Drawy, A New Whiteboard App for Linux!

Posted by haxguru@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 140 comments

This took me a long time, but after months of working during my free time, I'm extremely excited to share Drawy! It's an infinite, whiteboard desktop app written in Qt/C++.

Motivation

Linux has had some apps with whiteboard features, like Xournal++ and Lorien. However, they have issues such as not having an infinite canvas (Xournal++) or lacking enough features (Lorien). That's why I decided to build Drawy, especially for Linux users. It's similar to Excalidraw but runs natively on your desktop, making it fast and lightweight. It's still in the alpha stage, but I have implemented key features that everyone needs: - Basic tools like pen, rectangle, ellipse, line, arrow, and text - Wacom tablet support with pressure sensitivity - Undo/redo support - Save/load files

Even though this seems very basic, it took an enormous amount of effort to develop. Drawy is still very stable to use (I've used it a lot to teach my students!)

GitHub

The project is completely open source and licensed under the GNU General Public License V3. You can find the source code here: https://github.com/Prayag2/drawy

Support

If you liked this project, please consider supporting me!

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Responsible-Scene666@reddit

how to download

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Diemorg@reddit

La verdad me encanto el tiempo para abrir la aplicación, realmente lo único que se podría hacer sería quizás implementar el uso de colores personalizados y poder cambiar la fuente tipográfica. A parte de eso, está perfecta para dar clases/tutorias, ojalá sigan con esta excelente pizarra.

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Nota: Estoy usando Google Translate. ¡Me alegra que te guste! Drawy ahora forma parte de KDE y puedes seguir su desarrollo aquí: https://invent.kde.org/graphics/drawy

¡Las funciones que mencionaste ya están en mi lista de pendientes! No dudes en abrir cualquier otra solicitud de nuevas funciones allí :)

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Its_Sunaina_@reddit

It’s cool seeing more native creative tools built specifically for Linux. In broader discussions about creative apps, some users mention Aqua in the context of simplicity and structured tools. It’s interesting how different platforms approach those design priorities in their own ways.

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Old-Astronaut-3022@reddit

can you port this to F droid pls

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Vast-Anybody-1647@reddit

lo probe y se ve increible, espero que algun dia puedas implentar el exportar como imagen o pdf, pero no hay apuro, asi como esta es buenisimo, gracias por la herramienta, es justo lo que buscaba.

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Gjin_Bercouli@reddit

It looks really good, I have three pieces of feedback for you.
1. Export option as PDF/image
2. Import of images
3. Possibly a Docker version with login

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prettyoddoz@reddit

man this app is absolutely awesome used it for around a day now and its definitely the best drawing app Ive ever used

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TheRealCuran@reddit

Oh, this looks really good already! I love it!

One suggestion though: consider offering/building a Flatpak!

Apart from that I have an idea for the roadmap: offer additional tools. If I could I would immediately drop Miro for this. I know this will be far off for your project, of course, but it would be nice to get something like a (very) minimal shape capability, so I can draw stuff like UML „nicely” for the C-level.

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ppp7032@reddit

+1 for asking for a flatpak.

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TheRealCuran@reddit

Flatpak should really be standard for desktop applications these days.

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uhmzilighase@reddit

This is excellent! Works fine on a touchscreen with just a finger. If this is Alpha - can't wait to see beta!

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_towk_@reddit

I just tried this out building from source and it works super well! I really like the simple and clean interface and it runs pretty smooth. I'm running on EndeavourOS with KDE.

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serpentonne@reddit

Exactly what I need for my research tasks. I will definately try it.

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HeavyWolf8076@reddit

Thanks for this and the package.nix! <3

inputs.drawy.url = "github:Prayag2/drawy";

in flake.nix and package

inputs.drawy.packages.${pkgs.system}.default

in home manager, and drawy using touch works great in NixOS on my Surface Pro 7+!

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A-very-cool-techguy@reddit

Cool!

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Hat-Prudent@reddit

Awesome!! Does it have layer support?

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pervertsage@reddit

+1 Layers would be really handy.

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Hat-Prudent@reddit

Layers make every paint app like 10x more useful

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

There is support for ordering elements (although there is no UI for that yet). I'm not sure if adding layers would be a good choice for a simple tool like this..

