What Linux build for Blender?

I think it’s about time i give Linux a shot again. So very i just want to hear what version of Linux you guys will reccomend? It needs to be as easy as possible so I have to spent the least possible time on learning it, thats the number one priority.

If you and easy to use version of Linux I would recommend Linux Mint or Ubuntu.

Then a quick search for David Revoy machine setup tips and you should be set.

Just remember to download Blender direct from the Blender website but the ones in
repo’s for Linux as always out of date.

For the latest version download & install Blender from irie repository.

I recommend ubuntu =)

So I downloaded and installed Ubuntu. I also downloaded Blender and extracted it, but nothing happens when I click on the “Blender” icon? I cant just unpack Blender and expect it to work out the box?

Edit: Never mind, a restart fixed it.

Ok, maybe someone can help me out with another noob question then:
When I download something like Nvidia divers, some program called PyPar2 is opening up when I try to run the file? What is that? It looks like some sort of unpack program, but if I do unpack the file, I just end up with a bunch of other files that wont run either??? I know this is some real basic stuff, but it’s been 13 years since I last gave Linux a try, so I have no idea what I’m doing really :confused:

One does not simply download stuff from a website and run them. Well, except Blender when the missing dependencies are installed that don’t come with Blender self-contained package.

But anyway, to install nvidia driver I would strongly suggest to install it through the package system. In earlier Ubuntu this had separate program called ‘additional drivers’ but in the latest it’s integrated with software & updates. You should be able to find it with alt+F2 and start typing additional-drivers. If not, that should be somewhere in system settings. Should look something like this http://www.binarytides.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ubuntu-software-updates-nvidia.png

As i said earlier download and install blender from irie repository

Open terminal

Enter these commands

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:irie/blender
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install blender

That will install latest version of blender.

What you did is different then these process, you only downloaded blender package from blender.org

without compiling it works, howhever it won’t appear in gnome, unity dash etc and you cannot pin to launcher.

Here is how to compile it http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/Building_Blender/Linux/Ubuntu/CMake

If u want to install blender 2.4 then u need to do same commands as above except the third command,

that one will be like this

sudo apt-get install blender2.4

But i doubt that u want 2.4 , most people use the latest version of blender. Some people are addicted

to the interface of 2.4

Happy blending :slight_smile:

Using official Blender from blender.org is no problem. Disadvantages of using it is that it doesn’t update through package system and that you have to create launcher to it yourself so that it appears in the menu or what have you.

Advantages over repository versions are:

  • It’s likely to work better than any repository version. Repo versions have problems (missing functionality, misbehaving functionality, old version) because Blender is developed to work as a self-contained package and there is no official version for shared library model that distros use. Getting complex software like Blender (which gets a new version every 3 months) to work in that environment is not trivial at all.
  • If there is a problem and you’re running a repository version, first thing to do is to download official Blender from blender.org and try that. Even if the repackaging just means dumping Blender files to a system directory and putting icons in place, trying the official rules out the problem in repackaging. Problem in Blender means a problem in the version that was downloaded from blender.org and should be reported in Blender bug tracker. Otherwise it should be reported in the distribution support or whoever maintains the build.
  • If I remember this correctly, official Blender comes with prebuilt cuda kernels and repository versions don’t. That means official Blender will recognize cuda capability if the nvidia drivers were installed through repository which should also include cuda runtime binaries. Repository versions of Blender might need cuda toolkit to be installed.
  • You can easily run several versions side by side since there is no need to install Blender

It’s recommended that all software is installed through the package system so that everything comes from trusted locations and everything updates with a push of a button. Blender could be a good exception to that. Of course, could use both. Still good to know the differences.

Shouldn’t need to install drivers yourself but in case of proprietary gpu drivers, better to stick with repository versions for those. If you go and install a driver from the manufacturer website, you risk breaking the system when the kernel gets updated or having to reinstall the driver for every new versions.

Thanks a lot for the very in depth answers, I really appreciate that!

Since Blender works out the box, I’m just going to download it from blender.net or the latest build from buildbot.
I also found the “additional drivers” settings, and have made some changes and updated it. But Blender still does not recognize my video cards, and I cant select them in the system properties. Could that be the missing cuda toolkit?

I had hoped that it would be easier to install things now that I have given Linux a decade to improve, but i guess it’s not something thats ever going to happen?

Not having to install something or installing from a central location that then takes care of updating everything is not an improvement over hunting down drivers or programs from different websites?

One thing to watch out when using linux is that some of the keyboard shortcuts of the window manager might interfere with the shortcuts from blender.

JA12: Well if it really was extensive enough so that i could find ALL that I need in the software center, it would be awesome. But when I still need to go out and find software manually, and then having to install them in a complicated way, then I dont think it’s that big of an improvement. But you are right, it’s a very nice method for all the software thats in the center.

Any ideas to why my GFX cards dont show up in Blender?

cegaton: Thanks for the tip :slight_smile:

Make sure after u installed ubuntu that “spyware” is disabled, system settings> security & privacy> search tab >Internet searches.

Any ideas to why my GFX cards dont show up in Blender?

First try this blender>user preferences>system>compute device>gpu

if that doesn’t work try to launch blender via terminal if there is some error post here the output (do not post full output just the error(s))

I just left Windows entirely and went to Linux. I have not regretted that choice at all. The distro I’m on is Ubuntu, I really love this distro. Two others I’m interested in are OpenSuse which looks great, and, CentOS which is an open-source version of Red-Hat, yes, Red-Hat. The very distro used by many VFX houses in Hollywood. For a new Linux user I agree with AIBlender about Linux Mint or Ubuntu.

You might wanna try debian with gnome, Ubuntu is based on it, IMO its better then Ubuntu ( and i changed from ubuntu to debian just today )

xfce is really fast in debian but gnome has better interface than xfce in my opinion. I recommend u to install in a virtual machine first like virtualbox

don’t use unetbootin it usually gives the error no installable kernel found :slight_smile: use a cd rw and burn with k3b. The installation proces speed depends on what you choose netinstaller etc…

Try the latest version of Debian 8 jessie < [Codename] its in testing fase but its works great here

But this distro is not for beginners :slight_smile:

Let me know if u are interested in Debian or if u installed it just reply here how it goes :slight_smile:

PS dont blame me if it goes wrong and its so good that i regret recommending Ubuntu …

Have a great day…

Forget what i said , Ubuntu and Debian there is no much difference.

Try following the instructions on this page. I think your problem is that you have the NVIDIA drivers but you don’t have cuda. Please tell me if this works and don’t get angry if it doesn’t. I switched from Ubuntu months ago, and at the time that I was running it, I had an old graphics card without cuda.