blackbird9

Cool, looks like bottles and this configuration is working on Pop!_OS 22.04 too. Once the flickering is sorted we'll be in good shape. I went ahead and turned in a report on WineHQ for Affinity Photo. I'm encouraging others to do the same.

Oh maaaaaan GOOD WORK! It's such a relief to not have to boot up a freakin windows install just to use affinity
Affinity Designer is working in Ubuntu 22.04 ...with nvidia GPU rendering !
Wanted to report in @1stn00b's guide here does work https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/47502-affinity-products-for-linux/page/92/#comment-940833 Thank you!!!
Although I am experiencing flickering issues as well, but hopefully we can find a workaround soon. 👀

 
 

You don't need SteamOS to run games under Linux. You just install Steam, Lutris, Bottles,  etc and you are good to go, unless you own an Nvidia GPU :

from official Valve Proton

The experience is seamless, and if it wasn't for the pop-up that inform you the game runs thru Proton the 1st time you install it and start it , u wouldn't even know it's not native. Also if a game i play doesn't work nice with custom GE Proton that has latest updates i can switch the the ones provided by Valve

I play all my games on Linux, in fact beside the Windows allocated SSD all other storage is EXT4 formatted

If that is supported it means that once Affinity works properly through stuff like Proton and/or Wine, it is then possible to paint with high precision tablet input, which is a necessity for high quality art.
Considering how much progress Valve have been making with SteamOS and Proton, it is probably just a matter of time before Linux is able to run all the software I require to work. This video shows the potential of SteamOS. Once Valve officially releases a downloadable desktop version along with proper Nvidia driver support (another hurdle that Nvidia has started to fix with the help of open source drivers being in the works), I will give Linux and Proton a go to see if I can get it to work with my workflow.
As it looks like right now, Windows 10 likely will be my last Windows OS considering how utterly atrocious Windows 11 is both from a user experience standpoint and from a security standpoint. The push for ads in their OSes is something I will not tolerate in any paid for retail product.

That helped out tremendously. The canvas is buggy, flickering when you drag, pan, and zoom, and occasionally it'll stop drawing portions of your image (which you can get back with a quick pan), but it's actually functional. I opened up an old image, threw a couple of quick adjustment layers on it, then opened a new canvas, dragged the tab over a slot, then ran a paintbrush over it. Didn't notice any lag or hiccups beyond the canvas issues. So you CAN edit in it, even if the experience is sorta janky at the moment.
 

Edit: Here's a quick little video showing off some real basic functionality.
 

Many are interactive workbooks for students (often in tandem with a webinar), as opposed to a survey or form where we need the responses, but would like them to be able to keep their own record for future reference.

I would love to see Affinity Publish have fillable forms fields. 

+1. It’s the only thing stopping me from dumping ID completely…

+1 feature request in one of the 2021 sprints please 🙂
urgent need to create interactive pdf-forms to get an alternative to Adb-ID.
thank you,

Ulrich
 

Year after year I bought PhotoShop, Illustrator, InDesign. I loved Adobe products back then. Then Adobe came up with fancy "suites," cranked up their prices, and finally lost me when they went to subscription hell. I then started using Affinity products. I really like all three, Photo, Designer, Publisher. Impressive. Beautiful, smart interface. A joy to run. Intuitive workflow. I bought all three for Mac. Then all three for Windows. Then Photo and Designer for iPad. I'd DEFINITELY buy all three again if there were a LINUX VERSION. My Linux machines run flawlessly, better, less errors than Mac, way yonder better than our Windows machines. I would happily just run Linux if there was commercial software I could run on it. Like Affinity. Most people don't really care what OS they are on, just what software they can run on it---they don't run Linux because the software they want to BUY isn't isn't available for Linux, because companies like Affinity or Serif think Linux users are a bunch of beatniks, whoever they are. Were.
If Affinity never comes out with a Linux version, I will no doubt move on. Affinity products are great, but there are always alternatives.

