So I recently made the decision to expand my horizons and find a Linux distro that would be an alternative to the horror that is Windows 8/10.
Through out my life I've primarily been a Windows user, currently using Windows 7. However I'm not a 100% newbie, as I've used Unix/Linux before, and my job in is software development (though when it comes to Linux, at this point I'm more "aware" and "informed", than I am "experienced").
Long story short though, after previewing several live discs I narrowed it down to Linux Lite 2.4 and promptly installed it, I've been using it for about a week now, and so far I've been very happy with it. Everything is laid out well and intuitive, and even installing custom software/hardware has been a breeze.
I'm currently using this setup as a retro game development workstation, using SDL, CodeLite, Plastic SCM, Aseprite, SunVox, and sfxr, and things couldn't be smoother.