Affinity products for Linux

[jaizon]

33 minutes ago, 1stn00b said:

How can it be a bonus if u have to pay for it ?  If it were to be added to V1 then yes : >

Lol, that's what you pay for, to get new stuff and for the old stuff to keep working, like in any other paid software. Now, just because you pay it doesn't mean that you'll have anything you want. You gotta understand when something good happens. nd-raw edit is one of those, you like it or not.

37 minutes ago, 1stn00b said:

Gimp it just need more love

GIMP needs to be rebuilt from scratch at some point. It has almost all the good features you'd want in it, but they are not intuitive and the interface doesn't help. I guess taking a lot of stuff out building it with usability in mind might help, like what they did with Inkscape. Just switching from GTK-X to GTK-X won't help, gotta put effort to make everything make sense, and that's where paid software usually shines.

[jaizon]

12 minutes ago, D’T4ils said:

To be honest, I was expecting the exact same thing. I was really surprised to see we didn’t get any kind of special deal for being long-time customers

Same, though 40% off + Universal Licensing is already a great deal, though I won't be buying it lol
EDIT: it seems to be even cheaper if bought from MS Store

[1stn00b]

Since we still are in the Affinity products for Linux topic i fail to get what's great about this Universal Licensing deal that doesn't work on anything i have : >

[MattyWS]

The deal is good, £90 for all of their software on all supported platforms is a steal to be fair. Linux sadly isn't one of those platforms, though I would still love for it to be. Anyways, I guess with v2 they've kinda cut off any chance of using affinity on linux for now.

Gimp needs more than some love. Gimp needs to either be build from the ground up or be taken on by a decent company like Blender has. Without a decent backing, Gimp is nothing. Progress on updates are extremely slow and the updates that are coming according to the roadmap are minimal, meanwhile Blender is blazing forward taking over the 3D industry with every update they bring. It's a real shame tbh. 

Krita is great but limited to its own thing, hand painted raster images. Inkscape is not very intuitive, especially compared to the likes of Affinity Designer, but I respect that its a good application once you learn how to use it.

In the end like 1stn00b said, darktable is a great photo editor (specifically only photo editor really). It's a shame there's nothing really like Affinity Photo or Photoshop for us on Linux that can be taken seriously. These days I really just use darktable for editing images in batches, substance designer for channel packing and photopea if I need to do any random image manipulating thats not too heavy. The Affinity Suite on linux would just be awesome. There are millions of linux users out there wanting this and even more people who don't realise they want it until it comes.

 

[1stn00b]

Comparing Gimp or any other open-source software to Blender is very unfair, since the latest has the cashflow to sustain development and also a pool of developers available from bigger companies.

But yes, like u said Gimp, InkScape are not user friendly to the "default people" that can't change preferences :>

[jaizon]

11 minutes ago, 1stn00b said:

But yes, like u said Gimp, InkScape are not user friendly

I would argue that Inkscape is pretty user-friendly, even when compared to paid software. I still find the interface, especially the panels, to be kind of off-putting, though. Maybe it is because I used it a lot, or probably because it kind of reminds me of the old CorelDRAW. But yeah, can't compare many open source software with Blender.

[j0e.org]

The V2 deal is great!

For me, I don't need an image manipulator. I need something like Affinity Designer for Linux. But InkScape is not what I like to use every day.

[MattyWS]

49 minutes ago, 1stn00b said:

Comparing Gimp or any other open-source software to Blender is very unfair, since the latest has the cashflow to sustain development and also a pool of developers available from bigger companies.

But yes, like u said Gimp, InkScape are not user friendly to the "default people" that can't change preferences :>

I disagree that comparing gimp and blender is unfair. I specifically said gimp needs to have that backing to succeed, not that gimp isn't succeeding despite having some kind of backing.

Also if the "default" is not user friendly thats the problem of the application not people IMO. Why would it be non-user friendly by default on purpose?

[1stn00b]

Well that user friendliness wording backfired, when in fact i wanted to say that the out-of-box interface of Gimp is  FUGLY but not use so harsh words ; >

At least on Gnome we have adw-gtk3  theme that does wonders for older apps. Combining that with Gradiance tool and u get the idea  : >

 

 

[jaizon]

19 minutes ago, Unleavened Tech said:

Affinity 2.0? No Linux support in 2022? No way I'm supporting this company again... And I don't recommend anyone else to do so either.

