Affinity products for Linux

[Kamei Kojirou]

36 minutes ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

Krita is NOT a fork of GIMP. Quite the opposite, actually: back in 1998 Matthias Ettrich demonstrated how easy it was to hack a Qt GUI around an existing application, which happened to be GIMP. His patch was never published, and caused friction with the GIMP community at the time.

So because the GIMP community was unable to work together towards a better image editor, people in the KDE project decided to start their own image editor, called KImage. That was the start of Krita. and initially named "KImageShop", meant to be a GUI shell around ImageMagick. The name was then changed to "Krayon" due to existing trademark issues related to "KImageShop", and finally renamed to Krita in 2002.

All of which brings me to mention here that Krita 5.1 was just released.

Krita is wonderful to work with for drawing and painting, in my opinion.

Cool, thanks for clearing that up! It has some good photo editing abilities as well. That being said it is outstanding for drawing and painting.

[Snapseed]

10 hours ago, Kamei Kojirou said:

Cool, thanks for clearing that up! It has some good photo editing abilities as well. That being said it is outstanding for drawing and painting.

It has been said of Krita that, "It is a photoeditor hidden in paint application". Seriously though, it has a more sane and logical interface than Gimp does and if only Gimp could mimic the Krita way of doing things.

[Renzatic]

3 hours ago, Snapseed said:

It has been said of Krita that, "It is a photoeditor hidden in paint application". Seriously though, it has a more sane and logical interface than Gimp does and if only Gimp could mimic the Krita way of doing things.

It has adjustment layers. That alone puts it well above GIMP.

[Friksel]

On 8/4/2022 at 1:10 PM, PaulEC said:

These stats are for desktops, not tablets! (For tablets Windows has a much lower market share than iOS.)

I'm not talking about tablets either, but desktops with a monitor you can draw on. (to my knowledge Windows tablets-only don't even exists btw)

[azuredusk10]

I tried installing "Designer" via the steps listed on this thread:

I used the Flathub version of Bottles.

Unfortunately, after successfully installing Designer, it doesn't open. I chose the "Open with terminal" option, and this is what was output:

wineserver: using server-side synchronization.
002c:err:wineboot:process_run_key Error running cmd L"C:\\windows\\system32\\winemenubuilder.exe -r" (2).
0120:err:ole:CoGetContextToken apartment not initialised
0160:err:vulkan:wine_vk_instance_load_physical_devices Failed to enumerate physical devices, res=-3
0160:err:vulkan:wine_vkCreateInstance Failed to load physical devices, res=-3

It looks like vulkan couldn't work with my hardware. It's not the first time I've had this problem on my mid-2015 Macbook Pro 15" (MacBookPro11,5) with vulkan - the game Hades gave a similar vulkan error when I tried to run it.

Leaving this post here in case it's useful info for someone else.

[Kajac]

Hey guys. This is interesting for us!

So, recently I had to try to learn how to use some adobe tools (I hate using them) and I ended up discovering that they made extremely functional porting to linux, like a lot of things work correctly.

Does something from there not help to run affinity on linux?

Before anyone comes to talk about JackSparow stuff (Pirate of the Caribbean Software), I have access to Adobe's paid versions for studies, so I'm not here compacting with JackSparow stuff and I want to help run affinity on linux in a legal way, that is valid for any other tool!

Github link!

[wonderings]

On 8/14/2022 at 7:49 AM, 1stn00b said:

Their public filing history : https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02117968/filing-history doesn't show their about to go bankrupt, or struggling so i find it funny they can't afford better developers if the one they have are unfit to develop on other platforms like Android or Linux : > They have exactly 3 products that generate their income so their growth will come from increasing platform diversity, launching new products and off course a payed upgrade to version 2.0.

You sound like a very entitled Linux user. The only possible reason Affinity would not want to develop for Linux and Android is before they can't afford it? I know it is hard to believe but the majority of the world doesn't share your views on how great Linux is as an OS replacement for MacOS and Windows. It could be as simple as they don't see a return on investment for porting to Linux, advertising, support, etc. The market is very small for Linux, the userbase itself is small, and even smaller still for those who would want or need the type of software Affinity is selling. They have plenty of room to grow in the markets they are currently selling, I would hazard a guess that there is more to be earned with Mac and Windows users vs bringing in a completely new market from the Linux community. 

