This is a brief list of software I use in my (almost) open-source workflow.
During the pandemic, I rediscovered my passion for an open source alternative to paid software. I actively try and shun most (Google is too useful to ignore) digital corporate behemoths in favour of good software written and maintained by passionate people. Below is a link to a website that lists free alternatives to paid software.
This pragmatic decision happened in the middle of the pandemic when I was trying to build my CNC machine. I was researching how one controls a CNC (Computer Numeric Control) Router. I ended up discovering LinuxCNC. A piece of software that sends signals to a machine controller. In my case I chose a MESA card (Fancy circuit board). The MESA card sends signals to move the motors of a CNC. In turn tracing your digital movements into the real world. This lead me to install Debian, for the first time in years.
Debian was frustrating to install a decade ago; I remember not having the right hardware and the Wi-Fi not working. I am happy to announce that Debian-Installer was extremely user friendly this time around and, the Wi-Fi issues I had were finally gone. I chose a Debian distro mainly because of its compatibility with LinuxCNC. After a little testing I settled with the lovely KDE-Plasma Desktop. both KDE software and Debian are renowned for stability (If you don’t mess with them too much).
KDE is my favourite application suite of software for the Linux kernel. KDE-Plasma is a beautiful desktop environment, and the Dolphin file manager is a dream to use. Mainly because there is a terminal emulator built right into it (simply press F4). Also I don’t know a designer who hasn’t at least heard of Krita, the fab digital drawing suite. All these software recommendations are worth checking out.
After installing Debian and KDE-Plasma, I then uninstall blender, Gimp and, Inkscape (If you chose them in the installer). Because these versions are usually out of date. I then download the latest versions of the software from their respective websites and install them instead. A little reasearch into Flatpak is recommended at this point.
BlenderCAM Is a bit more involved but, absolutely essential to my workflow. The best way to install it is to use the Github version. It converts blender created 3d models into tool paths for use with my cnc router.
Meshroom is invaluable to convert photos to 3d models. Something I use regularly.
recently I replaced PureRef with BeeRef. BeeRef is a great tool to organise my reference images into a mood board to refer to when conceptualising a design.
I encourage anyone who has an interest in design to try open source alternatives. If you find anything useful send me a message and I will try it out.
The Penguin Image is taken from. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tux_(mascot)#/media/File:Tux.png
Permission to use and/or modify this image is granted provided you acknowledge me lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP if someone asks.
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