5 ms·

How to Run Adobe Photoshop 2024 on Wine (Linux)

112 points by walterbell 2y ago

kristianp 2y ago
Seems handy but I know if I try this some annoying missing dll or file error will pop up. Having said that I habe had success using Excel with playonlinux. As long as I dont open 2 spreadsheets and try to switch between them I'm ok.
tambourine_man 2y ago
Running is one thing, running well is another.
- mrweasel 2y ago
  But running is the first step in getting something running well.
  - tambourine_man 2y ago
    Sure, but we’ve been stumbling over the first step for decades.
lionkor 2y ago
Its very simple: Start a windows VM with a few gigs of RAM, via virt-manager or similar, install photoshop, and that's it
- DrSiemer 2y ago
  Afaik the is a significant drop in performance through this route, especially when working with large files
  - yellow_lead 2y ago
    There might be some tricks for this like configuring GPU passthrough, but that can be challenging or even impossible sometimes.
    - BoredPositron 2y ago
      You don't need it anymore Microsoft has a neat little app that provides OpenCL/GL spoofing. It's near native speed with it. https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nqpsl29bfff?hl=en-us&gl=US https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nqpsl29bfff?hl=en-us&gl=U...
- ensocode 2y ago
  True, having this as a solution is a good last resort, but it would feel more native if it could run without an extra Windows VM, even though Wine is already kind of a Windows. Currently, I'm running Windows 11 in virt-manager just to use mstsc for a customer who doesn't allow Linux RDP clients. This setup feels a bit excessive. Using Wine for that purpose would be less of a pain. I appreciate the work people do to run things in wine, thanks!
DaoVeles 2y ago
Photoshop is the Sisyphus of software compatibility on Wine. Can play the latest UE5 based game via Proton, still struggles with Photoshop. The funny state of Linux-Windows compatibility. I get it, not undermining game development - it is a fine art but games are tight code bases that work on a lot of repetitive tasks. Utilities can be exceptionally broad in their scope. Also helps that coders who are gamers can be VERY dedicated to fixing the issues that hold them back from said games. It is just neat that Photoshop is still this elusive thing that seems to also just be a foot away from working perfectly out of the box. I mean I have seen Wine run all manner of applications and home brew games without an issue.
- threatripper 2y ago
  I suspect a co-evolution in games is at play. In a way that the game developers are nudged by Steam to prefer using compatible features and Steam works together with game engine developers.
  - DaoVeles 2y ago
    Absolutely. Nowadays it feels like the best development tools for Linux is the Win32 tool chain. No need for native ports if proton can be the glue between the systems.
  - MindSpunk 2y ago
    It’s just that games are easier to run on wine because they touch a comparatively small portion of the Windows API. Windowing, controller input, file system, networking, audio and directx covers the overwhelming majority of Windows API endpoints that need to be translated by wine. Their interaction with these APIs is relatively simple, open a window, read a few files, open a udp socket. Directx is hard, but the tools have gotten scary good lately (dxvk, vkd3d-proton). Compared to a complex tool like Photoshop which will be touching many more system APIs that need to behave correctly (file locking, codecs, COM). Arguably a Windows PE executable using Vulkan and run in Proton is a better way to ship a game to run on Linux than building a native Linux executable. It’s actually more portable because the Windows API and environment is more stable and consistent than some arbitrary Linux user space. No glibc versioning BS or dynamic linker path BS or any other number of strange things users can do. Just stable Win32. Valve actually recommends this over a native Linux build currently.
reacweb 2y ago
When I had to convince my wife to leave windows for linux, the fact that photoshop was working perfectly fine on wine was a huge point. At that time (windows vista 64 era), I was using photoshop V6. It was launched directly from windows partition. All I needed was a "shortcut" file to launch it.
- codetrotter 2y ago
  > At that time (windows vista 64 era), I was using photoshop V6 Photoshop V6 or Photoshop CS6? There’s a pretty big difference between Photoshop 6.0 and Photoshop CS6 :p
