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Affinity for Linux


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So the question isn't whether commercial software has a place on Linux, it's whether Serif can afford the cost to do the port, and if there's enough of an audience there for their particular software to justify the attempt.

 

 

Unless we'd want to insult their intelligence ;) , I am more than sure that they (who already have demonstrated to be quite smart people) have considered that quite deeply before taking a decision. Again, the more convincing argument would be mere numbers, statistics. Why and how X number of potential users (and how and from where that number is brought up) could compensate an inversion of X money. Or even just the first part, as they can pretty much figure out the latter (lol, and the former...).

 

The thing is, if one is not here only for the love of Linux, but ALSO wants Affinity to grow, survive, and THEN, maybe then, be able to provide linux versions (and extra apps in the suite, and etc, etc, but one brick at a time ! ), a big picture perspective here could be concluding that maybe it's the best interest of everyone here that they consolidate what they can only be working at a time, which is already too much (too much in their plate already), and  that for now it seems to be consolidating AP and AD in two platforms. If they don't do so, the big global impact in the fight against the top dogs could be lost, and then forget about everything... (and so, also the linux version). But this is my very personal opinion/take on the matter, very arguable, of course, I just see it so.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

well I click myself into this discussion.

Honestly M$ is slowly but definitely getting annoying with its more or less recent paths, especially in windows 10, right now I am still enjoying popcorn and Ice Tea while laughing about it but unless MS Seriously reverts some policies I am going to look for a new OS. and it would be sad having to drop designer.

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We would only make a Linux version if we were confident we would recoup the $500,000 it would cost us to build it.

Where does that number come from? You already have a macOS version, so your app should already be ported to OpenGL. But even if you aren't sure if it'll work or not, you could do a crowdfunding campaign, which will also let you know if enough people and businesses are interested. Linux community is known for supporting crowdfunding campaigns and startups, why not try it? It has a potential of being the first fully-featured professional photo-editing software on Linux.

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IMO, that's not true/fair in the case of the cross platform applications Blender and Krita. I use both professionally.  :)

 

The inking tool in Inkscape is really well made. if only there was a way to set the side wacom's button pen not to trigger the Inskcape context menu... But there is not, this is a bit crazy for drawing if you are used to set ctrlz or ctrl alt z for undo in the side button of the wacom pen.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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I would greatly like to love Linux but in a graphic user interface world Linux is still at the command prompt.

 

I think anyone here who thinks this has not used modern desktop Linux and is poisoning the hard work of the people.... I just screenshot my Elementary OS install (daily driver) and only use terminal for starting my Angular instance... so yeah.

 

wzOTB2A.jpg

 

I think many are not following market trends.. look at what a modern designers workflow is and I would bet they use the platform that the tools work best on and the same goes for developers regardless of the type they use the platform that suits their workflow. Now go take a look at the big guys and the path they are taking... Dell with the massive Sputnik initiative with top of the line Linux laptops, Microsoft with bash on Windows and now Windows Server. I for one am a front end web dev/designer and Systems Engineer/Task Lead for a major project and we use Linux, Docker, etc etc etc and the only reason we have Windows (THE ONLY REASON) is for the Affinity programs... My developers workflows require a VM up for it and its a pain. FYI we are using the Dell xps 13 Developer Editions (Kaby Lake) and they are OUTSTANDING machines that can do the VM/Design/Dev.

 

I think if you don't stay up on the trends you would not be aware of the plethora of options that make it easy to ship across platforms (Flatpak, snaps, etc.) and now even the Desktops are closer than ever across distros with Ubuntu dropping Unity and everyone focusing on Gnome.

 

I think if your product is worth its salt it will sell regardless of the platform... 

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Yeah using programs once installed is pretty straight forward but getting some programs installed can be a big headache.  Its nowhere near just click and install.

