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What is the best alternative to NetBSD?

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GNU/Linux

All
33
Experiences
Pros
23
Cons
9
Specs
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Lots of development tools available

See More
Monika
KindCorymbus
Martijn Engler
Top Con

Issues with drivers if your hardware is not officially supported

With some proprietary hardware (eg:NVIDIA) you may have a hard time setting up your drivers. But most of the time, some distributions handle hardware better than other operating systems, especially when it comes to older hardware. See More
Slimothy
thermoplastics
Joe Fleming
Top Pro

Most likely also your deployment target

Makes testing while developing easier. According to a September 2014 study by W3 Techs, *nix based servers are used on over 2/3 of websites. See More
Monika
KindCorymbus
ThoughtfulHatepuna
Top Con

Maintenance can be time-consuming

You are gonna have to go through a lot of documentation to fix if something breaks. But that time is totally worth it if you are willing to pay it. Because it is likely that you'll find a fix 95% of the time. See More
Slimothy
Top Pro

Access to really powerful terminals

See More
Slimothy
Top Con

Steep learning curve

See More
Endi Sukaj
DEADC0DE
Top Pro

Package managers

You can install any library or package that you need (gcc, php, node) with just a couple of commands in the terminal. See More
FriendlyNuliajuk
Top Con

HiDPI support sucks

Many developers work on apps that should work on HiDPI monitors. In most distros, HiDPI simply suck on Linux, and making that work is a nightmare. See More
Slimothy
Top Pro

Most Linux distributions are free

See More
InterestingAegle
Top Con

Hard to get used to working in the terminal

It might be a challenge when trying to get used to using the terminal a lot to get around certain things See More
Slimothy
Top Pro

Large percentage of Linux users are developers

See More
ResponsibleScylla
Top Con

Too much customization

To get features on par with OS X, you need to research packages, install them and configure them. Even then, it may not be as good as OS X. See More
Slimothy
Top Pro

Most software is open source

See More
Alex
Ricardo Rodrigues
thermoplastics
Top Con

Less and worse professional software is developed, due to the low user base

Depending on what type of work you are doing, you may find Linux software lacking compared to their Win/Mac counterparts. For example in game development, tools, like Unreal Engine or Unity, usually lack in quality or novelty compared with Windows. Having crashes or bugs that aren't fixed for a while. See More
Barbara Glowa
Top Pro

Flexibility

GNU/Linux handles desktop sessions differently than Windows. Users may customize their own sessions; in fact, a single user may use different desktop environments for different login sessions. See More
Doug Bromley
thermoplastics
Ricardo Rodrigues
Top Con

Low user base to develop to

Linux can develop to any system with the right tools. Mono allows development to Windows. Python and Ruby too. C and C++ can be developed to Windows. See More
ThoughtfulHatepuna
Slimothy
Top Pro

Familiarity with Linux is often required from a developer

Many university computer science programs are based on Linux and in any case, you will inevitably be dealing with a Linux box of one flavor or another someday, be it a server (most likely) or a workstation. The languages and methods used in the Linux/Unix environment (e.g., bash, C, C++, Make, etc.) are very commonplace among developers and are to the computer side of the discipline what the English language is to the human side of it: the common language. See More
Ricardo Rodrigues
Top Con

A wide variety of distributions available

With a lot of variety, one cannot deploy to a single system and has to prepare for a bundle of distributions, instead of just one. See More
Buster Blue
Slimothy
Top Pro

A wide variety of distributions available

With a lot of variety, one can use the distribution that fits the type of work best because of the many choices that are given, instead of just one. See More
Monika
SiamSami
emopausal
Top Pro

Works great on older hardware

7-10-year-old Dell laptops can run Unix or Unix-like OSes very well, where Windows would grind/drag/vomit. See More
Endi Sukaj
DEADC0DE
Top Pro

Follows the UNIX philosophy

The UNIX philosophy: 'Write programs that do one thing and do it well'. Since Linux itself follows this philosophy then it's very easy to start creating scripts and programs. See More
thermoplastics
Сергей Бугаев
Top Pro

UNIX-like

Nice, developer-friendly environment. See More
Bramford
Top Pro

Choose any type of desktop environment (or none)

Most Linux distributions support a range of desktop environments, be it plain old X, a tiling window manager or a fully fledged mammoth desktop like GNOME or KDE. See More
Alex
FlexibleYonggungChasa
Top Pro

Extremely fast

Can be made even faster by going GUI-free or using a lightweight window manager. See More
Ray
emopausal
Top Pro

No telemetry, unlike Windows

See More
SiamSami
Monika
Top Pro

Lower chance of data loss

Linux has very few viruses. So there's almost no chance of getting infected by a virus and thus losing your data including your important programming files. See More
Doug Bromley
dowwie
Top Pro

Hardly ever crashes

And if it does you can often drop into console and fix the error before returning to desktop. See More
FriendlyNuliajuk
Undefined NaN
Top Pro

Sometimes it "just works"

Sometimes Linux tends to just work with little to no effort or troubleshooting required. Most of the times it doesn't, though. See More
FearlessAchilles
Top Pro

Isn't "locked down"

Windows and MacOS tend to restrict what the user/developer can do with their PC while Linux empowers the user/developer so they can do whatever they need/want with their PC without unnecessary restrictions. See More
CheerfulMelinoe
Top Pro

Get works done

Get near each and every work done within the command line or terminal, it makes everything so simple as compared to any other os See More
Monika
KindCorymbus
Top Pro

Easy to setup development environment

It's very easy to setup the development environment. In fact most of the time you don't even need to do much. For an example you don't even have to install GCC if you are coding in C/C++. Some distribution comes with JDK or JRE pre installed. Even if it doesn't, it's very easy to install a JDK than on Windows. There are plenty of free and open source / proprietary IDE's available. See More
Monika
KindCorymbus
Top Pro

Easy and quick installation

Just grab a ISO file, a 20GB partition on your HDD and boom. You are ready to go. See More
Specs
License:GNU GPL
OS Family:GNU/LInux
Widget Toolkit:GTK, Qt, wxWidgets
HideSee All Experiences
724 47

Slackware

All
15
Experiences
Pros
8
Cons
6
Specs
Klaatu von Schlacker
Top Pro

Stable

Uses stable, plain-vanilla packages from upstream. See More
Monika
Svjatoslavs Krasnikovs
JollyZhurong
Top Con

Not user-friendly

It is made to be KISS (keep it simple, stupid), so you have to do everything by hand. See More
nanon
Top Pro

Strong adherence to UNIX Principals

See More
Monika
Karan Forever
Top Con

Large size live ISO

One needs to vain 3GB+ data for downloading one slackware ISO. See More
JollyZhurong
thibdb13
Top Pro

Ideal to learn more of Linux

Follows the original Linux roots. It still sees Linux as a free clone of UNIX so the distribution tries to be UNIX-like. See More
Monika
ReliableShara
Top Con

Niche/small community

Slackware is its own niche and has a small community. See More
Karan Forever
Top Pro

One more distro which is init based

Some users don't like to install systemd based distros because they increase booting and processing speed. See More
Monika
ReliableShara
Top Con

Narrow repos

Doesn't offer the same amount of options as other distros do. See More
Monika
TirelessAhriman
ExceptionalChernobog
Top Pro

Oldest surviving Linux distro

Besides Debian (which was first released in August 1993), it is the oldest still maintained Linux Distribution and was first released in July 1993. See More
Monika
CompassionateSterquilinus
Top Con

Very slow release cycle

Hasn't updated in 3+ years. See More
Paolo
Klaatu von Schlacker
Top Pro

Package management

Uses standard tar archives with shell scripting as packages. See More
Monika
ReliableShara
Top Con

Dependency issues

When it comes to dependencies, Slackware shows more issues than many other distros. See More
Alex
Cacti
Top Pro

Super fast

See More
Ray
nanon
Top Pro

No systemd

See More
Specs
Based On:Softlanding Linux System
Default Desktop Environment:KDE SC
Init-System:SysVinit
Package Manager:Pkgtool
See All Specs
HideSee All Experiences
328 55

Debian GNU/Linux

All
42
Experiences
Pros
27
Cons
14
Specs
Tim Etler
Slimothy
Top Pro

Wide choice in desktop environments

Debian offers stable and testing CD images specifically built for GNOME (the default), KDE Plasma Workspaces, Xfce and LXDE. Less common window managers such as Enlightenment, Openbox, Fluxbox, GNUstep, IceWM, Window Maker and others can also be installed. See More
Simona
Holo Deck
nanon
Top Con

Stable release contains extremely outdated packages

If you want the newest packages, you'll have to do a minimal installation of Debian stable then upgrade to testing or you need to install testing directly. See More
Chloe Montanez
Endi Sukaj
Mika Heinonen
Top Pro

Wide choice of hardware platforms

Debian has the widest choice of hardware platforms, including: amd64, armel, armhf, i386, ia64, kfreebsd-i386, kfreebsd-amd64, mips, mipsel, powerpc, sparc, s390, s390x, source, multi-arch. See More
DeterminedPasithea
Holo Deck
Chloe Montanez
Top Con

No default support for unfree drivers

Debian does not official support unfree software so if you have a wifi card or anything elese that requires an unfree driver you will need to download the unofficial/non-advertised non-free iso image which contains all unfree driver packages. See More
DeterminedPasithea
thermoplastics
Tom Raleigh
Top Pro

Standard vanilla Linux desktop

Debian runs standard Gnome, XFCE, KDE - it doesn't use its own special desktop environment or debian specific modifications or customisations, which means that users benefit from the work of the whole Linux community, Debian developers can focus on the distribution itself, and any support for your desktop environment on other distributions should work on Debian as well. See More
Simona
Holo Deck
Francisco
Top Con

Ridiculous package splitting

Even though it makes sense to split devel and the actual binary of an application, the splitting has become as mess in debian and its derivates: for example the nvidia driver is splitted into over 40 different packages. See More
WhiteLilac
calcatinge
Chloe Montanez
Top Pro

Very stable

Debian has a Stable branch, where packages are thoroughly tested before release. Furthermore Debian is know to be the definition of stable when it comes to production systems. See More
Francisco
NeighborlyConand
Top Con

Internal quarrels harm the project

Instead of working all together to provide the best Operating System, some maintainers are just ignorant and aggressive to new ideas or new maintainers. That led to many crises and controversy in Debian's history. See More
Alex
SplendidAccaLarentia
Top Pro

Install and forget

Once installed you can almost forget about it and start to use your desktop for your daily tasks. See More
Monika
NeighborlyCromCruach
Francisco
Top Con

No choices

Debian basically doesn't give you any choices, even dpkg supports this feature with virtual packages: for example, it is very hard to use a different sound system than ALSA, like OSS4 or to use ALSA with pulse audio emulation, and the same goes for different init systems. See More
Holo Deck
Chloe Montanez
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Comes with over 55.500 packages

Because of its popularity, Debian has a lot of applications available which range from productivity programs to business software, games and development tools. It comes with over 55.500 packages (software that is precompiled and ready to be installed on a local machine) -- all of them for free. See More
ResourcefulQucumatz
Top Con

Systemd is everywhere

Systemd is very hard to debug by itself, and can break in very strange ways (such as not being able to mount a single partition on bootup), but the increasing number of desktops that are relying on specific functionality provided only by systemd (policy kit, dbus, etc) makes the entire system more fragile and harder to debug. See More
Alois Mahdal
Endi Sukaj
Tim Etler
Top Pro

Easy to find help with any problem

Debian is one of the oldest and most popular distros out there. Debian's popularity means that you will always be able to find a solution for your problem just by searching on Google, or if by chance nobody has had the problem you are having it's very easy to ask the community and quickly get a solution. See More
Monika
LivelyEopsin
Top Con

Inconsistent init systems

While Linux uses systemd, non-Linux ports use the traditional sysvinit. See More
Chloe Montanez
thermoplastics
Slimothy
Top Pro

Highly secure system

Known for being consistent in maintaining a highly secure system. Several other popular distros use Debian as a base or core for their own Linux OS, the security being one of the main factors why it's so commonly used. See More
Holo Deck
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Con

Outdated kernel of the live system

Since the LiveCD is based on Debian stable the kernel is old, outdated but stable. See More
Chloe Montanez
CreativeZelus
Top Pro

Well-working team

The developer works very well so the the code is one of the best written out there. See More
FantasticHegemone
Top Con

Hard to learn

See More
Francisco
NeighborlyConand
Top Pro

Rolling or Release based

Every Debian Release can either use a Rolling or Release based model. See More
Holo Deck
nanon
Top Con

Not designed for general desktop usage

By default, Debian Stable is not that great of a distro for general desktop usage, since the packages are very outdated. You'll have to spend a while configuring the system in order to make it work. See More
Chloe Montanez
WorthyCeuthonymus
Top Pro

A lot of ways to install software

You can either use aptitude, apt or apt-build to install software from the Debian package archives. See More
DeterminedPasithea
Alex
DependableKuu
Top Con

Breaks if you suspend/resume

Breaks when you resume the activity on the system if you use nvidia cards. See More
Francisco
Chloe Montanez
WorthyCeuthonymus
Top Pro

Great for gaming

As Debian is the base for SteamOS and because Ubuntu is based on it, it's almost certain that all Linux games will run properly and require no hacks like creating symbolic links because of some hardcoded paths. See More
EagerAsclepius
Svjatoslavs Krasnikovs
GloriousAsterion
Top Con

Buggy and non-user friendly

You need to know almost as much as Arch and deal with documentation not as good as the Arch wiki in order for Debian to work. See More
TirelessAhriman
WhiteLilac
DreamerKokhKox
Top Pro

Big open-source project

The Debian project is one of the biggest open source projects with over 5000 active contributors. See More
BH7tytbnff7b56tyunmhghghhjkhf8iy
Top Con

No good choices of fresh desktop environments

GNOME is quite outdated and buggy; KDE is too old, even in Sid it is at 5.14 branch (at Jun 13 2019 Plasma 5.16 is available in many rolling/fresh distros); XFCE behaves like crooked, visual artifacts at the taskbar and so on; Cinnamon as far as I know works better in Linux Mint compared to (almost) any other distro; For other desktop environments (e.g. MATE) can't say - these are too new (as projects) and possibly incomplete, thus might have many bugs. See More
Tim Etler
Slimothy
Top Pro

Live install images for CDs, DVDs and USB thumb drives

Debian releases live install images for CDs, DVDs and USB thumb drives, for the i386 and amd64 architectures, and with a choice of desktop environments. These Debian Live images allow the user to boot from a removable media and run Debian without affecting the contents of their computer. See More
Monika
thibdb13
Ryan
Top Con

Old software is not useful, but is stable

Certainly for the stable and old stable versions. But the testing version has quite up to date software. See More
Monika
Holo Deck
Top Pro

A real installer

Unlike other distributions that just extract their Live image, Debian offers a real traditional and modular installer to customize the installation. See More
Holo Deck
Top Pro

Strict seperation of non-free software

Debian is one of the few distros that let the user choose if he wants a free system or not. See More
Monika
mYnDstrEAm
Top Pro

The Debian Social Contract

Guaranteed commitment to adherence to values, principles, priorities, requirements and guidelines by the Debian project. See More
Holo Deck
Top Pro

Many ports

Debian supports almost any Kernel maintained CPU instructions set. It has also a few non Linux Ports. See More
Holo Deck
Top Pro

Widely supported

Almost any software that is available for Linux provides a Debian package. See More
Monika
Holo Deck
Top Pro

Apt-build

It is possible to rebuild the entire system and optimize it for your hardware (of course, it is not as detailed as Gentoo's USE flags). See More
Simona
Monika
DebonairObrigwabibikwa
Top Pro

Great choice for returning Linux users

If you haven't used Linux for a long time, say 5-10 years, it's a great distro in which you can quickly get in the boat again. You don't have to worry about falling back. Everything is in its place. See More
Monika
NeighborlyCromCruach
Top Pro

Supports SecureBoot

You don't have to disable SecureBoot if you use it, which is useful for LiveUSB or dualboot setups. See More
Holo Deck
Top Pro

Debconf

Depending how it is configured debconf does the most of the hard work for you and only asks you with configuration /file conflicts. See More
Monika
JollyZhurong
Top Pro

Standard archives

Debs are normal ar and tar archives with shell scripting and additional gz, bz, lzma or xz compression. See More
Monika
Holo Deck
Top Pro

Unique release cycle

The most Linux distros have one or two stages before a release, but Debian has five before a new stable version is released (experimental > unstable > testing > code-freeze/bug hunting > stable). See More
Monika
JollyZhurong
Top Pro

TUI installer

The Debian installer can still be launched as text/curses-like installer which is more compatible and keyboard-friendly than the graphical version. See More
Monika
BH7tytbnff7b56tyunmhghghhjkhf8iy
Top Pro

Has small amount of today's bugs (e.g. no duplicate web cameras in Skype - likely not Skype's fault)

But has quite a few bugs from 2016-2017, apparently for long term. See More
Specs
Package Manager:dpkg (Debian Package Manager)
OS Family:GNU/Linux
Release Schedule:approximately every 24 months
Main Usage:Universal
See All Specs
HideSee All Experiences
2463 390

