Linux Version?

Report · Jun 07, 2010

Will there ever be a Linux version (preferably Ubuntu/Debian Linux since that's the most popular) of Adobe Premiere Pro, and also the entire Production Premium Creative Suite? At my workplace I already made the decision to go on the PC platform for our edit systems, and am regretting it because Prod. Prem. CS4 is ALWAYS crashing (particularly Premiere and After Effects) on the Windows XP OS (also using Matrox Axio LE hardware). My co-worker wanted us to go with the Mac platform (when we were pitching considerations to our boss), but I didn't listen. So it doesn't look like we'll be able to justify a whole other hardware investment, so if Adobe's CSPP were to be ported to Linux, that would be a win-win (no pun intended with Win-dows!) for us where we would just buy the Linux version of the software. I know no OS is perfect, but from my experience Windows is a horrible OS that should die. When it crashes, it crashes nasty - it hangs for a long time before quitting. Linux, from my experience, performs much faster on the same machine, and when it crashes (less often), it lets you quit immediately.

As for the argument I've read that it's not worth it for Adobe to port their programs to Linux because it has "only 1% market share", where does that info come from? How can you accurately measure Linux's usage when it's a free download and there are so many distributions of it? Besides, it's a Catch-22: if Linux is so small in market share, it's because (1) there aren't a whole lot of mainstream applications that run natively on it (as for Wine, forget it, I've had horrible problems with it), and (2) Linux isn't pre-installed on a lot of machines for the majority of computer users, who are relatively non-technical. No. 2 is something companies like Canonical is trying to change by arranging partnerships with Dell, HP, etc. No. 1 is something that guys like you, Adobe, can change. (How much can the development costs be, anyway? You already make Linux versions of Flash player and Acrobat Reader. All these programs are written in C or Java, right?) Believe me, people will buy a Linux Production Premium. We'll buy 3 licenses up front.

Dale Cornibe

Electronic Media/Video Producer

Travis County Media

Austin, Texas

Report · Dec 07, 2010

I know this post is old, and probably already beaten into the ground, but reading through the string was certainly interesting and enlightening!

Has anybody noticed how vociferous supporters of Mac and Linux appear to be, especially in contrast to Windows guys? Maybe it's just me, but it seems that most Mac and Linux gurus have some pretty tight blinders on... probably preventing them from seeing the snakes in their OS's... but I digress. And perhaps delve too much into sarcasm.

Anyway, to the OP: It's been so long since I've used CS3 that I don't remember the minimum specs, but I can tell you for sure that 4GB of Ram and a firewire HD are pretty sad specs for editing video--especially if its HD. I'm kinda surprised none of the other guys jumped on that, but maybe its because those specs are fine for CS3 and I just don't remember that.

Also, in regards to Windows platforms, I had no end of crashes with CS3 on XP. When I moved to CS4 on XP, everything ran smoothly with crashes only once every couple months. I skipped the Vista world (intentionally) on my editing machine because I had read so many horror stories of CS3/4 on Vista. However, I can also say that CS4/5 on Win7x64 runs like a dream. I've not had one single crash or hangup. I ran CS4 on 7 starting the week Win 7 was released to the public. And I've been running CS5 since the first week of October, with no issues.

In my office I have one system running XP Pro, one system running Vista x64, one system running 7x64, and one system running Ubuntu Linux (whatever was the latest release as of October). My XP Pro system almost never gets touched (it's only for accessing the corporate network here at my workplace), my Vista system gets grudgingly used on a daily basis (my laptop), my 7 system is my editing machine and I use it on a daily basis as well, and love it. My Ubuntu system has sat, dead as a door-nail, for three weeks now because I can't seem to keep it running and I don't know why. From the usability standpoint of an OS, it's not very good, and from a stability standpoint it sucks (at least my install does, and it was put together by a Linux guru who can't seem to figure out what's wrong with it).

So, I would say without hesitation that I would not pay for Adobe apps on a Linux box. And after my experience over the last couple days with Adobe apps on the Mac, I also wouldn't pay for them on OSX, either. No, Windows isn't the answer to the world's problems... (I know what is, but I'd probably get accused of prosyletizing...) but Windows is the best OS for running Adobe apps, and Adobe apps are the best apps for people who do what we do. Of that, I have been convinced through hours of work myself with different NLEs and on different systems, and from reading forums on all the major NLEs and systems.

Report · Dec 12, 2010

This is a great thread and as Adobe seem to be looking for a bigger prospective market before considering porting CS to Linux, I thought I'd come in and add my name to the 'yes please' column.

I've worked as a VFX artist for a few years using mainly After Effects and now NUKE. I currently work on a Mac but used Windows XP at my last company but I've been running Fedora at home the last few years.

We all know how unstable running AE on XP is and quite frankly running it on OSX 10.6 is only slightly better - the massive pauses while it completes 'background processes' is a real joy. Plus we are massively limited with GFX card options on Mac. I can't help but think that a Linux version of After Effects would be so much more efficient purely though my experience in using the same software across multiple platforms ie NUKE, Mocha, Maya - each and everyone is far faster and more stable running on Linux.

I work for a small post house employing a few ops. We have After Effects, Maya, Smoke and Final cut seats and are currently considering switching to Premiere from FC. If there was a linux version of CS, I can guarantee we would all switch platforms overnight - as I am sure many other post houses would. We are serious video professionals, not graphic designers, we aren't bothered about the prettiness of our OS, we just want speed and reliability which linux would give us. I run NUKE on my Mac at work, not because I want to (it's awful compared to linux) but because it's impractical for me and not to mention cost effective to have two machines.

I know there is a massive argument about linux only being for 'techies', well I think you'll find that most video artists, operators etc are fairly competent on a computer as they work on one all day and everyday, I'm sure it wouldn't take most people long to figure out how to install an RPM...

All the big post houses choose Linux for their Maya/NUKE workflows and of course Autodesk use it for their high end systems. Our Smoke ops would kill to have Photoshop/After Effects right there on their system. There IS a huge market out there for this, it may take a while to grow but eventually it would get there.

I'm sure this must have been mentioned before but how about an 'Adobe OS'. Take the Red Hat source and stick some Adobe branding all over. It could be a completely customised environment for CS. Adobe could completely own Apple. Imagine turning on a brand new super-fast linux HP box and big Adobe logo coming up on the OS splash screen with CS pre-installed.Heaven. Apple could not compete.

Report · Jan 12, 2013

This article about the porting of another NLE from Windows to Linux makes some interesting points about the methology being used. The NLE is stable on Windows and the developers did not want to re-write the whole application from scratch. So they moved over 90% of it to an OS-independent layer and then dealt only with the small percentage of the code which was OS specific.

Report · Jun 02, 2015

Now, when Editshare broke the ice with their Lightworks will Adobe shareholders still be nervous about porting to Linux or will they be nervous about loosing marketshare because Lightworks becomes no.1 NLE for milions of PC's running Linux at home and in studio.

Report · Jun 05, 2015

Not wishing to highjack the thread but is any of the Adobe code OS independent so that it will work with Windows and Mac or are both versions of the programs completely different?

Report · May 25, 2019

getsatisfaction link is broken.

Report · May 26, 2019

WHK102 wrote
getsatisfaction link is broken.

Did you realize that this thread was started 9 years ago?