This is my short list of engineering applications available to run in Linux. Most of this list is free and open source, the other is free for personal use but not open source.
Fusion 360
This isn’t actually built for Linux but it works fantastically well. This is a professional-level CAD, CAM, and CAE software, free for non-commercial or hobbyist usage. If you start to make money off of it, Autodesk will require you to pay for it. To install it, go to the Lutris site and it will go through the automatic installation process, as long as you have Lutris installed on your system.
Lutris.net Autodesk Fusion 360 Installer
You will have to do a manual task in order to get going properly. After you have signed in you need to change the Graphics driver in your preferences to DirectX 9, apply and choose ‘Not Now’ and close Fusion manually. You might need to kill the wine processes through Lutris or some other means.
There is one known issues. The GUI’s floating tooltip / toolsettings windows seem to float above anything, resize them once for a small amount to stop them from staying on top of everything, even if you minimize the application, it still hangs out.
FreeCAD
Parametric 3D Modeling Software
Should you not have the money or the budget to do some parametric 3D modeling. It has a bit of a learning curve but what CAD package doesn’t? FreeCAD has some great functionality and once get over the initial hump and understand it a little, you can take off pretty quick.
Cura
3D Printer Control Software
Cura is a software solution for 3D printing. While it is developed to be used with the Ultimaker 3D printer, it can be used with other RepRap based designs. Cura helps in setting up an Ultimaker, shows 3D models, allows for scaling / positioning, can slice the model to G-Code, has editable configuration settings, and send this G-Code to the 3D printer for printing.
LeoCAD
LeoCAD is a Cross Platform, Open Source, easy to use and intuitive CAD application with an interface that is designed to allow new users to start creating new Lego models without having to spend too much time learning the application. It has a rich feature set that enables experienced users to build models by using techniques that are more advanced. LeoCAD is fully compatible with the LDraw Standard and related tools, and it reads and writes LDR and MPD files so that you can share and download models from the Internet. It also uses the LDraw parts library, which has almost 10,000 different parts and continues to receive updates. Versions available for Windows, Linux and macOS to ensure that users are familiar with the program interface.
Since LeoCAD is open-source, contributions for fixes and features are welcome and it will always remain free.