Linux support to end after v1.7

LightBurn Software Questions OS Specific
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FWIW, here’s some info on created a Linux Mint 22 docker container to run LightBurn but currently 1.6 has working camera support and 1.7 not so much.
Use the 7z version to expand LightBurn into the $USERID directory of /home/$USERID/LightBurn.

Rename this file to linuxmint_docker.file
linuxmint_docker.txt (1.1 KB)

create the container:
docker build -t mint_lbr -f linuxmint_docker.file .

run the container:
docker container run --device /dev/video0:/dev/video0 -u 1000:1000 --group-add 44 -v /home:/home -v /tmp:/tmp -h Light --mac-address 02:42:ac:11:00:02 -it mint_lbr /home/$USERID/LightBurn/LightBurn

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I’m very sad to hear that.
in the workshop it’s handy to have an old computer with linux.
We don’t all have the means to have recent computers and to pay for OS that bring nothing to a workshop.
I chose to buy lightburn because it was linux compatible, but now it’s a game changer.
Also, in terms of philosophy, I think it’s a shame to put linux aside. More and more software is doing the opposite. strange.
Releasing only an appimage and letting the user community manage support might be the solution. Linux users are used to helping each other.

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You are quite right… I think there’s a bit of confusion here as a lot of people seem to be focusing on how LightBurn is packaged. But that’s much less the actual issue. Docker, AppImage, .deb, flatpack, etc… those are just the last detail in a very large stack of technical difficulties.

As we move ahead with new and better features in LightBurn we’ve had to push beyond what even Qt provides for us. For example, we have a complete rewrite of the camera system coming in the near future. A large portion of this is OS specific and not written in Qt at all. Specifically because media interaction is, honestly, quite complex. Especially for what we are trying to do. Having to write a Linux specific implementation already adds a great deal of time and effort but honestly it is more complicated on Linux than Mac or Windows because the media interface is not as consistent. We’ve constantly had issues with cameras not working for people just because the version of gstreamer they have is slightly different than the one we compiled against (even with AppImage).

Now, yes… docker might help there a little. But AppImage was supposed to do that as well. And having the requirement to launch LightBurn be a 200 character long docker invocation that will likely have to be tweaked for each specific system is not an easy thing to support.

And that’s not just a hatred or misunderstanding of docker from my part… I actually worked with containerized applications at Red Hat for 5 years before I joined LightBurn. The entire reason I came on board here in the first place was that I offered to help out with the Linux packaging.

We also currently have over a dozen external libraries that we use in the codebase, all of which need to be integrated and tested on each system we support. Every time we had a new library or even just updating an existing library to a new version it requires a significant effort to make sure everything works correctly for all operation systems.

Most won’t know this but, despite being extremely cautious about growing the company too quickly, our dev team alone has more than doubled in the last year (though still only 12 people). And I could still easily find work for more. All of that has been simply too keep up with the demand for new features, better user experience, and better support for every possible machine type. Just 5 years ago this was entirely a one man operation.

It may be hard to believe but some of the people most disappointed with Linux support being dropped are right here at LightBurn, including myself. Our team is absolutely filled with open source evangelists. This was never something we took lightly, but was unfortunately the only choice we could make at this time

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It’s been nothing less than stunning how far Oz and later the team has brought LightBurn. I used to start in Inkscape and then tweak in LightBurn but that’s hardly needed these days and the rate at which new features are added has been mind blowing. Literally the fastest I’ve seen in the industry and I would bet that is driven more by Jason than anyone else and while I hate to see Linux get dropped, I would also hate to see there start to be growing pains from too much growth. Two updates a year and bi-annual version bumps would still be fantastic and might help with everyones sanity and maybe even give some of you the ability to take longer vacations to enjoy what your hard work has done.

As for LightBurn for Linux, an appimage with no camera support could be supportable by the community. Appimages can be extracted so 7z isn’t needed, they generally come with what you guys built with and otherwise we, the community can figure out the rest if there’s someone in LightBurn who’ll see that coding issues(regressions) could be resolved. I can see a half dozen of the current Linux users getting together on makerforums.info testing and working through runtime issues. But if there’s much more to it than the multi-media/camera subsystem I see the current feature set of LightBurn still holding me off of Inkscape for a while.

Thanks for keeping LightBurn for Linux going these last few years. Having an OS which, on the user side, gets out of the way and ‘just works’ is why it’s the go-to OS for everything but desktops. It’s been my desktop and everything for over 20 years and I can’t change because of one app. Going from UNIX and OS/2 software dev to Win32 left a nasty taste in my mouth I just don’t want to taste ever again. :wink:

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The end of support for so much hardware with Windows 11 combined with the end of security updates for Windows 10 means that I have 2 choices: Replace the garage computer (very expensive) or find different software instead of LightBurn.

