Affinity products for Linux

[wonderings]

15 minutes ago, msdobrescu said:

Indeed. But what if we can do whatever we need with Linux, except for specific graphic, design and publishing at pro level easily. I say easily, because there are means to achieve that in Linux. We simply ask for the best.

Indeed. Well, for me, there are few thing I still can do fast with Photoshop. One of them is the boundary warp tool for panoramas.

I am lazy. While I could keep Windows to upgrade Photoshop, then copy it to Linux and run it under Wine, I prefer to have a full solution, from installing to running it.

If you need it and Linux does not have it then again Linux is not for you. Nothing wrong with asking or wishing for it to be on Linux but it is not owed to you and it is not something people should grumble about if Serif does not do what Linux users want them to do. For me the OS is secondary, if Adobe was only on Windows then I would use Windows. In general I like the UI better on Mac but I spend the majority of my time in Indesign/Illustrator and sometimes Photoshop. The OS is just a means to working with these apps and I care less and less about them as I find both Windows and Mac OS to be well thought out and usable for navigating files and everything I need. I would never chose the OS over the software I need to run.

[msdobrescu]

25 minutes ago, wonderings said:

The OS is just a means to working with these apps

I wish. But it's just a blotware. There are too many things running, but not for me. I don't accept that.

[Redsandro]

5 hours ago, wonderings said:

Software developers do not owe you or the Linux community anything.

  

On 11/24/2020 at 6:18 PM, wonderings said:

This is a business and they owe nothing to anyone.

 

On 9/9/2020 at 5:54 PM, wonderings said:

They do not owe the Linux community anything

 

This must be the most ignorant and useless waste of time line of arguments to ever appear in request for Linux support ever.

[wonderings]

12 hours ago, Redsandro said:

  

 

 

This must be the most ignorant and useless waste of time line of arguments to ever appear in request for Linux support ever.

It is not an argument.

Do you think Serif owes the Linux community something? Why?

Do you think Serif is not in this to make profit? They are not a charity. 

[zeknoss]

People here are just asking Serif to bring the Affinity suite over to Linux, and they're even claiming they will extra money to buy another license for it if it ever happens.

This thread should only exist here to campaign this request. Contra-arguments about how Serif doesn't "owe" anything to anyone and how Linux is not for XYZ seems a little repulsive, also ridiculous at least.

Dodge released Viper RT/10 in 1992 and the car only had a chassis, a hood, two seats and an engine. People asked for more, Dodge delivered and people bought the new models. That's it. It's a matter of demand and supply, not some ridiculous enigmatic subject as "Linux not for certain people".

Please do not pollute this thread. We just want to use Affinity on Linux, if you don't like it, just leave this thread alone.

[Redsandro]

12 minutes ago, wonderings said:

It is not an argument.

Exactly, it's a non-argument with a high degree of "duh", and literally no one thinks what you are saying and repeating. It's a textbook straw man, and it doesn't bring any value to this topic. You are giving the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the proper idea of argument under discussion was not addressed.

Most people here ask for a Linux version. Others even plead for a Linux version. Some argue that a Linux version would be a good economic decision, and part of them indicate that they would be willing to pre-pay, crowdfund, or even pay double or more.

No one actually believes Serif owes them anything. That includes you. They don't owe you(r preferred OS) their undivided attention. So let's keep this topic a place where people can join to indicate their shared wish for a Linux version in order to show Serif that there is actually a desire for this. A place where we can discuss possible deployment platforms and distro support.

Quote

[FAQ] Affinity on Linux?

We won't rule out making a Linux version of Affinity in the future if the right Linux distro comes along with a reliable deployment platform that will allow us to recoup our development cost for the Linux version.

 

[CedarBluffGraphics&Layout]

Just adding my voice to the request: would LOVE to see Affinity products native on Linux!!!

[msdobrescu]

15 hours ago, Redsandro said:

[FAQ] Affinity on Linux?

We won't rule out making a Linux version of Affinity in the future if the right Linux distro comes along with a reliable deployment platform that will allow us to recoup our development cost for the Linux version.

This is an interesting statement. I'm curious, what means "the right Linux distro" and "a reliable deployment platform"?

AppImage would simply do, technically. I run GIMP with Resynthsizer like that, due to dependency to Python 2.x that was dropped by the large majority of distros, as it is EOL (since 10 years or so).

[Renzatic]

12 hours ago, msdobrescu said:

This is an interesting statement. I'm curious, what means "the right Linux distro" and "a reliable deployment platform"?

I'd imagine they're considering whether to leverage X11 or Wayland, KDE or Gnome, Ubuntu or Red Hat, etc. etc. Whatever would allow them to get the Affinity suite up and running with decent performance on Linux with as little struggle as possible.

