It hardly matters which distro you choose. I’ve been using Linux for almost 3 decades. I’d say there are a few categories you might consider.

If you like the older Windows looking UI, look for distros with DE’s that have that look. If you don’t care about stability, then you might be okay with a distro that has a rolling release model.

Most distros have several DE’s that you can install and switch to, though the options are limited for some distros. That doesn’t mean you can’t do the work to get the DE built and installed yourself. Hardly anybody does that, but the point is it’s possible.

I go with a point release and then switch my kernel to update with the mainline and I do that with Mesa drivers as well for gaming. I think it’s better than going with a rolling release who’s stability is unknown at any given time.

For my work machine I go with the LTS Ubuntu. Then I enable live kernel updates. I’m a software developer and it seems like anything developer related is almost guaranteed to be packaging for Ubuntu. I can just add, for example, postgresql’s apt source to my apt source list. This gives me the latest postgresql tools even though I’m on the LTS version that is a couple years old. So, I’m stable with the latest tools and my kernel is updating live so I never have to reboot.

Anyways, all that to say, don’t worry too much about the distro you pick. You can generally just make them your own. You probably just want to pick a distro that gets you near what you want. That should save you from having to distro hop.

If you delete a program from the Programs folder, does it get uninstalled from the system? Nope. You have to go drag the registry and delete any mentions. You have to go looking for shortcuts and delete all those in multiple locations. If you go to the control panel -> add/remove programs, that works decently, but it’s not guaranteed. It’s been a couple decades since I’ve used windows regularly, but there were all kinds of folders, appdata roaming and that’s just what I remember having to go dig through because there is no real standard for anything. That doesn’t even get into system files and dlls.

There are package managers for Windows too. Choclatey is something I have seen in README.md files for various install instructions.

The Unix-like install locations are for organization. Goes back to Unix-like server oses. Linux is Unix-like as well. Linux doesn’t have a registry to keep track of all the locations for all the files and configurations for each program, so organized locations where the system can expect to find specific things is how it’s done. I much prefer the organized file structure, digging through the registry where there is only the minimal organization was something I always hated.

This is the real answer. Windows is abysmal.

Quit your crying. You got back the same energy you gave out. You’ve had 30 years to change your trope.

It’s a tough call man. I’ve been using Linux for nearly 20+ years. It’s great, it always has been great. There are a lot of cliches where people just assume because they are a tech enthusiast with Windows they should be competent under Linux as well. It’s just the wrong mindset. I don’t know shit about Windows and the times I have to use it, I just look like a moron. All that to say, your approach needs to be, how does one do this under Linux. What is the Linux way of doing things. The same goes hand in hand for Mac or Windows or and of the other Unix-like operating systems.

If you are stuck on Windows for now, that’s okay, but you should just keep moving little by little toward Linux. Kind of like using OpenOffice, using Audacity, your Arduino software does have a Linux version. Arduino IDE is based on Electron which is basically Chrome. So, if you can run Chrome you can run your Arduino software.

I’m not sure why you were told your hardware was too new to be supported. They could have just switched you to a mainline kernel, even mainline mesa drivers for gaming. There are so many open standards these days, most hardware is supported by default. I can see too old or, for example, you have a cheap Chinese network card that never had Linux drivers written. I’m guessing that’s not your actual problem though. If it were, you could easily buy a cheap network card that is, Linux compatible. You don’t need to replace the entire system just for one peripheral.

Your CNC router software is supported through Parallels for Mac (basically you’ll use a Windows virtual machine), so you can do the same under Linux.

I don’t know about that Cad software, obviously you can run them in a VM no problem. Same with the Sony Vegas Pro software.

I don’t think you are stuck on Windows. You might need to run some of your specialized software in a VM, for the times you need it. Probably wont be bad, you could easily have the Window VM run on a second Virtual Workspace (Similar to Task View which Windows added in Windows 10 I believe) and you just switch to the Virtual Workspace when you need it. Just make sure you pass the GPU through to the VM. Same thing with your CNC machine, you want to pass that through to your VM (just a couple mouse clicks, usually), that’s what they would be doing with Parallels on Mac.

You can try WINE for things. I don’t use WINE to run Windows software. I do use the Proton variant for gaming though. I have used Wine to run the PS5 controller update software for updating my PS5 controller firmware a couple times. I don’t own a PS5 so I have to use the software. That would never have happened ten years ago. But I do all that through Bottles which handles all the WINE and Proton nonsense for me.

It might be better if you go to a LUG (Linux User Group) nearby and get help with all this. None of it’s hard, but the first couple times, things will probably seem overwhelming. Windows isn’t easier, it’s just that everybody is used to all the noise you have to deal with in Windows and so they don’t notice all the crap they deal with. I’m sure the same for me on Linux.

The 90’s called and want their specious cliché back.

Dude, your wifi dongle manufacturer obviously inbox’d their driver with MSFT and didn’t mainline their driver into the Linux kernel. When drivers are inboxed, MSFT will maintain them for as long as they are able to. Linux kernel maintainers will do the same when drivers are mainlined into the Linux Kernel. Your dongle manufacturer is the one to blame. Things aren’t plug and play because it’s “Windows”. That’s like a Mac enthusiast saying, “My Mac, It just works”. It better “just work”, there is only handful of devices that are even compatible with Mac. There are plenty of Windows compatible devices that don’t have inbox drivers for Win11 and Win10 and guess what, they don’t “Plug and Play”.

The solution was to just buy a Linux compatible device for the newer kernel you were running. Or, downgrade to a kernel that has support for your device. If it’s Windows that doesn’t have the inbox driver, you’d have to downgrade the entire OS. Most people don’t do that, they just buy a newer device that’s compatible with the newer Windows version they are using. Why would things be any different for Linux. Or Mac for that matter. And really, you couldn’t just buy a 15 dollar USB Wifi dongle that was compatible with the OS you were using???

If a Windows user buys a Mac, they will just assume they have to buy Mac devices and Mac software. If a Windows user installs Linux, suddenly everything had better work out of the box or the entire Linux eco system is a failure for everyone in the world.