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I know that my take on that decision never impact it.
For me the drop of Linux support is more than sad… Because that just work.
(that and all my workflow is break, now/in futur i need to use a windows os on my main PC… so dualboot or deploy a VM, that is nice and not fluid at all…)

My suggestion : why do not branch the dev, with a community eddition ? Yes i know it’s propriatary close source software.
But if your Linux base is so small, 1%, where is the problem to lets the community in charge ? It could be a something to help to mary the communty driven dev/support concept with a licenced paid software.
(and maybe somes goods ideas/bugs fixes could be pick from theme and integrated in the Official branch).
That is, after all the Linux DNA.
(and the things of numerous pro-app around the world)

(Also, you could think about modify what your charging to customer, at the present time you charge the licence, but maybe charge support instead ?And switch to that community. In that case you could rise so many devs around the world. Me for that great piece of software be charged for support instead licence do not anoyed me at all)

I don’t dream, all my writing are a hit of sword in water.

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I disagree with the “old Mac hardware” statement, I use LB on a very recent Mac Mini with Apple Silicon processor and have had absolutely zero issues…just like it was when I was using it on my 2012 MacBook Pro prior to the Mini. LB has significantly fewer issues than any of the other programs I use for my other machines. This is why I’m stoked to learn about MillMage…VCarve/Windows is horrible.

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I think what was being referred to was that when Apple did the PowerPC to Intel switch they eventually dropped the Rosetta translation layer. They brought it back for Intel to ARM so it’s logical that it’s only a matter of time until they drop it for that too, meaning all applications will have to be ARM. We probably have at least a few years but we might as well get ahead of the problem.
That being said… we don’t plan on dropping x86 Mac builds even when we have ARM builds. So older Mac hardware should be good for some time.

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My bad, I misread the statement…I remember those days! I see your point

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Honestly the camera thing was just one example of many similar complications. Just happened to be one of the most common issues for Linux.

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I am sad to hear this. I bought into Lightburn thinking that since I’m buying into them they will be around for me for a while.

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remember your license and the software will work forever. It will just not get updates after 1.7

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Will we still be able to manage our license so to be able move it from one machine to another?

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Absolutely! By default your license works on 3 computers. If you need to move from one to another, you can deactivate your license on one computer and activate again on another.

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That’s really disappointing to have happen. Hopefully, conditions will change to enable, or encourage, you to change that decision. For various reasons, mostly legacy, I run Lightburn on the Windows 10 system connected to my laser. I run my CNC and vinyl cutter, along with other devices, on Linux systems. As I’m really disappointed and annoyed at the direction Windows is evolving I would love to eventually migrate most, if not all, of my systems over to non-Windows platforms. I was really hoping that MillMage and Lightburn would be key aspects of that migration. With the growing presence of so many other amazing software packages supporting the Linux world it’s hard not to see this as a backward step.

I love working with Lightburn and am hoping that MillMage will prove as much of a delight to use. It’s just sad to lose the option of moving over to a cleaner more dependable OS.

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disappointment doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling right now.

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You’re not alone. I really wish they hadn’t done this…

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Unless like me, I lost a computer that had an active license and now no way to deactivate it.

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@orchidman I can help. I sent you a DM to attempt to remedy this.
It shouldn’t take me long at all after I hear back from you.

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I only used Ubuntu on one shop machine that was retired last year, so my opinion might not fit in here, but I’ll share it anyway.

I originally purchased Lightburn as a stand alone product that is mine for life. I’m happy with that purchase, whether or not an upgrade service is available or not, I am happy with my purchase and the software has helped me to do things that made me thousands of more $$ than if I was still using my old laser software.

One of the machines in my shop runs several dedicated projects for an Amazon store and is still running on V 0.96 (I think) for, I don’t know, maybe three years now? I have changed lasers, but have not upgraded the software. The shop lasers are all on a local network and have no Internet access. They open files from the DAS in a restricted folder. So they run several different versions of Lightburn, depending on when they were first put in-service.

Now if Lightburn were to totally disappear, which is completely unlikely, I would still be completely satisfied with my purchase, and would still be using it for years to come. I can’t say that about a lot of the software I have purchased in the past who have gone from ownership to subscription based services. Which seems to be the trend now.

If Lightburn were to say, we’re sunsetting Win support, it wouldn’t bother me at all. I would either buy a used MAC on eBay, or just continue to use the version I have. I certainly wouldn’t be here crying like a baby! I have a 1963 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk, and I wasn’t crying about not being able to get OEM parts for it during the resto!

Come on folks, some of us have been here from the beginning, and the original universal software is still better than any other software on the planet.

A big thank you to @LightBurn and all of the staff that continues to make this the best laser software on the market! I totally appreciate the focus you’re putting on making the software better for the 99%.

Your software is going nowhere! It’s just the update service that’s being sunsetted. Download the most recent version of the Linux distro installer and put it in a safe place, in case you change hardware.

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