Well, It's now been (almost) a month and it seems my move from Windows to Linux will not happen as the desktop version fails at the first hurdle.
Many thanks to those who tried to help me, but if the OS (or windows manager) can't let me create a direct link to the devices on my network (rather than the volumes/shares on them) then it is of no use to me as a desktop OS. Of course YMMV if this is not a requirement for you, but it was a deal-breaker for me.
Which is a shame. I am an enthusiast with multiple laptops, PCs, NAS, servers, SBCs, etc around the house. All the NAS, servers and SBCs use variants of headless Linux and are doing their job quite well. But it seems desktop Linux still has a few areas where it lacks. At least for me.
I'll try again in a year or two and see if this has been fixed.
Again, many thanks to those who answered my call for help.