Try zorin OS or pop OS. I dont know shit about linux and found these two distro really easy to use. Checkout their UI before installing.

I’m at work and I don’t have time to give you a proper reply, but you can start from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9tb1gTTbJE

I would encourage you to do some experimenting in virtual machines before making a move on your hardware. I’m not familiar with Windows tools in this regard, but something like VirtualBox allows you to go through the installation process and test out configuration options without risking breaking your bootloader, etc.

I don’t have a certain answer to your first question, but I’ve had great gaming experiences on both Arch and Debian. One of the biggest advantages to Arch is the wiki, which you will probably find yourself using no matter which distro you end up on, as it has good documentation for a lot of different applications.

Ubuntu is a fine choice if a distro, but I wouldn’t assume that there is greater application compatibility with Windows. Portability has way more to with the application than with the OS, so if there are certain applications you cannot do without, you need to start researching their Linux compatibility. There is also a compatibility layer you may have heard about already called Wine, so look into that, too.

AMD has better open source driver support with it’s hardware than Nvidia. I don’t know so the details on this, but if you have an AMD GPU, that is generally more desirable at this time.

I would encourage you to try out all the most popular distros in VirtualBox, and go from there.

For gaming, something like Ubuntu (or Kubuntu if you want it to look like Windows than Mac), Mint, or Pop!OS is probably your best bet. They are quite easy to use and setup. Definitely can recommend them. Steam works on those 3 for sure. In case you want to use a guide for selecting a distro see DistroChooser

To check which games work on linux, use ProtonDB. To check which windows programs work on linux, use Wine’s database. I would however recommend finding a linux alternative using AlternativeTo. If you use Adobe, I can already say that you’ll have to dualboot (have windows and linux installed) and use windows for Adobe related work.

AMD support is indeed quite good on linux and NVIDIA is a very mixed bag. Some people have normal experiences with it and others won’t touch it ever again. Personally, I’d advise against NVIDIA. If you’re planning on using your existing hardware, I’d recommend checking out the Linux Hardware Database for compatibility reports. Should you be on the market for hardware officially supported or sold by linux shops, see Linux Preloaded to find such a shop. From personal experience, I can recommend Tuxedo Computers.

Good luck!

which one is best suited for gaming? I do a couple other things as well but I would expect that any OS could deal with those. I know vaguely about proton / the steam deck improvements that trickled down, but don’t know if and how that affects different Linux versions.

Recommendation answer: I’d probably start with Pop! OS. It’s a good starter distro with a lot of very useful things configured nicely for new users out of the box.

Useful knowledge answer: Most distros are identical for gaming. Steam can be installed on basically any of them. As long as your graphics drivers are correctly setup on whatever you choose, you’re fine.

I read some days ago that ubuntu is being used by Microsoft, does that mean it is more compatible with their other applications?

Nope. Microsoft apps aren’t purposefully written to be compatible with Linux at all - If WINE (windows compatibility layer, also used by proton) can run it, it’ll run on any Linux distro. Microsoft is just using Ubuntu for WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux, a developer tool) and their cloud servers.

I also read that amd is better suited to linux because nvidia refuses to support it, which would be a happy coincidence for me because I just recently built a fully amd computer, is that actually true?

Nvidia works fine on Linux - I run an RTX 3080 with no problems. The main reason AMD is considered better is that AMD’s graphics drivers are open sourced, meaning they are generally better-maintained and yes, better-supported by the company specifically. In other words: You’re less likely to have problems on AMD, but Nvidia works fine if you have it.

And lastly, provided there is even a definitive answer to my first question, where should I look to get started? I have never dealt with Linux before but would consider myself reasonably tech / computer savvy.

Linux can do something that Windows cannot: “Live boot” environments. That’s a fancy name for “the installer runs within a functional, read-only installation of the OS”. You can download things, install applications, poke at stuff, etc. but your changes are only stored temporarily in RAM, and don’t actually change the boot media.

As such, the easiest thing to do to get started would be these steps:

1. Get Ventoy. This will let you boot to Linux installation+live media by just copying ISO files to a USB drive.
2. Install Ventoy on a USB drive of your choice (bigger is better)
3. Download a few distribution ISOs - I recommend downloading the ISO for each of these distros: Pop! OS, Linux Mint, Manjaro, and Nobara.
4. Copy the ISOs to your Ventoy drive
5. Boot your computer from the Ventoy drive (many will do so automatically), and choose one of the ISOs you downloaded.

Bam! You’re in a Linux environment. If you wind up wanting to install it, there’s an icon on the desktop of each of those distros for doing exactly that. Most will even walk you through the process of dual-booting.

Caveat: if you dual-boot, the bootloader installed by Linux will become responsible for the boot process - So your Windows installation can/could still be broken by it if something goes wrong during installation. Make sure to create a known-good backup first =]