Complete Your Linux Design Toolkit with 'Ardesia'

Ardesia is one best of the design applications available for Linux which can be used to create mockups, sketches, hand drawn annotations, interactive presentations, live demos etc. with ease right on your current desktop view or with custom images.

The application supports a number of Linux devices that include desktops, tablets, whiteboards, tablet PCs and other touch devices. Ardesia is a completely free and open-source project and is under heavy development. Together with GIMP and Inkscape, Ardesia can complete your design toolkit on Linux and you may never have to look for any other thing.

A look at its features

• Interactive Whiteboard Common File Format (IWCFF) support
• Create colored free-hand annotations with digital ink everywhere, record it and share on the network
• Useful for creating tutorials and lessons for educational purposes
• Includes a sketchpad software that allows to make free-hand drawings and geometrical shapes using the shape recognizer
• Compatible with a number of devices and supports open file formats so that your work can be easily imported into other applications

For more screenshots and other details, you can read our past articles about Ardesia from here

A new version of Ardesia (version 0.8) has been released today with some new features and many fixes. 

Changelog

• New mouse tool, the lock/unlock button has been removed
• User interface revision, new tool and cursor icons
• The iwb file import/export feature has been enriched with the background settings
• Added a new micro thickness for the tools
• Easy circular shapes with the rounder tool
• Now use the mouse tool with semi transparent colored background
• And many bug fixes, full changelog here

Installation Instructions

Download Ubuntu 10.04 'Lucid Lynx' package from here

For Ubuntu 10.10, install the same package as above. Run the following command after installing the package:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libbfd-2.20.51-system.20100908.so /usr/lib/libbfd-2.20.1-system.20100303.so

Just logout and come back to finish the installation.

For Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, install lucid package and run following command:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libbfd-2.21.0-system.20110302.so /usr/lib/libbfd-2.20.1-system.20100303.so

Logout to finish installation.

For installation on Debian Testing and Unstable repositories, run the following command:

sudo apt-get install ardesia

Follow the instruction here to install Ardesia on OpenSuse, Sabayon Linux, Arch Linux, Slackware and Gentoo Linux.