 

Anyone considering using Linux needs to walk into it knowing it's not for the faint of heart. If your someone who doesn't care to know about how the OS works but just wants it to run your software then Linux is going to be a huge nightmare for you.  You will need to know the OS and how the various components all work together. You will need to learn some basic programing skills and command line instructions to install software.  Software comes in various extensions which require knowledge of installers and command line instructions to get them into Linux.

 

I have been playing around with Linux Mint for a few years now and I have software I have downloaded on my computer that to this day I still haven't figured out how to install. Most people who use Linux possess a high degree of technical knowledge and a good grasp of the UNIX framework.

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About trends.... Well, I've worked for long in video game industry. Which, btw, moves now more money than film industry, or that's what I'm hearing and reading lately, even in the news... There are exceptions, but the huge large majority of these companies do use Windows based software. A lot use Apple platforms too.  These packages are very often provided for both Apple and Windows. More rarely to Linux (brilliant exception of Maya, Houdini, but there are a ton of tools very essential in game development not present for linux)

 

I was working for many years as a front end guy (coding, image works, from concept to finalizing all, the whole pack ) at a company, in a team where mainly I cared of 90% of the whole front end stuff, several portals and other stuff. I was Windows-only for preference (because Windows is GOOD, not evil, and very fast and compatible with almost anything on earth ) and found this kind of strong will of not even touch the system unless using a resources hungry and not hardware/drivers friendly VM (we used those in a very advanced way, I quite know my way with those as a result) .  I could -and did- have multiboot in my machines, and use equally Windows and Linux (i could install and use anything both in console or desktop (no tech support needed, I installed and fixed my OSes), been using Linux seems Red Hat first versions, and a few of the first Slackwares . Ubuntu is very nice , but Windows is simply a more practical solution in this world. )

So, the trend argument, looking at the numbers (Windows users will use a tool coming from Linux without hesitation, if is good, heck I use everyday Blender, Krita, Inkscape and Gimp in my Windows), would be not very convenient for focusing on linux. I'd use better the security reasons, when in areas where security is more of a concern. But an artist as I was in a company, where I did knew how to handle well a Windows system (not the average joe) and very heavy firewalls and other measures were between me and anything important, not so much of an issue (full security is almost impossible, though).

 

IMO, it is even Affinity in the Windows and Mac world, and they still have a very hard fight against the established giant (decades of polishing for many professional areas, large armies of developers, market already dominated and extremely hard to beat, workflows very tied to the internal cores of the companies, the freelancers being requested constantly to import (and provide later) a very natively linked PSD file, drivers, plugins, etc, etc, etc. etc).... Add there the extra obstacle of the OS (out of ~20 graphic buddies I can think of right now, worked with me at companies, almost all would have strong issues to handle the basics in ANY Linux system), platform, and then we're done....

 

Also, that Linux counts now with very beautiful desktops (it does, and are really a pleasure to handle: I am a Linux user without ANY problem in using it for my everyday tasks and also using the terminal ) is very far from all what is needed to be competitive with a VARIED graphic production environment (at companies, many of us are required not just to deal with all front end stuff. In many cases is also always the print stuff, animation, etc).  Of course, -and I believe this is one of the main reasons for this hyperactive thread- with Affinity, being affordable, non-subscription based (thankfully!! ) , and already covering largely the professional needs, would help a ton in filling the gap for Linux. And yeah. I DO believe that for having a professional solution IN your Linux, a lot of Linux users would pay the 50 or 100 bucks with no hesitation at all, even if goes against the philosophy of some (but low cost software is an old habit in Linux, they've learnt already that SOME money (just not extortion or crazy prices) has to be spent to get the pro workflows. Even in just manuals, for tech needs, speeding up, or just help the cause, they're used to these quantities and more. Been there, done that. )

 

