Linux

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?

I'm a game developer who wants to use Linux but multiple things block me despite all of my software running fine enough on Linux.

1. Linux is janky. A lot of people will say windows is just as janky but it's truly not.

2. Very little steaming services work on Linux. They've been switching to a drm that Linux isn't supported by. Vimeo drm, Amazon prime, Disney Plus, Hulu. I've encountered issues with the first 2 and the last 2 I read about.

3. There are better offers to stay on windows than what Linux provides. Game pass is a big one, also the loss of the epic launcher, and having to deal with proton for every steam game is a hassle.

I highly recommend supporting Linux from where you can. Using Windows but maybe throw your favorite distro a few dollars. Hopefully Linux will start to thrive or at least not be ignored by the majority.

Can you get away with old versions of Adoba suite? Latest versions typically don't work but you may be able to get old versions running without dual boot by using Wine.

I have a 6900xt as well and it works fine. I use linux mint. I have not been back to windows except for VR and i am looking at getting that running as well. Mint tends to run packages made for ubuntu and debian with minimal hassle. I do not use photo shop but blender gets a performance uplift from being on linux. Ai workloads do well on this setup with the caveat that the support for the 6900xt involves tracking down obscure forum posts to get torch to recognize the gpu.

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.

https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/wiki/RemoteApp

Earlier I left a comment that maybe Zorin OS could make it work... nevermind, I found their own page where they provide suggestions for alternates:

https://help.zorin.com/docs/apps-games/alternatives-to-windows-apps/

which may be helpful in it's own way, even if Adobe apps still won't work.

If you like to switch to linux but use windows software you can dual boot or even better setup an Virtual Machine for windows with second GPU and have two in one pc.

Have you looked at Krita and Blender?

Yeah, I'll go with name people here and say such with Windows.

If work provide you a machine, then use separate machines for work and home needs. If you're freelance, when you need to upgrade, plan it well and buy a second machine that is better for gaming/productivity. Now you have two machines and can separate your life.

Get a Mac for Adobe related stuff, install Linux on your other machine. /thread

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