If you need Adobe, just don't bother with linux on your primary work / study machine. Save linux for another system.
this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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As a primary Linux user, this might be the easiest answer. If there is specific software needed for work, then your work computer should serve that purpose.
Still, if I was freelancing and it's my computer, I certainly would look at dual-booting or just having more than one computer (could even use a KVM switch to use the same keyboard, monitors and mouse). Also if I'm using software professionally, I would also have a professional interest in open source alternatives.
Still, this is all optional and extra. Just running Adobe is the baseline.
Yeah, you are right. I am thinking about maybe buying a MacBook since my school I'm transferring to will require one anyway. Having that be my school and work laptop only will probably help with productivity too.
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I really want to switch to Linux as my main gaming/production OS but need the Adobe suite
That's not a hurdle... that's a wall.
If your livelihood depends on running a Windows-only application, run it on a Windows computer.
You are, of course, free to also have a Linux computer for everything else. Use a KVM switch to toggle between them, or something like Synergy or Barrier to pass the mouse/keyboard/clipboard between both PCS. Share the storage between them over your network.
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I went Mac. it’s UNIX, and far better than suck-ass windows… but there’s a real limitation when it comes to gaming… Linux is supporting more and more games and macOS isn’t so much… that might change soon, it might not.
Personally, I’m not so much of a gamer, and I really like the Apple ecosystem. I run linux on my server and love it, too, and macOS plays really nice with linux. But if gaming is big for you AND you need Adobe apps like I do, then you’ll have to dual-boot if you want your main OS to be linux.
As for learning the ins-and-outs: there’s a leaning curve we ALL go through, and you’ll always be learning more as you go. But there’s never been a better time to learn as there’s never been more resources to help nor more community to support you with any and every problem you could ever have. Now is a very exciting time for linux. it’s super.
So, if I were you, I’d consider the switch away from Windows. You can dual-boot (or run a VM) or find a way to run Adobe Apps via Wine (not sure how that works). Personally, I couldn’t live without them and am very happy with macOS, but it’s not for everyone. Maybe you’ll be able to live with dual-booting into windows for wen you need to work and living the rest of the time in linux. it’s a journey you’re just going to have to take.
best of luck to you!
True! I am still going to college and the school I will be transferring to requires a MacBook so I have to get one anyway.
Does Mac OS have the same issues as Windows where settings change each update? That is my major annoyance with Windows.
True! I am still going to college and the school I will be transferring to requires a MacBook so I have to get one anyway.
I’m pretty sure you’ll like it, a hell of a lot more that Winblows anyway. like I said, macOS is UNIX (which linux was made to emulate), so they’re interoperable and have very similar architectures under the hood. macOS is defiantly different in its Apple-y ways, but still plays very nice with linux systems and also supports many linux software ports. There’s also a macOS command-line package manager called Homebrew that’s used to distribute many of these crossover software packages.
Does Mac OS have the same issues as Windows where settings change each update?
NO! macOS updates very rarely (if ever) break things, even with the legendarily persnickety Adobe apps, mostly because Adobe apps don’t have to hack shit in order to run on macOS, because macOS isn’t a dumpster fire of an OS like windows is.
Oo okay sweet! Mac OS doesn't seem too bad now.
macOS is actually pretty awesome. lots of FOSS people don’t like it simply because of Apple and because of how Apple tends to be a bit overbearing when hit comes to how it likes to do things. macOS has limited customizability, for example, which is something linux users like to go bonkers with. I get it. but there are still ways to do what you want regardless. lots of hacks and stuff.
But it’s the most widely-used and most commercially-successful distribution of UNIX in the consumer space, and the only one still around in any meaningful way. Apple managed to bring UNIX to the masses and to scale it from smartwatches to servers where others failed for decades, all in one, unified ecosystem of software and hardware products. Yes, Apple’s control over that ecosystem is too much for some to bear on philosophical grounds, but those objections usually turn out to be mostly symbolic when put to practical tests.
The other main objection is that Apple products tend to be in the “premium” range of pricing and are “anti-consumer” in that they’re difficult or impossible to repair or upgrade. Those are valid criticisms, however they affect a very tiny sector of users, so make what you will of that.
