Choose one at random from those with easy installation. Use it for a week. If you like it, stick with it. If it’s frustrating as heck, try another distro. Your skills picked up from the first one will very likely transfer over. As you narrow down your experience with what’s frustrating you, you can pinpoint what things you like and which you don’t and settle on the perfect distro for you.
There is absolutely NO way to know that before you get your hands dirty and see what these options are and their quirks.
“The first place to direct new users was to Linux From Scratch, so that they could determine whether they wanted to use a Linux distribution at all, or a more freeform approach.”
Choose one at random from those with easy installation. Use it for a week. If you like it, stick with it. If it’s frustrating as heck, try another distro. Your skills picked up from the first one will very likely transfer over. As you narrow down your experience with what’s frustrating you, you can pinpoint what things you like and which you don’t and settle on the perfect distro for you.
There is absolutely NO way to know that before you get your hands dirty and see what these options are and their quirks.
And that is the reason Linux will not go mainstream.
No average user wants to spend time distro hopping, they want a functioning computer that can do anything they want. A configure and forget.
So they will MUCH rather use Windows or Mac and be done with it than jump to hoops like you are proposing.
I suspect there’s a circular definition of “average user” lurking there.
“The first place to direct new users was to Linux From Scratch, so that they could determine whether they wanted to use a Linux distribution at all, or a more freeform approach.”