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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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/* ~/.”.

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

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. 😛

“Linux is so easy just install it”

Linux is not easy. macOS is easy. Windows is easy. Linux is a jalopy that you enjoy fixing an occasionally get working.