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.