The issue keeps being the same. Not enough market to consider that the SAME effort in developers hours would be bringing the same money , would be as cost effective as developing for Windows (90% of installed machines.... :s ) or Apple (way smaller, but a large percentage of graphic artists there, and top class, huge companies based full workflow in Mac since decades... ). IE, meaning that putting that chunk of developers hours, blood, sweat and tears into developing and perfecting AP and AD for Mac and Windows will certainly bring more income, consolidate more the company, as once those 2 apps are flawless in Win and Mac, they get the royal strong consideration, as a very important enemy ( I would suspect then aggressive counter measures from the Giant if situation gets there. ). At that point, the company, and this is a personal opinion by someone fully unrelated to Serif (sadly) , would have way more room, money, capability and most of all, built "name" [ there is no better marketing known in this universe and parallel ones than artists saying "hey these have no bugs anymore, and allow me to do all the work, no subscription". Even if prices later on would go up (have no idea). As the subscription (and previously monopolistic huge price) is the main prob. ]  and installed base, to conquer the Linux world. Till then is divide a energy that they need fully for an already gigantic task for a small team.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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Yeah using programs once installed is pretty straight forward but getting some programs installed can be a big headache.  Its nowhere near just click and install.

 

Anyone considering using Linux needs to walk into it knowing it's not for the faint of heart. If your someone who doesn't care to know about how the OS works but just wants it to run your software then Linux is going to be a huge nightmare for you.  You will need to know the OS and how the various components all work together. You will need to learn some basic programing skills and command line instructions to install software.  Software comes in various extensions which require knowledge of installers and command line instructions to get them into Linux.

 

I have been playing around with Linux Mint for a few years now and I have software I have downloaded on my computer that to this day I still haven't figured out how to install. Most people who use Linux possess a high degree of technical knowledge and a good grasp of the UNIX framework.

 

@InfoCentral I firmly believe you are spinning a narrative that is just not true at all. My wife has been running a Linux desktop (Ubuntu) complete with every item she has possibly needed for personal and business use for over 3 years now and if you asked her to open her terminal you would get a blank stare... 99% of the apps or programs she needs are on the desktop or in the "app store". The other are all cloud based. In her words she said this when I asked her if using Linux was hard... "I would say its been a better thing than Windows or my old Mac.. everything is there and easy to get, it's fast and I love that it never gets all that spammy stuff!" In addition to this my entire family has been a non-windows family for a solid two years and other than myself no terminals are in use... not needed. Also, my wife would have had to buy another laptop 5 years ago but with the addition of $200 chromebook for consults/on the go and her old MSI S6000 laptop with a ram upgrade she is still going with this setup and I see no reason to change it. With the cash she saved she invested in equipment else where!

 

So AGAIN to anyone that says this or thinks this GO DOWNLOAD IT! I assume if your making claims like this you can run a VM... so do it then judge it for what the flaws really are.

 

 

On a side note... I keep saying it over and over with Snaps and Flatpaks, etc. software distribution has never been easier under Linux. Also, with windows tightening up the Windows Store and the S versions of Windows I predict the land of Windows is going to vary greatly shortly. 

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Installing softwares in linux:

 

https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1525

 

If you find yourself completely stumped then a quick search for Linux on Amazon will reveal several books to help you on your journey...

 

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_rsis_1_3?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=linux&sprefix=lin%2Caps%2C196

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  • 4 weeks later...

Why not make a Kickstarter and make the community decide if it is worth it to develop Affinity Photo for Linux.

 

I for one would not hesitate for one second to throw money on it. It's about damn time someone make a proper Photoshop alternative for Linux and a proper Linux Photo editor in the first place!

 

Make an estimate of the cost to port it to Linux, then setup the kickstarter for that amount - I would be very surprised if you did not reach that sum if you make some marketing to your current users.

 

Above all, it would be VERY CHEAP MARKETING TOO.

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Make an estimate of the cost to port it to Linux, then setup the kickstarter for that amount ...

The developers have already said it would take a minimum of half a million dollars before they would even consider such a project. They are not at all sure they could hire enough designers with the right skillset to do that, how long it would take to bring a viable version to market, or if or to what extent this might compromise the further development of the Mac, Windows, & iOS apps, including the much anticipated (& delayed) Publisher app & the DAM app (for which there is as yet not even an ETA for the first beta.)