  - reacweb 2y ago
    yes Photoshop 6.0 ;-) For a non professional, it was already a good tool.
dsign 2y ago
At this point, Windows's application binary interface is something of a common good, at the same level as roads and utilities. Shouldn't we have a piece of legislation that forces Microsoft to offer that binary interface in the same way as utilities sell power? I love Linux, and I think that Linux desktop is fairly usable, but a bunch of software I rely on works much better on Windows.
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  >a bunch of software I rely on works much better on Windows. So buy and use Windows. Windows remains the king of desktop because everyone wants/needs Windows programs.
  - DrSiemer 2y ago
    The monopoly Windows currently has allows them to create a user hostile environment.
  - hsbauauvhabzb 2y ago
    The parent post is a pretty good indicator that not everyone wants windows.
    - Dalewyn 2y ago
      Everyone wants Windows software, which unsurprisingly runs best on Windows. Normal people don't care what OS they use, they care about using the software they want/need.
      - hammyhavoc 2y ago
        ... Everyone doesn't... There's plenty of heavy-hitters on Linux natively now, including DaVinci Resolve (Hollywood's #1 post tool), Bitwig, Studio One, Reaper et al. Even Unreal Engine. Blender perf is much better on Linux too. Your head canon of software has yet to update to the latest commit.
- linguae 2y ago
alexvitkov 2y ago
Recently I downloaded a semi-legitimate copy of Photoshop CS3 (from 2007-ish). It made me realize how little the software has changed in the past nearly 20 years, aside from the terrible performance regression. I'm by no means a Photoshop power user, but the stuff I use (the primary tools, the blending options menu, Image/Adjustments menu, Filters menu) are almost 1:1 feature-wise with the latest CC version. I haven't tried to open .PSD files from a newer Photoshop, I don't know what the compatibility story is. I haven't ran it on my Linux box either, but I assume it will be easier to get it running than CC 2024.
- DrSiemer 2y ago
  You'll be missing context aware fill and healing brush. Those are by far the tools I use most in more modern versions of Photoshop. Other than that not much has changed, for moderate users at least.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - macNchz 2y ago
    The healing brush actually came out in 2002 with Photoshop 7. It was a compelling new feature in the pre-subscription days when version upgrades were expensive! https://www.imaging-resource.com/SOFT/PS7/PS7.HTM https://www.imaging-resource.com/SOFT/PS7/PS7.HTM
    - bbatha 2y ago
      Its seen significant updates over the years to use content aware fill and recently generative AI fill.
      - DrSiemer 2y ago
        Adobe generative ai fill is one of the weakest inpainting models available
- 2y ago
dijit 2y ago
Ugh, I wish we could put the adobe suite into the ground. The company is hostile and scummy, and the tech is only slightly above alternatives in most cases. It survives today on pure inertia, because everyone knows it. Which feels absurd to me- worst idea wins because it's the one everyone knows. And we'll keep using it so that the next generation only know that one thing. Great for Adobe's profitability, awful for humanity.
- rabf 2y ago
  Their history of buying up the competition and shutting them down doesn't help matters.
- LanceNY 2y ago
  Spot-on.
rcarmo 2y ago
Surprised nobody mentioned GIMP yet. FYI, I have Macromedia Fireworks MX running perfectly under WINE on Fedora (I think the only tweak I did was to increase the font size to cope with modern HIDPI displays). Highly recommend it as a web-friendly image editor (it was what I used before Adobe killed off Macromedia).
- timvdalen 2y ago
  While I use GIMP for 90% of my use cases, it unfortunately cannot do print at all. For that, it seems Photoshop is still what you need (though the Affinity suite is getting close)
  - rcarmo 2y ago
    I use Affinity on my Mac and am completely happy with it, although I don’t do print media.
- KronisLV 2y ago
  > Surprised nobody mentioned GIMP yet. People will say that GIMP cannot compete with Photoshop in some use cases, I'm just happy that I don't have to worry about those and it's completely sufficient for what I want to do, same with LibreOffice vs MS Office and other imperfect FOSS projects. They might not always be the best choice out there, but they’re almost always decent.
