I have tried to learn Linux for ages, and have experimented with installing Arch and Ubuntu.

There’s your problem. Try Linux Mint.

Is it an unrealistic goal to want to eventually run a computer with coreboot and a more cybersecurity heavy emphasis? I’m still a noob at this and any advice would be appreciated!

Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew. Start small and easy, with a beginner Linux distro, and once you’ve become really comfortable with that, you can try to move onto something less user friendly.

Don’t start with the most complicated distro and then fail.

KDE is usually fine for a beginner, but don’t start with Arch unless you intend to learn Linux by solving a thousand different technical issues based on vague log statements throwing around terminology you’ve never heard of. KDE and Linux Mint are the most Windows-like Linux environments out of the box.

Ubuntu uses GNOME by default, which doesn’t do a lot of things Windows does. I like it, but others don’t. KDE is a lot more “normal” but setting it up right from scratch is a pain; the Arch masochists may like it, but I sure don’t.

If you pick a distro that ships with KDE I’m sure you’ll be able to use it right after installation. That goes for other desktop environments too, whether it’s Gnome (the Ubuntu/Fedora default), Cinnamon (the Mint default), XFCE, LXDE, or one of the many others.

If you’ve already gotten some usage out of KDE, I suggest trying out Fedora. Fedora has a KDE release that ships with everything you need with a user friendly installer that will take care of pretty much everything for you.

If you want to use Linux with Nvidia hardware (i.e. outside of VirtualBox), consider Pop_OS!, a distribution that prides itself in making the terrible Nvidia drivers work out of the box. Most other GPU vendors are fine with any other distro, but Nvidia requires special handling.

If you do give Arch another go, read through everything completely before even beginning the installation process. Make notes of every decision you make (what network manager do you want to use? are you going to make your life harder by not using systemd? what partition layout do you prefer?) and make sure you’re ready to spend an entire day following guides. You’ll be able to name every component your Linux setup consists of, which is great for troubleshooting, but don’t feel pressured to spends all that time.

There’s a reason the majority of Linux users use Ubuntu or maybe Fedora.

Is it an unrealistic goal to want to eventually run a computer with coreboot and a more cybersecurity heavy emphasis?

No, its not unrealistic. However, what I think is unfair to yourself is to attempt this before knowing what you are doing. Think of it like learning to draw. You have good taste, and you see art you like, and want to do it too. Yet your personal skill level, you finger dexterity, isn’t yet there to be able to make the art you can visualize in your mind.

If a task is too hard, or to complex, then there must exist a smaller, easier task to accomplish first. Coreboot specifically is an extremely low hardware/firmware level system, but you don’t feel confidant in installing a working desktop OS. You have aspirations for cyber security, as well. Find the smaller, and easier task first. Get Debian/Ubuntu working in a VM. Then look at what software is installed, and read about it. If you want to eventually pursue security projects, setup a LAMP stack. If that too hard, just get the A in LAMP. If that’s too hard, find out why. What do you know, what do you not know? It’s machines all the way down, and its an extremely small chance you are the first person with a problem. Don’t worry about “correctness” and focus on the learning experience.

It is 100% achievable, but it is a lot of time. I started with it because I wanted to run a game server for myself. It’s a couple of decades later, and I still have a massive amount to learn.

Mint is great. I recently switched fully to Linux and mint feels comfortable

Arch is a bad distro for newbies. Go find an ISO for Kubuntu and install that. The install wizard is idiot-proof. I use KDE-based distros like Kubuntu even though I’m a fairly advanced user so don’t view it as some kind of failure. There’s no virtue in using more complicated stuff. Get comfortable with the easier distros first.

You definitely don’t need Coreboot. Try Linux Mint to start with, and just use your computer as you normally would. Getting comfortable with how Linux does things is something you need to learn before taking the next steps. No one became a Linux guru by reading the “Linux manual” front to back. I picked up almost all of my Linux knowledge on-the-fly because I broke something or because I wanted to do something.

Also, if all you want is better cybersecurity, you’ll make a huge leap just by picking any Linux distro. Save Coreboot, full disk encryption, etc for at least a few months down the road when you’re picking a new distro and have a better idea of what you want to do differently.

Even though Arch is very well documented, it’s not really accessible to newcomers. The documentation assumes that you know the basics, so if you don’t, you’re screwed. Mint, Pop! and Debian, to some extent, are much more accessible.

Bog standard arch is absolutely not what I’d recommend to a new user, maybe endeavor if they’re really asking for it, but you really should have some idea what you’re doing before using arch. Try Linux Mint or Pop OS. I’m surprised you had an issue with Ubuntu, though I haven’t used it since like 16.04 so maybe it just is a pain now.

You’re on the right track! That feeling of understanding less is normal - and good news is that it isn’t true. You understand more than you did before - but now you also know of some other things you don’t know about yet. This is good and exciting! I wish I were in your shoes so I could experience this for the first time again.

I would recommend Fedora Silverblue 38. It is an immutable OS, meaning that it is impossible to break it to the point where it doesn’t work. Since the root file system is read only, like a mobile OS, you would be hard pressed to actually break it. Don’t worry though, most graphical applications are available as flatpaks on Flathub. Flathub is integrated with the app store in Fedora 38, no need to use the terminal. For terminal applications you want to use there are toolboxes, which are little mini fedora containers that have access to your home directory and some other integrations. Also Fedora Silverblue is easy to install and works with most hardware.

i wouldn’t say that it’s unrealistic.

The “Problem” is however, that there are a gazillion different approaches to everything. And everyone will tell you their method and maybe even badmouth other peoples methods… That way you don’t really know what to do anymore.

Imho, don’t install them in a VM. Get yourself a new cheap SSD. Unplug the one with windows on it and just install a well-known Linux distro that has a big open community on your PC.

If you want something Arch-based: I’d highly recommend you Garuda-Linux. Don’t get scared off by it’s … flashy default looks. This can be changed very easily. But they have one of the most welcomming and helpful communities i have ever witnessed. They aren’t really here or on reddit, but rather have their own forum.

This thing will give you everything you need to start. And if something breaks, it does automatic snapshots of your system everytime you install a new package. So if something breaks, you turn off…turn on…and in the boot menu you’ll find your snapshots. Pick the last working one. and that’s it. Good to go again.

But these are just my 2 cents…

Don’t use regular Arch if you’re struggling. There are some arch-based distros that are more user friendly, though. Like EndeavourOS or ArchMan. Manjaro can be good too but there are legitimate problems with how the project is run.

I was having graphics driver problems in Ubuntu-based distros until I tried Linux Mint.

If you get crashes right before or after login, it’s often a (Nvidia) graphics issue. To get around this, you could use nomodeset in the Grub menu to get a successful first boot where you can then install the proprietary drivers.

Look at sections 4 and especially 5 on this page
Also, here is that info in a tutorial format

Also, you may want to set the Desktop Environment to Xorg or X11 (same thing) if Wayland is causing you problems. It’s older, but in some cases more efficient and less experimental. Check out the section: Switching desktop environments using a graphical user interface. It should look similar to the pictures. And notice that the “gear” icon may not appear until you select a user.

If your problem is different than this, open a support ticket in the discord or forums of the distro you’re using. Linux Mint has a great system for this on Discord.

Start with Ubuntu, eventually switch to Debian, then give Arch a shot.

I cannot stress this enough…

POP!_OS

Keep it simple, Ubuntu/Mint/PopOS, play around with it for at least a few months before trying an arch install