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I bought recently this laptop, and it comes with a digital pen. Ubuntu 20.04 detects the pen. What all apps can I use to utilize the pen?

Archisman Panigrahi
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1 Answers1

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For taking notes


To draw and take notes, you can use Xournal++, an actively maintained free and open source program.

enter image description here (Image credit - Xournal++ readme)

Enter the following commands in a terminal to install it from its stable PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/xournalpp-stable
sudo apt update
sudo apt install xournalpp

Alternatively, you can use the .deb package, or the flatpak version, as described in the readme of the project.

https://github.com/xournalpp/xournalpp/#installing

For drawing


You can use Krita to draw and create professional graphics. It has a lot of features. Many tutorials are available online (and also in youtube).

krita screenshot

sudo apt install krita

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the development of either Krita or Xournal++, but I am the maintainer of the stable PPA for Xournal++.

Archisman Panigrahi
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  • Xournal++ is also available as a snap, which is the easiest and safest way to install it for Ubuntu users. – Robie Basak Apr 16 '21 at 11:44
  • @RobieBasak For quite a long time, the snap package was outdated. The snap is not maintained by the xournalpp developers, and [they discourage](https://github.com/xournalpp/xournalpp/issues/1719#issuecomment-723296139) to use it. The snap also has [compatibility issues](https://github.com/xournalpp/xournalpp/issues/1719) with LaTeX. Also, what is "safest" is really opinion based. [PPAs are safe too](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1329110/has-there-been-any-malicious-ppa-so-far). However, feel free to edit my answer to add more information. – Archisman Panigrahi Apr 16 '21 at 15:18