The keybinds you can set up in e.g Ranger for navigating or moving files are incredibly fast and easy. Sure you could just use shell commands/aliases etc. but the visual representation of the file system that a TUI provides, I find really useful.
maybe look into udiskie for automounting/unmounting your external drives. It notifies, ejects and powers them off nicely with a terminal command you could alias, script or keybind to something real simple. Then in ranger I have ‘gm’ set as shortcut to go to media. I don’t need the GUI file manager that often anymore.
Yes probably. It’s a compromise and not ideal. I revoke internet access and on Graphene OS not tied to a Google account. We all find our own peace with this kind of thing. Florisboard looked very promising but the swipe text wasn’t implemented last I checked.
Unfortunately Gboard is still the best around. Block it’s internet access.
After some time living with Gimp/Krita etc. you will learn to do the things you did with Photoshop. It does takes some time and research/learning. I was real comfy with PS and do miss it but the more I’ve gone without, the more I’ve found ways to tackle the things I need to do with alternatives.
Very comfortable with Rofi. It’s especially nice in a window manager as it also works as a switcher or shortcut to your open programs.