Well I guess I'm a Linux user now.
It's not lost on me that it took nearly 5 days and collectively ~30 hours to set up and get my Linux install fully operational.
But it is operational.
The last bit of this was trying to get piracy up and running again. Stellaris just released the Astral Planes update, so that was my test. I downloaded the RUNE and Fitgirl versions, both of which installed and ran correctly off the rip using Lutro.
After that I popped on an USB disc drive, popped in my old total annihilation CD and installed that and got that running.
So everything works. All the games I play worked, and all the media I played worked.
Are there some things that annoy me? Yeah. Gnome apparently doesn't let you create desktop shortcuts unless you resort to command line. That's ridiculous. I also no longer have 20+ years of experience to draw on and am having to relearn basic stuff like "how do I uninstall or undo what I just did when I ran a script from a tutorial I didn't understand".
So for now, I guess I'm along for the ride, and get to relearn how to do everything.
I wouldn't recommend Linux to my dad or any of my friends. They can barely use windows, and I had enough trouble during my setup and install that I know they'd run into an issue eventually that I'd have to solve. Plus they barely learned how to use Windows, and Linux is NOT dumbed down enough for the average user yet.
As a final note some Linux users push harder than crack dealers I've met. "Just one hit of KDE man I just know you'll love it, oh you had issues with KDE? Well try these 300 different kind of KDE's cause I promise bro once you go KDE you never go back".
One of us! Welcome!
GNOME is indeed very opinionated. Consider taking a look at any of the "Desktop Icons"-extensions on extensions.gnome.org. This enables one to engage with desktop shortcuts without opening a terminal.
Depends. I can't imagine how something like Endless OS could cause troubles to someone that only requires simple functionality (like e.g. their favorite web browser working etc) from their OS.
Yes. We can be very enthusiastic at times 😅.
I do think that engaging with different desktop environments at this stage of your Linux journey might be very beneficial in the long run, but I can totally understand it if you'd like to settle down for (at least) a moment.