i didn’t have that option in Archinstall

i also hate powershell, batch all the way. @echo off i my anthem now

i used Tumbleweed with KDE. It is something i can recommend. Not that customizable, but it has tons of features and very stable for a rolling distro. It only breaks if you try to customize stuff too much

… and the latest security patches

depends on workload. Debian has very old packages and can be insecure but it is a set it and forget it type of thing, it is good when uptime is critical for a server. For desktops, or servers that need better security, but can tolerate a little downtime, rolling releases are good too, if you are enough to update frequently, and you should, since updates usually contain a lot of patched vulrenabilities

nixOS appeals to niche audiences who like to brag about it. I think it is not a good idea to base everything on config files, since there is a lot of room for user error

Tails in itself is reasonably secure too, but it was mostly designed for use with public computers and forensics, and ofc to conceal network activity that might seem suspicious. And it is a good solution if you need a portable linux, and your android phone is not a good choice for your use case.

they are the most widely used, hackers and malware developers target these distros first

i tried lxqt and gnome. those were disappointments. And i used kde and cinnamon too, those are good

no, Qubes, Bazzite, Garuda were made with security in mind. Containerization, selinux enforcing, hash checks, address space layout randomization is also built in. These are all more secure than Fedora. Qubes for example, uses vm containers to completly isolate every app, so the system is almost impossible to compromise by malware or hacking. Bazzite uses immutable root file system, much like stock android. it may not along well with unix philosophies, but there isn’t really a way for a malicious code to run with elevated privilages or to manipulate system files. Garuda automatically creates snapshota from the system, so if it is compromised, it can be rolled back quickly. Snapshots for external devices or cloud are supported as well. It uses zram compression on swap, this helps avoid data leakages to the disk, so makes sure that after a reboot, every session quits, since data from ram can’t leak on the disk. it also uses firejail and chaotic aur sandboxing. There is a smaller support for secure boot too. So these are all highly secure operating systems. And to some degree, privacy and security overlap each other.

windows is very complicated and inconsistent if you get to look under the hood

i started learning about linux 4 months ago. Installed Arch with archinstall pretty easily to a VM, it booted up no problem. But you have to manually install the desktop, if you want a gui (who doesn’t lol). But there are many desktops for Arch, the most common ones have pretty good documentation. But if i were you, i’d experiment with some more niche desktop emviroments

imagine if you update it after 2 weeks. Arch is okay, if you keep backups. otherwise, you are basically playing a russian roulette

there are many distros with even better or similiar security as fedora. The least secure ones are Ubuntu and distros based on it, and Debian stable. Even less secure are any inactive distro. But in general, most distros can be hardened, some more, some less. Like i can harden my Android phone similiar to Arch’s level. (yes, i also use custom kernel on my phone, the most secure one for my device)

nixOS is for people who love config files

for security, use Tails, Qubes, Whonix, or if you want gaming + security, then Bazzite or Garuda

i know it from experience. When i wanted to install a modern Linux on a 2009 hdd, it installed, but simply refused to boot, even though hdsentinel said the hdd is 100℅ healthy

that’s Arch

just use Garuda if you are a gamer, Qubes or Tails if you wear tin foil as your hat, Mint or Ubuntu if you barely know anything about computers, Arch or Void if you like to tinker with your system, Slackware or Gentoo if you hate yourself, Alma or Debian testing if you need a secure server, openSuse Tumbleweed or Kde neon if you like KDE and productivity

busybox init barely starts anything