I will warn now that I will be asking questions, some dumb .. some even more so. Hey, I’m learning - even at 60+, though I have been playing with ’puters since my first ZX-81.
Welcome, welcome.
Sounds like you're about the same generation as me. I, too, have been playing around with these things pretty much since leaving school here in the UK, at the age of 17.....waaay back in 1979. I did a night-school course later that same year, only to discover that I seemed to know more about the things than even the teacher did.....and that wasn't a lot! Together, we all of us somehow stumbled through the course.....
My younger bro and myself got gifted a brand-new Commodore 64 by the old man Xmas 2 years later, '81. Younger bro had just discovered
girls ( ), so he really had no interest in the thing! Which means I had it all to myself for quite some time. Taught myself BASIC coding; even wrote a couple of small programs, including a 'Hangman' game.
Gave up on Windows at EOL for XP; I'd "had enough" after nearly 30 years of it. Googled "free operating systems", annnd.....well; to say I was gobsmacked at what came up would be an understatement! Started with Ubuntu for 6 months, then after much distro-hopping migrated to Puppy Linux. And I've been there ever since.
Most Linux communities are pretty friendly. This bunch certainly are.....and so are the Puppy community. There's a few of the older veterans still around who, unfortunately, WILL snarl "RTFM" at you (look it up; it's a bit 'rude'!), but they're few and far between nowadays. I guess, since these guys had no choice but to teach themselves how to do everything from the ground up when Linux first appeared in the early 90s, that some take the attitude that "Well,
I had to do it the hard way. Why shouldn't you?" I'm sorry, but that's an attitude I simply
don't understand. Me, if I can help anyone with anything, I will.....
(
shrug...)
Stick around. Hopefully, you'll soon get your "sea-legs" with Linux.....although learning is itself a lifelong process. There's always summat new to get the hang of..!
Mike.