I gave a chance to Zorin OS and I am very satisfacted. The only barriers that prevents me to a definitive migration, is CorelDraw (and my Sound Blaster Audigy RX).
A feature in CorelDraw that I need frequently, is CMYK and exact colors (a.k.a SPOT colors) printing separations. Other feature is CMYK colors support that is not natively present in GIMP.
Certainly, when this "gap" is solved, I will get to Zorin, in a ultimate way.
Zorin OS is a great OS, I tested it, I was not upset to get my tests computer back to Windows. In future, I hope that it will get better and much better.
Hopefully somebody with more experience can offer their insight.
I am a licensed Affinity (v2) user which includes their DTP and Photoshop equivalent. There are some threads here on getting it to work in Linux (with less success in Zorin).
I use it running in Winboat on Zorin. I use this for quick edits, if I need to do more sustained work I dual-boot. Winboat frames the app in a native window in Zorin and allows full access to the Zorin file system. This may at least be a partial solution, installing your CorelDraw in Winboat or another VM, if you have sufficient RAM.
People always recommend GIMP. I have never got on with it or found it sufficient for my professional needs (having used Photoshop from V2). I have found Krita (in the Zorin software store) to be a much better alternative, albeit with its own learning curve. Their are good online resources available.
Krita does CMYK and appears to have spot colour support although its not something i've used in 20 years (that was on Mac QuarkExpress).
It may offer quite a bit of what you are looking for.
There are several Inkscape users on this forum for vector graphics work, I don't have any experience with it.
I am hopeful for a long term solution, in that the CEO of Affinity/Canva recently hinted that they are looking at developing a Linux version.
I also found this, a commercial product. All I know of it is their website:
"AI based" puts me off, but that might be more of a marketing gimmick.
So, not answering your question but hopefully some helpful tangents.
Hi and welcome.
I wrote a tutorial on how to get Audigy Rx working thanks to a nugget I found online. I copied its content and acknowledged the source. Sadly, many helpful reference sites have gone by the wayside hence my copycat approach at the start of the tutorial. I have my Audigy Rx connected to a Logitech surround sound system (Centre stereo, Front Left, Front Right, Back Left, Back Right, Bass). Be sure to read the entire thread. Crucial elements are to install all ALSA packages and emu-10k (Sound Blaster emulation package) using Synaptic Package Manager:
Also crucial to success is to install Audacious, covered in the same guide thread.
Hi @NeilW . I am very peeved that Winboat only works on Gnome because it relies on Docker. When I saw the complexity of the Docker element, I gave up. That said I don't want to ever go back to a Gnome DE as it has lost direction. I suspect that my business model will suffer for Windows 10 migrators because Debian 12 based distros that I promote end in June 2028, and the developer of the Windows 10 menu for Plasma has not updated it for Plasma 6, which is nowhere near as stable as Plasma 5.27.xx which offers the best Plasma experience.
Hi @swarfendor437 , I didn't realise it was Gnome-specific. Does Docker not run on KDE? I am quite happy using Docker after using it on my self-build NAS. The nub of it is that I need a working solution, for now this works for me, on current Zorin.
