None of that matters.

You need experience, not recommendations.

Install anything and play with it to learn.

If you will not go forward without a recommendation, Debian is fine and anything you learn will generally transfer to other distributions.

1. The main fundamental differences are the package manager, the way the system is setup (partitons, immutable distros), and possibly software you don’t want installed. Aside from that, you can install basically anything on any distro. Some do make it easier than others to install new things though.
2. Canonical (Ubuntu and direct spinoffs) and Manjaro are the ones I recommend avoiding, because their marketing and “general sentiment” goes against my opinions of the distros/maintainers. However, switching Linux distros (especially to another one with a similar base) is not nearly as daunting of a task as switching from Windows to Linux. Some corporate distro owners might pull something like advertising, but there’s often an easy way out (except with snaps).
3. As for the distros you mentioned, Fedora, Mint, and Pop!_OS are all good options. Mint and Pop!_OS are both based on Ubuntu, which could cause issues in the future, but Mint is working on a Linux Mint Debian Edition. Aside from that, my general recommendation is to stay close to upstream. Distros further downstream tend to break more often (think spinoffs of Ubuntu, Arch derivatives, forks of Fedora, etc). There are exceptions to this rule, like when a distro stays close to upstream.
4. In recent times, it should all be working okay! We’re “in the middle of a long time switch” from X11 to Wayland. Those are protocols for the way applications display to the screen. X11 is lacking features, like HDR, and can have issues with “weird” multimonitor setups. Wayland is being actively developed, multimonitor works fine, and HDR is available for some desktop environments (like KDE or GNOME). Not all distros default (or support) Wayland yet, so if you need HDR, pick a distro with KDE or GNOME as its desktop environment.
5. This situation has gotten more complex with Wayland (one of the pain points still being worked on). The features you get partially depend on which DE (or wayland compositor) you choose. Previously on X11, this wasn’t the case. For Wayland DEs, KDE is moving relatively fast, with new features nearly every release. GNOME is moving slower, but should cover most people’s needs. As for tinkering around with your choice of UI/DE, there’s many options available, but KDE offers by far the easiest customization possible (it’s all in the settings menu). There’s more complex, more customizable options available, but I wouldn’t recommend them as a starting point.
6. As for nvidia, it has been progressively getting better, but there are still nvidia specific issues that come up from time to time. There’s not really much you can do about it, aside from following changelogs and updating when the thing you’re running into is fixed.

Now for your list of applications:

• Gaming (through steam) works great! There’s definitely still issues, but I’d argue there’s not really more issues than on Windows, just different issues. There is one category of games that’s still problematic, games with kernel level anticheat. They do not and likely will never play on Linux. Other launchers (EA Play, Ubisoft Connect, Epic) can have their own issues, although there’s often fixes/workarounds available rather quickly.
• Firefox works just fine on Linux.
• VLC works great too, although there are other options available that are more modern or better in some ways. It’s up to you to decide what to use.
• Spotify works just fine, there’s always the website in case nothing else works, but the “app” as a flatpak or even through repos works too.
• Discord has some issues accepting that Linux exists, but have recently started making some changes with that. Most people either use Disocrd in the webbrowser (to prevent too much system access), or run a custom client like Vesktop.
• Godot works great on Linux, I don’t have much else to say about it tbh.
• Visual Studio Code too, it’s basically just a webapp. Some integrations might be slightly different (like the terminal), but otherwise stuff “just works”.
• Git was quite literally made for Linux first (as a project, but also as a platform to run on).
• Photoshop is going to be difficult to get running, if it works at all. You can certainly try, but it might be a good option to find an alternative for this one.
• Audacity works great
• Davinci Resolve does have a Linux version, but the free version can be picky about codecs. There’s always tools to reencode your inputs, but it’s not always convenient drag and drop.
• Misc. tinkering is going to be much more fun, as things in Linux ecosystems are often open source. Not only can you mess around with tools that already exist, you can edit them, or even make your own. Some “niche” hardware might give you issues (like iirc the goxlr, or some capture cards).

this might be ringing in late, but consider a large USB disk with Ventoy on it. you can just drop multiple ISOs on it, and then select which one you want you boot from right at boot time.

this will give you the ability to easily try multiple distros without too much commitment.

#1. The distro matters, but not much tbh. The main difference is usually the package manager being used, the default DE/WM, init system (sysvinit/systemd/openrc), and the variant of packages they ship. #2. Avoid Ubuntu if so. #3. I recommend Debian stable. #4. Can’t say much about HDR, multiple monitors are probably fine. (different refresh rate and such can be a hassle to configure tho) #5. Yes KDE is a good choice.

