I had a great time. I studied electrical engineering and my department had moved from using Matlab to Python which made my life a lot easier. There was one class where we had to use a Matlab library but I was able to use Octave with the library. There weren’t any other programs we had to install there weren’t compatible with Linux. A lot of classes just required a web browser, no additional software, so no issues there.

I’m a fan of qtile. Used it when it was x11 only and use it on Wayland now.

There’s an option for a tented middle layer but it’s definitely a little jank. https://docs.keeb.io/tenting-bolts-setup

I’m a fan of the keebio Iris keyboard. They have a prebuilt version and you can disconnect the right side.

I use a Belkin RT3200 (same hardware as Linksys E8450). They go for pretty cheap on ebay and I have no complaints.