[Twolane]

The last time I took a look at Linux, I thought someone had booted me back to MS DOS. Arcane interface. Arcane instructions to run anything. Arcane instructions to shove anything to a printer.  Need I go on?

[Archangel]

What? No request for an OpenBSD version of Affinity? A very stable UNIX environment could do with the support.

To be honest, Serif have to go where the money is. Effort cannot be expended on projects for which there will not be suitable remuneration. Such is the neocapitalist environment of business and the limitation of free market economics.

So, I won't hold my breath for a version for the Amiga or Atari ST.

[Copy]

I'm following this thread because I want to get updates on running Affinity products on Linux.
I was happy to see Affinity engineers responding hoping one day we could have a fully function Affinity suite on Linux - even if it'll never be officially supported.

I really appreciate more people commenting, saying they'd love to have a Linux version.
But can you all please stop with the useless discussions on how (un)popular Linux is and whether an official port would be economical?

Sorry but nobody cares and important replys like the bottle example and the deprecated function call just go down in this whole mess.
Is there any other thread, maybe on a different forum or a discord server, which is not such a huge mess?
Otherwise I'd really appreciate a moderated thread where people who actually know what they're doing (i.e. not me) and maybe even occasionally Affinity engineers can exchange about their findings on how to get things running under Wine - then it also wouldn't take like 10 minutes to find the reply with the kinda working bottle config.

[jaizon]

2 hours ago, Copy said:

then it also wouldn't take like 10 minutes to find the reply with the kinda working bottle config.

Second that, the file should be pinned or something, if we can do that here, ofc.

Believe or not, until a few weeks ago this thread was fine, but all of a sudden all went to shit, and with just a few comments at that!

[jaizon]

Also, the only real issue we're having with Bottles right now is the flickering. As long as that's fixed, I'd consider it fully functional! A few hiccups, like window size and panels can't be dragged in (so if you drag out some of them, you're fu**ed)

[jaizon]

2 hours ago, Twolane said:

The last time I took a look at Linux, I thought someone had booted me back to MS DOS. Arcane interface. Arcane instructions to run anything. Arcane instructions to shove anything to a printer.  Need I go on?

Right now, I don't even know what you are talking about! When was that, 2000?

[Kajac]

40 minutes ago, jaizon said:

Also, the only real issue we're having with Bottles right now is the flickering. As long as that's fixed, I'd consider it fully functional! A few hiccups, like window size and panels can't be dragged in (so if you drag out some of them, you're fu**ed)

Can you save your edits?

I can only open them!

[Kajac]

44 minutes ago, jaizon said:

Second that, the file should be pinned or something, if we can do that here, ofc.

Believe or not, until a few weeks ago this thread was fine, but all of a sudden all went to shit, and with just a few comments at that!

I can't believe the thread went to shit!

I believe that if more people who understand Wine or are developers get here, they can help with something more!

As I posted on the last page, they made photoshop run on linux! Look that photoshop is full of shit and freshness to run on a normal pc!

[Renzatic]

1 hour ago, jaizon said:

Right now, I don't even know what you are talking about! When was that, 2000?

Maybe about 2010. I'd say it's only been in the last 6 years or so that Linux became actually easy to use.

[jaizon]

1 hour ago, Kajac said:

I can't believe the thread went to shit!

I believe that if more people who understand Wine or are developers get here, they can help with something more!

As I posted on the last page, they made photoshop run on linux! Look that photoshop is full of shit and freshness to run on a normal pc!

Yeah, but Photoshop kinda works for years now, I guess versions before CC were already working, not sure though.

Affinity is pretty new to Linux overall, so it might still take a while for wine people get to it.

And the thread is salvageable, people just need to stop trying to tell the company what to do! I understand that you are buying their products but that gives you no right to meddle in high-risk decisions like this one. Sure we can ask and hope, but not diss them.

[jaizon]

47 minutes ago, Renzatic said:

Maybe about 2010. I'd say it's only been in the last 6 years or so that Linux became actually easy to use.

Idk, I've been using Linux for a few years now and I never got that bad of a experience with it.

[jaizon]

1 hour ago, Kajac said:

Can you save your edits?

I can only open them!

