Porteus

I’m not exactly experienced with Linux, but after having installed the “Cinnamon” flavor of Porteus, it refuses to boot. When I start Porteus, it takes me to a boot screen with 7 options, graphics mode automatically starting. However, instead of booting, the auto boot timer will count to 0, refreshes, then starts from 9 again. When using any other option, the screen refreshes and nothing happens.

I’m sure the solution is simple and I’m an idiot, but I just want to use Porteus.

You'll need to post more information, how you installed Porteus, what filesystem you're using. Also the contents of /boot/syslinux/porteus.cfg.

It sounds like the kernel or initrd.xz is not being found on booting, which causes it to loop back to the boot screen. You can check the boot config by pressing the "tab" button to make sure it's pointing to the location of the kernel and initrd.xz