Comix is an open-source and lightweight comic viewer that runs on Linux, BSD and virtually any other UNIX-like OS. At its core, it is basically an image viewer with support for comic library and is able to reads ZIP and tar archives natively.
Installation
To install Comix in Ubuntu, you can easily install it via the Ubuntu Software Center, Synaptic Package Manager or type the following command in the terminal: For other non Ubuntu-based Linux distro, you can download the source file here, extract it and run the following command in the terminal: Note: Thanks to Johann for pointing it out, Comix has been updated to MComix. The package is available here. Extract it and run the following command in the terminal:
Usage
As mentioned earlier, Comix is essentially an image viewer. There is a navigation toolbar at the top left corner and the resize toolbar on the right. You can open a zip file and it will render the images within the archive.
At any time, you can switch to double page mode or the Manga mode. The Double Page mode renders the images from left to right whereas the Manga mode follows the conventional manga layout and renders the images from right to left.
In some instances where the comic strips are not rendered properly, either because the color tone is too dark or it is not rotated, Comix comes with some simple image manipulation tools that you can use to enhance and transform the images.
Preferences
In the Preferences section, there are several useful options that you can configure. You can change the thumbnail size, magnifying factor, use smart space key scrolling or auto-scrolling when the image reaches the edge of the page, using of cache to speed up browsing and many other options.
There is even a bookmarking feature where you can save your reading progress. Next time you reload the comic, it will be restored to your last read position.
Conclusion
If you are a comic fan and a Linux user, Comix is really a very useful comic viewer application for you. The only thing that it doesn’t come with is the ability to auto-download manga from the Web. Other than that, I am enjoying every single part of the app. I am pretty sure you know where to download manga online and when coupled with this manga viewer, will definitely give you a good reading experience. What other apps do you use to read manga on your computer? Comix