Note: Linux, currently, cannot run on Macs with Apple Silicon processors. great efforts are underway to make linux compatible with the processor, and AFAIK, the linux kernel itself runs on the AS processors, but the project hasn’t gotten much farther than that, being stuck on untangling the display adapter or something. The effort is, however, ongoing and should, hopefully soon, see a fully-compatible AS linux kernel with compatible AS linux builds n the near future.
You don't need to "switch to Linux". It's not a binary decision. Dual booting or dual partitioning is completely fine. Adobe even with wine and GPU pass-through has far worse performance than if you just boot up windows. It is fine to combine any software you want. That's the "free" in "free software."
Adobe suite is one thing that is still an immense pain to get running on Linux, if you can even get it running at all. There aren't a whole lot of good alternatives depending on your workflow, either. GIMP can be a good Photoshop substitute, but there isn't really a good Illustrator substitute (Inkscape doesn't support CMYK, for example), and it gets worse for the other tools in the suite, so your mileage may vary with that approach.
As others have said, a VM is an option. But, how about a KVM? Maybe it sounds old school, but you could have a Linux box for home / fun / gaming that just shares peripherals with a Windows box that is just for work. Then you get a few advantages:
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Linux PC as normal with no fancy setup needed
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Windows work PC has Adobe as usual, and you just do your non-work stuff on the Linux box. Network them together for easy file sharing.
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You don't need to reboot to go between one or the other; simply switch your KVM over. Let Windows do its update nonsense or other data processing while gaming on the Linux box.
Obviously this does mean you need two physical machines, which might be a dealbreaker for you unless you have parts sitting around.
Edit: something else I just thought of: it is also possible to dual boot but get fancy with hibernation (not sleep, but hibernate = write all RAM contents to disk). You hibernate either installation to switch to the other, so while technically a reboot, all of your apps / windows etc come back up as if you hadn't rebooted.
Don't feel bad because you're really good at using a tool that doesn't follow your values. I use Windows during the work week and I use Linux for gaming on the weekend where I literally can't work even if I wanted to.
For me Windows is a tool box with propriatry tools that have no Linux compatibility. That's OK for me. People get emotionally invested but that's neither healthy nor helpful. No point being angry at work, it's like being angry that your work uniform is made by one textiles vendor not the other.
You get to choose what you use at home in your own time. If you feel good using Linux then, do it!
True, yeah. I think if I tried to fully switch over, it might slow down my workflow trying to make it work. What I should do is buy/build a new PC for work. A lot of people are suggesting a MacBook which might be good.
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Youre stuck on Windows Im afraid, and Im pretty sure Adobe will never make a linux port
Dual boot is really your only option aside from straight up staying on Windows. You can game and general use on Linux, then switch to Windows when it's time to work. Not the most ideal and I know you said you don't want to do that, but if you rely on Adobe products (which sadly many people do) you kind of need a Windows install or a Mac.
Another, much more expensive, option is to get a MacBook (or another laptop I suppose, not sure if the goal is to fully cut out Windows) and have that at your desk for your Adobe uses, and have Linux on your desktop. Not really feasible for most people but I don't really know your situation so I thought I'd throw it out there.
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Looks like someone created an install script for photoshop on Linux. Uses wine to run.
Photoshop is just one of the many apps included in the Adobe suite. So while this is a welcomed repo, I’m afraid it is not feasible for people who design professionally
Steam installs perfectly well on Debian and most games pick up a small performance boost from running on an OS with less overheads.
Unraid servers can be hosted from Debian with few issues .
I agree with the posters who are telling you to stick with Windows if your career depends on software that isn't Linux compatible. If you want to play with Linux you can install WSL on Windows, run Linux in a VM on Windows or buy a cheap used/refurb business laptop and Linux to your heart's content on that.
Buy yourself a second PC or laptop to be able to use both at the same time.
For a long time l had 2 PCs, one windows and one Linux, with 2 monitors, I used the software "barrier" to share my keyboard/mouse between them, it worked pretty well.
Not sure how good this advice is since I'm not a professional, but: You could try out running Adobe programs in a VM with VMWare (vmware.com). They have an excellent 3D acceleration support already. Just give your VM a good chunk of your hardware resources (I use half of my CPU cores and 3/4 of my system memory). I use that for running Affinity Designer 2 from Sarif, and it works quite well for me. Windows VM boots up in between 6 – 8 seconds and I have a shared folder, where I can drop stuff to interact between my Windows VM and my Linux main system. But like I said, I'm not a professional.
