Choosing a Linux Distribution

Introduction

This should function as a general guide to what distribution you should either begin with or switch to. Consider factors such as what you want or need into account!

Usual troubles

As a beginner or even regular user of Linux, many people may and inevitably will look at your distribution as being "inferior." Unless there is a justifiable and grounded reason that breaches your security, productivity, or the project is severely unmaintained, this should always be ignored - you probably haven't gotten used to Linux user etiquette enough at this moment, and for the best you shouldn't if you are merely a beginner. As for more advanced users, you should know what you need by now.

If you find your distribution to be less ideal than you had originally perceived, it is best practice to try something new until you find a distribution that suits your needs best!

What do you want out of a distribution?

With so many Linux distributions, there has to be quirks about one that doesn't exist in the other. One may be born to be "as quick as lightning" while another may be born "to break free from the norms of modern Linux distributions".

Rolling Release Distribution's

EndeavourOS is a good introduction into rolling release distributions, it provides what Arch Linux does with the benefit of a GUI to boot and many applications that you would find in the terminal, as GUI applications as well.

Arch Linux is a rolling release distribution that is commonly used on its own, or as foundation for other rolling release distributions.

OpenSUSE is a good option if you do not want to use Arch or it's derivatives, but want to use a rolling release distribution. It also has custom tools such as snapper which handle system snapshots.

General Purpose

Fedora, while it primarily uses GNOME, it has many differing desktop environments or "spins", that could emulate the look of macOS, Windows, or you could go for a tiling window manager! (Don't worry about not knowing what that means yet, you aren't missing out.)

With Fedora, you are also getting the package testing seen in Debian, but the package releases close to what you would see in Arch Linux. It's a good in between that works if you just want to move to Linux for the first time.

Linux Mint is also a good starter, with it being a very popular distribution with a massive community behind it. It is based off of Ubuntu, while not having as many of the problems (if you want to call it that) that Ubuntu has.

Linux Mint also uses the Cinnamon desktop environment, which if you have used Windows for long enough, may feel familiar.