You download a file (usually an iso image) and use a tool to write that to a USB stick. Then you out the USB stick in your computer, restart it, and ten usually do some special key combinations right when it first starts (and says “Lenovo” in this case) to use a boot menu to boot from that USB stick. For a user friendly Linux distribution you can then usually use all of the default settings and be fine, but feel free to ask about them here as well.

For your follow-up question about which to use, I recommend something that is well-supported (read: popular) and does not require a terminal to update and configure. Desktop Linux distributions. This includes:

• Debian (live image)
• Fedora
• OpenSuse
• Mint

I have intentionally left some out because of their software choices / track record and listed them in the order I would recommend them.

Debian is solid and has a very good software team and community focus. It is the base of many other Linux distributions. It might require a couple uses of the terminal early on but then won’t after that.

Fedora is a comparably bleeding edge desktop distribution associated with Red Hat. It is usually technically pretty sound but the Red Hat side is bazinga idiots who, for example, recently tried to support LLM use in the project. Red Hat is also a US military contractor.

OpenSUSE is pretty cool and is basically Euro Debian. Less mature for desktop and it’s supporting company is more focused on building out enterprise tooling. Still good though.

Mint is Ubuntu, which is based on Debian, with snaps (an annoying software distribution system) stripped out and some questionable software maintenance deciso, usually around their deep desire to make all of their user interfaces green.

The same way you install any other OS. Find the version you want… Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, or whichever fits what you’re looking for, download it and make a bootable disc or USB drive, boot your computer from the bootable media and follow the installation instructions.