A place for all Furries who use (or are interested in) Linux-based OS's to come, hang out, ask questions, and enjoy!
Stay with one of the big boys: Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, then you're golden. For NVIDIA users I guess I'd still recommend something Ubuntu based: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Pop_OS!, etc because the drivers can be preinstalled.
On Fedora you need to install the NVIDIA drivers from rpmfusion, and on openSUSE you need an additional repo. It's an extra step, but otherwise I'd strongly recommend one of these two.
OpenSuse Tumbleweed really is amazing. If I ever get tired of Pop, Tumbleweed is absolutely what I would consider as an alternative.
My favorite go-to for new users is Fedora. It's a community version of red hat Linux and i have to say the installer and built-in software should get you most the way through out the box.
My next recommendation is Vanilla Debian V12 Bookworm. I like Debian because it's a rock solid distro that's hard to mess up.
Besides the base OS, consider using either a KDE or Gnome desktop. Either should deliver a solid new user friendly UI.
I might be a little late, and this might be a little controversial, but I'll recommend to you what was recommended to me years ago. Ubuntu. Though the interface is different than it was in 2013 (they use a different desktop environment (DE) now), the spirit of ease-of-use is still there. Ubuntu is a rock-solid Debian based distro, which of course, there are a lot of. Ubuntu however (and I'd assume it's derivatives) go a step further for usability. Coming from Windows XP back then, everything just made sense. Software came from a place called Software, updates came from a place called Updates, and LibreOffice (OpenOffice branch; MS Office equivalent) is a pre-installed app. It also makes driver install (at least for Nvidia, not sure about AMD) easy, a single click will switch you from the nouveau (rather poor open source drivers) to nvidia's latest proprietary drivers, in the Software and Updates menu.
Out of the box, Ubuntu is set to handle it's updates semi-automatically (prompting you for permission). It's install process is a breeze compared to some distros, not being a several step process, but simply a boot-from-disk, follow instructions, process (pre-UEFI, it was arguably even simpler; openSuse also has this advantage). If you only have experience with Windows, Ubuntu is the place to go. If you want something that's similar enough to Windows' interface, but has it's own Linux-isms, I'd say your best bets are KDE (and relatedly, Kubuntu, which is Ubuntu with KDE out of the box). Some other people would recommend Cinnamon or MATE, which both have their own versions as well.
But if you want the Ubuntu experience, GNOME is bulky and sometimes annoying, but very charming. It's certainly better than Unity, which was the previous DE, that had a charming interface, but even more bulk than GNOME. I hope whatever you pick, you come to love (or at least not dislike) Linux. If you find that too much of your software doesn't have a Linux version, make sure to give Wine a go. It's not perfect, but it's nearly so for a lot of modern apps. Valve's equivalent to Wine (Proton) is even more effective, especially for games.
(As a side note, after several years of distro hopping on a secondary computer, my daily drivers changed to Arch earlier this year, which is lovely, but very involved.)
I agree with some of this point, as Ubuntu is a fair option to start off with. I used to stay pretty exclusively to GNOME, even sidestepping the more "touch-friendly" style of GNOME 3 by adding extensions to re-add a taskbar and such.
Alternatively, I've poked with KDE (such as through Kubuntu: https://kubuntu.org/ ), which has actually been a lot more performant and slim than GNOME (in stock Ubuntu), and generally what I desire out-of-the-box versus having to pile on more GNOME extensions (which probably drag down performance) just to get the same.
The main downside with Ubuntu is the ways they try to slip in some ways to commercialize their distro sometimes, such as having small text ads when opening a console, or integrating Amazon search (before Microsoft forced Bing into their Start Menu, even) into Unity long ago.
I'd reasonably recommend 'easier' options (such as Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint, Debian, etc), versus the trend where I see people that are new to Linux try to take the "hard" option first, because of handling it like a self-image thing, that they're "more advanced/knowledgable than to bother with Ubuntu", but end up failing miserably, and blaming it all on "Linux is total sh't" etc when they fail miserably and can't be bothered to ask for some seasoned advice.
Linux Mint Or eben Ubuntu can Be Quote Nice distros to start out with in My opinion.
