finally need to root, preferred method?

i believe it's finally come time for me to root my beloved SM-N9005. i've recently moved from France to the UK and it appears as if i need to unlock my phone (RegionLockAway?), and i want to dump the Orange-branded version of Lollipop (..XXUGBOF1).

is CF-Auto-Root for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 still the method of choice?

i'm on Linux so i'm guessing that Odin on VMWare is also still the way forward, correct?

comments/suggestions welcome.

thx.