Pop_OS kept popping up (ha!) when I looked for recommendations, especially for gaming. I'd mostly used Ubuntu in the past so I fancied trying something different with Fedora/KDE this time.

Ah interesting. I'll confess I didn't look into it much (I don't use Affinity very often and it's the now-old Affinity 2 I know) and I maybe should've taken that part out as I did read that it's changed.

TLDR: Try Linux if you're alarmed about the direction Windows is taking. It will be a learning experience, you might rely on some critical piece of software that just won't work (though dual booting is an option), but for most day-to-day tasks it works. And it won't try to install Copilot.

Weird issues: my Logitech wireless receiver keeps disconnecting unless it's plugged into USB 3. I have no idea why. And my printer doesn't work, which is doubly weird because it worked fine on Linux before (it's old) and works on Windows and even MacOS with no issues. And audio is still flaky.

In terms of general computing, the biggest obstacle I've found is the Affinity suite, which is Windows and Mac only and I can't get working with Wine (though the new Canva suite is meant to be better). GIMP is still a nightmare to use.

Simracing is more of an issue. There are drivers for my wheel (Logitech G29) and a third party app called Overdrive for configuration, but force feedback was just too flaky to use competitively. I can't speak to flight sims or any other niche, but proprietary hardware may be an issue.

You know this already but Steam Proton is shockingly good. Anti-cheat still breaks things (including iRacing, the game I play most) but in terms of basic day-to-day compatibility, Linux gaming feels like a solved problem provided developers don't actively block it, which is extraordinary.

If you want to install proprietary software, including the nVidia drivers, you need to enable the proprietary repository. It's one of those things that a completely new Linux user might trip over, but I remember the bad old days when even installing Steam could be a nightmare and it's now easy.

What got me is the online bingo/casino sites that advertise on the digital channels late at night and early mornings, very obviously preying on the bored and/or desperate.

The Dumas Club by Arturo Perez Reverte - a fun romp set in the shady world of antique book collecting and the occult (or possibly just madness). I never thought I'd want to know how you'd detect a forged book but now I do.

No One Knows by Osamu Dazai - a collection of stories with female protagonists written by a man 80+ years ago could go horribly wrong, but Osamu Dazai's characters are all misfits who don't quite get on with the world in ways that resonate across gender and time and place.

The Course of the Heart by M John Harrison - a frustratingly dreamlike but utterly compelling story where everyone has a very bad time. There's no way I could explain what it's about in 3000 characters, never mind 300, but it's probably my favourite book I read all year.