 

I admit I have not done much research on this, but from what I can tell, the most highly funded & successful Kickstarter projects have three things in common: wide appeal, a well developed prototype or proof of concept product of some kind, & a promise of a reasonably short time to market if the funding goal is met.

 

It seems unlikely that this project would do any of that.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Mac OS and Linux are both based on the UNIX platform so one would think that it shouldn't be too hard.

 

Mac OS X is just basically just a special kernel (because Apple can lock down what hardware gets used so effectively, they can optimize without having to cater to myriad hardware) and a GUI pasted on top of UNIX. It's also incredibly close to completely compatible with Linux technically except for the steps Apple has taken to keep open source away. It's quite possible to drop a linux packaging system like apt-get into an OSX installation and have it work fine.

 

VLC actually sued them to remove the VLC Player from the App Store because they didn't want to see them benefit financially by their "1-way" street of taking open code, changing it, and then locking it down.

 

Really I guess I'm trying to say that OSX and Linux are more alike than either community would probably lead you to believe. And like Grayson was saying, both of them are incredibly close to their grandfather UNIX - you can effectively learn 90% of both OSX and Linux systems by just studying UNIX.

 

 

 

Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) is a Unix operating system derivative developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) of the University of California, Berkeley, from 1977 to 1995. Today the term "BSD" is often used non-specifically to refer to any of the BSD descendants which together form a branch of the family of Unix-like operating systems. Operating systems derived from the original BSD code remain actively developed and widely used.

 

The final release from Berkeley was 1995's 4.4BSD-Lite Release 2, after which the CSRG was dissolved and development of BSD at Berkeley ceased. Since then, several variants based directly or indirectly on 4.4BSD-Lite (such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and DragonFly BSD) have been maintained.

 

In addition, the permissive nature of the BSD license has allowed many other operating systems, both free and proprietary, to incorporate BSD code. For example, Microsoft Windows has used BSD-derived code in its implementation of TCP/IP[6] and bundles recompiled versions of BSD's command-line networking tools since Windows 2000.[7] Also Darwin, the system on which Apple's macOS is built, is a derivative of 4.4BSD-Lite2 and FreeBSD. Various commercial Unix operating systems, such as Solaris, also contain varying amounts of BSD code.

 

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@InfoCentral

 

There is much more to the Mac OS than a special kernel & "a GUI pasted on top of UNIX." It was based on the XNU (which stands for "X is Not Unix") hybrid kernel, which combines modified features of preexisting BSD & FreeBSD microkernel & monolithic kernel architectures & a unique driver model called I/O Kit. Apple has in recent years abstracted the OS further into various "Core" services & added hierarchical permission structures in which not even root has direct access to everything once the full OS is running.

 

Recent Mac OS versions are Single UNIX Specification (SUS) UNIX 03 certified when running on Intel-based Mac computers, but that just means they include a subset of interfaces, commands, utilities, & services that comply with the SUS UNIX 03 standard. Darwin is the open source subset of the OS, & may or may not meet that standard depending on how it is set up. Darwin by itself can not run Mac OS apps because it lacks most of the high level API's & GUI characteristic of the full OS.

 

To that extent the Mac OS is "UNIX-like" but it is probably more accurate to think of it as a superset of UNIX that includes a boatload of proprietary closed source features.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.0 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Linux only has one really good solution for photo editing: GIMP     

 

But you will find many users who 1) are a bit annoyed by the interface or 2) will discover main drawbacks.

A professional photo editing tool Linux port should be profitable if the company uses +- 3% of it's resources for the port.

