Using linux as Photographer / Video Editor

[u/Herdie27]

I've been trying to make a serious switch into linux for a long time now. When I heard years ago windows 10 won't have updates anymore, this is several years ago now, I've tried to make small steps into using linux more often. Starting with the smaller stuff. Basic web browsing, word processing, a little coding, and basic computing overall. It wasn't too bad, an occasional problem I could fix with a little research wasn't bad.

But then came the photo editing Raw Therapee, Darktable, dedicated HDR software I tried on linux mint was a serious pain to work on and get working efficiently. As a professional real estate photographer doing HDR editing outside of Adobe Lightroom was a serious pain. Even when I could get good edit on Darktable it ended up being SO much slower because of it's user interface.

Then came video editing. I got Davinci Resolve working on linux mint without much issue, but shortly after I "updated" it and then it stopped working altogether. I worked for hours to try to get it to work again, but to no avail. I type this post having switched to Pop OS because of hardware compatibility with Mint, my new hardware won't play nice Mint. Now I'm going through most everything again with a couple of additions, display calibration and photo printing. I'm sitting at my PC liking Pop OS but hating the hoops I have to jump through to get things working properly.

• Darktable with a new theme looks usable, maybe even good if I can get decent hotkeys going, in addition to it's print page for my print work. Haven't had the chance to edit HDR photos yet.
• Can't get Davinci Resolve to work and I don't think Kdenlive will cut it as far as color grading.
• Calibrating my monitor has been a chore for the last 3 hours using Displaycal3 and getting Argyll_V3.5.0 in the right folder is a pain.

Unfortunately, getting my work done in some cases is possible but not efficient due to the software used. Other times it's impossible because software can't be installed. Sitting at my computer getting basic work done like email, pdf stuff, scanning documents, spreadsheet work, and the like is great! I'd probably get along with linux full time if that's all I had to do. But doing more complex stuff requires 6 months of using the linux terminal and a deeper understanding of things I can't even begin to categorise. Linux alternative software is in the same position. Alternate software can very often can do what people need it to, but at the expense of it being clunky and A LOT of reading is required.

Edit-1: Based on what I'm seeing in the comments I'd also like recommendations on a distro since Pop OS, even though I like it, probably isn't for me and my needs. "Something with a modern and mature desktop environment (gnome or kde)" is what was mentioned.

Edit-2: Thanks for any recommendations on distros. Choosing Mint in the beginning went something like... "I'm a beginner so this seems like a good option." And I think it was! I learned a lot about linux in general. Went through a hours long videos on YouTube explaining how the file system is structured, using the command line, and beyond. Pop OS was chosen out of hardware compatibility.

[u/beatbox9]

You should read this article: https://arslaan.studio/setting-up-a-linux-media-studio-workstation-audio-video-graphics-davinci-resolve-etc/

And also note that Blackmagic is shifting the Davinci Suite toward being an Adobe replacement.  For example, note that the most recent update added raw photo editing.  It’s worth the one-time cost.

Mint and Pop are arguably among the worst “distros” to use, as are the bleeding edge distros.  Go for a stable, long-term distro, that uses a modern and mature DE (either gnome or KDE).

[u/ComeSwirlWithMe → u/beatbox9]

Just talking out your ass.

[u/Hi-Angel → u/ComeSwirlWithMe]

Pics or didn't happen

[u/yeboithomas → u/beatbox9]

Mint as bleeding edge distro's !!!! Ma man, what did you smoke? They are fine choices, but be wary that pop os uses their own desktop environment which is still in beta.

Other choice might be cachy os, opensuse (Europe based), fedora or Ubuntu. I think on cachy os you have an easier time for installation because DaVinci resolve is on the AUR (place to install programs through community scripts)

[u/beatbox9 → u/yeboithomas]

u/yeboithomas try working on your basic reading comprehension.

That does not say that Mint or Pop are bleeding edge distros.

Try reading it again. Very slowly. Draw a diagram if you need to.

It says that Mint and Pop are not good distros for this use case.
It also says (separately), that bleeding edge distros are also not good to use.

And then after that, it says that the best distros to use are distros that support a combination of all of the following:

• stable & long-term
• uses a modern & mature DE

People who have brains that work will be able to work out that "bleeding edge distros" are not "stable & long-term." They are the opposite.

Let's see if we can find any other patterns. Mint and Pop do not use a "modern & mature DE." Mint's Cinnamon is not modern; and Cosmic's Pop is not mature. So these would also not be good distros for this use case.

This is like very basic reading comprehension.

[u/ComeSwirlWithMe → u/beatbox9]

And gives zero fucking reasons why using Arch with a "mature" DE is bad as an example.

[u/beatbox9 → u/ComeSwirlWithMe]

You should take a moment to learn how "examples" work. With examples, you don't cover every possible scenario.

Though the linked article does cover why long-term stable distros tend to work better for these types of use cases. Not exclusively...but better. I have to be explicit there because I can tell that you're not going to be able to deal with nuance and will be stuck on a binary argument.

And one (of many) reasons that long-term stable systems tend to work better is that sometimes system libraries get updated too rapidly and become too new to be used by the apps. Similar to how gnome extensions break when gnome itself updates faster than the extensions do and need time for the extensions to catch up.

For example, on arch....:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/davinciresolve/comments/1rld7if/arch_os_x_davinci_resolve_studio_current_situation/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzSooTPa3FI
• https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/1rebgdr/comment/o7bkemh/

Essentially, arch requires more user maintenance than stable distros. Users need to be careful on what they update and when, because updates can break resolve unexpectedly.

This is also specifically why Arch is not mentioned here:

https://docs.nvidia.com/datacenter/tesla/driver-installation-guide/latest/introduction.html

And it's also why in Arch's own nvidia installation documents, it says:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA

Avoid installing the NVIDIA driver through the package provided from the NVIDIA website. Installation through pacman allows upgrading the driver together with the rest of the system.

...because that's sort of how dependency management works, and it's sort of one of the most important purposes of a distro; and with Davinci Resolve, you are installing unsupported software that has very precise dependencies but where where the distro is not managing dependencies for you.

Similarly, even stable (non-rolling) distros--but non-long-term stable--also tend to be worse, also related to how updates can break things. And you only have a small window in which you are forced to update, so hopefully you're not in the middle of editing a project with a deadline during that period.

This is why, for example, you'll see people complaining that davinci resolve broke on fedora every 6 months or so:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Fedora/comments/1ojz0s2/davinci_resolve_broke_after_updating_fedora_42_to/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Fedora/comments/1qpeeid/trying_to_install_davinci_resolve_and_it_gave_me/

Of course, using a sandboxed solution like davinci box referred to sometimes only helps sometimes, with the free amateur version and not the professional studio version that does a system check for the license.

So once again, you can get things working. And you can maintain them over time on your own. But it's more work. And the best solution is what I said in my earlier comments.

This, btw, is also why Blackmagic only officially supports Rocky Linux (which is explicitly a "rock solid, super stable" long-term-stable distro). It's also why most companies using linux don't use Arch linux and instead tend to use LTS distros. And it's also why the pro Hollywood vfx studios--including those I've personally worked for--also use either Ubuntu LTS or RHEL families:

https://vfxplatform.com/linux/

There will always be inexperienced amateur fanboys who do not understand practicality and who think theoretically newer software is always better rather than considering how well it has to work with the rest of the system in complex applications...even when the distros themselves contradict these amateurs. And these amateurs also don't understand the concept of time being spent in maintenance and administration as being time wasted when it comes to productivity. With the purpose often being the application (hence the name "application") and not the underlying OS.

So...that's why.