It seems like the more interested I get in Linux, the less appealing it becomes. The community seems to have no fucking clue what they're talking about, because everyone is just constantly talking over each other and contradicting themselves! I have spent so much time reading about Linux and distros and such to prepare for my eventual switch, but after all that I'm starting to question if I even want to make the switch. Here's a few of the things I have read over and over, that confuse me to no end:
- It doesn't matter what distro you use, but also you absolutely should not use that one!! Use that one it's much better trust me!
- Gaming is good on Linux now, but also it's super shit and you should keep windows if you want to game
- Sure you can use Nvidia cards, but also no you can't because nothing will work with them
- Just dual boot if you're not sure, but also no don't dual boot because windows will erase your shit if you do
- Trust me bro Linux is super easy to learn, also here's 14 different specific terms you'll have to Google, but even then you'll barely understand them
- Everything will work out of the box, but also you can't use that thing with that other thing without configuring that other thing first but that'll break that thing which needed that thing [...]
I'm slightly exaggerating and I may get downvoted but I needed to vent. It honestly sometimes seems like Linux diehards are intentionally hiding some of its major pitfalls in order to "convert" more people to their side.
I know windows sucks and that's why I want to switch, but at least when you have a windows question there's a concrete answer, not a bunch of nerds yelling out incoherent technobabble-sounding answers that all contradict each other.
And for fucks sake please type the whole words when speaking to beginners. How am I supposed to know what a DE, a VM, a CLI, a WM, PM, or all that other stuff is?
Linux is the "least welcoming, yet most aggressively butthurt that no one is joining it" community I've seen in a while.
Alright rant over, you may yell at me now.
If you're fine using what you're using, you don't need to switch. If not, then go ahead and do it. It's just software, friend.
A general rule of thumb when dealing with technical advice on the Internet: if anyone is super opinionated about software, and doesn't back it up with logical reasons as to why, ignore them.
In your specific case of being confused, it sounds like you just need to try it out for yourself with LiveCDs. Distros don't matter until you find something about one you don't like, and then you can just address that.
For your other points:
This is true, instead of just poking around documentation for days, boot up a LiveUSB of a distro or two that you've had passing interest in, see if you even like it.
I love Linux, been using it for decades, I run Gentoo but I almost never recommend it to people, because as far as flavours go, it's truly not what most people are looking for.
About the only distro that I've used recently that I could recommend to people switching off windows is Nobara, and even that's only because the people I talk to have just enough familiarity to figure out the weird bits and they have Nvidia graphics cards, which is somewhat the point of the distro.
Arch? Void? NixOS? Holy hell no.
I'm using nixos rn and honestly it's not too bad. Still would recommend Mint to windows users though.