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persistjob@reddit

Great apps on Linux LET'S GOOO

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arduinos-cost-much@reddit

I keep have to take screen shots of cool stuf I want because I’m in bed and to lazy to get them now

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hexwit@reddit

Looks really nice!

One thing I would add - simple installation for regular users. Currently I see it should be built manually. To get more usage I think it should be easy installable for users who don't know how to build apps. This is pretty common issue for all linux apps.

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

There is an AppImage available for Linux and a Windows binary for Windows 11. We're going to push it to FlatHub as well!

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hexwit@reddit

that is great)

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Hiknomore@reddit

It's so smooth it gave me shivers!

It doesn't have some shortcuts for zoom in/out (like Ctrl++ & Ctrl+-)?

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Thanks! It does have keyboard shortcuts, although they're hardcoded for now: https://github.com/Prayag2/drawy?tab=readme-ov-file#keyboard-shortcuts

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jamesfarted09@reddit

SICK!

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carlwgeorge@reddit

This looks awesome, good job!

I wrote an RPM spec file for it today, and have submitted it for review to be included in Fedora.

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tyrohellion@reddit

Looks sick, gonna try it out thanks for sharing

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

I hope you'll find it useful!

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xkilabx@reddit

Hello! I tested your application and I have to say I'm very impressed!

Performance & Technology

First of all, a huge kudos for your technology choice: C++ and Qt. The application launches incredibly fast, and the AppImage is small compared to the Electron "stuff" often seen nowadays.

The application works super quickly.
The navigation works perfectly, exactly as a user would expect.
The drawing reaction to input movement is instantaneous - I really love this $\heart$!

My kids are actually very happy with it, maybe even more than I am! 😄

Suggestions for Improvement

Based on my testing, I think these additions would make Drawy ready for a stable release:

Export Options: Add the ability to export the whiteboard to SVG, PNG, and JPG.
Distribution: Publish a Flatpak package to make updates much easier for Linux users.
Shape Filling: Implement the ability to add a fill color for shapes (rectangles, ellipses), as currently only their outlines are drawn.
Font Selection: Add the option to select a specific font and its variant for text elements.

After these additions, I think Drawy could easily be published as a stable version. Keep up the fantastic work!

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Leading_Yam1358@reddit

Nice! I literally published very similar tool written in Rust just some weeks ago!

https://github.com/devmobasa/wayscriber

I will look into your features and try to improve mine :)

I got many already

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Dinnoo_@reddit

ty bro, looks awesome! 🔥🔥🔥

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Mr_ityu@reddit

looks quite similar to mypaint but i'll try this out anyways. the UI looks decent

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myrsnipe@reddit

This looks slick, definitely trying it out

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archontwo@reddit

Looks nice. Kudos for scratching that itch.

Though, I have to say, these days collaborative whiteboards are the rage and so you might want to consider how to share documents and track changes as well.

Still, props for getting something made. That is more than most can do.

Good luck.

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

I plan to implement real-time collaboration eventually, but my priority is to ensure the offline app is good enough first :)

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archontwo@reddit

Fairy nuff.

Good you are laying out a roadmap for yourself.

Have fun!

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twentyFourHoursADay@reddit

Was looking for something like this, great work OP!

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nh3zero@reddit

Starred the repository. Do you have any idea/timeline of when we can expect a flatpak version of this? Hate to be that guy but that is the sole deal-breaker for me. Everything else I like and fully support, great work btw!

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FlyingStars_@reddit

Looks excellent! Hope the flatpak version gets released soon!

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Key-Cash-1412@reddit

That’s amazing! great work over there!

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Neat_Delivery6162@reddit

Just the thing I was wishing for thank you hope the project goes well

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DonutsMcKenzie@reddit

Wow nice! I'll have to give this a try!

If it doesn't do this already, it would be nice if it automatically saved/loaded some kind of default file so that you could quickly pick up wherever you left off even without explicitly saving.

Also, this would be great to have as a flatpak over on Flathub.

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VIKING-316@reddit

Does it have a live screen annotation feature without a black or white board?

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Party-Vehicle-81@reddit

If you mean like in Presentify app then I haven’t found this feature in this app yet.

