I have been noticing a lot of people have been picking up Linux "recently", really since about 2016 I have noticed a huge uptake in Linux use for normie stuff. I started using linux in 2008 and this what I would tell myself in about 2010 - enough to hit what I hear people call the "distro hop".
Install Debian. Over the last 10 years the debian installer has been rock solid at delivering .deb packages to the then hotness filesystem on the then hotness block subsystem, it can handle raid, crypto, lvm and multiple filesystems for interopt fun. If you come from an Arch/Gentoo background and are distro hopping but "look down" on debian, debootstrap install a testing install before you run your mouth near me. Ubuntu or whoever is just a customized debian, Ubuntu in particular set the frame work for both deb and services modifications but for the most part you either get clean cut Ubuntu or Debian with only usually modded services *or* debs - not even mint bothers cutting both and just has a debian and ubuntu version for a reason. So if you are interested and don't mind so called bloat then try the latest 6month cycle of ubuntu. If you are going for lts ubuntu install debian, "lts" or "stable" from any other project is a fucking joke in the face of stretch. Break virtual machines, specifically those you may be interested in "distro hopping" to; it is just your curiosity if they do something better and if you do happen to find something better like openrc or more modern packages just cut the debs yourself, you're also usually not the first and using others debs is no worse than using other's containers in my eyes. From my track record I have gone from Ubuntu to Debian to Suse to RedHat to Arch/Gentoo and in 2015 I learned the seceret to stop distro hopping; install the debian. Or the OpenLinux if it's 98. My point is at the moment the debian ecosystem is the best for getting things that work better else where in it's own system; without issue it supports the most technologies at once if not the most current and up to date technologies. But usually those too due to again, custom cutting ubuntu debs.