[dwheeler]

I've been a happy user of MuseScore, music notation software which has a gui, is cross platform, and is open source software: https://musescore.org/en

I gladly recommend it to others.

A Tex like approach is available via Lilypond, though I have not tried it so I have no experience to share.

[DidYaWipe]

Ugh. I really wanted to like it, but using it is painful. Editing is bafflingly cumbersome, and in many cases impossible.

And don't dare to take issue with any part of it in their forum, or you'll be banned forthwith. Absolute dicks.

[dwheeler]

I'm sad you had that experience. I haven't used the forums. I have created some scores, and I thought it was fine. Ymmv.

[DidYaWipe]

I recall having problems moving notes, and getting rid of extra rests or changing rests to the right duration... somehow the very behavior that you'd expect a computer to help you with when creating a score was not allowed.

I realize this is a pretty vague complaint, but I just don't remember exactly what the hangups were. I'll have to give it another shot.