If you have questions about how to do something in Linux, feel free to post them here. I’ll check this thread periodically and answer questions as best I can. I mainly use Debian, but questions about other distros are also welcome. I won’t pretend to know things I don’t, and while I won’t tell you to “read the manual”, I may refer to specific documentation that you can consult for additional detail.
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Not technically a GNU/Linux but I suspect still in your wheelhouse
Do you have any advice on HOW to migrate from something like Obsidian to EMACS? I’m familiar with vim, so that seems like the more natural alternative, however I NEED real time LaTeX rendering. (I do a lotta math) so that seems to rule out vim/neovim from my research
And I also have a massive bunch of linked markdown notes which I need it to work with semi-decently
I get lost looking at the different distributions available and peoples arguments about the various pros and cons haha
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Oh boy, I dunno if I can commit… 
Over the weekend, I backed up my files and got rid of Windows 11 for Linux Mint. Things looked promising at first but I encountered a few issues.
I had no idea the only option to control colors would be OpenRGB, and it doesn’t detect my ram. I searched around and snooped through their Discord but none of the fixes applied to me (got the udev stuff). Seems like my hardware simply isn’t supported. I can’t deal with rainbow ram and light pink fans…
Getting Affinity to run is a nightmare. But Photopea is still an option.
The translation tool I need for work is also Windows only and Wine didn’t work with it. I used virtual machine manager to install Windows for that program and that works fine.
Monster Hunter has some serious lag at the start of quests, but it’s playable.
Other than that, though, it’s light, fast, and free of corpo BS.
The rainbow ram is killing me though… And I know it’s stupid and doesn’t matter, but I bought RGB ram for a reason. 
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Do you have any advice on HOW to migrate from something like Obsidian to EMACS?
I’m not at all familiar with Obsidian; I was already pretty deep into using Emacs by the time Obsidian started getting buzz, so I ignored it. If you’re already familiar with Obsidian and productive with it, I’d suggest sticking with it.
Also, since you’re already familiar with vim, did you know that you can write a vim script function to generate previews from markdown and open them in your browser? It isn’t really “real time” since you’ve still got to issue a command, though.
If you really want to switch to Emacs…
Based on their website, Obsidian just uses Markdown files, so if you use the File Explorer plugin you should be able to copy your vault’s contents to a regular folder somewhere else on your computer.
There is an Emacs package for interfacing with Obsidian. Likewise, Emacs also has a markdown mode and a markdown preview mode, and the latter can be set up to use Pandoc for rendering.
It bears mentioning, however, that if you’ve never used Emacs before you’re already facing a learning curve before you even start adding packages. You could use a starter kit like Doom Emacs to ease the transition, since it uses Evil Mode to emulate vi/vim keybindings, but you might eventually find yourself wanting to customize Emacs for yourself.
PS: I’m not sure what you mean by real-time LaTeX rendering, because Emacs doesn’t have that either, but the markdown-preview-mode package I mentioned will update the preview when you save or when Emacs is idle.
If I was using LaTeX equations in Markdown, I’d generate PDFs with Pandoc. Here’s a blog post by somebody who does a lot of LaTeX equations in Markdown:
I didn’t know that RGB RAM was a thing until you had mentioned it. I just buy secondhand computers (usually laptops and workstations originally leased to corporations and refurbished) and then upgrade the memory and storage with parts from Crucial.
I’m sorry that OpenRGB isn’t supporting your hardware and that neither Affinity nor Photopea are working particularly well, but have you looked into Krita or GIMP? (I know the name’s problematic, but good luck getting it changed.)
As for translation apps for work: Definitely can’t help you.
My suggestion is that you go back to Windows on your main machine that you’re using for work and gaming, and get yourself a secondhand Thinkpad for Linux tinkering. The T-series (particularly the T420 and T430) are solid models and you should be able to get one for less than $300. Either that, or try Windows Subsystem for Linux or running Mint instead a virtual machine.
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Good suggestions!
I’m indeed planning on eventually getting a lower spec 2nd PC/laptop. I’ll look into the Thinkpad (and also Windows Subsystem) like you mentioned. 
And yep, I’ve tried GIMP before. It’s just that I’m used to Affinity now and it was a birthday present from my sisters. =)
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Thanks for getting back to me! I will probably end up sticking with Obsidian for a while longer, but I am also desperately looking at for a fire exit since their funding model doesn’t seem sustainable to me.
I think the markdown preview mode is what I’m talking about. Obsidian is neat in that as soon as you go to a new line it renders the LaTeX all on the one screen. As in the markdown mode and preview mode are combined, rather than switching to a browser. I remember seeing an plugin in Emacs that says it can do similar (but I don’t remember its name)
I may just give it a good try this weekend and see if I can cobble together something which works
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