LinuxQuestions.org - Doctor Wizard is in the Houze!

Greetings!!

I've been a Windows geek since version 1.0. I worked as developer writing Windows desktop apps for 20 years, and I ran a side business working on computers for individuals and small offices. I've tinkered with Linux many times over the years, but since I earned my living from Windows I stuck with that because I needed to be very familiar with it.

But things change.

Now I'm developing mostly for IOT and embedded systems on microcontrollers. My side business has dwindled to almost nothing because nowadays most people are doing everything on their phone or tablet. Even if they do use Windows, everything is in the cloud now and the only application they use is a web browser. Viruses and malware are nowhere near the problem they used to be.

So for a couple years I've talked of making the jump to linux. Especially as I became more and more disillusioned with Microsoft and their policies and where Windows is going.

So a week ago today, I created another partition and installed Linux Mint 19. I set Mint as the default O/S to force myself to use it. I thought I was gonna hate it, but resolved to give it a fair chance. I am pleased (and shocked) to say that after 7 whole days, I have not felt the need to boot back to Windows for anything, not even once. I have a high powered workstation with dual Xeons, 48GB of RAM, and an NVMe SSD so Windows runs very quickly. And yet even on my big iron, I can see a noticeable speed increase in Mint. A number of Windows apps I used are available for Linux. For most others there is an equivalent that will also read and write my 20-some year collection of files and content I have created. I liked Thunderbird much better than Outlook immediately. After some learning curve, I think I will like libre office better than Microsoft's. I've run into some setup and configuration issues, but most of them I have solved on my own so far.

Current sticking points include:

I can't access my WD MyCloud NAS across the network.
I am looking for a simple way to keep My Documents, Music, Videos, Picture, Downloads, etc. folders readily accessible to both O/S's whilst taking advantage of each O/S's built in functionality for those special folders.
And this is getting a bit advanced, but - In Windows I have a RAM disk that my Temp folder points to. This has numerous advantages, including speed, reduced wear leveling (& extended life) on the SSD, and it clears itself on every reboot.

P.S. My real first name actually is "Wizard" and I have 2 Ph.D's, hence my user name. I try to live up to it. Before Windows I used DOS, before that CP/M, before that Assembly. My first computer, in 1972, had a pre-release engineering prototype of the Intel 8008 processor. I've had an Altair and an Imsai, every model of TRS-80 ever made, Commodores, Ataris, TIs, DECs, NECs, Kaypros, Osbornes, Compaqs, IBMs, Apples, NeXT, old Macs and even an old PDP-8e with a teletype. Besides computers, my other hobby is a giant (computerized, of course) Christmas light show.