Linux

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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.

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.

Mint is great. I recently switched fully to Linux and mint feels comfortable

I cannot stress this enough...

POP!_OS

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.

i wouldn't say that it's unrealistic.

The "Problem" is however, that there are a gazillion different approaches to everything. And everyone will tell you their method and maybe even badmouth other peoples methods... That way you don't really know what to do anymore.

Imho, don't install them in a VM. Get yourself a new cheap SSD. Unplug the one with windows on it and just install a well-known Linux distro that has a big open community on your PC.

If you want something Arch-based: I'd highly recommend you Garuda-Linux. Don't get scared off by it's ..... flashy default looks. This can be changed very easily. But they have one of the most welcomming and helpful communities i have ever witnessed. They aren't really here or on reddit, but rather have their own forum.

This thing will give you everything you need to start. And if something breaks, it does automatic snapshots of your system everytime you install a new package. So if something breaks, you turn off...turn on....and in the boot menu you'll find your snapshots. Pick the last working one. and that's it. Good to go again.

But these are just my 2 cents..

Start with Ubuntu, eventually switch to Debian, then give Arch a shot.

You definitely don't need Coreboot. Try Linux Mint to start with, and just use your computer as you normally would. Getting comfortable with how Linux does things is something you need to learn before taking the next steps. No one became a Linux guru by reading the "Linux manual" front to back. I picked up almost all of my Linux knowledge on-the-fly because I broke something or because I wanted to do something.

Also, if all you want is better cybersecurity, you'll make a huge leap just by picking any Linux distro. Save Coreboot, full disk encryption, etc for at least a few months down the road when you're picking a new distro and have a better idea of what you want to do differently.

One word: Mint

It's pretty streamlined, more reliable than some newer trendy Ubuntu spin offs, and still powered at it's core by the same old kernal that even the "advanced" distros use.

I applaud you for trying Arch, and if you can figure it out while learning Linux in general that's a great achievement, but it's overly complicated and I personally wouldn't reccemend it to anyone starting out (or even a most experienced users unless they had a particular need for it's features).

If you continuously get issues across all distros in VMs a live environment might also be worth checking out (live being booted off external media without an install).

Ultimately, though if Linux does mess with your workflow, then use what works best for you. Sure I like Linux, but if it breaks what you need and Windows or Mac doesn't then use what works best for you. But, there's a saying "the more the island of my knowledge grows the greater the shore of my ignorance". The more you learn the more that you realized how little you know. It's always the case for anybody who's either not an extreme expert or a narcissistic, but it's also a great motivator to keep learning.

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

Next time you decide to attempt Arch, you could try the included install script.

But for now I would also suggest starting out with something more simple, such as Linux Mint or Ubuntu LTS.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mint xfce.

@gronjo45 The big question here is; what do you mean by "learn linux"?

If you really want to learn and understand what you're doing, here's a solution that will not leave you empty handed. No matter if you decide to call it quits half way through, you still have a great deal more knowledge than you'd get from simply installing a distro that does all the hard work for you.

No one ever listens when I say it but I'll say it again; follow the #gentoo handbook cover to cover doing a stage3 install. When you encounter something you don't understand, go read about it, usually links are included. Once you've gotten to any graphical environment, wipe it and start again. Repeat this process until you only reference the handbook to verify you're doing it correctly.

I would also advise doing this on metal, as the VM approach will likely give you no hardware problems to solve along the way. You'll never learn how to fix what never breaks. ;)

Installing something that just works, or where you only need to click next in the installer only gets you a working system. It offers you absolutely nothing in the way of knowledge or understanding. What good to you is a working linux system if you know nothing about it? The method I propose will ensure you have all the basic skills and knowledge you need to be a (mostly) self sufficient linux user.

If you do take my advice and have any questions along the way, feel free to send me a direct message. I'd be happy to help.

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.