I’m not sure anyone has hard numbers on how much faster Linux is than Windows at compiling, but I have seen Windows take around 5-10x longer to compile, which is embarrassing when introducing people on Windows to Particle.
Setting up a Linux environment for local Particle Development is certainly worth it.
Particle Workbench will work on most distributions.
If you’re looking for a purely command-line solution I would recommend trying neopo, a tool I maintain that uses the same dependency system as Workbench.
You may find this thread useful: