Oh man, I can’t believe what a different experience we had, haha. Bummer you had to jump through so many hurdles but I’m glad you got it working 
I wonder if it’s mainly the GPU difference that made my experience so painless? I’ve had my share of nvidia-related issues in Linux over the years – this is my first AMD card and so far it’s been so hassle-free.
In any case… thanks for documenting all this!