PRISM-BREAK Operating Systems

https://prism-break.org/#operating-system

The operating systems recommended by PRISM Break are:
1. Debian
2. Fedora
3. Gentoo
4. gNewSense (FSF endorsed)
5. Linux Mint Debian Edition (easiest to use)
6. openSUSE (easiest to use)
7. Parabola (FSF endorsed)
8. Qubes OS

What's of interest to me are the two Operating Systems labelled "easiest to use":
1. Linux Mint Debian Edition
2. openSUSE

If I were a Windows or Mac user ready to switch to GNU/Linux or *BSD for the sake of security and privacy, I'd probably start with those. So how usable and privacy-assuring are they?

-==[ Linux Mint Debian Edition ]==-
It's recommended for beginners (despite Linux Mint's warnings that the Debian Edition is intended for experienced users), but there are two issues I have with their installer:

1. It doesn't make it easy for a newbie to use Full Disk Encryption when installing from their ISO. I know it can be done from the command line, but that's not the point. Linux Mint 15's installer supported it, what's holding LMDE from having the same feature? Disk Encryption is fundamentally vital for laptops and mobile devices in case of theft.

2. When selecting your partitions, gparted doesn't tell you to right click anything, it just complains that you didn't select a root partition. That's not very newbie-friendly. "Easiest to use" just went out the window.

I wouldn't recommend this for newbies. I wouldn't recommend Mint 15 which has the risk of including some of Ubuntu's spyware (Fuck you, Canonical) either.

-==[ openSUSE ]==-
Pros:
+ Supports Full Disk Encryption
+ Easy to install
+ No confusing errors or problems during install

Cons:
- Out of the box, neither wireless nor ethernet worked on my laptop. Every other Linux distro I've tried works just fine.
- Needs to ditch the copyrights. What the hell is the point in copyrighting free software?

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If you are a new user, just suck it up and get Mint 15. It comes with Full Disk Encryption at install without the need to configure anything in the Terminal. If they get around to making a new LMDE installer that supports LVM + encrypted volumes (maybe by refactoring the code in Mint 15 for Debian?) and fix the obnoxiously unhelpful text in the gparted window, then go ahead and `dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=32M` and reinstall LMDE to escape from Ubuntu's Amazon cancer when that becomes a viable option.

Corollary: If you are pursuing a career in IT, you should consider learning how to configure and install LMDE properly from the Terminal. It's a valuable learning experience.