Discussion on Affinity Suite for macOS 1.8.6 release

[Patrick Connor]

@SallijaneG

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums  

12 minutes ago, SallijaneG said:

I have the 3 Affinity programs (1.8.3) on Macbook Pro, Sierra 10.12.6, and have no immediate plans to upgrade my system or get a new computer.  I am was considering going to 1.8.6, checking here for system requirements, and am now concerned about the application- and file-size issues that I see in this discussion.  Can anyone tell me if I am missing a compelling reason for me to update the Affinity programs?

I would say that 1.8.4 updates (linked to at the bottom of the first post in this thread), give lots of fixes and reasons to update. This 1.8.6 has few fixes of it's own but it does have all of those 1.8.4 changes also.

If you do not have the 1 GB extra free on your hard drive that this new update requires, then I suggest you free up some space as a matter of urgency, as many programs use free hard drive space to write temporary files and will need some spare disc space to function correctly. 

[Hangman]

Loving the 'Sure Love',  'Evil Ways (Justic Mix)' (with added base drop) and 'You're Gonna Love Me' sound tracks accompanying the latest product marketing videos. Well done Affinity, great software and truly impressive 'time to launch' for the universal versions of all three apps... 👏 I hope you are making a nice, small but not insignificant dent in Adobes' market share... 🤣

Looking forward to trying all three Affinity apps on some buttery smooth Apple Silicon. The future is here.. 😎

[anita]

Sounds like a good idea to strip it. We did that all the time with Intel files when we had PPC didn't we.

Only I am not sure if lipo works on dylibs, because that is where the bloat sits

[anita]

6 hours ago, Alfred said:

Please see the following post:

 

Thank you @Alfred .For all who would like to know, the correct link for Designer is

https://store.serif.com/es/update/macos/designer/1/.

As a result my Designer definitely launches faster again. BTW I also have the beta and that comes as fast as the 1.8.4.

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, anita said:

For all who would like to know, the correct link for Designer is

https://store.serif.com/es/update/macos/designer/1/.

Thank you, @anita. If I had been paying more attention I would have noticed that my other post pointed to the link for Publisher, not Designer!

For those who want a localized version of the page rather than the specifically Spanish (‘es’) page, the correct link is:

https://store.serif.com/update/macos/designer/1

[anita]

😂

1 hour ago, Alfred said:

Thank you, @anita. If I had been paying more attention I would have noticed that my other post pointed to the link for Publisher, not Designer!

For those who want a localized version of the page rather than the specifically Spanish (‘es’) page, the correct link is:

https://store.serif.com/update/macos/designer/1

you are right. I didn't notice , sorry 😘

[v_kyr]

3 hours ago, anita said:

...Only I am not sure if lipo works on dylibs, because that is where the bloat sits...

It should usually work for dynamic libraries too, as it's used before for exactly such tasks. - Examples ...

• strip-frameworks.sh
• Converting Static Libraries to Dynamic Libraries for iOS
• Working with multiple architectures & compiled binaries
• ... etc. ...

However, related to architecture support the Apple "lipo" tool might possibly have been updated by Apple for Big Sur, though I'm not absolutely sure on this since I don't use Big Sur so far.

 

[DianeF]

Is this new release compatible with  the High Sierra OS? And is there any reason to install it if you don't have the new Apple hardware? I certainly don't want to mess up apps that I frequently use.

[Puck]

20 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Updating etc. worked without problems here. - Bigger file size differences will be now due to BIG BINARY installer files, aka supporting now Big Sure and thus two different hardware CPUs (Intel x64, Apple M1/ARM chipset) in code.

Further it's generally always a good idea to be not among the early adopters when Apple officially releases new OS versions, since net traffic is known to be always pretty huge then on Apple's servers and services (MAS etc.), which affects their whole ecosystem bandwidth during that times.

See also:

 

Another day, another try ...

"Your purchase could not be completed.
Cancelled."

 

[v_kyr]

31 minutes ago, Puck said:

Another day, another try ...

"Your purchase could not be completed.
Cancelled."

 

Ich hatte via dem System und der App Store app die beiden Updates für (APh & ADe v1.8.6) auf meinem MacBook Pro (OS Mojave) angezeigt bekommen und konnte dort problemlos die Updates einspielen lassen. - Auf meinem asbach alten iMac Rechner (El Capitan da Hardware zu alt), wurden mir diese auch als verfügbare Updates angezeigt. Habe sie dort aber noch nicht installiert, da ich erstmal sehen muß ob ich diese unter El Capitan dann grössenmässig abspecken kann (sprich die ARM architectur binaries rausschmeißen kann um Platz zu sparen).

