I went from AoE1 to OG AoM years and years ago and didn’t think there was a huge jump in feel or quality, but I’m just a filthy casual that plays these on toddler difficulty because I want to relax when I’m gaming. If you’re on my level then you really can’t go wrong, it’s a fun game that can be played in a very simple manner if that’s how you wanna go about it.
I installed Mint this past spring and fiddled around with it briefly every once in a while but I’m not a tech guy so there was a little bit of a learning curve on stuff like getting a second monitor to work, stuff like that. I’m sure you’ve already found out that there’s TONS of documentation and forums for questions, it’s just a matter of feeling kinda dumb for a little while as you troubleshoot. I switched over to Mint full time a few months ago and haven’t looked back. I’ve still got Win10 on an extra hard drive just in case but I think more and more of reclaiming that space for Steam now, I don’t miss Windows at all