Hehe… I installed Gentoo last year and I was thrown in the deepest of deep ends after having to set up a custom initramfs for my LUKS setup… took about a week to get it running…

When compared to GNOME, it seems fine.

…

But so does Windows when compared to M*cOS

Linux distros:

I wouldn’t dual boot because of the possibility of Windows breaking the bootloader. If OP could spare a separate drive or USB stick specifically for toying with Linux, they may get more out of it before committing.

linux intensifies

Just do it properly and configure sshd securely. When you have a machine exposed to the internet, you should expect it to be attacked. If you really want to give the finger to bots, run endlessh on port 22 and keep sshd on a non-standard port. Stay safe.