Down the Road with Linux

About a week ago my System76 computer arrived at my doorstep. I'm getting a bit fed up with the graft and bloat of Big Tech, so I'm learning a new operating system for the first time in 30 years. I've poked at Linux before, but I'm just jumping in now. While I still have my mac, it's relegated to the basement. It's just too bloated and locked down. I did managed to kill PopOS as I know just enough to be dandgerous. I then loaded Ubuntu on there, but the system wouldn't boot after a day. I probably did something to it, but have no idea what. The current install is going well and I always back up important stuff to other places. My computers, tablets, and phones could always go up in smoke and I could just move on. Which is good as I know enough to be dangerous.