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VIKING-316@reddit

I haven't used presentify, but what I mean is let's say I'm presenting my screen in a meet and then want to highlight or point at something on my screen using an arrow or circle.

And ofc a blackboard/whiteboard feature is available right?

I won't have access to my pc for another day, or else I'd test this program out myself!

Thanks!

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ISimpForCartoonGirls@reddit

really been looking for infinite whiteboard apps I have Goodnotes on my ipad and its all I ever use LMAO

thank you for this, its a nice app

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Embarrassed-Map2148@reddit

Just installed it. Works great on my Inspiron running Fedora/Hyprland with the touchscreen.

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CelestialCrafterMC@reddit

looks nice! is there any chance it'll be packed in a nix flake? (instead of only the dev shell)

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Arville27@reddit

Looks sick, just tried it works very well, please publish it in Flathub too, thank you for sharing

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HalanoSiblee@reddit

I'm excited but
I can't compile it

CMake Error at /usr/lib/cmake/Qt5/Qt5Config.cmake:28 (find_package):
  Could not find a package configuration file provided by "Qt5OpenGLWidgets"
  with any of the following names:

    Qt5OpenGLWidgetsConfig.cmake
    qt5openglwidgets-config.cmake

  Add the installation prefix of "Qt5OpenGLWidgets" to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH or
  set "Qt5OpenGLWidgets_DIR" to a directory containing one of the above
  files.  If "Qt5OpenGLWidgets" provides a separate development package or
  SDK, be sure it has been installed.
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  CMakeLists.txt:17 (find_package)

I've both qt5-base and qt6-base
arch linux.

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tesfabpel@reddit

This seems very promising and interesting!

Does it have infinite zoom as well? Because onn Arch/KDE/Wayland CTRL+Mouse Wheel is very slow to zoom and it seems to get slower the more I zoom in...

Also, do you plan releasing it as a Flatpak on Flathub? Thanks!

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Yes, it does have infinite zoom. Do you mean slower as in lag or the amount by which it zooms?

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AbcLmn18@reddit

I think they're trying to say that the zoom scale in Drawy changes linearly, whereas the usual tradition is to have it grow exponentially.

Eg. typically a single press of "zoom in" button multiplies the current scale by 1.1 and "zoom out" divides it by 1.1. This gives the human observer a vibe of a constant rate of change.

But when you add/subtract values, it feels like it's accelerating in one direction (up to infinite velocity which is why you had to cap the zoom out at 0.1) and slows down in the other direction (so it becomes a slog to zoom in further and it may take longer than the lifetime of the universe to zoom in to some fairly reasonable scale).

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tesfabpel@reddit

the zoom amount

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Mister_Anonym@reddit

Interesting. Does it have Stylus support?

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AbcLmn18@reddit

Works perfectly for me with my lenovo yoga active stylus.

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walterblackkk@reddit

Wow! Thanks for making this. I'll definitely try it on my Surface Go 2 tablet running linux.

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Oh no, touch screen!! Please feel free to open an issue if you face any problem!

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AbcLmn18@reddit

I tried it on my lenovo yoga with the active stylus. It works perfectly fine and I'm in love.

I was even able to map the second button of the stylus to undo! (I did this with the help of ubuntu's system-wide setting that makes it emit Ctrl+Z.)

Drawy is exactly what I needed. Much better than my previous attempts to use GIMP for this purpose.

I'd love to use this with my friend when we do various hobby math together. If you figure out the online collaboration feature we'd absolutely use that. And that would also help me personally with online collab because my friend is on mac and ipad.

The app seems perfectly usable with just the touch screen so it probably makes sense to ship it straight to android/iphone too, assuming that it's as easy as Qt makes it sound. There are probably more advanced apps in this niche on mobile, but online collab with linux could be a killer feature. This may single-handedly make it the best online collab whiteboard, given that I personally enjoy it much better than all those popular collab websites and all those annoying zoom/teams/webex whiteboards.

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Otakeb@reddit

This will be my use case as well lol

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themew1@reddit

You gotta submit this to the AUR.

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FuntimeUwU@reddit

Oh my god I was looking for something like this last week. I ended up using Openboard which is too old and chunky. Good luck on this journey

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yakeinpoonia@reddit

Does it have something similar to a laser pen??