  - LanceNY 2y ago
    Most of the areas or things the PS alternatives can't do, are things PS should never have done, like 3d and animation. Krita even has an AI plugin that is great. I'm a pro, and PS has tons of tools I've never needed or wanted.
- danlindley 2y ago
  I'm curious to know if you followed a specific guide, or if you had to take any extra steps to get it functioning beyond running the installer? I run Linux, and dearly miss being able to use Fireworks. My attempts to get it running on Wine in the past (probably a year or so ago, if not more) were not successful, and I haven't been able to find anything that feels like a suitable replacement for working with vector graphics. It is a genuine (perhaps irrational) point of sadness. I'm still bitter that they killed it off.
timvdalen 2y ago
Interesting! Acrobat (for preflighting) and Photoshop (for CMYK conversions) are the only reasons I still boot to Windows. Will have to try this out.
dsp_person 2y ago
wen office365 on wine
lf-non 2y ago
If you want to avoid Adobe software, but are familiar with photoshop, Photopea [1] is a great choice. It supports psd files (natively, without any export/import), has similar shortcuts, can import photoshop brushes and overall comes across as a well designed software. Their subreddit has a great helpful community too. I am not a professional photo editor or graphic designer, but I have been using it a few times every week for last year or so and have yet to come across any bugs. [1] photopea.com
- mantas 2y ago
  Photopea is AWESOME. Especially PSD support. I can't recommend it enough.
- carnewal 2y ago
  Agreed, I'm not a designer but I do need to be able to edit images from time to time. I tried gimp but it just feels ... clunky? Nowadays I just open up Photopea in the browser. No installs and it just works very well
- Nition 2y ago
  Photopea is very close to Photoshop in a broswer. It's amazing really.
- quitit 2y ago
  Photoshop falls into a category where people assume it's the best because it's used by professionals - and so that's what they want to be using. The problem is that people assume professional graphics is just drawing pictures. (Society in general has a pretty low expectation/understanding of what this industry does, this is also fuelling the hyperventilating over AI, but that's a different discussion.) Using Photoshop without a specific professional objective is a trap: That's like driving a tractor in the city. Photoshop is only the best for specific professional workflows, and to date I'm still to find any alternative that can replace it. (I'm happy to elaborate on that.) The way Photoshop serves its market is quite specific and just casually loading up Photopea now I can see many parts of the app that would trivially frustrate a production workflow. I'm happy to list these for anyone curious. This is typical for photoshop alternatives, this doesn't make them bad, often it makes the app more useful for casual users by hand-waving away complex, industry-specific concepts. If you find yourself using Photoshop and it doesn't feel like it's actively helping you achieve your ambitions, then I encourage that you reach out to others in your creative space to learn what software other people are using, like you all are in this thread today. The graphics market has a litany of apps to serve different graphics objectives. These each have interesting features and workflows that are better suited to different audiences and, as mentioned, they also benefit from removing needless complexity and control.
wetpaws 2y ago
[dead]
Animats 2y ago
I still run Dreamweaver 8 under Wine. It's paid for, and I'm entitled to move it to a new machine. Some of my old web sites are maintained with it. They load really fast.
sebazzz 2y ago
I applaud this, but wonder how many people will really use this for production. People who buy photoshop probably use Windows or Mac and don’t want to risk an unstable process interfering with work you get paid to do, and people who just freewheel will probably not have an Adobe subscription.
wishinghand 2y ago
I hope something like this gets figured out for the Affinity Suite. Since I game on a Steam Deck now, the only thing holding me back from having Linux do everything I need is those three programs. Yes I know Gimp, Inkscape, and Krita exist. I just think Affinity does it better.

