"Gaming Distro" just means some various gaming softwares are preinstalled, like Steam and Heroic (for GOG, Amazon, and Epic games). I mention this just to keep you from overly worrying about picking the "wrong" distro.

• Bazzite is basically SteamOS.

• Mint Cinnamon was my choice as it feels very familiar to a Windows user, and comes with a bunch of desktop productivity stuff pre-installed. It tends to remain on more time-tested, stable versions of software.

• Fedora Plasma is also very popular, and will feel familiar coming from Windows. It tends to have the latest and greatest version of softwares.

and maybe a guide on removing windows entirely once its all said and done

If you plan to switch over all at once, during the install, tell Linux to use the entire drive (ie, do a full format). That will completely remove Windows during the install.

If you are going to dual boot, you can format the Windows drive at some later time.

do’s and dont’s

If you are going to dual boot, don't dual boot on a single drive. Windows likes to fuck with other things on the same drive as it, including other Windows installs.

If you get a prompt about codecs during the Linux install, install them.