Look for alternatives:

• Inkscape: Honestly, Inkscape isn't as bad as I used to think. It's a pretty okay and capable vector editing application. The UI and UX do take some time to get used to, but it is a real Illustrator / Designer alternative, and even has features that Affinity Designer doesn't.
• GIMP: On the other hand, GIMP is still where it used to be 20 years ago: it's an alternative to Adobe Photoshop 1.0. GIMP is still stuck at GTK 2 I believe, so it is not really developed that much anymore, so that's why it's so behind any other photo editing application like Photoshop or Affinity Photo.
• Krita: Still missing some features, but more actively developed than GIMP, and it already is more capable than GIMP.
• Photoshop / Illustrator: There are methods for getting both to work on Wine, although they are older versions (2018 I think).
• Photoshop Web: It's an online version of Adobe Photoshop, available for free (as in free beer, not as in freedom). You do need an Adobe account though.
• Photopea: Another online photo editor, also available for free (as in free beer, not as in freedom). Better compatibility with PSD formats than Affinity Photo. Pretty capable.
• MiniPaint: Free & open-source online photo editor, quite new, so it lacks a lot of features, but still has some that GIMP lacks. Might be useful in the future.
• Pinta: Free & open-source alternative to Paint.net.
• Gravit Designer: vector graphics application.

That's a strange statement. You are trying to "punish" a company for not doing something you wanted it to do but which it never said it would and that expressed in many situations it wouldn't? hum...

[MattyWS]

Yea, I've accepted that Serif have chosen not to support the Linux platform (regardless of if I disagree with that choice it's theirs to make). No need to act out and try to punish them for it. I just wish they'd develop their applications in such a way that it would be truly cross platform (or at least make it work via wine)

[1stn00b]

Just noticed we are being archived - down to the trash bin of history - along with V1 software : >

[jaizon]

2 minutes ago, 1stn00b said:

along with V1 software : >

I guess a lot of people will keep using V1 though, since not everyone will need the new features. And now that it the software itself won't change anymore, maybe people will get it to work better in linux? like CS6 PS or something!

[1stn00b]

V2 will need more years of development to actually become V2, atleast from what i'm seeing in the forum comments.

Since i couldn't even install it on W10 i can't confirm or infirm on what they are saying but my logic tells me that they probably dedicated the development time, since they stoped updating V1, to make Publisher for Ipad and in the last minute decided to trow out a V2 of all their software.

[jaizon]

Just now, 1stn00b said:

V2 will need more years of development to actually become V2, atleast from what i'm seeing in the forum comments.

Since i couldn't even install it on W10 i can't confirm or infirm on what they are saying but my logic tells me that they probably dedicated the development time to make Publisher for Ipad and in the last minute decided to trow out a V2 of all their software.

Can't install it on W10?

[1stn00b]

See on last page :

Also i have like 7 x 140 WCLibs in there and  the great MSIX Microsoft installer even left garbage in there from failed V2 install

 

[walt.farrell]

8 minutes ago, 1stn00b said:

Since i couldn't even install it on W10

On an up-to-date Win10 system you should be able to install it.

[walt.farrell]

21 minutes ago, 1stn00b said:

Just noticed we are being archived - down to the trash bin of history - along with V1 software : >

The archived threads should remain available, so you'll be able to continue the discussions here.

[jaizon]

4 minutes ago, 1stn00b said:

See on last page :

 

That's probably your PC though. Usually installing latest Visual C++ packages solve those kind of errors.

You could try downloading and instilling x86 and x64 versions from here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-US/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

[1stn00b]

Do you actually think i have time to waste on that trash OS called W10. Wasn't Windows suppose to be noob friendly ? The message is very clear : Ask developer for the WCLibs

[walt.farrell]

15 minutes ago, 1stn00b said:

Do you actually think i have time to waste on that trash OS called W10. Wasn't Windows suppose to be noob friendly ?

And it is, if you keep it updated (which is also easy).

If you think of it as trash, and ignore it, and don't keep it updated, then you get the trash you expected.

[1stn00b]

It's up to date - latest version of Microsoft Landfill aka Store, that was the 1st thing i opened when booting into W10 and after the WCLibs error -that btw are being updated thru the Store if u didn't know it.  Also i don't need Windows related troubleshooting because i was using it since W3.11 on an PC with Turbo button.  Why do you think i use Linux ?

