I'd like to suggest something completely different .... naahhh, DistroWatch is the go
(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke, trips over his countless Linux and curses, then apologises to them)
Welcome
@VIrgil540 to linux.org
Broadly speaking, there are five (5) major Families in Linux, being:
- RPM-based
- Debian-based
- Pacman-based aka Arch-based
- Gentoo-based and
- Slackware-based
You can read about those a little more here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions
For those whose computers have modest specifications or are older, legacy-based equipment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-weight_Linux_distribution
Then there are Desktop Environments (DEs) such as Cinnamon, MATE, GNOME, Xfce and the like
https://renewablepcs.wordpress.com/about-linux/kde-gnome-or-xfce/
I run 41 Linux (today
) from 4 of The Families, have some Slackware available but not installed at the moment.
At the Desktop GUI level, Linux Distributions (Distros) sharing the same DE may appear very close to each other. If you get your hands dirty and like to work from the Command Line Interface (CLI) aka Terminal, then there are many shared commands, but quite a few different ones. So it is often advised to try from one family and gain experience and get an idea of what you like. You may be perfectly happy with one, or you may choose to diversify, to "surf" Distros, in that case, prepare for a learning curve
Have a good supply handy of blank DVDs or USB sticks, or you may wish to use a Virtual Machine (VM) such as Oracle's cross-platform offering, VirtualBox.
Cheers
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz