qt 5 Patch Collection
To support and maintain a stable Qt 5 for KDE Gears and Frameworks, KDE will maintain a patch collection.
-
Linux Creator Warns Next Kernel Could be Delayed
Linus Torvalds has issued concern about the size of kernel 5.12 and possible delays for its release.
-
System76 Updates its Pangolin Laptop
System76 has released a much-anticipated AMD version of their most popular laptop, the Pangolin.
-
New Debian-Based Distribution Arrives on the Market
TelOS is a new Debian-based Linux distribution with a customized, touch-screen-ready KDE Plasma 5 desktop.
-
System76 Releases New Thelio Desktop
One of the most ardent supporters of open source hardware has released a new desktop machine for home or office.
-
Mageia 8 Now Available with Linux 5.10 LTS
The latest release of Mageia includes improved graphics support for both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs.
-
GNOME 40 Beta has been Released
Anyone looking to test the beta for the upcoming GNOME 40 release can now do so.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 has Arrived
The latest stable version of OpenMandriva has been released and offers the newest KDE desktop and ARM support.
-
Thunderbird 78 Ported to Ubuntu 20.04
The Ubuntu developers have made the decision to port the latest release of Thunderbird to the LTS version of the platform.
-
Elementary OS is Bringing Multi-Touch Gestures to the OS
User-friendly Linux distribution, elementary OS, is working to make using the fan-favorite platform even better for laptops.
Gimp Paint Shop
Gimp Paint Shop http://www.graphics-muse.org/artistsguide/?p=139 provides some ready-made configuration files and a guide to configuring Gimp.
It might be nice to ship Gimp with a simplified interface configuration, with the option to unlock the full interface, as for instance Photoshop Elements does. Far better than the current proliferation of wannabee idiot-ware that so many developers seem to want to push on unsuspecting newcomers.
Or