Thread: GamerPrinter, did you know that Xara went open source?

So there is both a GNU and a non GNU version of it and the windows one is the non GNU version but does contain some extra stuff which can be added like Pantone which is commercial and thus cannot be added to GNU code.

But there ought to be a windows GNU version able to be made and compiled should anyone feel the urge to create it which no doubt somebody already has somewhere.

This is all really interesting as it means I might switch from PSP to Xara instead of Gimp. Still a bit undecided actually.

I intend to incorporate Xara into my image development as a CorelDraw alternative. If I get used to it and like it better, I'll just use that and use GIMP as my photoshop program while I'm booted into Ubuntu.

I think Photoshop will remain my standard because I'm so used to it. That might changed depending on how clean file imports are.


edit: and yeah, Pantone is a loss, but I don't have a set color/spot color workflow yet, so it doesn't bother me right now.

oh man that is fabulous news!

That's good to know. In the first version XaraX - before it was called Xtreme, there was a Lynux no cost version back then to. They just didn't update it until now apparently. I'm sure they have their normal non-GNU Windows version still, though.

First time I've seen a thread with my name on it!

GP

There has been some chatter on the Inkscape devel list about leveraging the rendering code from Xara once it is open sources. Not sure if this will help Inkscape or not...

-Rob A>

The wonderful thing that struck me about XaraXtreme was the price...very low! I am very very very new to programs such as this, and not shelling out $600+ is an important consideration for me, personally!

Want to kow how new?

Linux = ???

OK, I never saw so many faint at once in my life! LOL!!!

hehe at least you know how to spell linux

There are a few free options used by people here, namely gimp (similar to photoshop) and inkscape (vector based, similar to illustrator)

EDIT: But a specialty mapping tool is definitely the easiest way to start. There is another tool MapX (search for it) that can do hex grid maps, It is free but beta and the development status is currently unknown...

-Rob A>

I've installed Ubuntu on my spare PC just for the purpose of trying Xara. I might need more RAM though. Only 1 GB.

Wow, that program is truly slick. I was amazed at how quickly I do tricks like drop shadows, contours, gradients, resizing, etc etc etc. Too bad it can't do brushes yet. That makes it near useless to me.

On the brightside, I bought a KVM and downloaded Ubuntu in order to try Xara... so now I have new toys!