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Not at the moment but this is a cool idea. You can open a feature request here: https://github.com/Prayag2/drawy/issues

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TheMightyEnergy@reddit

I hope this is the substitute for Leonardo Drawing App I was looking for. Sadly you dont have it released for Windows yet;

If this happen to have handwriting stabilization I might finally leave Leo.

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

It does have handwriting stabilization and I am releasing a Windows binary today!

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TheMightyEnergy@reddit

AWESOME ! May I grant you honest feedback and maybe some requests in DM ?

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Sure!

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qustar_@reddit

Nice project! I submitted a pull request for Nix support and automated formatting for commits. I hope that this project will be able to replace my use case for OpenBoard soon.

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Thanks for the PR! I'll merge it in a few hours after reviewing a few things :)

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Longjumping-Youth934@reddit

Oh, nice! Couple questions, is it compatible with Excalidraw format? Do you plan to have a version for Win10/11?

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WeWeBunnyX@reddit

Ok my feedback. The app seemed yet another whiteboard app to me as I have tried many and cant get to stay on one. But this Drawy is what I needed. Minimalist , responsive and all. I believe its missing two finger pinch to zoom. I can do this on other whiteboard apps where you use fingers to pan around and zoom. Anyways I like the effort

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Gesture support is on the way!

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WeWeBunnyX@reddit

Best

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FedMellow@reddit

wowwie

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wkup-wolf@reddit

That's really nice !!! Thanks!

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aproposnix@reddit

GPL-3 👍👍

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ILoveTolkiensWorks@reddit

Looks awesome! Wish I was creative enough to use it :(

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fuxoft@reddit

Are the drawings stored as bitmaps or vectors (or a mix of both)?

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

They are stored in a JSON format which can be converted to SVG. So you can say that they're stored as vectors :)

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xoeax@reddit

Really awesome. I have a Lenovo yoga on Ubuntu this will be great

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petepete@reddit

As an Excalidraw addict, this looks amazing. I'll definitely be giving it a try.

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MarzipanEven7336@reddit

Excellent code! Everything I so well organized.

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XLNBot@reddit

Looks nice, how does it compare to rnote?

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prodleni@reddit

Looks great, thanks for sharing. How does it compare to RNote?

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

RNote is awesome, although it's much simpler. It's meant to be a whiteboard app while RNote is mainly a note-taking app. Drawy has a much simpler interface than RNote (similar to Excalidraw).

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fnord123@reddit

I love your respect for other tools and projects in this space. You're a good egg.

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Left_Revolution_3748@reddit

I guess it is a good project

Awesome

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Severe-Divide8720@reddit

Very cool and will fit in my KDE setup. Well bloody done. Wish I had your skills.

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real_denver@reddit

It'll be a very helpful utility during my everyday work.

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sogos@reddit

Hello,

Thanks for the share and your work, it's very stable :+1:

As Excalidraw+ user, for the moment we are far from it, but keep going

For me, by priority i need a least:

- Press Enter in rectangle to add Text in the box
- Stickness arrows (when me move objects) (and the sticking system when we are close to borders)
- Object background

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

These are planned for the future! The easiest thing would be to allow shapes to have a background color. I would need some time to implement sticky arrows and text inside shapes (I haven't implemented word wrap yet which would be required for shapes) though.

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who_is_with_me@reddit

Idk man, it looks black to me....

Kidding, looks awesome! Nice work!

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Thank you!!

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albsen@reddit

nice, can you include a build for arm64 as well please.

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Sure!

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TechManWalker@reddit

Might write a PKGBUILD for this. Looks nice!

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Thanks!!

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QuickSilver010@reddit

Excalidraw but desktop? Helll yeaaaaa

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Latter-Hope-542@reddit

Ooo, looks nice!

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haxguru@reddit (OP)

Thanks!!

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Latter-Hope-542@reddit

Just tried it. It's really good.

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jonstoppable@reddit

this is great! thanks!

I was looking for something related ( screen annotation tool, to draw on the screen while sharing a window) but this will replace xjournal for when I am giving lessons ( both face to face and online)

will try it out soon and give some feedback

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