I have been playing with some linux systems. They are not all interchangeable, I mean there are some major differences between different larger groups or categories like Arch based systems verses Debian based systems for example. They use different words in the code to perform the same task, so when you type something in the Terminal to try to do something you will not be writing the same thing. But in each of these categories, there are like hundreds of smaller versions that are descendent from the larger ones. If you just make a few changes or add a few programs, you can release it as your own version with a different name, so that is why there are so many names.
If you prefer windows XP or Windows 7 type designs and layouts, that is even better and will make it easier for you. Because there are many releases that look almost identical in many ways to windows XP or 7. Also some look very similar to windows 11, and many look just like Apple computers. It is not so easy to get it to look just like windows 10 or 8, but you can still get it close enough.
It would be easier to start with something like Ubuntu or Debian. Ubuntu is also based on Debian and is similar, but it might be easier for new people. There are hundreds of different releases that are based on Debian, so you could pick any of them and they will all use similar code in the terminal, so learning on any of them will make it easy to switch to another one. And since they are so similar, you can install and modify things to basically turn any of them into any other one, as long as they are in the same larger family. The differences are mostly in what programs it comes with, or what it looks like, and you can change all of these.
You might not like what it looks like when you first install it. I think many of them look bad. But you can install KDE Plasma, and then you download different extensions to customize the look of anything. To customize the look of the desktop, the menus, the windows, the icons, and everything else. It is very easy to use this to make all the menus and icons look exactly like Windows, especially older windows like XP or 7.
What I have been doing is using Chat GPT to tell me how to do everything. I tell it what version I am using and what I want to do, and it tells me exactly what code to write in to get it to work. This is easy if you are using the chat GPT on the same computer because you can copy and paste it directly into the terminal. Or on some versions the terminal might be called konsole, but it is the same thing. The screen that you write the code into. With the chat gpt telling me what to write, it makes it very easy to get things to work. And of course this code is only for installing some programs for the first time or making large changes. Once a program like an internet browser is installed, you use it easily just like any windows computer.
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