Gentoo Linux

All
19
Experiences
Pros
13
Cons
6
Deuxis
Slimothy
Top Pro

Full control of the software

You build the package from a source you can see and read. You decide which features you want to build in and which aren't needed. You can choose build options, optimisation and whatever else fancy stuff you want modified. With a binary distribution this simply isn't possible. See More
Deuxis
Alex
Chloe Montanez
Top Con

Not beginner-friendly

You have to read a lot of instructions to start, even if you are familiar with Linux. Furthermore, as you have to configure the kernel and init system, expect some boot failures at beginning. See More
BlueManCZ
Slimothy
Top Pro

Portage's emerge is powerful

Portage is a package management system with a huge amount of options and features. See More
Chloe Montanez
Top Con

Since everything must be compiled it takes a lot longer to update

And if you have to update the kernel or some heavy software like Chromium it can takes hours if not more on weaker hardware. See More
LikableTellervo
Top Pro

Freedom

You are free to do whatever you want with it. As a result, its configuration reflects your unique taste and personality. See More
Chloe Montanez
thermoplastics
Joal Heagney
Top Con

Customized package installation can take a long time and cause installation failures

The Gentoo package management system allows you to configure what compilation flags packages should support - i.e. specific processor flag support (SSE, SSE2, etc.), -O1, -O2, -O3 optimization, etc. If you accept one of the default flags, Gentoo downloads binaries from the server. However, if you decide to optimise, it can and will download all source packages and start compiling allthe programs and libraries on your system. If your chosen flags don't work with a particular library, installation will fail. See More
Chloe Montanez
Top Pro

Fully customizable

The usage of advanced features like USE flags makes it more customizable than any binary distribution. See More
Yoshiyuki
Deuxis
Top Con

Somewhat outdated solutions

While being outdated per se is virtually impossible for a rolling-release distro with a large community, a large portion of said community sticks to outdated solutions. For example, Gentoo's primary init system is OpenRC, which is cumbersome and awkward to use and provides little control over the system. While you can just choose systemd, it will require some tinkering. Other examples include stubbornly declaring an initramfs a last resort and an "oh my god 1337 H4XX0RZ surely have nothing better to do than trying for a month to exploit some vulnerability to steal my pony art, I have to fortify so hard my performance and ease of use will suffer" 90s security mentality. Because of just how much freedom Gentoo provides you with, this usually isn't a big deal though. See More
thermoplastics
mike walker
Top Pro

Great for anyone who is serious about learning the intricacies of Linux

It's useful for both beginners and professionals. For the installation, Gentoo offers various types, which are referred to as stages. Basically meaning how in depth you would want to go into the process of installation. For beginners it's useful to choose for a starting distro due to its various stages that can be very time consuming but beneficial as you learn the composition in general of Linux. See More
BlueManCZ
Top Con

No default installer

Installation must be done manually by following instructions in the handbook. See More
Deuxis
Chloe Montanez
Top Pro

Can by optimized to any given CPU by using proper compile flags

Since everything is being built on your PC you can fine-tune the code to make use of your CPU. And all it requires is two lines of string variables in a global config. See More
teadan
NobleCoventina
Top Con

Too hard

See More
CoolDamasen
Slimothy
Top Pro

Portability

There are many architectures available for Gentoo : i386, x86-64, PowerPC, PowerPC 64, sparc, DEC Alpha, ARM, MIPS, PA-RISC, S390, IA-64, sh, m68k. See More
Monika
SOLAR VERSION 3
Chloe Montanez
Top Pro

Can be officially systemd-free

Gentoo's default init system is OpenRC. Gentoo also officially supports systemd-free Gnome and udev. Users are free to choose any init system they want. See More
Chloe Montanez
Slimothy
Top Pro

Documentation and community are second to none

Provides a whole handbook to refer to during setup and usage. See More
Alex
CoolDamasen
Slimothy
Top Pro

A very large collection of software is available

There are more than 19.000 packages available in the official repository. And even more with overlays. See More
ResponsibleEiresione
Top Pro

Superiority and Smartness

You get superiority and get called smart daily for going through the processes of punishing yourself to a compile install you also get a cool neofetch logo (: See More
Slimothy
Top Pro

Gentoo does not impose a standard look-and-feel

See More
Bobbbay Bobbayan
Slimothy
Top Pro

Live USB installation

Installation via a Live USB allows you to go back and fix mistakes from it without having to restart the whole installation process. See More
HideSee All Experiences
1062 198

