Seems like I just can't sit still when it comes to Linux. :) I had thought to give KaOS or perhaps Manjaro KDE another shot... but even the lastest versions just do not seem as smooth or as polished as gtk3 based distros do, especially in the font rendering department.
So... I wanted something different and thought I would give Elementary another shot. The latest version is decent... looks great, of course, better than screenshots show. Not sure why that is but it looks better right in front of you than in a screenshot.
The install went VERY smoothly, even configuring it to run BTRFS on the system drive. When it came time to format the disk I simply selected the old Pop!_OS device and told it to format as btrfs, then let the installer take it the rest of the way. Worked perfectly first try. It also installed Nvidia drivers for me, and the entire system worked very well.
I then proceeded to make a few adjustments, like increasing the DPI, and installing the Liquorix kernel (https://liquorix.net/, follow the instructions for ubuntu). The kernel installation did not fully succeed and, while I got the new kernel, my graphics drivers were broken. So then I simply snagged the Nvidia 340.64 driver and performed a manual install. To do that you simply turn off the graphical interface (systemctl set-default multi-user.target), reboot and as root run the Nvidia installer. Once that completes you restore graphical mode (systemctl set-default graphical.target), reboot again and *boom*, graphics fixed.
The thing about Elementary is its controlled simplicity. Like KaOS, the devs don't really want you messing around too much with your system. There is a nice store to install the apps you MUST HAVE, but beyond that you have to sort of fend for yourself. But, the one thing about it is, this is an Ubuntu-based distro. That means you really DO have a ton of possibilities at your fingertips. You just don't want to muck around too much with the desktop environment, but under the hood you can do a lot, and just about any application you might really need is available. If not, you will probably be able to find a debian package for it somewhere, OR you can install and use flatpak or AppImage or whatever other application isolation subsystem floats your boat.
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