>>106242663
arch isn't hard if you know how to use a terminal and can figure out partitioning yourself
tl;dr, if you want MBR/BIOS boot:
1GiB ext2 boot partition, enable the bootable flag, the rest being ext4 root (or ext4 root ontop of luks if you want encryption)
install and configure what the wiki tells you, dont forget something to have working internet (like NetworkManager), install additional stuff you need like X11 and a window manager or gpu drivers, generate an initramfs and install grub, now youre basically done.
if it boots fine and you didnt forget anything, continue and configure your WM, install some things, do whatever you like, and update it once in a while (every 1-14 days is fine)
if you want a desktop that just werks, i used to recommend KDE, but that turned to shit too. if you like oldschool desktops, you could try TDE (TrinityDE), its basically KDE3 but maintained.
>give me this DE on any distro
you mean GNOME? you can install GNOME on any distro really, but its the most broken abomination i can think of, you really shouldn't be using gnome if you want features, because gnome is literally sabotage to the linux desktop.
they refused to add thumbnails to the file picker for 20 years, you STILL select files when pressing space in the file picker unless you click on the text input bar, the search doesnt remember your file sorting (i want newest files on top, NOT alphabetic), gtk is a piece of shit, they don't want you to use custom themes in their programs, they don't want you to replace their rounded corner window title bars that have gay close buttons that don't extend all the way into the corner when maximized, and if you dare to ask them for any features, emanuel bassi (aka ebussi) will tell you something along the lines of:
>you don't need this.
>do you REALLY need this?
>usecase unclear
>case closed
>this discussion is getting too heated, you don't need a system tray, period.
but if you really want gnome, you can install it of course.