[ShadeOn]

Same in my situation. I am used to Windows from 95 up to 10, but I prefer 7 or 8.1 as last true version. 10 is a joke and I use it only for "business".

Win 11 is even worse than 10 because of hardware discrimination (valid only for those who have CPU from 2019 onwards). While you can install W11 on those pre 2019, it gets sluggish (it has same code under the hood but uses a different store which is in the center of the OS); and if it has Win10 on it, somehow miraculously works normal.

(Even the 7 or 8.1 have their problems also, I agree (for example 7 didn't have internet connection driver out-of-box, and it had to be installed with the client's mainboard driver CD back in old days), while 8.1 had good Win7 fixes but had that Metro thing for tablets as default for all devices.)

After the major updates fiasco with forced updates ...the one where HDDs were formatted "for free, out of charge, not accidentally", the HP or whatever brand that had drivers and functionality problems (only those with that brand had this great feature experience), the latest one in 2020 which in summer, all images were corrupted and couldn't be printed straight forward (all had to be forced converted into PDF and most small copy business centers used some free online PDF converters) and even Wacom drivers had problems in Windows... (on one hand.. if after one update, wacom drivers didn't work 100% alright, Wacom fixed it, then after another update it was broken again, and irony.. reverting to a previous driver version fixed it (LOL) and it was clear that it wasn't a Wacom driver thing from the start)

So from this situation, I prefer to use Win 10 in a virtual box, and have Linux Ubuntu (or Ubuntu Studio / Debian later on if I switch distribution, still with .deb or snap) for a safety measure. W10 is not trusted enough to let it be a main OS on a working PC/Laptop (with internet cable in it, day by day)

At Linux and Mac there are not such fake troubleshooting problems, if there are.. it's truly from let's say.. Wacom hardware/drivers and not the OS. (I am not talking about fresh releases of new Wacom devices which need some time until drivers and updated and such to work on OSs, this is normal. I talk about already working devices, released some time ago, and worked)

 

And don't say stuff like "you can now disable updates if you want". I know that, but it has a twisted side also that many didn't encounter. If you don't update the OS after 3 years (and do only small fixes updates and stuff), you will get a "expiration" notification and it's HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to update it. On 8 or 7 or XP , I could let it disabled even for 6+ years and it didn't happen this. Plus I had the possibility to choose only some updates to make which were needed. In the 10, if you didn't update for those 3 years (real case study from personal experience, repairing computers btw), once you started updating, it had to literally get EVERY SINGLE previous update in order, no skipping any minor or middle patches (even the ones with problems that were reported).

 

@MattyWS They can't change the present from the chosen path from the past. They chose to be tied to dedicated libraries that are tied to a OS (and adapt them individually, making many repeating tasks written differently) instead of making a universal app with their own home-made libraries, and then just do strings attach (like frameworks home-made) as minimum to dedicated libraries for each OS, for example for things that are not displaying the same (like in old days with Javascript displaying differently on browsers) and nowadays with webkit-like things. They had more power of control and just go forward being able to adapt to any scenario, and keeping their base unified.

We can only adapt to their choice by using virtual machines with w10, and we'll see in 5-10-15 years what happens (continuous development, or a new suite rewritten)

 

[1stn00b]

The only updates Windows is getting this days are for Microsoft Shit Network (MSN) Trash News, But it's not Google (Bing) search box and Recommended Ads in your Start Menu : >

[MattyWS]

2 hours ago, ShadeOn said:

@MattyWS They can't change the present from the chosen path from the past. They chose to be tied to dedicated libraries that are tied to a OS (and adapt them individually, making many repeating tasks written differently) instead of making a universal app with their own home-made libraries, and then just do strings attach (like frameworks home-made) as minimum to dedicated libraries for each OS, for example for things that are not displaying the same (like in old days with Javascript displaying differently on browsers) and nowadays with webkit-like things. They had more power of control and just go forward being able to adapt to any scenario, and keeping their base unified.

yup, thats really their own failing though and now they're limited with what the can do with the software they've made. It's a shame because affinity suite is great but yea, if they didn't have the foresight to make their software cross platform then it's a real shame. It seems to be unnecessarily hard work for Serif to support just the three platforms (windows, mac and iOS). Strange they'd support iOS but not android either, considering android has a larger market share than iOS.. if their reasoning is that there's more people on mac than linux.