Seems like Serif is missing this horse while Adobe is not. Adobe launched last week the browser version of Photoshop and Illustrator. Still not supporting all the features but many would be able to use it on Linux and it's just a matter of time for Adobe to add many more features and move other applications on browser. Like The Linux Experiment says in this video, Photoshop is often cited in the main reasons for not switching to Linux (for whom have that interest, many people stick to Win or Mac anyway), meaning that Linux will probably see more users thanks to Adobe.

@MattyWS 
It's very inspiring to see such enthusiasm! I personally have nothing against Linux and would gladly support Serif on this platform even if prices will be higher.
More to say, I have a couple of Linux machines at home and these systems are simply wonderful and stable. Distributions are improving and becoming better and better.
Just maybe my views are a bit more pragmatic when it comes for estimating business expenses and analyzing the risks. We should understand, that:
But anyway, bringing Affinity suite to Linux would be very great.

For me, 90% of the software I use is available in Linux, is generally faster here, and the OS doesn't get gummy over time, requiring me to do housework to get things running smoothly again. I have so many more compelling reasons to stick to Linux than I do to go back to Windows.
The only thing I'm missing is Affinity Photo and Designer. If I had them, either natively, or through WINE, I'd be ticked freaking pink.
But hey, after the Apple event this week, I've decided to sell out, and buy a Mac. I'm still going to push for Affinity on Linux, but I'll have to be an obnoxious hipster about it to fit my new Apple lifestyle.
 

+1 for Linux version. I would also pay. Professional and paid software can easily exist on Linux with the will to do it.
If Affinity software and clip studio paint were on linux, I would completely switch to linux right now.

I am a Linux, Mac and Windows user. I would love to have Affinity programs for Linux. I would pay for them. I would pay double for them. I have paid for two complete sets of Affinity products so far (one set for me and the other a gift for my brother), plus almost all of the other software they offer (brushes, etc.). I bought all of the Serif software prior to Affinity. There must be more folks like me.

I'll be frank, with Steam moving to make Windows/Mac games compatible with Linux out of the box, Affinity's the only program holding me back from switching back to Ubuntu again. Especially with the upcoming Win11 release that will likely render my 10-yr-old computer useless, because I'll need to upgrade the motherboard, to upgrade the processor, to keep it compatible.
I would be willing to purchase new Affinity license keys for a Linux version, really, instead of dumping money on what would essentially be a new computer when Win11 comes out.

For years I've been wanting to move off Windows and onto Linux, but without pro apps for a graphic designer, I can't. I understand the chicken and egg situation - No designers using Linux because there's no apps for them. There are no apps for them because all the graphic designers are using Windows/Mac.
I truely do not care what OS I'm using. I started on Macs and loved the interface, but moved to Windows because Mac's hardware stopped giving me ports and storage. (When you live in Africa, we can't just fit in with first world thinking of "everything in the cloud" and just connect wirelessly. We barely have electricity, let alone always-on highsleed, affordable broadband) It was a hardware decision not an OS preference. I support Affinity because I've always been a sucker for the under dog. It's as much of a poke in Adobe's eye as it is a better financial choice. (I suspect that's the case for many Affinity users).
I apply the same attitude to Linux. It's the under dog and want to support it.
I don't even care what distro I have to use. If Affinity announced that their apps only ran on one speciffic Linux distro, eg: Mint KDE, I would choose that distro as my Linux OS. If they chose Manjaro or Suse... done.
Side note... I'd support a kickstarter fund - even if it's to guage the financial viability of Linux support.

Love this response to the point where I got nothing to add... Only that I'd be behind paying again or joining the kickstarter fund.

On my own I STILL switched to Linux, even though it heavily hurt my ability to create, but I took extra hours after work to do my design tasks on windows and now I've got a virtual machine(Wine path wasn't a success for me) on my Linux Desktop. It's slow and finnicky, but I still choose to use Affinity any way I can.

