Putting the Affinity graphics suite on Linux
Art Time
© Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
Affinity is an award-winning photo editing, graphic design, and page layout tool suite that will run on Linux – with a little help from Wine.
The Adobe Suite is the most popular tool for digital artists of all kinds, including photographers, creators, and illustrators. It works well, but it becomes more bloated with each release. Also, the Adobe Suite requires an expensive subscription, and most importantly, Adobe has ignored Linux for decades. The suite does not offer Linux support, and performance under Wine is subpar. Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program [1] ) is developed slowly, and CMYK color model support [2] was introduced only in Version 3. Krita [3] is very promising but is optimized primarily for digital painting. Are Gimp and Krita good enough to serve as professional tools on Linux for book or digital media illustration, wedding album creation, or private club invitations? It depends on the tasks and workflow, but I'd expect a lot of pitfalls and painful surprises. Luckily, a user-friendly alternative for Linux is now available.
The Affinity Suite [4] is a toolkit for photo editing, graphic design, and page layout that normally runs on macOS, Windows, and iPad systems. Affinity and the open source community have undertaken a long-term effort to get Affinity applications working in Linux using Wine [5]. Currently, this solution requires a patched Wine-staging (experimental Wine fork), but hopefully it will eventually be able to work with stable Wine, which will make installation easier and allow average users to get it up and running in a few clicks. Sadly, at this time, the installation takes a little more effort.
System Requirements
To fully realize the potential of Affinity on Linux, you'll need the following hardware:
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Mint 22.3 Now Available with New Tools
Linux Mint 22.3 has been released with a pair of new tools for system admins and some pretty cool new features.
-
New Linux Malware Targets Cloud-Based Linux Installations
VoidLink, a new Linux malware, should be of real concern because of its stealth and customization.
-
Say Goodbye to Middle-Mouse Paste
Both Gnome and Firefox have proposed getting rid of a long-time favorite Linux feature.
-
Manjaro 26.0 Primary Desktop Environments Default to Wayland
If you want to stick with X.Org, you'll be limited to the desktop environments you can choose.
-
Mozilla Plans to AI-ify Firefox
With a new CEO in control, Mozilla is doubling down on a strategy of trust, all the while leaning into AI.
-
Gnome Says No to AI-Generated Extensions
If you're a developer wanting to create a new Gnome extension, you'd best set aside that AI code generator, because the extension team will have none of that.
-
Parrot OS Switches to KDE Plasma Desktop
Yet another distro is making the move to the KDE Plasma desktop.
-
TUXEDO Announces Gemini 17
TUXEDO Computers has released the fourth generation of its Gemini laptop with plenty of updates.
-
Two New Distros Adopt Enlightenment
MX Moksha and AV Linux 25 join ranks with Bodhi Linux and embrace the Enlightenment desktop.
-
Solus Linux 4.8 Removes Python 2
Solus Linux 4.8 has been released with the latest Linux kernel, updated desktops, and a key removal.