And for using vmware, you can give it some of your video memory from your graphics card, so if you need decent graphics, you don't have to do gpu passthrough and you don't need multiple gpus.
Edit: Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDrbNgM6gXk
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Just stick with Windows, it works for you (as it is for me); as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, why fix it?
But Windows is broke. I recommend using it only if you truly have to (e.g. software dependencies for your work). If you think or know you don't need it, then don't use it, don't recommend it and also please don't claim it's not harmful or "just a tool like everything else". Tools don't spy on its users. The monopoly situation due to too many users still using is also in itself harmful for competition/alternatives, and on top of that its users suffer from massive amounts of privacy invasions.
If you don't want to continue to use Windows (which is an important realization to make), but feel like you can't use Linux yet for whatever reason, use OS X. It's sort of middle of the road. Also not great for various reasons, and also not recommended, but it will at least ease your transition to Linux later on because OS X is also Unix-like, and it's at least slightly less bad than Windows. Always re-evaluate from time to time, whether you still need Windows or OS X, and if not, switch to Linux.
The issue is that most users aside from nerds, programmers and other professionally very tech involved people don’t care about their operating system, or how much it spies on them. They want it to work without much thought, everything else is a secondary concern.
And this crowd is tough to capture for Linux, because if there is one thing that defines Linux it is the fact that you have to put in some effort to make everything work, especially with not supported applications like most games.
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Best option: Use Linux and alternatives to Adobe stuff, if possible. These programs continue to evolve, at some point you might not need the Adobe stuff anymore.
Second best option: Use Linux and run the Adobe stuff inside a Windows VM. GPU passthrough is not that difficult to configure if you need it. You can run your Windows games on Linux in many cases, so it's most likely not needed to run a Windows VM with GPU passthrough just for gaming.
Third best option: Use OS X instead of Windows or Linux, and run the Adobe stuff on OS X (it's also natively supported there)
Worst option: Continue to use Windows
You're ignoring that adobe software also evolves. FOSS alternatives have never caught up.
Wasn't ignoring it. What matters is whether the software supports the features you NEED. That there will always be more features added, doesn't mean that you need all those. What matters is whether the software is "feature-complete" for your specific needs. Look at MS Office. It's the "industry standard" office suite (that term sucks btw, just means most popular), yet it has features that the majority of people do not need at all (probably even don't know those exist). So, LibreOffice or OnlyOffice for example can be viable replacements in such cases. You get what you need out of your office suite AND you have it in FOSS format with 100% user control, without a company stealing sensitive info from your documents in the background.
buy a used m1 Mac book with 16GB ram or a janky garage sale (x64) laptop and install puppy Linux.
Also, a rasberry pie is like $40; an intel nuc is <$200. Inexpensive ways to learn without killing your breadbasket.
Why run one when you can run two?
Do NOT get a M1 MacBook for Linux. While Lina is working on support for the hardware it isn't finished by far. Any normal Intel/AMD should be fine.
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I really want to find a decent laptop that I can tinker on. I have a raspberry pi laying around too. I might do that.
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Have you looked at Krita and Blender?
Just found this: https://www.maketecheasier.com/install-adobe-creative-cloud-linux/
Still, it might be fickle and bite.
You can use Windows apps by setting up a KVM(Not a VM, but a KVM for virtual machine manager) and use a utility called Winapps along with it. This will allow you to launch and use Windows applications as if they were native(drag and drop support, clip sharing and whatnot).
As I recall, Adobe products are supported by Winapps and/or Cassowary
Edit: keep in mind, you only do the above if you really want/need it. Since the initial setup is not hassle free at all
I have a single passthrough VM that I use for building Windows binaries.
I followed this tutorial:
I would basically setup a windows Server with Remoteapp then use freeRDP on linux to run Adobe software. But note that some software need a GPU or it will be slow. Photoshop will be fine. But aftereffect and premiere may need a GPU. Best option would be a separate work and private computer for security this will separate a little work and private stuff.
Has 3 stars on crossover? Grab the trial and check it out.
they are not feasible for my career
LOL I know a number of professional designers who use free software. Just because you (clearly) don't know any, doesn't mean they don't exist.
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