Best (easiest) way to run Affinity Photo on Linux?

[MattyWS]

18 hours ago, Chills said:

The problem is you have Linux Religion vs real world business. No matter how noisy the Linux devotees are it doesn't add up for the real world accountants.

Yea notice how no one is calling it a Windows religion or Mac religion, despite how this topic is to specifically discuss linux and there are windows crusaders in here going "NooOoOoOOoOOoo" for zero gain other than to try to thwart linux users and dissuade Serif? If using a different OS to you counts as a religion in your head while you are going out of your way to do this, you need therapy, because I doubt linux users are going into every other request topic and saying "NO serif shouldn't add this feature they need to spend their money on me and my OS instead" like you're doing here.

It's strange, the mental gymnastics I've seen you and others do on these forums trying to gatekeep how Serif spends their time and resources. Heck this topic is specifically asking the best ways to run the software on linux regardless of official support and thanks to people like yourself it's devolved into a thread about why you don't like linux.

[MattyWS]

16 hours ago, firstdefence said:

They have enough on their plate sorting Mac, Windows and OSPad fixes out  without adding Linux to the mix.

Is it financially worth it? while there are a lot of linux desktop users is it financially viable to make a paid for system that caters for 4-5% of the desktop OS market and then deal with the compatibility of the major desktop distros e.g. Ubuntu, Mint, Manjaro, Fedora and Arch and all their baby sub distro's and, while there is a hive of linux bees ready to get their busy fingers on the keyboard and into the command line to solve all the issues that come up, I don't think enthusiasm will sustain development.

Caveat: I have been known to be wrong    

Aye I agree the linux market share is tiny and possibly not many people on linux will buy serifs products yet, but I think there's two thoughts from me here;

First, the investment into a very rapidly growing platform. Say what you will about 1% rise in a year it's still a lot of people (1% is ~80,000,000 of the world!) and it's fast growth for a platform that does no marketing. Getting into this now will ensure dominance on a potentially large userbase in the future.

Second, I think it's just good practice to develop cross platform earlier rather than later. It'll only get harder to port to linux and android further down the line. Other companies have not had much of an issue supporting multiple platforms, and some extremely corperate companies have linux versions of their software so it can't be that financially stupid (look at Autodesk and SideFX for example).

[Chills]

1 hour ago, MattyWS said:

Yea notice how no one is calling it a Windows religion or Mac religion, despite how this topic is to specifically discuss linux and there are windows crusaders in here going "NooOoOoOOoOOoo" for zero gain other than to try to thwart linux users and dissuade Serif? If using a different OS to you counts as a religion in your head while you are going out of your way to do this, you need therapy, because I doubt linux users are going into every other request topic and saying "NO serif shouldn't add this feature they need to spend their money on me and my OS instead" like you're doing here.

It's strange, the mental gymnastics I've seen you and others do on these forums trying to gatekeep how Serif spends their time and resources. Heck this topic is specifically asking the best ways to run the software on linux regardless of official support and thanks to people like yourself it's devolved into a thread about why you don't like linux.

There is no Windows religion. It is just a work horse that is there, and the vast majority of  desktop business and home users use it. (over 80%?)  It is a tool that is comparable with "everyone else".   For most they don't care.    There are faults with it, as there are with everything like this.   But it just works on almost any hardware you throw at it and "everyone" does drivers and apps for it.  IT is what it is.
Macs do have more of a Fan-boy element became of the style and Apple cultivating it. Besides, people need to justify spending a lot more on a mac than a comparable PC.  MACs were more reliable because Apple controls the whole infrastructure. That said,  the shine has come off Apple of late due to changes in the way it works.  Also this wasn't helped by Adobe having a change of business model at a similar time. So many were reassessing their position.

Linux on the other hand has a very small part of the desktop market, usually only in certain sectors and its users shout many , many times louder than 90% of the Windows users. (most of whom couldn't give a monkey's)  The Linux users start shouting their user base has doubled...  From infinitesimal to insignificant and wonder why companies are not rushing to support linuxes

Linus Torvld has explained many times why Linux is not going to work as a mainstream desktop.... there are penalty of videos of him explaining it at conferences over the last decade. The other more significant reason: that he has talked about and got savaged by Linux people, is how the kernel is patched.  This coupled with how distributions are done make it a non-starter for most apps.

I have worked in computing for over 35 years, mainly on critical systems, and seen the problem people have with Linux. I Work with a company that supplies dev tools.  If you are working with Linux as a target the at a 10% surcharge as a line item because Linux is such a mess to support.  That is the commercial reality.   This is why the Linux is a region. Its devotees don't seem to understand economics or business. 

There is a business case for Linux but it is not as a desktop OS.

 

[Chills]

2 hours ago, MattyWS said:

First, the investment into a very rapidly growing platform. Say what you will about 1% rise in a year it's still a lot of people (1% is ~80,000,000 of the world!) and it's fast growth for a platform that does no marketing. Getting into this now will ensure dominance on a potentially large userbase in the future.

You're new here...  I saw this argument for Linux in the 90's, 00's the 10's etc.  Linux has been "about to break through"  every other year for the last 30.   It has taken the server market. It is gaining in the embedded market (but not for the reasons you might think), however it has been going nowhere on the desktop for all the reasons Linus Torvald often explains at conferences.  There are plenty of videos of him doing this.   The situation is not improving and won't until there is a sea change in the way Linux is done.  That is unlike to happen any time soon.

[edlo]

That went offtrack heavily.

