We always used the opposite, “except in bed…”

Notepadqq or Kate are supposed to be pretty good replacements!

There’s not really a simple way to make a VM setup permanent. You could try it out in a VM, and then use a backup tool to save your home directory and system configuration to transfer your settings to a “real” hard drive installation.

How good is the touch screen support in these two? I’m running a convertible for note taking, and I kinda depend on Gnomes pretty decent gesture support.