112 points by walterbell 2y ago

Seems handy but I know if I try this some annoying missing dll or file error will pop up. Having said that I habe had success using Excel with playonlinux. As long as I dont open 2 spreadsheets and try to switch between them I'm ok.

tambourine_man 2y ago

Running is one thing, running well is another.

mrweasel 2y ago
But running is the first step in getting something running well.
- tambourine_man 2y ago
  Sure, but we’ve been stumbling over the first step for decades.

lionkor 2y ago

Its very simple: Start a windows VM with a few gigs of RAM, via virt-manager or similar, install photoshop, and that's it

DrSiemer 2y ago
Afaik the is a significant drop in performance through this route, especially when working with large files
- yellow_lead 2y ago
  There might be some tricks for this like configuring GPU passthrough, but that can be challenging or even impossible sometimes.
  - BoredPositron 2y ago
    You don't need it anymore Microsoft has a neat little app that provides OpenCL/GL spoofing. It's near native speed with it. https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nqpsl29bfff?hl=en-us&gl=US https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nqpsl29bfff?hl=en-us&gl=U...
ensocode 2y ago
True, having this as a solution is a good last resort, but it would feel more native if it could run without an extra Windows VM, even though Wine is already kind of a Windows. Currently, I'm running Windows 11 in virt-manager just to use mstsc for a customer who doesn't allow Linux RDP clients. This setup feels a bit excessive. Using Wine for that purpose would be less of a pain. I appreciate the work people do to run things in wine, thanks!

DaoVeles 2y ago

Photoshop is the Sisyphus of software compatibility on Wine. Can play the latest UE5 based game via Proton, still struggles with Photoshop. The funny state of Linux-Windows compatibility. I get it, not undermining game development - it is a fine art but games are tight code bases that work on a lot of repetitive tasks. Utilities can be exceptionally broad in their scope. Also helps that coders who are gamers can be VERY dedicated to fixing the issues that hold them back from said games. It is just neat that Photoshop is still this elusive thing that seems to also just be a foot away from working perfectly out of the box. I mean I have seen Wine run all manner of applications and home brew games without an issue.

threatripper 2y ago
I suspect a co-evolution in games is at play. In a way that the game developers are nudged by Steam to prefer using compatible features and Steam works together with game engine developers.
- DaoVeles 2y ago
  Absolutely. Nowadays it feels like the best development tools for Linux is the Win32 tool chain. No need for native ports if proton can be the glue between the systems.
- MindSpunk 2y ago
  It’s just that games are easier to run on wine because they touch a comparatively small portion of the Windows API. Windowing, controller input, file system, networking, audio and directx covers the overwhelming majority of Windows API endpoints that need to be translated by wine. Their interaction with these APIs is relatively simple, open a window, read a few files, open a udp socket. Directx is hard, but the tools have gotten scary good lately (dxvk, vkd3d-proton). Compared to a complex tool like Photoshop which will be touching many more system APIs that need to behave correctly (file locking, codecs, COM). Arguably a Windows PE executable using Vulkan and run in Proton is a better way to ship a game to run on Linux than building a native Linux executable. It’s actually more portable because the Windows API and environment is more stable and consistent than some arbitrary Linux user space. No glibc versioning BS or dynamic linker path BS or any other number of strange things users can do. Just stable Win32. Valve actually recommends this over a native Linux build currently.

reacweb 2y ago

When I had to convince my wife to leave windows for linux, the fact that photoshop was working perfectly fine on wine was a huge point. At that time (windows vista 64 era), I was using photoshop V6. It was launched directly from windows partition. All I needed was a "shortcut" file to launch it.

codetrotter 2y ago
> At that time (windows vista 64 era), I was using photoshop V6 Photoshop V6 or Photoshop CS6? There’s a pretty big difference between Photoshop 6.0 and Photoshop CS6 :p
- reacweb 2y ago
  yes Photoshop 6.0 ;-) For a non professional, it was already a good tool.

dsign 2y ago

At this point, Windows's application binary interface is something of a common good, at the same level as roads and utilities. Shouldn't we have a piece of legislation that forces Microsoft to offer that binary interface in the same way as utilities sell power? I love Linux, and I think that Linux desktop is fairly usable, but a bunch of software I rely on works much better on Windows.