+Photoshop/VS probably runs in WINE but I’m not sure. You might need VM.

If you do not want your distro to force changes down your throat like Microsoft, maybe avoid Ubuntu.

“Stability” on Linux means two things. “Stable” distros like Debian or RHEL change their software infrequently. This is indeed stable. However, you will likely be unhappy with the old software and want to install newer stuff. Many of the ways this is done will cause actual instability (bugs and crashes). Also, old software may be missing features or hardware support. If you are a gamer for example, this could be a big deal—especially if you use NVIDIA.

Things are a bit better than they used to be with tech like Distrobox and Flatpak.

The frequently updated distros can actually be “more stable” for the same reasons as above. However, every once in a while some package is going to have a bug that may hit you before it is found. Arch or EOS are examples of such distros. They have massive software repositories that probably contain everything you will ever need. If you use one of these, check out the AUR (user contributed software repo).

Distros that fall in the middle, like Mint or Fedora, are what I would recommend for a new user. Compared to Windows, you will find them very tinker friendly and tweakable. Fedora is more Wayland ready (see below).

HDR is very, very new and is part of a change in core graphics tech from something called X11 to something called Wayland. From this point forward, Wayland is the better bet but, today, the quality of your experience is going to be very dependent of the “age of your software” issue above. For NVIDIA on Wayland, you want very up-to-date versions.

KDE Plasma is the most mature Wayland environment today, in my assessment. Others are coming along quickly. That does not yet help you now though.

Photoshop is going to be a problem for you. The most often recommended replacement for PS is GIMP. Unfortunately, GIMP has been on the verge of a major update for years. GIMP 3 has not shipped yet and most distros ship a far older version (2.10). Version 3 is a massive upgrade. However, you may still find it an unsatisfactory PS replacement. Some people use Photopea online.

Gaming on Linux works really well now. However, multi-player anti-cheat systems are Windows kernel only and so these games are going to be a problem. So, your experience will depend on what you play.

The other stuff on your list will work well. Linux of course has a lot more to offer, especially if you are a dev.

Good luck!

I would recommend you visit distrowatch.org as they have reviews of a great many distros over a long period. That would prepare you to form an opinion on what kind of experience you want to have.

Example - UI, ie. Desktop Environment: chose Gnome if you like Apples way of making things very polished and giving the user few (visible) options to tinker. Choose KDE if you like a “busy” UI with *all* the options exposed and a ton of desktop widgets. Choose MATE or LXDE if you like a snappy and minimalist approach.

Possibly the biggest differentiator between distros is their native package manager. You can take any distro and swap out eg. KDE for Gnome, but the package manager is fundamental and probably(?) impossible to replace fully.

Example: All the Debian based distros use DEB packages. You’ll find a ton, though dine distros lag behind the most recent versions. Others use Redhat’s RPM system, while still others build everything from source (which is slow as fuck but gets you to the cutting edge with all the knobs and dials). There’s also the Snap and Flatpak systems which strive to supply platform agnostic packages, but do so with very different approaches.

Good luck!

I LOVE this comments section with so many correct, yet opposite views.

For reference I am on Mint where I installed KDE.

1. My impression is that the distro does matter (a bit) but that lots of distros are very similar. The front runners you have listed all seem quite appropriate for your use case, but Fedora unlike the others updates more frequently and therefore is slanted towards more features.

The other ones are all based on Ubuntu and will offer a similar experience IF you took the time to switch out all the desktop environment, apps, settings tweaks, etc. However, the fact is that you probably won’t do that, and unless there is a good reason to, why would you when you could install a kde/gnome distro anyway?

2. I wouldn’t worry about the ones you have listed at least, not comparable to Microsoft and at the end of the day it is still linux so it will be way way way easier to switch again if the companies try anything shifty. Ubuntu has made some controversial decisions around snaps but it seriously is on a different level to M$.

3. All mature afaik. Mint and Fedora are both extremely popular.

4. Multiple monitors has been fine for me. Not sure about HDR but look up and understand wayland vs X11.

5. Plasma KDE is good! I would recommend Plasma or Gnome over Cinnamon if you know you want to tinker.

For a distro, I recommend Fedora KDE Spin. Fedora is beginner friendly, is widely supported, frequent updates (so less outdated packages), rock solid stable, works with gaming or anything else.

People recommend Linux Mint often, but I am just not a fan of how outdated the system is and its reliance on X11 (deprecated and insecure display server). I’ve daily driven mint before for like a year and it was good but I’m not a fan of cinnamon DE.

Too many distros to compare. If you want to tinker as a beginner and not have to reinstall for minor mistakes, go for something like OpenSUSE, it has Snapshotting with Rollback built in. You make a mistake, reboot to the previous snapshot and make it the default if everything is normal. NVidia also hosts a specific repo for OoenSUSE so I have never had graphics issues.