Quote

EN

I had the two updates for (APh & ADe v1.8.6) displayed on my MacBook Pro (OS Mojave) via the system and the App Store app and I was able to import the updates there without any problems. - On my pretty old iMac computer (El Capitan because hardware is too old), these were also displayed as available updates. I haven't installed it there yet, because I first have to see if I can slim down the size of it under El Capitan (that is, can throw out the ARM architecture binaries to save space).

 

[Puck]

14 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Ich hatte via dem System und der App Store app die beiden Updates für (APh & ADe v1.8.6) auf meinem MacBook Pro (OS Mojave) angezeigt bekommen und konnte dort problemlos die Updates einspielen lassen. - Auf meinem asbach alten iMac Rechner (El Capitan da Hardware zu alt), wurden mir diese auch als verfügbare Updates angezeigt. Habe sie dort aber noch nicht installiert, da ich erstmal sehen muß ob ich diese unter El Capitan dann grössenmässig abspecken kann (sprich die ARM architectur binaries rausschmeißen kann um Platz zu sparen).

Freut mich (wirklich!) für dich, dass es bei dir geklappt hat, vielleicht kriegen meine Rechner irgendwann auch mal die Kurve und machen das was sie machen sollen (dito der Mac App Store). Bis dahin kann ich sehr gut mit der 1.8.4 - Suite leben. 

I'm (really!) happy for you that it worked out for you, maybe my computers will eventually get their act together and do what they are supposed to do (ditto the Mac App Store). Until then I can live very well with the 1.8.4 suite.

Schönes Wochende / Nice weekend  

 

PS: Ich bin auch kein Freund von "Universal binary".  

[v_kyr]

31 minutes ago, Puck said:

PS: Ich bin auch kein Freund von "Universal binary".  

(DE) Normalerweise ist das eine gute Sache wenn man verschiedene CPU-Architekturen mit ein- und derselben Software-Release via FAT-/Universal binaries bedienen kann, sofern man die unbenötigte Architektur dann zur Platzersparnis explizit entfernen (strip'pen) kann. Das funktionierte damals schon zu NeXTstep/OpenStep Zeiten problemlos. - Bei Apple wird dies aktuell auch ein Thema sein, insbesondere dann bei sehr grossen Software-Distributionen.

(EN) Usually this is a good thing if you can operate different CPU architectures with one and the same software release via FAT/Universal binaries, as long as you can then explicitly remove (strip/lipo) the unneeded architecture in order to save storage space. That worked without any problems even in the old NeXTstep/OpenStep times. - At Apple this will be for sure also an issue at the moment, especially with very large software distributions.

[CLC]

10 hours ago, DianeF said:

Is this new release compatible with  the High Sierra OS? And is there any reason to install it if you don't have the new Apple hardware? I certainly don't want to mess up apps that I frequently use.

Hi @DianeF, I've installed all three 1.8.6 Affinity apps on my old MBP 6,2 (mid 2010) that still runs High Sierra (to keep my old Adobe CS 6.5 working) and all three of them are working well, just taking more space than the previous release(s).

To answer the other question: no, I don't believe it's necessary to install those since, as mentioned by @Patrick Connor the 1.8.6 versions are mainly made to support macOS Big Sur and the new M1 Apple Silicone Macs natively with only some minor bugfixes (that weren't even important enough to make a list in the release post).

Hope that helps.

[v_kyr]

16 hours ago, v_kyr said:

...

However, related to architecture support the Apple "lipo" tool might possibly have been updated by Apple for Big Sur, though I'm not absolutely sure on this since I don't use Big Sur so far.

 

Forgotten to mention above that the lipo tool I was talking about is part of Apple's Xcode development tools and thus one would need at least to download and install the Apple dev Xcode command-line tools in order to be able to use this!

[Amateur John]

This update is not of importance to me because I use Windows however I think it worth commenting that Affinity get honourable mention about it on Thom Hogan's ByThom website which has a huge following by Nikon users over the English speaking world.

