I'm quite frustrated with some aspects of macOS, particularly driving it from the keyboard, so I'm probably going to get a better experience out of it in the end.

Have you looked at Karabiner Elements⁽¹⁾? It’s extremely capable; see a config like this⁽²⁾ for inspiration.

⁽¹⁾ https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ ⁽²⁾ https://github.com/pdelfino/karabiner-config

Yes I'm using it because I don't use a standard Apple keyboard with my Mac.

The issue is mostly the user interface design is mouse first, not keyboard first. Windows was more than a little better on that front.

With Hammerspoon⁽³⁾ and the Accessibility API, I’ve found there’s not really much I can’t do.

My biggest problem now is that when I help somebody else on their Mac, I’m so used to “my controls” that I have to stop and think how to do things the normal way.

⁽³⁾ https://www.hammerspoon.org/

This would be much more interesting if it just exposed an API and didn't force Lua on you.

I have it, regularly updated, from my efforts 10-15Y ago to try to get a Compose key working on OS X.

I failed.

I just haven't bothered to remove and clean up again.

one would think, but a lot of things stopped Linux to just fucking work with Wifi on my machine

The bad news is the hardware. The most important parts of a laptop, to me anyway, is that it runs silent and doesn't get hot to touch. Not just to avoid sweaty fingers but because I usually have my laptop in or on my lap. Nothing I can find could replace my m1 8gb macbook air in that regard.

I can find some pretty cool linux laptops from framework or tuxedo, but they have fans and they get hot.

Asahi Linux is said to be pretty good on an M1.