which 8 & 16 bit cpus were ever in the official linux kernel?
intel 386 support was removed a while ago and other functions were broken, like some old graphic card acceleration if I recall correctly
there's likely more old stuff that got broken in new kernels.
CTRL-ESC also brings up the windows start menu, and then you start typing.
the only thing that it makes faster is all the shortcuts that are tied to the windows key like, I for settings, E for explorer, P for screen projection, L for lock, D for show desktop,...