I first used Linux about 5 years ago (Ubuntu). Since then, I have tried quite a few distros:
Kali Linux (Use as a secondary)
Linux Mint (Used for a while)
Arch Linux (Could not install)
Tails (Use this often)
Qubes OS (Tried it twice, not ready yet)
Fedora (Current main)
For me, it has been incredibly difficult to find a properly privacy oriented Linux distro that also has ease of use. I really enjoy the GNOME desktop environment, and I am most familiar with Debian. My issue with Fedora is the lack of proper sandboxing, and it seems as though Qubes is the only one that really takes care in sandboxing apps.
Apologies if this is the wrong community for this question, I would be happy to move this post somewhere else. I've been anonymously viewing this community after the Rexodus, but this is my first time actually creating a post. Thank you!
UPDATE:
Thank you all so much for your feedback! The top recommended distro by far was SecureBlue, an atomic distro, so I will be trying that one. If that doesn't work, I may try other atomic distros such as Fedora Atomic or Fedora Silverblue (I may have made an error in my understanding of those two, please correct my if I did!). EndeavourOS was also highly recommended, so if I'm not a fan of atomic distros I will be using that. To @[email protected], your suggestion for Linux Mint Debian Edition with GNOME sounds like a dream, so I may use it as a secondary for my laptop. Thank you all again for your help and support, and I hope this helps someone else too!
Look at this
Fedora is fine, you may want to use secureblue or just plain Fedora Atomic/ ublue as Base.
But generally using as many flatpaks as possible and least system packages, and managing filesystem permissions like the guy on Fedora Discuss, this should totally fit your needs.
QubesOS is cool but it tries to solve the problem of insecure software through extreme compartimentalization which is hard to use and extreme on the hardware.
Oddly enough, at the time only having installed a few Linux distros in my life, Qubes OS was very easy to install and ran just fine on my medium-grade hardware. Lots of people mention having problems with it, but I got really lucky it seems. Thanks for your suggestion!
Did not know fedora silverblue had a hardend fork! Thanks for sharing
I would call it a variant, as its 99% fedora with some different packages (hardened malloc, pam authramp, etc.) and continuously deployed changes.