Arch Linux

All
64
Experiences
Pros
44
Cons
19
Specs
WhiteLilac
DwightR
Slimothy
Top Pro

Excellent documentation

Arch's goal of simplicity means there's usually one preferred way to get things done - through organized and well documented configuration files. This focus, combined with the community's recognition that configuration files can be intimidating, has resulted in excellent documentation that's accessible to newcomers, and very instructive about how Linux actually works. The documentation is often so thorough that, when searching for solutions to problems while using other distributions, such as with video card drivers, oftentimes you'll find the most effective solution in the Arch Linux wiki or on the forums. See More
Monika
Holo Deck
WhiteLilac
Top Con

Not for the faint of heart

You need to be very carefully with updates. See More
Laura Kyle
Tal Ben-Ari
Top Pro

A package for almost everything

If you need to install something, chances are someone in the Arch community has already made a package for it. This makes it incredibly easy for you to install and maintain all of the non-media content on your computer. See More
WittyDeipneus
WhiteLilac
DwightR
Top Con

Manual install process

The installation requires a lot of manual intervention/decisions. See More
WhiteLilac
DwightR
thermoplastics
Top Pro

No restrictive handholding, pure control over everything

Arch is mainly aimed at experienced Linux users, there is no hand-holding and not much in a way of UI elements when trying to install or tweak settings. See More
Laura Kyle
thermoplastics
Stoyan Dimkov
Top Con

Requires some background with Linux and the command-line to setup

Going in with zero Linux knowledge is not really recommended when wanting to install Arch, though it can be a good learning experience for those that are dedicated to trial and error as well as reading many faqs. See More
Monika
nanon
Top Pro

Arch Linux Wiki

The Arch Linux Wiki is very useful not just for Arch Linux users, but for anyone who uses Linux. See More
Holo Deck
Top Con

Works only on AMD64

It is the only official supported instruction set of CPUs. See More
gerald schenk
Top Pro

As slim or copious as you want it

Arch keeps its core repositories slim and free of unnecessary dependencies. At first installation only a bare system is set up. You can easily get the other applications through the package manager. The repositories are nearly as full as those of Ubuntu, while they are often more up to date. That way you don't have to waste time with software you don't need or want. See More
Mark Penguin
HonorableLanCaihe
Top Con

Highly egotistical community

See More
WhiteLilac
DwightR
Yoshiyuki
Top Pro

Cutting edge rolling release

Arch Linux follows a rolling release model, which allows users to stay on the most up-to-date versions of the software they are using. See More
teadan
EagerAsclepius
PatientPapatuanuku
Top Con

No graphical installer

Although some derivatives such as Manjaro and ArcoLinux exist. See More
JM80
Ryan O’Hara
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Fast and simple package management

Pacman has performance advantages over apt-get and yum in both database operations (thanks to being written for speed) and download times (by virtue of using better mirrors than other distributions tend to select by default). There are also fewer default repositories to download from, and all package management is combined into one tool instead of being split into dpkg, apt-get, and apt-cache like on Debian distros. See More
Svjatoslavs Krasnikovs
TrustworthyAnanke
Ryan O’Hara
Top Con

Fragile packages

Updating an Arch system is always a gamble. The problem could be as simple as a package having a bug causing a program to crash on start or it may be something bigger like the WiFi or Bluetooth no longer working. There is also the slight chance the system may not even boot at all after a large update. If the user does not plan to read the forums weekly/daily or update fairly often, things can go wrong very fast. See More
Laura Kyle
Koushik MS
Top Pro

Support for a large variety of hardware

From latest wacom pads to obscure wireless cards in laptops Arch's hw support has been and continues to be good. It has worked on laptops where other leading distro's like debian/ mint/ ubuntu failed to detect and work with all hardware. See More
Monika
thibdb13
Daniel Menelkir
Top Con

Instability can be an issue

Sometimes you can have a surprise, but in most cases it can be fixed quickly. See More
Chloe Montanez
AgreeableKoalemos
Bence Nagy
Top Pro

Excellent package management with the AUR

The AUR is a repository with a very extensive catalogue of build/install scripts that are contributed by users. While these scripts are inherently less secure than conventional packages maintained by a distro's authors, it's still way easier to verify the security of install scripts than it would be to write them yourself. It's very usefull. See More
Monika
Desulate
Top Con

Occasional upstream package bugs

Most package maintainers look for issues that the packages might have ispecifically for arch. Which means if a package has a bug that applies to all Linux distros regardless of the flavor, the maintainer may not be able to: A) catch it before pushing a update or B) have to wait for the packages developers to fix it. This is a minor issue because most issues are often patched before the end of the day if many users rely on it, or if its a less used package there will be specific troubleshooting instructions on the arch site. See More
Monika
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Highly customizable

