I work as a Web designer in Linux. I'm not sure that I could completely get away with it if I wasn't already pretty code / frontend focused. I reach quite a bit to web-based tools (Figma, Whimsical) when I need to do prototyping, and find things like Krita and Inkscape more than competent for actual pixel pushing.
Where things fall apart is when you're in larger teams where everyone uses the more common tools on the more common OSes. Collaboration becomes much harder, and there are certain walls you can't cross. The other weak spot is with video editing. There are options, but none of them are as easy to use as the ones you'll find on OSX.
Design requires A LOT of screenshotting, and for that I resorted to building my own workflows [0]. That sort of brings up the major benefit of Linux as a designer. You really do get to build out your "dream" setup, and my Desktop over the years is really customized to the way I work, not the way others work. That's part of the joy of design for me, and while it certainly will limit me to working with Startups or companies that are OK with individuality in workflows, it's provided a level of happiness I wouldn't trade. If anyone is interested, I wrote about my thoughts about using Linux as a designer over here [1].
I can't speak much on graphics but for video I have very happily used DaVinci Resolve (Studio but free is good too) and have no issues with it on linux. It can be a little bit of a pain to get running but so is almost anything on linux but ymmv.
Our team of video editors have almost universally switched to Resolve from Premier ( FCP just doesn't work for us so I have no comparison there )
When Apple orphaned my late-2014 iMac, I tried OpenCore Legacy, but it was plagued by weird glitches and stalls that rendered some things (notably Safari) pretty much unusable.
I installed Mint and now I have a nice 25-inch Linux workstation. Everything works fine.
Linux offers a compelling alternative for designers seeking customization, cost-efficiency, and stability. Your article is great. It covers all the important points that can help UX designers.
Fully expect that Asahi will be an excellent drop-in replacement for when Apple finally puts my knockabout 2020 M1 Air (excellent hardware, pry it from my cold dead fingers) out to pasture.
I’ve got a fair amount of criticism for the direction of Apple’s various OSes, but have to admit that the fact that my nearly 8-year old iPad Pro still runs the latest iPad OS without issue speaks volumes about the longevity of their hardware. Or some of it, anyway.
I'm running Ubuntu for work, the only installed apps I really use are edge,and vscode. The entire MS office suite can be installed as a progressive web app and I've got teams, and word setup like this.
Sounds like we need a WSL in the other direction - have a Windows subsystem for Linux, so that your $distro integrates with Windows and you can run apps on Windows while having the window show up on your Linux system :)
There's WINE for basic compatibility, like for Affinity tools in TFA. You can use a Windows VM, and IIRC both VMWare and VirtualBox have integrated UI options to put the start menu/bar integrated into the windows desktop. I've done this before, putting my mac/linux dock on the side, and the windows bar on the bottom. I haven't used Windows outside work projects the past few years though.
Aside, surprised and disappointed in that you can use Affinity tools, which is very cool, but kind of sucks that you have to jump through that many hoops. Would be somewhat nice if Affinity themselves gave you an install script that could self-detect the major Linux variants (Fedora, Ubuntu/Debian) and install more directly.
I generally use web apps for this, even when I used Windows I didn't want to install GB for office apps. The downside is that you always have to be online, but I'm always online at work.
When I started at my current job I had the choice which OS and/or machine I'd like. I always wanted to give Linux a try so I went with Kububtu/Windows Dual-Boot.
After a year I removed the Windows part as I never used it. I am still happily using Linux (has been 5 years now) and find no issues with it.
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Where things fall apart is when you're in larger teams where everyone uses the more common tools on the more common OSes. Collaboration becomes much harder, and there are certain walls you can't cross. The other weak spot is with video editing. There are options, but none of them are as easy to use as the ones you'll find on OSX.
Design requires A LOT of screenshotting, and for that I resorted to building my own workflows [0]. That sort of brings up the major benefit of Linux as a designer. You really do get to build out your "dream" setup, and my Desktop over the years is really customized to the way I work, not the way others work. That's part of the joy of design for me, and while it certainly will limit me to working with Startups or companies that are OK with individuality in workflows, it's provided a level of happiness I wouldn't trade. If anyone is interested, I wrote about my thoughts about using Linux as a designer over here [1].
[0]: https://www.davesnider.com/posts/screenshot-app
[1]: https://www.davesnider.com/posts/im-a-linux
Our team of video editors have almost universally switched to Resolve from Premier ( FCP just doesn't work for us so I have no comparison there )
When Apple orphaned my late-2014 iMac, I tried OpenCore Legacy, but it was plagued by weird glitches and stalls that rendered some things (notably Safari) pretty much unusable.
I installed Mint and now I have a nice 25-inch Linux workstation. Everything works fine.
Nowadays, the lower end of the creative app market is getting eaten by web apps that can run on any OS, including Linux.
I'm curious as to what the task list/notetaking application and color contrast application are as they look quite useful.
[1] https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.alainm23.planify
[2] https://flathub.org/apps/org.gnome.design.Contrast
I’ve got a fair amount of criticism for the direction of Apple’s various OSes, but have to admit that the fact that my nearly 8-year old iPad Pro still runs the latest iPad OS without issue speaks volumes about the longevity of their hardware. Or some of it, anyway.
The one thing however that ruins it is the lack of a fully compatible office suite.
Compatible wit MS office that is.
I’ve tried a few creations but they always fall short. And in all fairness that’s mostly due to MS and not the others but it’s an issue…
The apple office suit is even worse then the foss things i must add.
However for my basic usages libreoffice always fared very well, I still have a habit to save to PDF and print that to paper though!
Aside, surprised and disappointed in that you can use Affinity tools, which is very cool, but kind of sucks that you have to jump through that many hoops. Would be somewhat nice if Affinity themselves gave you an install script that could self-detect the major Linux variants (Fedora, Ubuntu/Debian) and install more directly.
When the job requires creation of documents, presentations and spreadsheets the use of web apps isn’t always the best or easiest option
After a year I removed the Windows part as I never used it. I am still happily using Linux (has been 5 years now) and find no issues with it.