KDE is usually fine for a beginner, but don’t start with Arch unless you intend to learn Linux by solving a thousand different technical issues based on vague log statements throwing around terminology you’ve never heard of. KDE and Linux Mint are the most Windows-like Linux environments out of the box.

Ubuntu uses GNOME by default, which doesn’t do a lot of things Windows does. I like it, but others don’t. KDE is a lot more “normal” but setting it up right from scratch is a pain; the Arch masochists may like it, but I sure don’t.

If you pick a distro that ships with KDE I’m sure you’ll be able to use it right after installation. That goes for other desktop environments too, whether it’s Gnome (the Ubuntu/Fedora default), Cinnamon (the Mint default), XFCE, LXDE, or one of the many others.

If you’ve already gotten some usage out of KDE, I suggest trying out Fedora. Fedora has a KDE release that ships with everything you need with a user friendly installer that will take care of pretty much everything for you.

If you want to use Linux with Nvidia hardware (i.e. outside of VirtualBox), consider Pop_OS!, a distribution that prides itself in making the terrible Nvidia drivers work out of the box. Most other GPU vendors are fine with any other distro, but Nvidia requires special handling.

If you do give Arch another go, read through everything completely before even beginning the installation process. Make notes of every decision you make (what network manager do you want to use? are you going to make your life harder by not using systemd? what partition layout do you prefer?) and make sure you’re ready to spend an entire day following guides. You’ll be able to name every component your Linux setup consists of, which is great for troubleshooting, but don’t feel pressured to spends all that time.

There’s a reason the majority of Linux users use Ubuntu or maybe Fedora.

I’d recommend MX Linux, which is a Debian based distribution that has dominated distrowatch.com for a long time for good reason. They have a bunch of management tools, newest Firefox… You might try just using it in VMWare Player (free) virtualization first, which has better 3D support than Virtualbox. I’m currently using MX Linux KDE Beta and it’s solid as they’re only tweaking some of their tools after the latest Debian release. And they have a good forum community for help. And Debian is the base from which Ubuntu and other distributions are built, and kind of the foundational Linux version which makes it a good place to learn Linux.

Keep it simple, Ubuntu/Mint/PopOS, play around with it for at least a few months before trying an arch install

I have hosed so many installs over the past 20 or so years that it’s impossible for me to guess a number. It’s part of the learning process. Just keep at it and you’ll get there.

I’ve been in your shoes a few months ago. I tried a few distros in VMs and ended up using OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. It comes with different GUIs and I decided for KDE. As a beginner TW helped me with the built in snapshots mechanism. So before I did anything, I took a snapshot, did it, and if I fucked up, I could easily rollback and try again. Since TW is a rolling release, I now make a snapshot before and after the system update So I always have some stable Rollback snapshots. Gives me so much safety to fiddle around and learn more about Linux. Been loving it so far.

Make heavy use of ChatGPT. I’ve been chatting about Linux with it for months now.

You’re on the right track! That feeling of understanding less is normal - and good news is that it isn’t true. You understand more than you did before - but now you also know of some other things you don’t know about yet. This is good and exciting! I wish I were in your shoes so I could experience this for the first time again.

I would recommend Fedora Silverblue 38. It is an immutable OS, meaning that it is impossible to break it to the point where it doesn’t work. Since the root file system is read only, like a mobile OS, you would be hard pressed to actually break it. Don’t worry though, most graphical applications are available as flatpaks on Flathub. Flathub is integrated with the app store in Fedora 38, no need to use the terminal. For terminal applications you want to use there are toolboxes, which are little mini fedora containers that have access to your home directory and some other integrations. Also Fedora Silverblue is easy to install and works with most hardware.

Arch is a bad distro for newbies. Go find an ISO for Kubuntu and install that. The install wizard is idiot-proof. I use KDE-based distros like Kubuntu even though I’m a fairly advanced user so don’t view it as some kind of failure. There’s no virtue in using more complicated stuff. Get comfortable with the easier distros first.

Don’t start with the most complicated distro and then fail.

Get Fedora Silverblue. It is rock solid. Install Distrobox or Boxes to emulate other systems on top of that.

You could also move on to something else later if toy like.

Don’t use regular Arch if you’re struggling. There are some arch-based distros that are more user friendly, though. Like EndeavourOS or ArchMan. Manjaro can be good too but there are legitimate problems with how the project is run.

I was having graphics driver problems in Ubuntu-based distros until I tried Linux Mint.

If you get crashes right before or after login, it’s often a (Nvidia) graphics issue. To get around this, you could use nomodeset in the Grub menu to get a successful first boot where you can then install the proprietary drivers.

Look at sections 4 and especially 5 on this page
Also, here is that info in a tutorial format

Also, you may want to set the Desktop Environment to Xorg or X11 (same thing) if Wayland is causing you problems. It’s older, but in some cases more efficient and less experimental. Check out the section: Switching desktop environments using a graphical user interface. It should look similar to the pictures. And notice that the “gear” icon may not appear until you select a user or start typing your password.

If your problem is different than this, open a support ticket in the discord or forums of the distro you’re using. Linux Mint has a great system for this on Discord.

Is it an unrealistic goal to want to eventually run a computer with coreboot and a more cybersecurity heavy emphasis?

No, its not unrealistic. However, what I think is unfair to yourself is to attempt this before knowing what you are doing. Think of it like learning to draw. You have good taste, and you see art you like, and want to do it too. Yet your personal skill level, you finger dexterity, isn’t yet there to be able to make the art you can visualize in your mind.

If a task is too hard, or to complex, then there must exist a smaller, easier task to accomplish first. Coreboot specifically is an extremely low hardware/firmware level system, but you don’t feel confidant in installing a working desktop OS. You have aspirations for cyber security, as well. Find the smaller, and easier task first. Get Debian/Ubuntu working in a VM. Then look at what software is installed, and read about it. If you want to eventually pursue security projects, setup a LAMP stack. If that too hard, just get the A in LAMP. If that’s too hard, find out why. What do you know, what do you not know? It’s machines all the way down, and its an extremely small chance you are the first person with a problem. Don’t worry about “correctness” and focus on the learning experience.

It is 100% achievable, but it is a lot of time. I started with it because I wanted to run a game server for myself. It’s a couple of decades later, and I still have a massive amount to learn.

I cannot stress this enough…

POP!_OS

As a Linux user I can tell you that nothing works. Every single Linux distro requires some amount of work. That’s why I do not use Windows or MacOS since it is so closed ecosystem that you can’t even fix anything when something fails.

use linux mint, xubuntu, or maybe pclinuxos