Dalewyn 2y ago
>a bunch of software I rely on works much better on Windows. So buy and use Windows. Windows remains the king of desktop because everyone wants/needs Windows programs.
- DrSiemer 2y ago
  The monopoly Windows currently has allows them to create a user hostile environment.
- hsbauauvhabzb 2y ago
  The parent post is a pretty good indicator that not everyone wants windows.
  - Dalewyn 2y ago
    Everyone wants Windows software, which unsurprisingly runs best on Windows. Normal people don't care what OS they use, they care about using the software they want/need.
    - hammyhavoc 2y ago
      ... Everyone doesn't... There's plenty of heavy-hitters on Linux natively now, including DaVinci Resolve (Hollywood's #1 post tool), Bitwig, Studio One, Reaper et al. Even Unreal Engine. Blender perf is much better on Linux too. Your head canon of software has yet to update to the latest commit.
linguae 2y ago

alexvitkov 2y ago

Recently I downloaded a semi-legitimate copy of Photoshop CS3 (from 2007-ish). It made me realize how little the software has changed in the past nearly 20 years, aside from the terrible performance regression. I'm by no means a Photoshop power user, but the stuff I use (the primary tools, the blending options menu, Image/Adjustments menu, Filters menu) are almost 1:1 feature-wise with the latest CC version. I haven't tried to open .PSD files from a newer Photoshop, I don't know what the compatibility story is. I haven't ran it on my Linux box either, but I assume it will be easier to get it running than CC 2024.

DrSiemer 2y ago
You'll be missing context aware fill and healing brush. Those are by far the tools I use most in more modern versions of Photoshop. Other than that not much has changed, for moderate users at least.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- macNchz 2y ago
  The healing brush actually came out in 2002 with Photoshop 7. It was a compelling new feature in the pre-subscription days when version upgrades were expensive! https://www.imaging-resource.com/SOFT/PS7/PS7.HTM https://www.imaging-resource.com/SOFT/PS7/PS7.HTM
  - bbatha 2y ago
    Its seen significant updates over the years to use content aware fill and recently generative AI fill.
    - DrSiemer 2y ago
      Adobe generative ai fill is one of the weakest inpainting models available
2y ago

dijit 2y ago

Ugh, I wish we could put the adobe suite into the ground. The company is hostile and scummy, and the tech is only slightly above alternatives in most cases. It survives today on pure inertia, because everyone knows it. Which feels absurd to me- worst idea wins because it's the one everyone knows. And we'll keep using it so that the next generation only know that one thing. Great for Adobe's profitability, awful for humanity.

rabf 2y ago
Their history of buying up the competition and shutting them down doesn't help matters.
LanceNY 2y ago
Spot-on.

rcarmo 2y ago

Surprised nobody mentioned GIMP yet. FYI, I have Macromedia Fireworks MX running perfectly under WINE on Fedora (I think the only tweak I did was to increase the font size to cope with modern HIDPI displays). Highly recommend it as a web-friendly image editor (it was what I used before Adobe killed off Macromedia).

