Linux Mint is the obvious "newbie" choice, and not just because everyone says so.
Now, I'm no Linux expert, but Mint is great for the huge amount of tutorials availiable. The catch is: most of them aren't aimed at Mint itself, but Ubuntu or Debian, from which it "inherits" a lot. So, if you have a problem and can't find a fix for Mint specifically, chances are one aimed at Ubuntu (or even Debian) will work flawlessly.
Additionally, GenAI chatbots impress me with how helpful thay are. Just by asking them how to do stuff will teach you a lot.
I highly recommend you save the info which seemed most useful somewhere for future reference. In my experience I had to do a few dozen things repeatedly and ended up remembering them. They're mostly simple commands like apt install, apt update, apt upgrade, cd and my favourite <app_name &> which opens the app invoked without "hijacking" the terminal.
As most in the Linux community say, some things are lightning-fast to do in the terminal once you know the proper incantation.
As others said, the Mint install is incredibly simple, and much faster than the Windows one. You don't need a guide, just reading the on-screen prompts and instructions will guide you through it. During the install I highly recommend checking the "Install proprietary drivers" box because depending on your exact hardware, some things (especially Nvidia) may not play well without it.
You will be able to do almost everything without the terminal, although many tutorials do utilize it, so using it is pretty much inevitable at some point of your Linux journey.
Now, some hearsay: I've heard that Windows doesn't play nice with dual boot (although I've never experienced it fist hand), so you should back up your files just in case.
But, before you do that: For starting, if you've got the time, I'd recommend getting an old machine to dip your toes into Linux on it first without fully committing. I'd recommend you do this even though you have the Steam Deck since there are some differences between SteamOS and Mint, so it wouldn't hurt to try.
Linux Mint is the obvious "newbie" choice, and not just because everyone says so.
Now, I'm no Linux expert, but Mint is great for the huge amount of tutorials availiable. The catch is: most of them aren't aimed at Mint itself, but Ubuntu or Debian, from which it "inherits" a lot. So, if you have a problem and can't find a fix for Mint specifically, chances are one aimed at Ubuntu (or even Debian) will work flawlessly.
Additionally, GenAI chatbots impress me with how helpful thay are. Just by asking them how to do stuff will teach you a lot.
I highly recommend you save the info which seemed most useful somewhere for future reference. In my experience I had to do a few dozen things repeatedly and ended up remembering them. They're mostly simple commands like
apt install,apt update,apt upgrade,cdand my favourite<app_name &>which opens the app invoked without "hijacking" the terminal.As most in the Linux community say, some things are lightning-fast to do in the terminal once you know the proper incantation.
As others said, the Mint install is incredibly simple, and much faster than the Windows one. You don't need a guide, just reading the on-screen prompts and instructions will guide you through it. During the install I highly recommend checking the "Install proprietary drivers" box because depending on your exact hardware, some things (especially Nvidia) may not play well without it.
You will be able to do almost everything without the terminal, although many tutorials do utilize it, so using it is pretty much inevitable at some point of your Linux journey.
Now, some hearsay: I've heard that Windows doesn't play nice with dual boot (although I've never experienced it fist hand), so you should back up your files just in case.
But, before you do that: For starting, if you've got the time, I'd recommend getting an old machine to dip your toes into Linux on it first without fully committing. I'd recommend you do this even though you have the Steam Deck since there are some differences between SteamOS and Mint, so it wouldn't hurt to try.