Linux

Choose a distro, follow their installation guide.

Use mint. Every Linux first timer should just use mint. It's easy AF and it works

In short, yes, Fedora, Ubuntu, or whatever will be able to install on your laptop just fine. Since you seem relatively new, I would suggest Mint as it is aimed at new users.

App installers, the way you are accustomed to from Windows, aren't really a thing in Linux. Most applications are installed by your distro's package manager. For those that aren't, there is often a choice of either downloading a package for your distro ( debs in the case of Debian-derived distros like Ubuntu and Mint, rpms for Fedora and friends ) or using something like Flatpack. But really your package manager will handle most things you are looking for.

Whichever distro you decide on (the current top comment is correct in implying that it really doesn't matter), just look up how its program manager works. It's usually not hard to use, but it does vary from distro to distro.

Unlike Windows, you usually want to install Linux programs from the distro's "app store" instead of downloading each program from its website. However, what's called "app image files" do exist. I want to emphasize, though, that these should be your last resort.

Another comment: fedora is a good distro. Mint is also good. Both are pretty straightforward, will do what you want, and are easy to work with. They are recommended a lot for good reason.

There are three main types of software.

1. software installed from the distribution’s repositories
2. flatpaks - which are basically sandboxed software bundled with their own dependencies
3. app images - which are basically executables like a windows .exe

When looking for software, I think most people install them in that order. (Some distros are immutable and therefore 2) is often the first choice but that’s getting ahead of ourselves a bit)

Hope this helps.

You shouldn't use installers like you do on windows.

You either rely on the disteo repo to have an up to date version, you rely on a community repo to not get compromised again, or you hope the application devs have a repo you can add to your package manager.

older computer

What are the specs?

Is there a way to just reset and do everything over like by repartitioning and installing something like Fedora or Ubuntu?

You mean wipe everything on your HDD/SSD and install something that can make use of all of its storage capacity? That's basically included on every distro installer.

I can’t get Ethernet or my VPN working

That's definitely not expected behaviour.

I want to be able to download “app” “installers” like you do with PC or MacOS.

What do you mean? Is it either one of the following? (Perhaps both are fine with ya?)

• Download software from a website and install it?
• Use a app/software store application in which you can find and install apps/software? This is basically what's found on modern phones.

What do y’all think of Zorin, should I still migrate to something more ubiquitous and longer-running?

Zorin OS should be fine~ish. The problem with asking the community is that they're often more interested in laying out their favorites rather than what would be closest to the objectively best option 😅. If, however, your problems with ethernet persist on Zorin OS while another distro's live ISO doesn't have that problem, then I suppose it would only make sense to switch.

I'm not a Linux expert, but I've had good luck making bootable Linux USB drives and testing whatever I want on those before making the actual install. It's a fun way to switch flavors too.

If you want to compleetly start over you can write a new partition table. I usually boot a gparted live disk and prepare my partitions there.

https://gparted.org/livecd.php

For old PCs I can recommend Linux Mint. It's easy to use and low on ressources.

https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

There are a lot of nice people here trying to help this guy out. Nice! I lurk with great interest as this autumn changing my old laptop from win 10 to unix is my project.

Uh, at least tell us what kind of computer it is, or what the spec is like.

If you're having issues with your ethernet, chances are your ethernet chip is Realtek or Broadcom. They will both work on any Linux distros, however, for most distros you'll probably have to find alternative drivers or even kernels. If you share the controller model here, maybe some of us can help you figure our the beat path forward.

You can try:

lspci -nnk | grep -A3 -i ethernet

That should bring up the information on the PCI Ethernet controller.

Replying after your two edits. A couple of things

• Assuming you just want a working PC on hardware you are not sure works with Linux, I would try Ubuntu as a first step. The latest 26.04 LTS is up to date at the moment, and Ubuntu includes a bunch of proprietary drivers that should help not faffing around with that the first thing you do on a new install. Use the Live boot to try things out - things like network drivers should work in that environment before you install.
• Suggestions here suggest Mint or Fedora. Try the Live boot on those as well. Mint is based on a two year old Ubuntu release (24.04) and Fedora does not include non-open source drivers that might be the solution to an issue you may have.
• Zorin is also based on Ubuntu 24.04. Any driver issues you might have there has a high probability of being the same on Mint.
• You might also like to dip your toes into Bazzite. It is based on Fedora, but also includes a bunch of proprietary drivers ready to go.

Installation of apps works differently on Windows. Generally on Linux you install via the software tool that is included with your distro. Check out which one is used on the distro you choose. Sort of like the app stores on Windows or Mac but first-class citizens and without the bloat. There are exceptions to this rule (AppImages or packages not included in any distro’s repositories), but just in general use the default as far as you can. Your apps will automatically be kept up to date by the OS so there are tangible benefits.

End of the day - Linux is neither Windows or Mac. There is a learning curve, but it’s more of one getting to understand the workflows than anything being intrinsically more difficult nowadays.

What device is it? It’s unusual for Ethernet to not work .

Windows is gone

Sounds like secureboot shinanigans. Windows just needs to be on its own total drive.

I'd just use Kubuntu. Had to fix CachyOS twice this year.

either do linux mint or ironically arch (as a starting off point!)

linux mint is a simple to follow gui from a liveusb.
arch is trickier, but I actually find archinstall is really straightforward and fast. once you unfuck the computer, you can take your time to choose something more apt.

I have installed Linux on many things. Post the output of your “lspci” and the output of your “ip address”

For an older system I've been very pleased with the performance of Bodhi Linux. And the UI is very customizable.

The answer to starting fresh is to format the entire drive and reparation the whole thing. All operating system installers ship with tools to do that. Some are easier to use than others, but they are all there. You’re looking for “custom install or custom partitioning or manual partitioning” or something like that. Usually during the “where do you want to install” questions.

It’s not hard to do, but it’s often hidden a little bit because formatting and/or repartitioning the wrong drive nukes the drive.

In your case, just go to town. Know how big your drive is, delete all existing partitions, and the new ones you create should total up to the size of the drive. Just make sure you’re doing it to the right drive if you have more than one :)

With Linux, you can get fancy making separate partitions for home and stuff, but you don’t really need to worry about that if you don’t want to. You can just nuke the drive, and then tell the os to “use the whole drive” and just let it do its thing.

If you want to understand it deeper and better, I’d suggest watching some videos for your distro.

Have fun!

I am the furthest thing from a Linux expert, but I installed Zorin on my T450 Lenovo and it's working fine.

baby steps

It's also one step forward and two steps back sometimes like you've just discovered. Lol

But if you keep at it -- like you are now --you'll be sprinting wo realizing that you are and you'll be confused as to why it's hard for most people to understand how or why or even that it exists.

Everyone else already hit on the advice I came to write on your post so this was the only thing left I had to share. 😛

Your best bet is to rely on a minimal/baremetal install and set up the things yourself -- which is as easy as "sudo apt install thingsyouneed" and "cp -r /backup/directory/* ~/.".