[foxie]

3 hours ago, Renzatic said:

I'd imagine they're considering whether to leverage X11 or Wayland, KDE or Gnome, Ubuntu or Red Hat, etc. etc. Whatever would allow them to get the Affinity suite up and running with decent performance on Linux with as little struggle as possible.

None. Just make sure it works with wine and don't support it officially or in case you want official support, wrap it around as appimage.

Haven't tried it but it should be doable.
https://github.com/RazZziel/PortableLinuxGames/wiki/Creating-appimages-from-windows-applications

[foxie]

To be honest, I remember I made it start in wine but there were some missing dx11 apis in dxvk that caused crash when creating new file. Haven't had enough time to hack around and I don't use this type of SW on daily basis, so not much motivation either.

[Renzatic]

3 hours ago, foxie said:

None. Just make sure it works with wine and don't support it officially or in case you want official support, wrap it around as appimage.

Haven't tried it but it should be doable.
https://github.com/RazZziel/PortableLinuxGames/wiki/Creating-appimages-from-windows-applications

That'd be the potentially easiest option, though as far as that quote goes, they're talking about the cost of creating a native application.

Though if you ever do decide to futz around with trying to get it running in WINE, and you manage to get things working decently well, don't forget to tell us here.

[msdobrescu]

Interestingly, I've found AppImage very capable. For example Fiddler delivers for Linux and Mac the same AppImage file.

[derei]

Considering that Linux and OSX kernels are pretty similar, or at least derived around UNIX, which makes them to work somewhat similar, would it be so difficult to have a Linux version of Affinity Suite derived from the OSX version? I do understand that coding for Windows and OSX is literally maintaining two different software, but if a Linux version could be easily derived from the OSX version, perhaps the work involved to maintain it would pay off, as it wouldn't actually be a 3rd software.
I may be wrong here, but this is why I am raising the question... to find out if this is a possible route.

Also, everyone is arguing the EXISTING market, how many users on Windows/OSX/Linux, etc... I don't think this evaluation has any relevance. Yes, this is how is NOW. Bit anyone asked WHY? Is not because Linux is inaccessible, it is because most developers ignored it in the past. But that's not true anymore. Even Steam noticed the relevance of addressing Linux users.

It was argued "linux is for nerds". I'd disagree. Linux is NOT ONLY for nerds. Not anymore. Yes, it can be and there are flavors specifically developed for specialized use. But a lot of linux flavors are there for the general public, even tailored for smooth transition from any other popular OS.

The increased awareness in data privacy is making more and more users look into privacy friendly software. Artists and Creators are not always ignorant. Many are growing interest in protecting their digital life. So, a patronizing attitude that says "we don't develop for linux because our users aren't informed and educated enough to use linux" is actually offensive towards your clients pool. Moreover, I believe you should be encouraging privacy and good ethics by supporting people to migrate towards more privacy friendly options. 

[Snapseed]

On 1/26/2021 at 11:57 AM, zeknoss said:

People here are just asking Serif to bring the Affinity suite over to Linux, and they're even claiming they will extra money to buy another license for it if it ever happens.

This thread should only exist here to campaign this request. Contra-arguments about how Serif doesn't "owe" anything to anyone and how Linux is not for XYZ seems a little repulsive, also ridiculous at least.

Dodge released Viper RT/10 in 1992 and the car only had a chassis, a hood, two seats and an engine. People asked for more, Dodge delivered and people bought the new models. That's it. It's a matter of demand and supply, not some ridiculous enigmatic subject as "Linux not for certain people".

Please do not pollute this thread. We just want to use Affinity on Linux, if you don't like it, just leave this thread alone.

Indeed, and therein lies the fundamental issue.

Linux's relatively small current market share makes it financially unviable for Serif Affinity, Skylum and others to port over their very nice and shiny softwares over to Linux.

[Renzatic]

On 1/28/2021 at 4:19 AM, derei said:

It was argued "linux is for nerds". I'd disagree. Linux is NOT ONLY for nerds. Not anymore.

I'd say that Linux is still an OS for nerds, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing for Affinity's potential future on the platform, since their primary demographic are web designers, photographers, and 3D artists, all of which are...

...well, nerds.

I mean, have you ever asked a photographer about their camera gear? The response you get is almost guaranteed to be the nerdiest thing you'll hear all day.

[zeknoss]

20 minutes ago, Snapseed said:

Indeed, and therein lies the fundamental issue.

Linux's relatively small current market share makes it financially unviable for Serif Affinity, Skylum and others to port over their very nice and shiny softwares over to Linux.