Im a VFX artist so I will keep it on that sense. 100% of VFX studios run on linux 100% of VFX studios only run windows for Photoshop, 100 % of VFX studios would be extremely onboard to get rid of both PS and Windows. Every 3d app that exists in both Linux and Windows/Mac versions runs better in linux. It just makes sense to have a linux version.

[SidM8]

I can understand the economics behind not having a Linux version of Affinity.
But !
Could things change ?

I run a nice reliable PC.
Z97 Mobo, i74790K CPU home build that falls just short of W11 compatibility.
The ASUS Z97 even has TPM 2 ability.
For my use a new PC is neither needed or wanted, my machine does everything that I need it to do, as fast as I need it.

I have a backup machine almost identical, that is hardly ever used.
So between the two, I am going to be good for a number of years, and have no intention of sending them to landfill just so that the Tech companies can make a financial killing.

I have a number of spare front bays and have just installed Ubuntu on one of them.
If I have to use Ubuntu while online after W10 security updates cease, then so be it.
If I have to use Ubuntu exclusively, then so be it.

In the intervening years, how many more people are going to take a similar course of action to myself ?
This morning I have been looking at some software that claims to enable PC software, to run on Linux/Ubuntu.

So.
In the future, things at Affinity may change in relation to Linux.
Lets hope !

As an afterthought, perhaps Affinity could include something in their script that helps to enable the use of third party software giving compatibility with Ubuntu/Linux ?


 

[mopperle]

1 hour ago, SidM8 said:

Could things change ?

If Linux will get a significant market share, maybe

Some numbers:
Marketshare of desktop Linux in Europe:
January 2010 0.7%
March 2024 2.76%

I wouldnt call 2.76% a significant market share after being for over 13 years in the market

ChromeOS is also close to this (2.44%), so why not also a version for ChromeOS? OSX is currently at 14.68% (last year over 20%!)

And how many out of those are potential customers?

Maybe you understand now, why Linux is not a market where you put huge investments in developing software, not talking about the typical LInux user being a fan of open source.

I was selling for over 10 years Linux for servers (OK, not the software but services ) to huge enterprises and none of them ever considered seriously Linux as an desktop OS.
 

[Chills]

14 minutes ago, mopperle said:

If Linux will get a significant market share, maybe

I wouldnt call 2.76% a significant market share after being for over 13 years in the market

ChromeOS is also close to this (2.44%), so why not also a version for ChromeOS? OSX is currently at 14.68% (last year over 20%!)

And how many out of those are potential customers?

Actually it is 2.76% after 30 years, not 13. 
I have seen stats saying nearly 4%, but that is for ALL of the 500+ different Linux distros.  That is the problem
Linux is always "going to be the next big thing" for 30 years. Other than on servers, it isn't, and won't be.

This video makes interesting watching on the stats. NOTE it takes  every major version of Windows as a separate OS but lumps ALL the Linux versions and distros as one lot. That is the problem Linux is badly fragmented and all distros and versions change asynchronously with no roadmap. Also, the multiple different licences also change asynchronously and can do so at any time.
For Linux to be a serious host, much has to change in the way it is developed. See any of the multiple Conference videos of Linux explaining this for the last decade (or more). IT is highly unlikely to happen.  As noted above it makes far more sense to support chrome rather than Linux(es) . 

 

 

[mopperle]

Nice video

16 minutes ago, Chills said:

Actually it is 2.76% after 30 years, not 13. 

I was referring to the time betwenn 2010 and 2013

The 4% number is the currenly (March 24) worldwide marketshare

[Chills]

4 minutes ago, mopperle said:

Nice video

I was referring to the time betwenn 2010 and 2013

The 4% number is the currenly (March 24) worldwide marketshare

Fair enough, but we are arguing between insignificant and miniscule. Especially as that 4% is for well over 500 different distributions and versions. (most of which are obsolete and unsupported)  If the video treated them in the same way it split the windows versions, Linux would not appear at all. 

This is the problem of fragmentation and distros liable to change at any time regardless of any supposed roadmap. Black magic did their Linux version based on ONE commercially supported Linux that they could customize. When that version went obsolete (as the vast majority of Linuxes do without warning) they swapped to ONE other commercially supported Linux rather than trying a Flatpak. 

So it is not 4% of the market but 0.1 + 0,001 + 0.02 + 0.003 + .... Etc any one of which could change (or go obsolete)  at any time without warning.  The other problem is that whereas Apple Inc. and Microsoft Inc have NDA's they also have licences with various codec producers. So until Linux Inc. can sign NDA's and buy licences it will always be missing some codecs.  BMD did buy licences for codecs for their (dongled and paid for ) Linux version, but they had 60 users spending $1/4 million each for them.

For Windows, there are compatibility modes that work for 99% of apps going back to Win 95.  What is missing are some of the hardware drivers for some of the obsolete hardware. 

[SidM8]

Informative video.
Thanks.

There are still a few years to go before the complete cut off for W10 security updates.
I will busy myself getting to know Ubuntu.

[Chills]

8 minutes ago, SidM8 said:

Informative video.
Thanks.

There are still a few years to go before the complete cut off for W10 security updates.
I will busy myself getting to know Ubuntu.

Good Luck with that Ubuntu changes version more often than Windows and support ends for each version far faster than for windows. If Ubunto is still there at that time....
The other thing is many of the components in Ubuntu come from 3rd parties.  Your problems aren't Windows Security patches but Linux security.