If that's the case then we have our answer. They refuse to let us prove it and thus they refuse to even consider it.
If that's how they look at it then it seems they do not care if there is enough people to sustain it or not, they just don't want to do it at all because the only thing they are willing to consider is stuff that will skew it in such a way to justify it to themselves to not do it.
If they genuinely wanted to know then they would allow us the chance to genuinely prove it but instead they want to put on tasks that will take a very long time to build momentum on the hope it will be enough. This is like a older sibling giving a video game controller to their younger sibling that isn't plugged in to trick them into thinking they are doing something while you know it accomplishes nothing.
Quick note to Serif: the argument of "we're better than crowdfunded software" is an excuse and bad one, because a lot of people have used crowdfunding as a way to gather interest and backing to become a massive success. Font Awesome for example did crowdfunding to find out if enough people would back it to justify extra work and when they did it we proved that we wanted them to and thus it was successful and it got even better. (for reference:  Font Awesome on Kickstarter = 35,550 backers. They only asked for a $30,000 goal and the total raised was $1,076,960 . . . for a icon set! They gave us the chance to prove we were willing to pay and we did.

The problem is that most people do not adhere to this at all, yet companies listen to the loud hardheaded people as if they represent us all. They don't. We talked about this issue in our recent episode of Destination Linux related to Open Source vs Commercialism, and the point comes down to the fact that Commercialism is not only a good thing in many cases but also required for sustainability. We received a lot of feedback in favor of this stance.
 
  
It highlights that there are very loud people who don't want to pay for stuff. Yea, thats true for every ecosystem but depending on where they ask the people are louder. They asked on Reddit. The r/linux subreddit is very often considered a problematic place even in the eyes of the majority of Linux users so they based their opinion on a place that is very loud and not open minded. They tried it to find out and realized that r/linux did not represent the ecosystem at all. This is the point.
 
  
Here's the problem, you can't find out unless you give us the option to tell you. Waiting on WINE to see if there is enough is a very bad idea. WINE usage would require to it to be worked on for support, then it requires users to know that WINE is working on it, requires users to know WINE has made it usable, requires users to know that Serif is using that data to make decisions on real support and etc. The amount of skewing of statistics is so high that using that as a basis is essentially creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The solution to find out is simple. Create crowd-funding campaign to gauge interest. You set the price for the campagin to whatever you think it will cost to do the development and we as a community promote the campaign to gather support. This allows us one thing to promote and allows us to consolidate the effort of people knowing where to go to share their support. It also is a method of seeing not only how many people want it but also how many people are willing to pay because we would have to put our money up in the campaign.
You find out how many Linux users are willing to make this happen, you can make larger tiers than regular price to see how many people are ultra-interested. All sorts of data can be used from them.
If the campaign is successful you get the money to make the software support Linux without worry about if there is enough people to justify it. If it isn't successful, no one loses any money and you get a definitive answer to the question "is there enough people in the platform to justify the upfront cost?".
I think any other method of trying to find out will take years and will be heavily skewed. This method will allow us to consolidate effort to promote it and gives us a chance to actually prove it.

One last quote: This made me think of that Hiri commercial email client.
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/07/linux-users-are-more-valuable-customers

Just going to throw this out there - apps that are published through Steam can make use of Valve's own Proton layer, which makes it possible to access DirectX and other APIs that are otherwise unavailable in WINE. It's kind of like how GOG figured out how to package DOSBox with old computer games, preconfigured to work with each specific game. AFAIK Valve does work directly with publishers whose software is popular enough for them to invest their resources in the compatibility layer.
My husband tried running Publisher last night in WINE on Arch Linux, including running it through Proton, and ran into a failure from one of Affinity's internal libraries. Obviously there's more to making an application work through Proton (or WINE), but releasing through Steam might be a route for both Linux compatibility (which it doesn't sound like the company cares too much about, after skimming this thread), and expanding Affinity's market reach (which maybe they do care about) through publishing and advertising on Steam.
There are a lot of video game tools on Steam, and I think Affinity's apps would appeal to a lot of video game designers and artists out there who spend their time and money on the Steam store.

Add interactive functions not just adding hyperlink, link Indesign add features like buttons, click, mouse rollover for, pop-ups, while we click some content it gets zoom,.
This will be very useful to create interactive PDF export,.

We need this feature please. Interactive pdf is a game changer

Interactive PDFs are a must for me! i do a lot with PDF and virtual publishing and it's the ONLY thing I miss from InDesign.