Snap is one, yes,.

I think the default gnome desktop you get with Fedora is nicer looking and easier to use than Ubuntu (at least the last time I tried it), so it’s better for new users.

I also just feel like Fedora does a better job of being near the advancing edge of new software (pipewire audio for example) while retaining stability, but that’s more of a gut feel thing and less emperically-based.

I have a ten-year-old child who has a laptop that I installed Fedora on, and they can do everything they need on it. Which is to say: Minecraft, web browsing, and modded Minecraft :)

I have a perception, which may be inaccurate, of linux as being for programmers who need to customize to suit their projects and thus rather fiddly

Yes, it’s true that Linux used to be hard. It used to be finicky. It used to be ugly. But more modern distros make it pretty simple to do most things, from installation to software installation, system configuration, and updates, Ububtu and Fedora being good examples. Linux is still a favorite of programmers and hackers because it is infinitely customizable, but the defaults you get nowadays are pretty solid.

How important is command line in Linux? Will a casual user need to access it frequently? Will my modest needs be better met by learning it?

The command line is a great power tool for power users, a lot like the command prompt or maybe more accurately power shell for Windows. It allows you to do Great and Terrible things, but if your needs are simple enough you probably don’t need it that often, if at all.

So I’d say forget WSL. It’s not what you need right now. Try a bootable USB of Fedora (or Ubuntu, though I’m less of a fan for unimportant geeky reasons) to see what that feels like. Find a bootable image that runs KDE (like kubuntu) for a different feel that’s also (apparently) easy to use. Maybe try Mint or PopOS and see what suits you… Each distro has a bit of a different feel, but that’s mostly due tothe Desktop Environment (DE) they set up by default. There are a lot of options and you can mix and match the parts you like later…

Happy hacking, and good luck!

I think it depends on what your goals are.

If you want to just see what it’s like, don’t install anything. Just make a bootable USB drive with a user-friendly Linux distribution like Fedora or Ubuntu. When it comes up and asks you if you want to install, say no and then you can play in the default desktop environment.

If you want to learn more about the command line, you can actually get a pretty good feel for it by installing WSL in Windows. It runs a Linux-like command line shell and applications right in a Windows terminal.

If you want to dig deeper you could install a VM or partition your disk and dual-boot, but I’d vote for playing with the less-permanent options first.