"highly configurable" and "very little effort to start using" don't blend together in car mechanics, and they don't in Linux either.

I was going to suggest Gentoo or Arch because they're the standard for "highly configurable" but they really demand some effort to start using them.

Also, so far, only Debian really, really, cares about open source, most distros don't mind copyrighted video codecs or proprietary GPU drivers if they make the user's life easier.

Void fits the bill. Debian if you don't want rolling.

endevouros is a great option imo. not as bloated as manjaro, but everything works out of the box. it being arch based makes it easier to install things and troubleshoot, due to arch linux support. i would recommend kde as the desktop environment if you want something fully featured with lots of customizability options, but i3 is nice, but annoying to get started.

DistroWatch

Fedora Kinoite from ublue. Has docker and all the codecs preinstalled. If you need VSCode, add the repo and layer it (rpm-ostre install abc). You can create distro containers with distrobox, or use podman or docker directly.

The system is configurable but image based, very good defaults, its always upstream with transparent changes (rpm-ostree status).

I broke every distro before, and Kinoite is great. The ublue modifications include complete ffmpeg and more, so everything works

Edit: I know everyone recommends something else. I find it really annoying that distros cant join a little more in their work.

Fedora Atomic (the bigger name for all "immutable" distros) is different through the image based model (using OSTree) and also having tested but very recent updates.

I'd say mint or debian, and NixOS is neat if you're willing to spend weeks on it. It allows you to make reproducible and declarative systems as well as declaring sets of packages for the current thing you have to do

FYI, I just switched to Linux few months ago from Windows and have been using Arch/EndeavorOS with KDE, and have had a wonderful experience.

I have a relative who's been using Linux for years, and that's the one they helped me install. I needed their help a handful of times the first couple of weeks, but since then I've been on my own and I love it.

Depends if you want bleeding edge or not. I don't mind it, but I get update notifications like 3x a week.

Arch is best for you. As you have experience with Linux, you won't have issues configuring it according to your needs. Arch wiki is a gold mine.

I like Fedora and PopOS. I find PopOS to be the most exciting and best out of the box experience, with plenty of options for customization. Endeavour is also fantastic and considering you have lots of experience with Linux already, should be and excellent choice as well. If you want kind of a set it and forget, I can't recommend PopOS enough. Fedora for if you want to tinker and set things up to suit yourself more, and endeavour even more so.

Probably Arch.

I began with slackware linux late 1990s and have moved to FreeBSD about 10 years ago. Just recently installed Linux again and found pop! os to be quite usable. I think it's worth to check out.

I'd suggest you EndeavourOR or Arch.

There is also NixOS, but you will loose the ability to use GNU/Linux for CI/CD and programming, like you did before learning nix.

Peppermint , Debian based , important stuff there but still slim , shit just works

I just recommend Manjaro KDE.

It's very simple and easy to use. It seems likes it's designed to make transitioning from Windows as easy as possible.

Manjaro, a stable descendant of Arch Linux. It has stable updates every week (more or less). You can select your favorite DE, kernel version, it is updated for optimal gaming performance, easy to install like Ubuntu. If you miss any app in the Manjaro repos you can always download it from **AUR **(Arch Community Repo), **Flatpak **or **Snap **by activating it easily from their app store.

Yes, it is similar to Endeavor OS, but I think Endeavor is more like an easier version of Arch, but just as edgy with updates and the instability that comes with it.