Windows 8.1 was my last version before I made the switch. Windows 8 was horrible. The Metro UI broke all my habits from Windows XP from 7 while also making it harder to tweak my system. By the time 8.1 came out, I'd found enough ways around the main annoyances that its improvements were moot, but many issues remained, such as the bloatware bundled with my PC, and frequent slowness and instability.
As for why I switched, I was attracted by the free software ideal, and trying to get away from Windows, and I had watched and read several things that further convinced me it was superior, but I think the ultimate reason was that I had become hyperfixated on Linux. Thankfully, in this case, autism did not steer me wrong. My level of obsession with Linux has declined, but I still enjoy using my computer much more than I ever did or would on Windows.
Unlikely. While in theory someone could create a compatibility layer, it would be quite a challenge, as obviously, kernel modules are very closely tied to the specific kernel. I did some web searches, and only found the same few dead projects (that didn't completely solve this issue anyway) that you found, and other forum posts that offer little encouragement.
Make sure you have the latest version of Windows 10 or 11, and the latest drivers for your network hardware. If you do, then there's probably not much you can do about this.
Remember Me was one of the episodes that got me into Star Trek. My parents loved TNG and Voyager, but it was one of the first episodes I actually sat down and watched with them, and the whole premise of everyone disappearing, and how Beverly figured out what was going on, hit my brain in just the right way.
I'm working on possibly outdated second-hand information, so maybe it isn't happening anymore. I haven't been dual booting since ~2018 and even then I basically never used Windows.
Lighter, I think. About on par with LXQt or Trinity (KDE 3).
In that case makepkg isn't compiling anything, it's just packaging the existing binaries so that they can be more easily installed and recognized by your package manager.
And because of that, custom configurations are wonderfully easy to make, technical issues are rare, and the few issues you do experience are quite possible to solve. Which is why I settled on Debian.
Are all of the remaining LXDE programs going to be using XWayland? Or have they been ported by now?
Most regular distros are good enough for gaming. The only issue you're likely to run into is with graphics drivers (I recommend going for AMD graphics on that build), and the availability of certain software in certain formats (gaming software is more likely to be available for Debian or Ubuntu based distros).
If you like the Steam Deck's desktop mode, you might enjoy another distro with the same desktop environment (KDE Plasma). I'm partial to KDE Neon, a snappy Ubuntu LTS spin with all of the latest KDE software.
I use https://vgy.me/ currently. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any open-source options, but vgy at least seems friendly and easy to work with.
"Move Along Home" would work so much better as a Doctor Who episode. Has a kind of absurdity that is perfect for Who, but stands out in a bad way in Trek.