Max on Linux
Hi TH8A and all, I'm new here.
I've studied and used PureData since 1 year, but now I started attending some courses where MAX8 must be used. I would like to use it with Linux: installed through Wine, it runs but I crashed on the autocomplete issue, so not feasible. I currently have Linux Mint. From previous post in this thread I got that with distros based on KDE there is a workaround, while not possible with Cinnamon DE of Linux Mint. I would like to test some KDE distro (OpenSUSE seems to me a good choice, I'm not fully skilled with Linux). Since changing distro for me it's a bit risky and very time consuming, probabily I have to re-install everything in a dualboot (Windows-Linux) system, I kindly ask for suggestion/help. Is MAX8 really working without headache on KDE distro?
I've already asked for help on Reddit but without results :(
Thanks for any advice.
To launch Max fully working on Arch (well, basically any linux, it's Arch in my case), without enabling virtual desktop mode, just use Steam or Proton.
If using steam, i first installed Max using regular Wine and then copy pasted Max files from it to directory of my choice.
You only may want to install wine ASIO drivers to proton prefix. Wineasio from aur will probably fail to build, so you need to download latest from github repo and build manually. And then just run wineasio-register on proton prefix.
If using steam: prefixes are here /home/{user}/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/{id}/pfx
Before using you'll need to open winecfg on your prefix and set proper ui scaling for your resolution. I've set it one point higher than default for 1920x1080
To fix interface bugs like missing dropdown focus or unable to input any text to fields, in KDE i fixed it by setting Focus stealing prevention to: EXTREME. There may be setting like that in other DE's. It's for you to explore.
Getting stable 60 fps on any renders
@BOB PELL - Hey, sorry for the late response. It's been a while since I have checked in with this thread. To answer your question, Max should run pretty easily on any distro these days. Most of the posts from earlier with all of the detailed instructions were from quite some time ago when things were still kinda shakey, but lately, the newer versions of Max and wine staging seem to work pretty well out of the box.
In terms of suggestions for distros, I am not a big distro hopper these days. I've been using the KDE version of MX linux as my main distro for several years now, and I find it to be the best distro for my needs. MX linux is based on Debian. I am able to run Max no problem with it and it is very usable. You may want to think about installing wineasio for audio output, and certain graphics packages depending on your hardware, but otherwise, the wineHQ staging branch version of wine and a clean wineprefix with max installed are all you would really need.
The only problem that occurs is the focus stealing thing, and the workaround in KDE is to open up the window settings for Max by right-clicking the open tab of max on the task bar, go to "more," then to "configure special application settings," then set a property to stop focus stealing.
That should do it. Hope you have already figured it out though.
Cheers!
@Nikki Arnette - I haven't thought to try running it with proton. I have found that the latest wine staging works well enough for me, but I am curious if it runs better in proton?
Hi TH8A and Nikki Arnet,
I was missing from here since a lot.
Unfortunatley I was not able to have MAX running on Linux without issues. I've tried to apply what suggested in this forum but not succesfully. I tested it on several distros, including MX Linux KDE and Pop!_OS (Gnome) that gave the best results, trying all the Winecfg possible. On MX KDE I tried also the focus steal prevent but or I get a weird windows behaviour or the autocomplete doesn't work. And for some not clear reason what happens is not always repeateble . Still didn't try the Steam/Proton approach, but I give it up, it's a real headache. If a stay on Linux I will use Pure Data, or MAX only in Windows, sadly :(
Has anyone else noticed that Ableton Push 3, which is linux running inside a controller enclosure, runs MaxForLive components? It seems to me that Max 8 already works on linux but that Ableton/Cycling74 simply don't want to release it.
Trying to install Max on my Arch setup with wine has not been all that smooth. I run a tiling window manager (dwm) which can be quirky. I truly wish for proper Linux support.
EDIT: proton and steam were an interesting angle, but in the end I can bring it up with:
WINEARCH=win64 WINEPREFIX=~/win64 "wine64" "C:\users\$USER\Start Menu\Programs\Cycling '74\Max 8\Max 8 (64-bit).lnk"
I've never really attempted it in a tiling manager... I'm pretty religiously a KDE kind of guy. I wonder if it is a problem with Max, or if it just how wine interacts without a DM environment? Maybe going in winecfg and ticking the option to let your window manager decorate the windows in that prefix would help?