timvdalen 2y ago
While I use GIMP for 90% of my use cases, it unfortunately cannot do print at all. For that, it seems Photoshop is still what you need (though the Affinity suite is getting close)
- rcarmo 2y ago
  I use Affinity on my Mac and am completely happy with it, although I don’t do print media.
KronisLV 2y ago
> Surprised nobody mentioned GIMP yet. People will say that GIMP cannot compete with Photoshop in some use cases, I'm just happy that I don't have to worry about those and it's completely sufficient for what I want to do, same with LibreOffice vs MS Office and other imperfect FOSS projects. They might not always be the best choice out there, but they’re almost always decent.
- LanceNY 2y ago
  Most of the areas or things the PS alternatives can't do, are things PS should never have done, like 3d and animation. Krita even has an AI plugin that is great. I'm a pro, and PS has tons of tools I've never needed or wanted.
danlindley 2y ago
I'm curious to know if you followed a specific guide, or if you had to take any extra steps to get it functioning beyond running the installer? I run Linux, and dearly miss being able to use Fireworks. My attempts to get it running on Wine in the past (probably a year or so ago, if not more) were not successful, and I haven't been able to find anything that feels like a suitable replacement for working with vector graphics. It is a genuine (perhaps irrational) point of sadness. I'm still bitter that they killed it off.

timvdalen 2y ago

Interesting! Acrobat (for preflighting) and Photoshop (for CMYK conversions) are the only reasons I still boot to Windows. Will have to try this out.

dsp_person 2y ago

wen office365 on wine

lf-non 2y ago

If you want to avoid Adobe software, but are familiar with photoshop, Photopea [1] is a great choice. It supports psd files (natively, without any export/import), has similar shortcuts, can import photoshop brushes and overall comes across as a well designed software. Their subreddit has a great helpful community too. I am not a professional photo editor or graphic designer, but I have been using it a few times every week for last year or so and have yet to come across any bugs. [1] photopea.com

mantas 2y ago
Photopea is AWESOME. Especially PSD support. I can't recommend it enough.
carnewal 2y ago
Agreed, I'm not a designer but I do need to be able to edit images from time to time. I tried gimp but it just feels ... clunky? Nowadays I just open up Photopea in the browser. No installs and it just works very well
Nition 2y ago
Photopea is very close to Photoshop in a broswer. It's amazing really.
quitit 2y ago
Photoshop falls into a category where people assume it's the best because it's used by professionals - and so that's what they want to be using. The problem is that people assume professional graphics is just drawing pictures. (Society in general has a pretty low expectation/understanding of what this industry does, this is also fuelling the hyperventilating over AI, but that's a different discussion.) Using Photoshop without a specific professional objective is a trap: That's like driving a tractor in the city. Photoshop is only the best for specific professional workflows, and to date I'm still to find any alternative that can replace it. (I'm happy to elaborate on that.) The way Photoshop serves its market is quite specific and just casually loading up Photopea now I can see many parts of the app that would trivially frustrate a production workflow. I'm happy to list these for anyone curious. This is typical for photoshop alternatives, this doesn't make them bad, often it makes the app more useful for casual users by hand-waving away complex, industry-specific concepts. If you find yourself using Photoshop and it doesn't feel like it's actively helping you achieve your ambitions, then I encourage that you reach out to others in your creative space to learn what software other people are using, like you all are in this thread today. The graphics market has a litany of apps to serve different graphics objectives. These each have interesting features and workflows that are better suited to different audiences and, as mentioned, they also benefit from removing needless complexity and control.

wetpaws 2y ago

[dead]

Animats 2y ago

I still run Dreamweaver 8 under Wine. It's paid for, and I'm entitled to move it to a new machine. Some of my old web sites are maintained with it. They load really fast.

sebazzz 2y ago

I applaud this, but wonder how many people will really use this for production. People who buy photoshop probably use Windows or Mac and don’t want to risk an unstable process interfering with work you get paid to do, and people who just freewheel will probably not have an Adobe subscription.

wishinghand 2y ago

I hope something like this gets figured out for the Affinity Suite. Since I game on a Steam Deck now, the only thing holding me back from having Linux do everything I need is those three programs. Yes I know Gimp, Inkscape, and Krita exist. I just think Affinity does it better.