Tailor the system to your needs. See More
Slimothy
gerald schenk
Top Con

Rolling release requires bandwidth

Arch uses a rolling release model for updates. Unlike, for example Ubuntu where a new version is released every six months, packages are updated when they are ready. The advantage is a very up to date system and that the work of upgrading can be spread over a longer span of time to a point where it is hardly noticeably effort. However it can be difficult for people without a high bandwidth connection, or with limits on how many GB can be downloaded imposed by their internet service providers. A GB a month of downloads is quite possible. This can be somewhat offset by Arch being lightweight, besides the relatively small core, the user selects what is installed (and has to be updated). See More
WhiteLilac
DwightR
Slimothy
Top Pro

Simplicity is absolutely the principal objective behind Arch development

The design approach of the development team focuses on elegance, code correctness, minimalism, and simplicity, and expects the user to be willing to make some effort to understand the system's operation. See More
thermoplastics
Marc Telesha
Top Con

Too many package upgrades that require manual intervention

Every year or so there is a update to ArchLinux that will break your system unless you first read the front page of archlinux.org. This happened with SystemD and with a few other updates that require you to do prior steps befor pacman -Syu. See More
SincereFreyr
Top Pro

An opportunity to improve

The process of learning to setup and use Arch will improve your skills with Linux and computers in general. See More
Monika
Holo Deck
Top Con

Lost its way

It aimed to be KISS but it has lost its way and is getting more and more complex, for example, it uses systemd which is anything but KISS. It also has now some kind of package post configuration included. See More
nanon
Top Pro

Huge Repositories

Although Arch Linux only comes with around 10,000 packages, you can use the Arch User Repositories (AUR) which will add over 50,000 more packages. See More
Ant Super
Top Con

Documentation only makes sense if you know how to adjust it

While the documentation is a very valuable reference for experts, the recipes often don't actually work on your own computer. Some articles are outdated, incomplete, contradictory or duplicated. Only if you are expert enough to know which steps to skip, to adjust or which other documentation parts to plug in, you can make it work. See More
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Helpful community

If searching through the wiki or the forums for any problems turns nothing, any question on the official forums, Arch subreddit or the IRC channel will be answered within minutes. There will probably be no hand-holding however, Arch users prefer to point anyone to a resource that may help them instead of trying to outright solve their problem in a forum thread. This is quite helpful for people who want to really learn how their system works but also for other people who may stumble in that thread considering how most problems don’t have a universal solution. See More
Monika
BraveVainamoinen
RealisticLlefelys
Top Con

Not really for desktop

More like for posting screenshots on Reddit. See More
Bryan
HarmoniousBassareus
Top Pro

Good overall system quality

QoL of Arch is generally good. You get something more consistent and doable in Arch then you would get with most other OSes. See More
JM80
HealthyHouyi
Top Con

Not so great overall

Apart from the ArchBuildSystem/AUR, which brings you very quickly newer package versions, there is not really much where Arch Linux shines. You get better package managers with other systems. The most Linux distributions are far more stable than Arch. You learn more about Linux by using LFS or a source based distribution. You can customize the system much more in LFS or Gentoo. See More
Yoshiyuki
Rachel Hutzley
Top Pro

It is Linux at the core

This distro is barebones enough to make a new distro from. See More
Monika
TranquilApaliunas
PleasantCheimon
Top Con

Uses systemd

See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Vanilla

Learn about Arch, learn about Linux. What works for Arch, works for many other distros too. See More
Monika
Jaime Gianola
Top Con

You have to install everything by hand on a command line

This may be a CON for a lot of people that are new to Linux but a PRO to those who actually want to learn something new. See More
Monika
Desulate
Top Pro

Simple by design

Arch Linux is actually incredibly simple. It's really just a partition scheme, package manager, Linux kernel, file system, systemd and the bare minimum of utilities needed to easily set up your hardware. This makes it super simple to build your desired system using binary packages because there no bloat getting in your way when installing or configuring packages. See More
tri
Top Con

Problems with driver/kernel/gpu consistency

Arch has no proper desktop support, you must craft your system together. Things may work for the first but generally it takes days to configure a stable and working system. This is NOT ideal for a desktop user. See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Incredible educational value

Arch gives great insight in the inner workings of operating systems, computers and data manipulation. See More
Yoshiyuki
Monika
IndependentBuchis
Top Con

