@ifixcoinops allow me to humbly suggest what I call "Nuxi's algorithm":
1. Go to distrowatch.com and look at the top ranked distros, starting with #1 2. Does this distro have a liveusb image? No? move to the next distro, and goto 2 3. Flash the image 4. Does everything work on your machine? No? move to the next distro and goto 2 5. Install the full version 6. Does it still work? No? move to the next distro and goto 2 7. Congratulations! You have the best possible distro for your situation
Digital Deli is one that doesn't get much love, for some reason. A bunch of contemporary essays, comics, and listicles about the PC revolution by the people involved. Available online here: https://www.atariarchives.org/deli/
In the same vein, Best of Creative Computing. It's astonishing (and depressing) to realize how many of today's issues were forseen, with little to no progress made. They also happen to be available online: https://www.atariarchives.org/bcc1/ (increment cc1 for additional volumes)