this is how a mixer should be

[Tj Shredder]

if mixers were like this there wouldn't be so many bad mixes

I have not seen a mixer like this in any Daw

Immediately two DAWs that have a channel strip almost like that come to mind: ProTools and Logic. (Though looking much better and don‘t have that useless balance knob which belongs to HiFi equipment)
I bet there are more. A lot of other DAWs can do exactly the same and just look different. Not so much like an analog strip from a mixer... All these DAWs are backed by development times probably longer than you are on this planet. If you add up the man years of development and experience behind it, its magnitudes more...
Read up a bit of Dunning-Kruger and don‘t make yourself a fool...
A newbie wants to tell the pros that gear is responsible for bad mixes...

Inside a DAW there is endless headroom, and any nonlinear plugin has a gain stage at the input. That is the only place it needs to be...

[Reefius]

I still don't see the point of the peak meter at the input. Without any FX (or FX bypassed) and the fader at 0 dB, both input and output meters should show the same values. So basically all you need is the output meter, because each newly added track should start in its default state with no FX and fader at 0 (unless you're using some template with already inserted FX, then just disable them temporarily).

THAT is the point where you do the gain staging, either with an input gain knob on the mixer, an utility plugin or just the input gain knob of the first plugin you add. Once gain staging is done you no longer have any use for input metering.

[excuse me please]

Reminds me of a math student who once asked me why tables and chairs do not have 3 legs instead of 4. That said, gain staging still has some mysteries for me. How much headroom should I have before mastering?