 

In all other domains Linux already has good professional tools. For office you have the non-free SoftMaker Office, even when you have capable free professional office software like WPS Office and LibreOffice. MATLAB supports Linux. A music producer can use Renoise, or Bitwig Studio 2 (the most modern DAW in the world) on Linux. Elite colorists can use DaVinci Resolve 14 on Linux. Industial Ligt & Magic, Rodeo FX, Weta Digital produce all their high budget movies on Linux workstations. Professional video editors like Lightworks support Linux. Many innovative car brands (e.g. Audi) use only Linux for their design workstations. These days, you can even turn a Linux PC into a decent gaming machine. Valve almost has 4000 games with native Linux support. And that number doesn't include many other Linux games that you can find on itch.io, https://www.gog.com/, Humble Store, independent game project sites, etc. Professional software like CityEngine and many proprietary CAD programs have perfect support for Linux.  

 

But professional graphics editors and photography is the only software category where Linux doesn't have an important non-free option. As a photo editor developer, you can't fix all the problems with being restricted to two operating systems by yourself. However if you are not supporting more than two operating systems you are adding to the problem.

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 However if you are not supporting more than two operating systems you are adding to the problem.

 

 

Do you mean they are adding to the problem that  Linux itself has in that area ?  (IMO, is not any app developer company's problem/issue. the dev's problems are paying salaries, rent, electricity bill, etc)

 

I don't know, I think some very good fully free tools are doing more than fine despite to not being commercial. I do professional work with Blender and Krita. Using Gimp more rarely. They are fully cross platform (win, mac linux), just like Wings3D, also non commercial, and I do all my modeling with it.

 

The huge issue both Gimp and Inskcape have, if we are speaking both about photo editing and more general image editing works (or vector based images),  like in the reddit thread you linked -they also make comments in this very line-  is CMYK support, and related stuff/workflows. A huge large area of crucial functionality for professional work is... simply not there. And you get curious answers when digging if someone asked for it at some point. IMO is totally fine if a developer does not want to add it (like it is imo if a developer does not want to do a linux port! is their call.  ). It sounds strange that some of the answers found in some forums on internet are kind of in this line: that is not so necessary, or who needs cmyk workflows?,  or etc. Would be much serious to answer : ' Ok, we know is needed in the professional world in many applications and jobs. We have decided not to add it '. I'm totally fine with that, I then look for a different software, no issue. (Indeed, so I did). (Affinity supports all this nicely). In contrast , Krita adds a bit more support of CMYK, but is neither complete. (but somewhat better than the other two free tools support in that very specific area)

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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HI @all.
I am a developer.
To resolve this issue referenced to Ubuntu version it's put `All the pieces` together.
A common mistake it's how to adjust existing code into library 
avambile to Ubuntu.

 

The right way it's which library is necessary to run our code on Ubuntu.
When we have the library
, the next big question how to provide single file executable.
 

The common solution its use *.deb files for app and *.deb files for the library - which it's a lite bit annoying.
The excellent solution *.
appimage it generates one executable *.appimage files with all dependency of application, so you don't depend on system library.

 

Quote for an appimage site about itself:

`Download an application, make it executable, and run! No need to install. No system libraries or system preferences are altered. Can also run in a sandbox like Firejail.`

 

I can help resolve the issue, by finding an equivalent of library's use on Mac Os version. 
Question to developers - so which of library's, is used for mac os version?

Edited by chiddekel
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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

So is there any recent developments or word from Serif on this apart from asking for 500K? I mean, have they actually announced a kickstarter project at all? To be honest, this is the only think stopping me from kicking Windows completely now... 

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I seem to remember Serif mentioning that it’s not on their agenda to do any Linux version, not because of lack of money but because of lack of resources (time and programmers). They are already struggling to keep their promises on the Mac and Win versions so the last of their concerns is to start development for yet another platform.

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2 minutes ago, VIPStephan said:

I seem to remember Serif mentioning that it’s not on their agenda to do any Linux version, not because of lack of money but because of lack of resources (time and programmers). They are already struggling to keep their promises on the Mac and Win versions so the last of their concerns is to start development for yet another platform.

but then why not just make this thing crossplatform in the first place so that it doesnt need too much customization for each platform?

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