Okay, I installed ubuntu to test Expresii on Linux. And with the help from devviktoria (and thanks also to Granham who initiated a Wintab driver implementation for use with WINE), I also fianlly got pen pressure and tilt working under WINE. I confimred that this driver works with Wacom, XP-Pen and Huion pen tablets, and also on my XP-Pen pen display.
There are still minor issues like minimizing the app would crash it, and the artwork preview in the Export dialog being blank. I will look into these and try to fix them. Overall, I'm so glad Expresii works and performance is on par with on Windows:
Steps to get Expresii on Linux
1. Install WINE according to their Download page. I used ubuntu 24.04 LTS so I followed the instructions here.
2. Install Expresii using WINE: After you download Expresii setup program, unzip it and run the installer EXE with the command "wine Expresii-SetupXXXX.exe", where Expresii-SetupXXXX.exe is the exact filename you unzipped.
3. Install XWinTab from here. The followings screen captures show how to do the sub-steps of installing libxcb-xinput0 and make a DLL override. I needed to restart ubutntu after installing libxcb-xinput0 for it to take effect.
To put the .DLL and .so files to the same of Expresii's EXE, the destination path looks something like "~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Expresii x64". By default, Expresii initially tries to load Wintab32.dll already so unless you picked 'Windows Ink' previously, you don't need to explicitly choose wintab32.dll from within Expresii.
2. Install Expresii using WINE: After you download Expresii setup program, unzip it and run the installer EXE with the command "wine Expresii-SetupXXXX.exe", where Expresii-SetupXXXX.exe is the exact filename you unzipped.
3. Install XWinTab from here. The followings screen captures show how to do the sub-steps of installing libxcb-xinput0 and make a DLL override. I needed to restart ubutntu after installing libxcb-xinput0 for it to take effect.
To put the .DLL and .so files to the same of Expresii's EXE, the destination path looks something like "~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Expresii x64". By default, Expresii initially tries to load Wintab32.dll already so unless you picked 'Windows Ink' previously, you don't need to explicitly choose wintab32.dll from within Expresii.
Now you should be able to run Expresii just like a normal program in ubuntu. There should be a Expreii icon on your desktop too, which is initially grayed out. To enable it, right click on it and choose 'Allow Launching' just like what is shown in the beginning of this video:
Within Feburary 2026, we confirmed that Expresii can run on MacOS via Fusion, Android via Winlator, and Linux via WINE, thanks to the progress in emulation or VM technologies. Recent improvement in OpenGL support allow us to run Expresii on Android and Linux. Today, you can run Windows on iPad via UTM but this doesn't get adequate OpenGL support to run Expresii. UTM v.5.0.1 supports OpenGL 4.1 on MacOS. Hopefully, one day we will see UTM supporting OpenGL 3.0+ on iPad too and then you will be able to run Expresii on an iPad.
And, after these recent platform-related tests, I will be back to focus on getting Western watercolor in Expresii. Stay tuned.
And, after these recent platform-related tests, I will be back to focus on getting Western watercolor in Expresii. Stay tuned.
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