Have you checked out Affinity? They support Mac and iPad, and are comparable with the core Adobe suite. Its a buy once scenario (per major version release). My only problem is they don’t support Linux.

Of note, they were purchased last year by Canva, but it has been stated they will keep the Affinity products separate for purchase.

Don’t kid. I did that with a folder in my testing just to eliminate the variables. Of course I put it back.

My issue was that my initial setup was accessing it from a different machine, and windows at that. I had to simplify in order to make it all mentally make sense.

Thank you for this. I appreciate the write up, learning a few things, and just the general let’s all get along heart behind it.

Just as a tip, set up and use a spare machine if you have one to make the transition easier. I’ve been running Mint now for a few months.

I have a test machine that I am learning and getting familiar with, setting up a virtual machine to learn that (I have some windows apps I will not escape from so running in a VM is my solution), etc… And all of this is with the freedom that if I break something I can wipe it and not care. I have since set up a media center and a gaming machine as well.

That experience is getting me feeling better about he whole thing. Honestly learning little idiosyncrasies like folder permissions not being inherited (I say as I set up my media center) are the things you juat need to learn through practice. Just my two cents as I am only a step ahead of you in a similar journey.