L's workbench on Nostr: Not at all comprehensive list of noob-friendly distros You're approaching Linux, it ...

Not at all comprehensive list of noob-friendly distros

You're approaching Linux, it seems scary, I know, but it's not like it's gonna bite or something!
Linux is just the name of the kernel, we have a whole universe of OS (called distributions or just distros) based on Linux. And a lot of them are VERY newbies-friendly.
Here's a non comprehensive list:

- Ubuntu, definitively the king of entry level distros. It's visually beautiful and unique, it's based on Debian, it has a whole arrays of programs already available natively and, on the plus side, if you will ever experience a problem, I can guarantee you that somebody somewhere already talked about it and someone else fixed it. It comes with a heavily modified GNOME DE (desktop environment, the collective user interface), but it also will come with different DE (KDE, Xfce, Lxde, Cinnamon etc). Download it here https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop

- ElementaryOS, if you're a MacOS typa guy, this is the distro that will be the closest in terms of UI. ElementaryOS is based on Ubuntu, so it has all the perks of being an Ubuntu-based distros, but it also has some unique visual features and apps designed by the dev team for it. Download it here https://elementary.io/

- PopOS, another Ubuntu based distro (are you getting it?), it ships with a GNOME DE and if brings a lot of performance improvements for Nvidia GPUs, good for gaming. Download it here https://system76.com/pop

- Debian, one of the 4 queens of distros (with Arch, Fedora and SUSE). It has different releases based on the development stage. It has a stable branch, an OS that you will never be able to break because it's basically bugs-free thanks to the endless work of independent and paid devs, but it also ships with older versions of software. It also has an unstable branch, with more bugs (it's perfectly usable though, don't let the name fool you), but with the latest software, and other branches too. Download it here https://www.debian.org/

- Linux Mint/LMDE. Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, while LMDE is based on the unstable branch of Debian. They can be shipped with either Mate, Cinnamon (two old style, but very modern DE) or Xfce. It's a solid distro for a beginner/medium user. Download it here https://linuxmint.com/

- Manjaro, if you're feeling frisky and you absolutely don't want Debian/Ubuntu based distros, here's one for your good taste. Manjaro is based on Arch, but instead of having a command line based installer (what a nightmare!), it has a graphical installer like you would get with Windows or MacOS. It ships with KDE (very modern, Windows-like DE), it's rolling release (meaning that you don't have new version of the OS, but new version of the packages that makes the OS), it's very stable and powerful. Download it here https://manjaro.org/

- openSUSE, still feeling frisky? openSUSE is an independent german distro developed by SUSE, a very active company in the open source Linux world. It has two branches: Leap and Tumbleweed. Leap because you literally jump (or leap) from one version to another when a new version of the OS is released (much like Windows 10 -> Windows 11). Tumbleweed because you roll through the version of the packages, updating all the features and UI, without the need to install a new operating system everytime. Full disclosure: I'm currently running Tumbleweed on my PC.
It ships GNOME, as well as KDE and Xfce.
Download it here http://www.opensuse.org/

- Fedora, last but not least, the bleeding edge distro. It aims to be as innovative as it can get. Its development is sponsored by Red Hat, the oldest Linux company in the world. It ships with a bunch of different DE.
Download it here https://getfedora.org/

Or if you don't want to listen to any of the stuff I said, you can always verify by yourself, browse https://distrowatch.com/ and download all of them and try them one by one. They're all free!

Have fun!