this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
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Yes, I am a design professional. Although I use Affinity rather than Adobe wherever I can, since i own the licence in perpetuity; but that isn't Linux compatible either. The only AI tool I use is content-aware selection for masking. I don't use genAI at all.
Since design software can include metadata in exported files, it's also wise to use legally registered software so that my clients aren't exposed to legal issues.
I've been looking at Linux for several years now, and this is the sole reason why I can't leave Windows behind yet, because as you say: random issues with compatibility and troubleshooting.
So it bothers me whenever I investigate this and people suggest clearly inadequate 'alternatives' like GIMP or tell me I should just switch anyway. Anybody that implies I could do my job with GIMP clearly isn't informed enough to actually answer my question.
Thank you very much for the nuanced and good faith explanation.
Like the other user who pointed out that v3 works on linux; I have also heard rumblings from inside Affinity that Linux support is their #1 request, I would not be surprised to see v3 officially supported in one way or another. I've tried the method mentioned above but had mixed results with it. Yes it "works" but UI scaling was a mess for me and other parts of the UI just did not have the finish that you see on the windows or mac versions. I really really want them to get there.
Lastly I need a good photo library manager. Darktable is ok, but again, the UI is a mess. Linux needs a real lightroom killer.
I have been a bit cautious because of the merge with Canva, but Affinity v3 works under Linux. There is a non-official project for helping with installation
https://github.com/ryzendew/Linux-Affinity-Installer
It is supposed to work with v2 also, but I couldn't test it because the distro I use is not compatible (yet)
Very promising! Thank you, I'll look into this. Hopefully it's what I need!