This was 2 years ago. I had seen several people talking about Umbrel, so I tried it first. I haven't had any issues, so I didn't see the need to change. That said, I have used several other node implementations and made my own from scratch since then. If I were just starting out again, I'd choose Start9.
Discussion
I’ve tried them all, I gotta say, nothing beats the flexibility of rolling your own thing; everytime you want to customize your bitcoind or any service, these packaged nodes are a nightmare (even nix-bitcoin, though that’s the best for custom builds)
What would you both suggest for a non programmer (that's look for a slight programming learning curve),?
For a non-technical person: just download bitcoin core to your computer and use that; easiest first node. Once you are comfortable using it, you can take it from there:
This idea that one’s first node should be this crazy complex setup and stuff you need to buy is insane imo
Well, I just checked out this Start9 and apparently the hardware starts at $500... Umbrel on the other hand, runs on a Raspberry Pi (as far as I understand), which is a lot more cheaper than that. I don't remember the exact price, but I'm almost certain it is less than $100.
I know that price is just for the board and you have to add other stuff (storage, peripherals, etc.), but I'm willing to bet that even with those additions, it will still be cheaper. Note: I'm not computer savvy, just an enthusiast.
Start9 supports RaspberryPi. I’m running that configuration myself.
But Start9 recently rolled out their own hardware for those looking for beefier performance hence the higher hardware price point.