Yupp,

Also this is why people are also mentioning a wine accelerator with sentences starting like "at least ...". Everybody is aware of this issue. But imagine it runs with nearly native performance with the minimal effort from Affinity. This then might lure more people into Linux. Because if it may turn out to be a very lucrative investment in the terms of ratio.

[Redsandro]

1 hour ago, zeknoss said:

imagine it runs with nearly native performance with the minimal effort from Affinity.

Affinity could detect Wine and see how many people actually run it on Linux.

With those non-speculative statistics, they can decide whether or not it's worth it to develop a native Linux version.

Remind me, did someone from the Affinity staff address the idea of getting it running on Wine? I remember years ago they rejected the idea because they don't want a slow and bad user experience, but as people have since pointed out, Wine (and sometimes Proton) cause apps to run at near native speed. Sometimes (in the case of Vulkan) even faster than their native Windows counterparts. Has someone from Affinity addressed the idea of working towards Wine compatibility, now that they have a correct idea of what Wine performance is like?

I mean, Affinity, are you still reading this? Look at a recent benchmark.

[ChrisWhy]

I'm a professional designer who uses Linux. I would purchase Affinity products if they supported Linux, or even just made their apps work in Wine. Blender, Maya, DaVinci Resolve, Gravit Designer... All are great graphics tools and run on Linux. GIMP, Inkscape, and Scribus are all pretty good, but if Affinity offered theirs, I would switch.

[VectorVictor]

Hi there. 

I'm at the point here, along with an increasing number of people, where I have swapped almost entirely to Linux for development work and to escape excessive data-mining by companies like Microsoft, along with ensuring my systems are secure and to stop the surprise "updates" that can alter system performance overnight. 

I have purchased licenses for Affinity products for both Mac and Windows platforms.  While native Linux versions of Affinity products would be ideal, I could live inside Designer and Photo as is, either with WINE or Proton, on Linux.

It presently seems like the major impediment to installing the program is the installer itself. I'm sure there are other issues one might encounter when trying to run the software, but that initial hurdle prevents me from seeing what those other issues may be. 

Has Serif looked at www.protondb.com and the Proton API? This seems to have a lot of support for bringing Windows applications over and running nearly better or as well as native applications. I am presently running most of my Steam Windows library off of it, with about 85-90% success. 

Serif could affordably increase its development footprint in the Linux space by simply taking advantage of existing APIs like Proton.

Serif could use this as a marketing and PR move as well as an additional means to ensure its own survivability in a market where large companies are increasingly trying to wreck smaller ones. 

Just my 2c. Love the software, keep it up guys. :)

[Redsandro]

19 hours ago, VectorVictor said:

Serif could use this as a marketing and PR move

Yes, it's an interesting thought.

Serif could put some small developer resources in figuring out why Wine stops with initializing the art board. There are multiple solutions for OpenGL, DirectX, Vulkan etc out there that might get this to work without much development cost. You'll either find out the solution is simple or complex. Isn't it a risk worth taking?

They could even list an AppImage for Linux containing Wine and the Windows version on their downloads page and call it a courtesy release without support. Wouldn't this be low hanging fruit for Serif?

[aronkvh]

Is there a better way to run Photo than a kvm with pci passtrough currently.

without lookinglass with winapps it's clunky so I always end up booting to windows

[Renzatic]

10 hours ago, aronkvh said:

Is there a better way to run Photo than a kvm with pci passtrough currently.

Not at the moment, no.

If I had to guess why the Affinity programs don't run well in WINE, I'd say it's because the WINE devs' primary concern is getting Windows games up and running in Linux, and if any desktop applications like Photoshop, Office, Affinity Photo, et al. end up working, that's mostly down to happy coincidence. 

[jpintos]

I have an idea...
If Serif open a presale (like a kickstarter crow funding) selling a Linux Version and supossing they raise i don know.... $500.000 (i don't know what number could be profitable to make a Linux Version) and if the goal is not raised the money is back and do nothing.

The "excuse" always is that maybe a linux version is not profitable but with this way is guaranteed that the money can be enough.
What's your opinion guys?

I use Linux Mint and is a rock solid SO and i can't back to windows because i don't have good design software... and every day read of people wishing buy a linux version...

[zeknoss]

1 minute ago, jpintos said:

I have an idea...
If Serif open a presale (like a kickstarter crow funding) selling a Linux Version and supossing they raise i don know.... $500.000 (i don't know what number could be profitable to make a Linux Version) and if the goal is not raised the money is back and do nothing.

The "excuse" always is that maybe a linux version is not profitable but with this way is guaranteed that the money can be enough.
What's your opinion guys?

I use Linux Mint and is a rock solid SO and i can't back to windows because i don't have good design software... and every day read of people wishing buy a linux version...

This is actually a brilliant idea!