Distros packaging software means that it is available to install with the package manager from their repositories. No distro provides every piece of software out there. This can be mitigated with Flatpak, Snap, GUIX, AppImage or, in a pinch, by compiling the required program yourself.

Sounds like you’ve already done most of the work. From what you’ve said, Fedora with Plasma sounds great for your use case. Good luck on your journey and glad to have you aboard!

I like plasma kde but I dont think most vnc clients support it so remote desktop with a viewer seems out, rustdesk works but you have to manually accept the connection at the computer. Which works for me since I only remote desktop when moving to another room or going to the bathroom and I need to monitor something.

re: Distros. Tuxedo is a strange one. I’m not saying it’s bad or anything, it just doesn’t normally feature in these discussions. I don’t know much about it, so I couldn’t say if it’s a good option or not, but I’m curious what drew you to it?

If you had asked me Q1 a month ago, I would have said yes (and in general, it is a yes, with enough effort). But i run endeavour (arch) and my partner runs mint (which ships with the Cinnamon WM), and a few weeks ago I recommended that she try out KDE Plasma for its wayland support. Turns out, this is not something the mint community supports, you can’t just install it through their software manager, and the mint forums will all tell you to switch to another distro that supports KDE. Meanwhile, on arch, I expect to be able to install it through pacman, choose it from SDDM, and I’m done. Maybe tweak something in my .config, but it’s all downhill from there.

Just a datapoint. Some distros (and their communities) seem to be more receptive to experimentation than others, which can make trying new things easier/harder.

I would recommend fedora, debian, or endeavour + KDE/gnome. Good luck!

When you like to tinker with the DE, e.g. customising to your liking, then there would be no way around KDE as it is imho the most customizable DE. Gnome is rock solid and its UI is very concise and coherent but also not that customizable (out of the box).

When it comes to the Amazon and Snap Scandals, you might want to steer clear from everything that is Ubuntu based since it was Canonical who did those two things. Ubuntu based is for example Mint (unless you go Linux Mint Debian Edition which skips the ubuntu middle man) and Kubuntu.

HDR is afaik still maturing in Wayland: https://arewewaylandyet.com/

But Multi Screen support is not a big issue anymore.

nVidia used to be a problem since their opensource and also proprietary drivers were quite lacking. But this was afaik remedied last year.

Regarding the packages: yes in essence you could just install it afterwards, but there are three/four/five package formats that are only compatible with each other after some repackging has been done, one of those package formats only exists on one branch of Linux (snap), twos are universal (AppImage which is similiar to portable Apps in Windows, Flatpak) and three that are fundamental (DEB for debian based systems, RPM for IBM red hat (fedora), ZST for Arch based systems)

With your software list, you may run into issues regarding Photoshop CS6 as it is not supported in Linux and you would need alternatives (which includes relearning workflows) e.g. Krita and GIMP (both you can already run in windows to check them out and learn a bit)

Gaming is simple: check protondb.com to see if a given game runs in linux; steam exists, lutris exists for non-steam games.

I’ll answer point by point, but the short answer is pick one and use it, if you have issues with it or want to try something different, switch, otherwise stick with it.

1. Your understanding is mostly correct. There’s the difference that each distro has a family tree which determines which package manager they use, Red hat based distros like Fedora use rpm, Debian based distros like Mint, Pop or Kubuntu use apt, etc. So it would be easier to switch from Mint to Kubuntu than from Fedora to Pop although not by much. The main difference between distros is philosophy, which honestly you shouldn’t care too much currently as long as you aim at something beginner friendly.
2. Probably not something to worry about, and if it comes to that you can just jump to another distro, trust me once you’re familiar with Linux the distro matters less and less.
3. Any of them (except for tuxedo which might be a good option but I don’t know it) would be a good option. Personally I would recommend Mint, or at least a Debian based one since 3 of the ones you suggested are Debian based it would give you more options to switch easily if needed.
4. It should, but your mileage might vary
5. Any of them should be good for that, KDE/Plasma is a bit similar to Windows while also being very eye candy, so it’s a good choice. Also it’s the one used on the Steam Deck so you might be somewhat familiar with it already.

Extra: Nvidia should be fine as long as you use the official proprietary drivers (named nvidia, NOT nouveau). Photoshop doesn’t work on Linux, so you might need to jump through hoops there, if it’s not a hard requirement I suggest looking at Gimp for photo manipulation or Krista for drawing, good luck either way since it’s uphill battle either way, one against Adobe anti-piracy measures and the other against an unfamiliar software.