The other comments here are far more detailed than mine, and the posters are undoubtedly more experienced than I.

But my two cents: bazzite is the way to go.

It’s unbreakable, gaming-focused, and easy to install and work with. I used to run ubuntu, then arch, and I have been using bazzite for over two years now. Arch was amazing for tinkering any learning about how Linux works, but bazzite just works, and runs smooth.

The only issue I’ve had are small ones with non-standard hardware drivers. I rencently bought a gigabyte gaming laptop, and some of the hotkeys don’t work (like screen brightness +/-) out of the box. Also openRGB didn’t find the drivers it needs/expects to control the RGB keyboard.

Since bazzite is atomic, installing additional drivers for such stuff is more complicated, I haven’t even had time to look into it yet. On other distros this would be easier, for example I bet that on arch it would be simple. But arch can break if you don’t know what sou are doing, bazzite can’t really get into an unbootable state unless you try really hard to do so. So it is a tradeoff. Again, others here are much note knowledgeable than I, just wanted to share my experience.

NordVPN works very well for me. I’m coincidentally working on setting up an openVPN with their guide, and so far it has been clear and easy.

I currently use bazzite, but I learned more about Linux by installing arch from scratch than anything else I’ve ever done with my PC. It was a beautiful experience and I will never forget it.

I recently got a new laptop, and I’m considering installing arch again on the old one again to have a system available that is less restrictive. I’d probably use an installer this time around…but maybe not.

I’d bet that arch is a good choice. It’s really lightweight, and great for learning about the console, managing packages, etc.

I’m extremely happy with bazzite, it’s basically impossible to break, and great for gaming.

Just be aware that it is very focused on flatpaks, so installing anything that doesn’t have a flatpak version does require some extra steps.

What you use depends on your requirements. Excel can be just the right thing if it gets the job done, it has some great features, and with some outside help you can do basic versioning and whatever else you may need.

Databases are best for when you need:

Documented Approval processes

Documented versioning

Interfaces with other IT tools

Managing LOTS of various types of data

Metadata

Especially the last two are where a database shines. If you have lots of different types of data/files, then there is no good way to keep them organized in a static file structure. By adding tags to them (like date created, file type, priority, status, customer, project name, etc.) you can later search and filter based on what you are looking for. Need all files related to a certain project with the status “active”? Easy, just tell the database that it should filter based on those tags and boom, done.

SQL is a great place to start if you want to learn about programming. If you are just looking to stay organized, then programs like obsidian are awesome. You can very easily make a database out of obsidian with the free tutorials for plugins like dataview and templater.

I’m an electrical engineer that has become a proprietary cloud-tool admin. I occasionally use an LLM (chatGPT web) to write VBA code to do various API calls and transform excel/Jason/XML/CSV data from one format to another for various import/export tasks that would otherwise eat up my time.

I just use the chat, and copy/paste the code.

I spend an hour to meticulously describe the process I need the code to do, and then another hour or two testing, debugging and polishing, and get a result that would take me days to produce by myself. I then document the code (I try to use lots of sub-modules that can be reused) so that I can use the LLM less in the future.

I don’t feel great about the environment impact, which is why I try to limit the usage, and do debugging and improvements by myself. I’m also trying to push management to invest in a lean LLM that runs on the companies servers. I’m also looking into getting a better PC privately, which I could also run a local LLM on and use for work.

That depends on what that other stuff is. Bazzite is a desktop OS first, gaming second. But it us atomic, so installing apps that aren’t available as a flatpak is somewhat more complicated.

Mint is a great start though, I seriously doubt that you will have problems. Just don’t be afraid to experiment.

The horror stories often come from years ago, when Linux wasn’t as under-friendly as it is now. You shouldn’t have any problems with this.

And if Mint does give you problems (which I doubt), consider trying a plug-and-play gaming distro like bazzite. It supports nvidia GPUs right away.

https://bazzite.gg/

Great idea. I’m going to consider the same.

Postmarket OS isn’t? Oh whoa, I just checked for myself, I had no idea, thought it was aosp too!

Cool, thanks for the correction.

eOS works great for me on my fairphone 5, I suspect the model 6 is similar. Just be VERY careful about the anti-rollback protection, read the install instructions carefully and follow them exactly. And don’t use the easy installer, it can brick your phone.

https://doc.e.foundation/devices/FP6/install

For everyone else, here are the supported devices:

https://doc.e.foundation/devices

I have a Fairphone 5 with eOS, and I’m happy. Their service is painfully slow, but otherwise professional and reliable. You can run into headaches when flashing eOS if you are not super-cautious (dm mefor details if you like), but the instructions are good, and you can also buy various phones direct from Murena with eOS already installed.

Bazzite rocks, especially for gaming. I started with Ubuntu, did arch for a while (which was a great learning experience), and have been on bazzite for years now.

Pop and mint seem like great choices too if plug-and-play gaming isn’t your main focus.