Ubuntu is based on Debian so regular Mint is actually 2 levels down from upstream. But Mint has started offering a Debian base recently called LMDE if you want to check it out.

As for whether Arch is bad for beginners. Kinda. It's a DIY distro, assuming you can follow tutorials and guides it's pretty straight forward, especially with the archinstall script. But if you're uncomfortable with a terminal install, you can try out EndeavourOS which features a full gui install and a few tweaks to make it easier on beginners.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 week ago

I'm not unhappy.