I can't vouch for this article beyond saying it looks reasonable and of those I sampled, the language is simplest. However, I defer to those who have expertise to know whether this or other materials would work best for FReepers.
https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/try-ubuntu-before-you-install#1-getting-started
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/creating-and-using-a-live-installation-image/
dumBest questiion of the day: Does this take up a lot of memory?
Our developer environment is a VM running Ubuntu
IMO there's no single "best", or even a few "bests". Everybody's got their own preferences including for picking a distro, how it installs, what the options mean to them, and then of course how to configure it for their own use.
That said, I've installed Linux, mostly Ubuntu, on hundreds of computers since about 2001: RedHat/RHEL, Fedora, CentOS, Debian, SuSE, Raspberry, and for the past decade or so, almost all Ubuntu, both Desktop versions and headless Server versions.
Every one has its peculiarities and quirks, things it does better or worse than some other variant.
All that said, I tend to recommend Ubuntu Desktop, or Mint for a true novice. They're both pretty trivial to install if you're willing to work with their defaults during installation.
So first time out, take all the defaults and see how you like it, without committing to it. Then if you think you want to customize the installation, wipe and re-install, with whatever you learned from the first time.
Bkmk
Or, jam in the bootable USB, follow prompts, remove usb and reboot.
Bookmark
My go to is Explaining Computers on You Tube.
The You Tuber is English and speaks clearly and distinctly.
I just watched his video Windows & Linux: Dual Drive Dual Boot.
It was very informative.