DON'T PANIC

There's a massive wave of learning curve for 3D printing. It's ABSOLUTELY subjective to the individual. So always keep in mind that you're going to need to do almost all of it yourself.

The funny thing I experienced about the learning curve is how fun it is to ride the wave of "oh I understand now, let me try that... OMG what did I do?! Aaareggggg! Ok, I'll try again tomorrow. Next week well wtf that was so easy. How did I not get that the first time?"

So the first thing to remember, not all printers provide a similar experience. You can end up with a model of the same filament and same size and to the naked eye, totally the same. But from different printers, could have black and white approaches and steps.

In general there's a few programs that will let a PC directly connect to a 3D printer. It's usually USB and manufacturers usually probably the drivers. If not any Linux system is gonna be able to talk to it. Windows is the one that might not talk to USB on a COM channel.

Direct connection is only needed in my case for upgrading the firmware. I have a Prusa MK3s Frankenstein. I have modified a bit of it.

Before I mod'd it took a bit to really tune it in. but now it's really bulletproof and goes perfectly even after sitting for a while.

Remember to learn the basics for the printer you go with and then look at the mods