As a tech-savvy person, I tried a few of the easy-to-use ones like Mint/Ubuntu/Fedora. I didn't really like them. I then tried Arch after taking a "Distro Selection Quiz", thinking "ugh, there's no way this will be good right?" and it absolutely hit every expectation I had of Linux. I love the feel that the OS is in my hands to be configured however I want it. I can use old and reliable systems or bleeding edge tech ideas.
Once you get past the installation you can always install Gnome or something like it anyway to make it just like the easy distros.
There is an aspect to this that I'd like to mention, and that is you should consider the community of people around your distro, when makling this choice. There's a point at which online guides won't suffice, or you won't know what what to Google, and you'll have to reach out on forums or IRC or something, although i hear kids these days like Discord. I have long sense learned to pick my distros based on the people around them. I was Debian/Ubuntu foir years but switched when they started giving me bad vibes. Fedora has been great, i just wish there contributor documentation and onboarding was a bit better. And on community factors I'd recommend Gentoo over Arch any day and twice on Sundays.
this is a point I think most newcomers to Linux/Fediverse/Indieweb/etc. fail to grasp. To use these technologies, puts you in a far closer relationship to the people making/maintaining the software, then you would otherwise be. To Microsoft/Google/Random Cooperation. You're just an inconvenient expense. You're probably not even the primary customer. But to your instance admin, your linux distro people, you can be much more, and you'll have a better experince if you at least pop by and say hello occasionally :)
Anyway sorry for the length of this response, tl:dr check the forums and chats before you pick a distro see how they treat people, see if you vibe because you'll depend on those people to keep your stuff running
IMO I like linux mint or fedora as good starter distros. They're both stable and easy to use, but they're not going to limit you if you're an expert. KDE is my preference for desktop, but gnome feels better on a laptop.
Ubuntu is too forceful about snaps lately, and it gives me that classic "I don't actually own my computer" feeling.
Manjaro getting borked is not unexpected - they've had a lot of problems, and generally your system will tear itself apart sooner or later due to their package holding. If you want manjaro done right, I'd recommend Garuda linux.
If you have the luxury I would suggest getting another cheap used computer and distro-hopping. Maybe get a cheap think-pad off ebay.
My opinion is ,even though its not the best anymore, some flavor of ubuntu.
Ubuntu may be losing its favor with the community but the important things for beginners is that it had a LOT of momentum for the past decade or so. That means lots of forum threads, lots of tutorials and lots of support from software for the platform. Which is important when your trying to pick up a whole new way of using your computer.
If your a windows power user already then I would say kubuntu. it uses kde and its got a windows-y vibe. stuff is mostly in the same places.
Once you've gotten your training wheels off then you can try anything, but start with a popular one
I'll chip in my two cents:Pop!_OS
It's based on Ubuntu and it plays nice with Nvidia. Easy to install, its built in package manager keeps everything up to date, and is already integrated with flatpak.
>nvidia card
Found the issue :^)
(On a serious note, I'd suggest giving a Fedora a spin since it's been pretty rocksteady from when I used it. DNF was pretty slow but I heard that it has gone better over the past 5 years)
Honestly, just pick one that sounds interesting and install it as dual boot or on a secondary machine. I would recommend Pop OS for most people, but I ended up going from Kubuntu to Archcraft (also an interesting one to check out) to plain Arch with a fully custom setup. I have also tried Manjaro and Elementary OS, but never ran them as a full-time OS.
You will likely find good things and bad things about every one you try, and eventually find one you like. I prefer Arch mostly because of the AUR, but I have been really tempted to try Pop OS because of how much development has been going into it.
Regardless, don't be afraid to search the Arch wiki for things, as it is a good reference even for other distros. Just know that you might have to use different package names than on the wiki.
I'd definitely start off with one of the common, popular distros. Namely Pop!_OS, Kubuntu, since I know it's fairly easy to install Nvidia drivers there. Also maybe OpenSuse Tumbleweed if you wanna try out what a rolling release distro is, without jumping to Arch. Then once you're comfortable with that, then decide where you want to move on, if at all. I've been on Pop for over 4 years now, and I still love it. :)