[Richard Liu]

Here is what Thom Hogan (ByThom.com) had to say:

Quote

Affinity Photo (and the other Affinity apps) is one of the first photo apps to be updated both for macOS Big Sur as well as optimized for the new M1 chips. I'm sure they're just first in a parade. But it will be interesting to run Affinity Photo side by side on an older MacBook Air and a new one. There should be a clear difference.

 

[Oval]

On 11/14/2020 at 9:44 AM, Puck said:

another try

try to delete the download file first

[Puck]

21 hours ago, Oval said:

try to delete the download file first

Yes, I already knew this procedure ... tried it yesterday on my old iMac (with Mac OS High Sierra). This caused the download to stop, my computer froze and could no longer be started. The recovery took about 10 hours. Well, I don't blame Serif for this. Probably something deep inside the computer is wrong. But the issue of updates is done for me for now.

[Miketipp]

I was wonder about this update, I am not very techy so if someone could advice me I would appreciate it. This is my mac specs, would it be ok or a mistake to run this new Affinity update? I dont want to cause problems for myself as everything is running fine. Appreciate any feedback.

Michael

[Puck]

12 hours ago, Miketipp said:

I was wonder about this update, I am not very techy so if someone could advice me I would appreciate it. This is my mac specs, would it be ok or a mistake to run this new Affinity update? I dont want to cause problems for myself as everything is running fine. Appreciate any feedback.

Michael

You know what they say: Never change a running system (unless it's absolutely necessary) 😀

Cheers, Puck

[KC Honie]

On 11/13/2020 at 7:12 AM, v_kyr said:

Updating etc. worked without problems here. - Bigger file size differences will be now due to BIG BINARY installer files, aka supporting now Big Sure and thus two different hardware CPUs (Intel x64, Apple M1/ARM chipset) in code.

Further it's generally always a good idea to be not among the early adopters when Apple officially releases new OS versions, since net traffic is known to be always pretty huge then on Apple's servers and services (MAS etc.), which affects their whole ecosystem bandwidth during that times.

Yeah, it is never a good idea to update MacOS before a x.3 release...

I suspect that M1 is going to be spectacular, but will definitely wait for a couple of years for them to get the kinks worked out and more RAM available to the system...

[SallijaneG]

I am also on Sierra, though an early-2015 laptop, and am not planning to update right away.  Just being conservative. . .

[v_kyr]

49 minutes ago, KC Honie said:

I suspect that M1 is going to be spectacular, but will definitely wait for a couple of years for them to get the kinks worked out and more RAM available to the system...

Jip, actually the available M1 based systems are a little bit low of max possible RAM (on chip memory) and thus not much usable for the dev tasks I would have commonly to do with such hardware. - And yes, the whole is still on early steps and thus will have to show how stable and foolprove it is and evolve first some time.

[Boldlinedesign]

I am debating if I should buy one of the latest intel-based macs before they run out and use that for a while until the new chip situation resolves itself after a couple years.
I'm in a tough spot because I still use CS6 regularly for my work though I'm trying to do more of it with Affinity and Vectorstyler. I'm still running El Capitan to keep CS6 alive.
My computer is older and I was planning to get another one next year, but this switch to ARM and away from Intel has me wondering if I need to make a move now.
I could have stability in terms of what I have been doing, I could keep running CS6 as I wait for Affinity to do all I need it to do, and I could delay having to deal with a whole new system in terms of file structure, etc.
On the flip side, staying with intel and maintaining use of El Capitan means that many of the apps can't be updated past a certain point (though that hasn't caused major issues so far) but also web browsers are warning me that they won't be updated past a certain date fast approaching - same with Flash support, etc.
Ideally, I would want to stay current so I can appreciate the new improvements to other applications, be better protected with my browsers, etc.
Is it feasible to wait and get a new mac next year and run a copy of virtualization software like VM Fusion to have a copy of el capitan available to run CS6 in the future for the times I need it?
Ultimately, I'd love to have a way to never lose access to CS6 even as I transition away from Adobe so I always have the option to use it when necessary.
Perhaps I'm working too hard to avoid enslaving myself to Adobe's subscription model? Perhaps letting this effort to maintain CS6 go and go with the subscription until Affinity catches up? - my fear there is it takes them another five years to add in the standard things we've asked for over the last five years?

 

[Richard Liu]

@Boldlinedesign Why not keep the old Mac just for running things that don't have updates to Big Sur/M1, and get an M1-Mac for running everything else?