Never tried, and I can't verify right now because I'm out of Linux for some time

 

[gukosowa]

9 hours ago, Copy said:

I'm following this thread because I want to get updates on running Affinity products on Linux.
I was happy to see Affinity engineers responding hoping one day we could have a fully function Affinity suite on Linux - even if it'll never be officially supported.

I really appreciate more people commenting, saying they'd love to have a Linux version.
But can you all please stop with the useless discussions on how (un)popular Linux is and whether an official port would be economical?

Sorry but nobody cares and important replys like the bottle example and the deprecated function call just go down in this whole mess.
Is there any other thread, maybe on a different forum or a discord server, which is not such a huge mess?
Otherwise I'd really appreciate a moderated thread where people who actually know what they're doing (i.e. not me) and maybe even occasionally Affinity engineers can exchange about their findings on how to get things running under Wine - then it also wouldn't take like 10 minutes to find the reply with the kinda working bottle config.

My words, totally right! Priority in solving the flickering problem instead of OS fighting would help tremendously.

Sadly I'm also no help, but following this thread for valuable posts. However it does not help this countless chitchat about market share, why serif not, other companies,... you count it.

But as pointed before, this post also has no value in solving the problem, I just wanted to highlight your words

[pedroterrero]

Just my two cents:

-What you guys have achieved in this thread is AMAZING and I never imagined Affinity would bother to help make their suite usable in Linux. I’m proud that the price I paid for the Affinity suite also helps to bring us things like this. And also a big thanks to the community!

-To the Affinity team: don’t feed the trolls and Linux fundamentalists (they are often the same), they are usually solitary people with too much free time and they don’t know how to keep themselves distracted. Just keep doing the fantastic work you’ve done so far.

-In my opinion, Linux market share being “ridiculous” could be tricky. It doesn’t mean it’s not attractive, because “probably” most of that 3% market share consists of power users or at least users with sophisticated interests. Why does DaVinci Resolve have a Linux version? Or Blender, Houdini, Cinema 4D and other powerful creative and post production tools? Because they are aimed at a minority with very specific needs (and a lot of money to spend). Saying “making a professional graphics editor for Linux is pointless because Linux market share is ridiculous'' is like saying “making peripherals for streamers is pointless because the streaming market share is ridiculous” compared to the general market. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling Affinity what to do, it’s just a thought.

To me, being able to run Affinity Photo via Wine is a dream come true and literally means breaking the ONLY bond I had with Windows.

[1stn00b]

They can always chose a stable Wine release, make their Windows software run with that and bundle everything in a Flatpak package. Adobe products work with Wine because their software doesn't relay heavily or exclusively on the tooling Mac or Windows provides like for example DirectX Effects API that DXVK doesn't implement since is not benefiting games so we have to wait on Wine implementation that has a slower development cycle then other games related projects.

One of the problems i saw in this topic is the usage of clone accounts to troll Linux like this 2 :

 

It's a common practice i saw on other Linux discussions on other platforms , their final goal being actually to close the topics

@jaizon: U can always edit your original post instead of writing a river of consecutively comments, unless the purpose is to rapidly change the pages so the interesting topic parts gets buried away.

I've seen it all so i always presume the worst 😆

 

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, 1stn00b said:

They can always chose a stable Wine release, make their Windows software run with that and bundle everything in a Flatpak package.

"They" who?

If you're referring to Serif, that approach does not seem to be one they are interested in pursuing. It's also somewhat risky for them, because it implies they would support the applications running on Linux and would keep them working, which impacts their future development.

[Snapseed]

16 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

"They" who?

If you're referring to Serif, that approach does not seem to be one they are interested in pursuing. It's also somewhat risky for them, because it implies they would support the applications running on Linux and would keep them working, which impacts their future development.

That is a very valid point.

What they might possibly do though is tolerate an unofficial pre-packaged Affinity Photo + Wine prepared by a third party developer (such things do already exist although I won't explicitly name any of them). A situation like that would mean that there would be no legal or commercial liability for Serif Europe.

[1stn00b]

Anyone can package it as a Flatpak even now so i don't see what's the problem. Their software still runs in trial mode if no key is provided so i don't see what's the big fuss.  So unless they specifically introduce supplementary blocks to stop us from using the software under Wine it doesn't really matter.