Cool! When you say you requested to subscribe, does that mean the server needs to federate or does that mean I accidentally set it up in a way that subscribers need to be approved? If it's the latter I definitely need to change that
It's between XFCE for it's simplicity and KDE for it's Wayland support for me
I think Debian is close to new user friendly IF they pick Gnome or KDE with all the default stuff there, and has getting closer with non-free firmware enabled by default now, but still isn't quite there as a plug and play new user friendly distro. Things like flatpak w/flathub or snap out of the box isn't there, and it'd be hard to get a full Debian setup without using the command line (especially for a non free software zelot who wants Spotify and discord out of the box)
Something like mint is just a tad easier, and that might be the different between an easy install and an unexpected set of hiccups that a new user might struggle with. The mint installer is also a lot more intuitive, at the cost of being less universally compatible (a big goal of Debian).
- Compatible with more devices than many distros
- Extremely customizable
- Community run distro
- Very stable, and can run the bleeding edge through Snap/Flatpack/Appimages, Distrobox, or VMs/Containers
My understanding is that it's not really the disrto, but the software running on it that'd effect battery life and performance. Both Debian and Arch can come pretty bare bones on a blank install (Ubuntu and derivatives tend to come with a fair bit of stuff bundled out of the box).
I'd personally reccomend trying a Debian installation (I'd likely say use stable, but testing or sid are also options if you need quicker updates and don't care for flatpak/snap/appimage/distrobox). The installer plays nice with Windows, and you can skip installing a desktop during installation then CLI install a tiling window manager to really minimize 'bloat'.
One word: Mint
It's pretty streamlined, more reliable than some newer trendy Ubuntu spin offs, and still powered at it's core by the same old kernal that even the "advanced" distros use.
I applaud you for trying Arch, and if you can figure it out while learning Linux in general that's a great achievement, but it's overly complicated and I personally wouldn't reccemend it to anyone starting out (or even a most experienced users unless they had a particular need for it's features).
If you continuously get issues across all distros in VMs a live environment might also be worth checking out (live being booted off external media without an install).
Ultimately, though if Linux does mess with your workflow, then use what works best for you. Sure I like Linux, but if it breaks what you need and Windows or Mac doesn't then use what works best for you. But, there's a saying "the more the island of my knowledge grows the greater the shore of my ignorance". The more you learn the more that you realized how little you know. It's always the case for anybody who's either not an extreme expert or a narcissistic, but it's also a great motivator to keep learning.
Assuming you're fine with non-free drivers I don't think there's too much to worry about nowadays (at least that's what I've gathered from personal experience & the lack of hearing other scomplain).
That said, I've never had any issues with HP devices, and even an HP Chromebook worked without too much hassle.
Thinkpads are also a classic Linux machine, and I doubt you could go wrong with those either.
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Thanks!