Alchemy for Linux

[Karl DD]

I have been asked about a Linux version of Alchemy and the answer is...

Basically I don't have Linux sorted out on my machine yet so have yet to venture down that road. That said, it is a goal to support Linux in the near future. In the meanwhile you can try using the executable JAR file for Alpha 003:
http://al.chemy.org/files/Alchemy-003-Jar.zip

I can't really offer 'support' for this as such, but certainly let me know if your a Linux user and want to see a 'full' version.
Some one out there might even be able to help out with making this happen.

[ShinyFriction]

I run Ubuntu Linux and am happy that you plan to support Linux in the future. In the meantime I will be sure to try out the 003-Jar. Thank you!

[Karl DD]

I am trying to steer clear of native code, however for Alpha 004 the 'Camera Colour' module uses mac & win native libraries to work with the camera.
So unfortunately this module will not work on Linux and I have omitted it from the package below.

Executable JAR file for Alpha 004:
http://al.chemy.org/files/Alchemy-004-Jar.zip

[tobias]

Thanks for Alchemy, it's a grate tool and it works fin on my Linux(Ubuntu) . I've created this small shell script to make it easier to start:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

java -client -Xmx256m -Dsun.java2d.opengl=true -jar Alchemy.jar

I've added the options to make Alchemy react faster. Without the "-client -Xmx256m -Dsun.java2d.opengl=true" I had some artefacts while painting.

[tobias]

I found two more problems. The "File -> Page Setup..." and the "File -> Print ..." doesn't do anything.

[Karl DD]

Hi Tobias,

Thanks again for the heads up. I plan to install linux in the weekend and will look into this.
The print code should work on any platform as it is not OS specific. However just from a quick search it seems printing from Java applications in Linux is a bit buggy... well more than a bit:
http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bu ... id=6506286
http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bu ... id=6633656

It seems like Java 6 is the problem, what version of Java and what flavour linux are you on?

[Karl DD]

Finally a Linux Release!
http://al.chemy.org/files/Alchemy-004.tar.gz

AlchemyLinux.gif (63.12 KB) Viewed 13197 times

I installed Ubuntu 8.04 over the weekend and have enjoyed playing round with it.
To start Alchemy I included an executable shell script lovingly entitled 'Alchemy', so just double click that to launch the jar. I didn't find any benefit using OpenGL on my machine (it only has on-board graphics) but you may want to opt for it by adding this to the shell script (thanks Tobias!):

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-client -Xmx256m -Dsun.java2d.opengl=true

I have ironed out a lot of the display bugs, but as the interface will differ between distributions and between skins it is probably not always going to display perfectly. I did find however that if OpenJDK is your default JVM some of the fonts can look very inconsistent, so I recommend using JRE 6 if you can.

All the switch menus are working now, however it looks like printing on Java is broken [more info] for the time being. Lastly if someone with a working web-camera can test the Camera Colour module and let me know if it works. The 'libMyron.so' file may need to be moved out of the 'lib' folder and up into the main Alchemy root folder, I am not quite sure - all I did was drop the native library from here straight in

Enjoy, and let me know if you have problems! I'll be looking to post this on the download page once I know it is working ok.

[tobias]

Thanks for the new Version. That there is a problem with the printing isn't that important. I don't see any reason for supporting printing in a program like Alchemy at all.
I've made a Screenshot of the rendering bug, that only occurs if I don't have set the "-Dsun.java2d.opengl" to true.

[Karl DD]

I haven't seen that rendering bug before so thanks for the screenshot.
It looks a bit like some kind of texturing artefact, and is most likely a bug with the Java 'rendering pipelines'. But if the openGL thing works then that is all good!

[ShinyFriction]

I just want to say thank you for the Linux release! I will playing with Alpha 005 this weekend and will do what I can to spread the news.