Can anyone give any advice on either having it work or a Linux alternative with similar functionality?

The neat thing about installing Linux is that there are live versions around. Go to the Linux Mint site and follow their instructions on creating a bootable USB stick. Boot from it and you’ll have a working system directly on your computer. You can check if your hardware is compatible and you can also install software there. So if you have some doubts about Orca Slicer, just boot up a Linux and check it yourself on your own machine! It’s really that awesome