Max 9 looks great. I would love more than anything to run it natively on Linux. The post that Cycling '74 was "actively exploring" the possibility of porting Max to Linux is about a year old. If anyone from Cycling '74 is reading this, please know that a lot of people would love to see this happen. Presonus, Cockos, Harrison, and Bitwig have proven that there is a market for commercial audio software on Linux. We'd love to see Max 9 join the party!
I completely agreee. It would be great for Max (and Ableton Live) to run on Linux.
Dear all,
With the recent cave of Cook (Tim Apple), is it possible for the MAX developer team to look at a Linux version of MAX again? I guess that recent political developments have created new demand for such an endeavour especially considering the community that is using MAX.
Best, Hans.
Agree.
Both Apple & Microsoft are horrible companies. Would be nice to give people a choice that doesn’t involve having your privacy infringed upon.
The only reason I still run windows is for Max.
I think a lot of people are nervous about these new AIs and general surveillance capabilities that both Windows and Mac OS are implementing, so we will likely start to see an uptick in Linux users.
I certainly do hope that C74 takes this as a cue to finally make a native Linux version of Max...
Wow ; more than 10 years since i switched to Linux for those reasons ; time flies ; and after a decade of lonely work i almost finished my never ending Pd fork! ;-)
Been almost 10 years for me as well. What's up with this PD fork? I really like purr-data, but I'm curious to see what you did with pd!
Hobby project ; https://framagit.org/nicolasdanet/S ;
6 years to refactor entirely the Pd core (multithreaded the DSP and so more...) ; 4 years again to switch the GUI to JUCE ; this is a very slow advencement since at some point in the middle I losed part of the motivation and all my mental health. It is WIP for now (need to test it fully, and to optimize stuff), but i'm expected an alpha version this year.
That silly adventure started due to Max-NOT-on-Linux + Pluggo nostalgia.
Old Max 4 users, hello!
That is awesome! I know how you mean, cause I got way into puredata due to Max not working natively on Linux. Let me know if you need help testing or something!
Hello MoL ;-) enthusiasts
@Nicolas DANET Likewise, I am curious as to what you are doing with Pure Data for Linux and is this the long-standing PD Linux version?
Because at the bottom of the website homepage it says this:
Pd was written to be multi-platform and therefore is quite portable; versions exist for Win32, IRIX, GNU/Linux, BSD, and MacOS X running on anything from a PocketPC to an old Mac to a brand new PC.
Anyway, I am a very long Max user, especially for interactive installations with control of hardware. But sadly, in the latest Max versions, the legendary hardware connection capabilities have fallen to the back burner. Because of this fact, I am sadly switching to Touchdesigner.
In my opinion, Cycling 74 does far too little for Max to exist as an all-round tool:
The legendary hardware connection support is quietly getting out.
Still no sign of AI integration.
Still no Linux version since 1998? ;-)
But the new V8 Objects for JS look cool!
Touchdesigner doesn't have a Linux version either but at least it has better hardware and AI integration in the meantime.
Anyway, I do want to test this out; have any of you here written a step-by-step Max on Linux tutorial?
In my fork of Pd almost 100% of original source code has been rewritten ; it is like a brand new software that try to keep compatibility with vanilla Pd as far as possible (but at the same time i removed a bunch of think i didn't like). For now i'm developping on Ubuntu 22.04 and macOS Big Sur but it is rather portable. I did a RPI4 version at the beginning. The idea is to make it embeddable everywhere. The core (without GUI) is compilable/runnable in pure C (and is BSD licensed). TBH the only (big) limitation is the time i have to work on it. It is FLOSS and such could be extended for large usages according to the energy available in its development. It is experimental today ; my todo list < https://framagit.org/nicolasdanet/S/-/blob/master/TODO.h?ref_type=heads > ; help is welcomed (but without a working stuff it is hard to manage it).
There is also plug data a Pd fork ported to Juce that can run as standalone and plugin...
Runs pretty fine and even supports CLAP...