ubuntu is the most widely used distro and very simple to setup and gaming out of the box with steam is very simple. Distro end of the day doesn’t matter all that much because you can change them to your hearts content, but for a beginner, you’d probably have the easiest time with an ubuntu distro.
Doesn’t hurt to have virtual box windows on your linux box just so you can easily do some of that other stuff. While I have done fine with libre office for a long time there are definitely problems with formatting so having a windows VM would just solve that issue. Plus teams and w/e.
Epic games will take some serious tweaking, but not impossible.
Perl is still the best. 😁 😁