It's shit. Minecraft is so odd with editions and launchers because Minecraft Bedrock is Microsoft's weaponized and monetized version and it is fucking with everyone on purpose. The Java version is the real Minecraft, and it always will be. Kids will never understand this, because they are vulnerable to Microsoft's relentless advertising and branding that they use Minecraft Bedrock specifically as a vehicle for, which flows directly into kids' brains through their social networks (both digital and real-world, in school, in the neighborhood) and all the other marketing efforts their vulnerable minds are constantly bombarded with. Therefore, Minecraft Bedrock is the future, and that future leads you directly and inevitably into Microsoft's grasp. This is not an accident.

I know this knowledge probably doesn't help you at this stage. You can probably get it working in Linux, for now, but it will always be clumsy and sort of a mess because it will always be an arms race with Microsoft's enshittification strategies, and there's a good chance that Microsoft will eventually win. Unless we can somehow all convince our kids, "You know what, this sucks, let's go play with some modded Java version instead". Good luck with that.

You'll need to own Minecraft on the Play Store to be able to play on Linux, so that's one thing to keep in mind, also you'll need a Microsoft account to play online. There's not much else, the bedrock launcher is pretty good, and mostly keeps up with breaking changes to the android version.

As for why there are multiple Minecraft versions, blame Microsoft. When they bought Mojang they wanted a Minecraft version that worked on consoles and had better performance on lowered powered devices like phones, so they wrote a clone of the game in C++. And props to them, they got what they wanted, but the game isn't the same as the older Java game, so the core PC community never adopted Bedrock.

Edit: to be clear, the C++ codebase existed before the Microsoft purchase, but Microsoft was the one that pushed the unified Bedrock edition brand and expansion, and never bothered with Java compatibility.

One thing you should know is that the launcher is effectively maintained by a single person, and new versions have historically required updates to the launcher before working. This means that you usually have to wait a couple of days or weeks before being able to play the latest version. This is not a problem when playing with others also using the launcher, but it does become grating when it comes to cross play with mobile or Windows platforms.

To my knowledge, it can only be done using apps that will basically emulate the Android Bedrock version.

I set this up on my Steam Deck so I could play with my ex’s son. I bought a copy on the Google Play Store and then I signed into Google in an app on my Steam Deck which downloaded Bedrock and then let me play, even using the Steam Deck’s native controls.

That is the only way I am familiar with from my research.

Microsoft has blocked Bedrock on desktop OSes besides Windows. I have tried on my Mac and Linux computers with this being the only successful way. You can play Java through their app without issue or jumping through hoops like this.