u/Its_Curse

Third Time's the charm for this retaker 😁

Hi all! I am ready to make the move to Linux, but I'm finding picking a distro to be a little overwhelming. I'm the sort of person who does 2000 hours of research before committing to a post it note color choice, so while having so many options is amazing it's a little much for me.

I tried the Distro picker quiz and it returned a pile of results. I know I'm likely agonizing over minor differences here, but that's kind of my whole thing I guess.

Here's a bit about me and my usage plans if helps you help me:

I would consider myself decently tech competent! I've been building my machines (and all my friend's machines) for twenty years now and I'm no stranger to troubleshooting software or hardware issues. There's a ton I don't know, I don't program or go around setting up servers, but I'm up for the challenge of troubleshooting and using command prompts if I need to (It can't be harder than dos, right? Right???) and learning the ins and outs of Linux sounds like a fun challenge, so I don't need the most plug and play option if it seems like something a little more advanced would suit my needs.

I'm moving over because I'm tired of Windows bloat, ai, janky updates, and just generally Microsoft's whole situation.

I've been using Windows since Windows 95, please don't make me learn a Mac os style layout.

This is a fresh-ish build with 2020 era parts, I've collected spare parts from a few different machine upgrades over the years and I have a brand new hard drive to pop in. I'm working with an Intel chip and Asus 1050Ti graphics card. I'd be using wifi to connect to the Internet.

I'm hoping to use the machine to play steam games, emulate stuff from 1992, and browse YouTube right now. If I get along well with Linux I'd like to eventually move all my heavier use over to this pc, which would include photo editing and graphic design (Ready to cut the cord on Adobe, too). I don't require any specific program compatibility aside from steam.

I prefer stable updates over cutting edge stuff!

Feel free to just suggest whatever you use and like too! I'm just desperate for any direction here.

I did the practice test tonight and was just mystified by the format. Are we not doing MEEs anymore?

Is anyone else afraid? I thought I was doing great memorizing rules but now I don't know what to think anymore. Ya boi is panicking.