You don't have to make any choices - just follow my directions to the letter. I don't even have to visit you. Once you are up I can remotely set things up with VNC or even simple telnet access. You get a Linux system, configured by an experienced person, and then you can go to town.
The differences in distributions are not important enough for a newbie to be showstoppers. They all have good and bad points.
Repeat: send me a detailed hardware report on the target system and we'll get started. You don't have to do anything at all.