Package manager is so naive

For example, it doesn't allow you to purge (remove package and its configuration files). See More
Monika
Cerebral Mischief
Top Pro

Helpful for understanding how Linux is installed

Arch does not come with an automatic installation process. The user is expected to walk through the installation steps published on the Arch wiki. This is very useful if, later, something happens to the installation as the user will be more familiar with the foundational steps required to get a full blown Arch installation working. See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Great for low performance hardware

Arch Linux works quite well with low performance hardware like netbooks. See More
WittyDeipneus
Top Pro

Rolling updates

Updating will keep the whole OS up to date (unlike Ubuntu/Debian/etc. where occasionally you will need to perform major version updates). See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

No need for external repos

The default and community repo of Arch Linux are so vast, that there is barely any need for additional software sources. And if there is, the additional software can be added to AUR, which results in the need actually growing the Arch repos. See More
JM80
Alex
DazzlingDemeter
Top Pro

Stripped down to the bone

Since its stripped down, it is fast and you don't have to deal with bloatware. See More
Monika
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Flexible upgrades

Upgrade once a day, once a week, once a month,... three times a day... automate it, upgrade manually, add packages to the ignore list. See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Supports various desktop environments and window managers

Doesn't limit you in terms of desktop environments or graphical servers (X, Wayland). See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Low maintenance

To basically keep your Arch setup up and running, it takes very little to barely any maintenance. See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Incredibly easy to manage

Arch is very simple to maintain, backup and in rare cases repair and recover. For example, the manual to recover your boot manager is already in the install guide! See More
Monika
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Great hardware support

Out of the box Arch comes with great hardware support. See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Highly reliable and stable build

See experts working on the packages and upgrades. Given Arch splits the load among people who care and have the experience, the overall setup is very stable and reliable, even though very broad too. See More
TolerantMwari
Monika
TirelessTibertus
Top Pro

Good for ricing for r/unixporn

Arch Linux provides a minimal user experience and tons of packages, which means that ‘ricing’ (customising your desktop to it’s limits) will be unrestrictive and you won’t have to worry about bloating your system. See More
PrincipledNane
Top Pro

Minimal

If you need something, you should install it. It has nothing as default and you can build your system from zero. See More
Monika
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Multilib support is just around the corner

Just uncomment the according entries in the pacman.conf. See More
Monika
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Vast variety of use and purpose

With its vast repos, Arch offers tons of applications for all kinds of use. See More
Desulate
Top Pro

Ultimate mid-range OS for Tinkering

If you like to tinker with things and see how they work you don't get much better than arch linux unless you commit to building your own kernel and using flags manually when installing your packages. See More
WhiteLilac
DwightR
Monika
Top Pro

Helpful 3rd-party installers

There are extremely helpful 3rd-party installers such as Anarchy Linux (Formerly Arch Anywhere). See More
Monika
Desulate
Top Pro

On average only 1 manual intervention needed a year now

The comments about issues with upgrades are over-exaggerated. Those comments assume that : A) They happen often, B) you are using a specific package with an issue, C) that package maintainers can't release a patch to the package that will work around the issue for you, and that D) Manual intervention or system recovery from such issues is hard to fix. On average once or twice a year a user may have to cut and paste some commands in the terminal to fix an issue, but that's about it. Additionally any system recovery required from such missed interventions is easy, just follow the wiki and make a live USB if your using a desktop or laptop. See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Great security out of the box

Even a default Arch setup offers great security with the minimum number of open ports and very little information on the system for outsiders. See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Experts working on the packages

Providers only provide the basic system and do a great job doing so. While with AUR people who actually use the packages, provide and maintain them. They CARE about making them work. See More
SupportiveBeaivi
Top Pro

Highly reliable upgrades

Always works. No matter if you upgrade 7 or 700 packages. See More
Monika
Desulate
Top Pro

Easier to review the distributions packages

Unlike other some distributions, it's super simple to review the packages you download on the official arch repos or arch user repository. See More
Jaime Gianola
Top Pro

You actually learn a LOT of the inner workings of your OS.

Since you do everything by hand and a LOT of it, you actually learn very useful things even for other distros. See More
ExceptionalPyroeis
Top Pro

Completely signed repos by default

Arch-based distros, or even Arch installers, often use unsigned repositories. See More
ColorfulKakka
Top Pro

Arch Linux Archive lets you choose your own update schedule

Despite being rolling release Arch Linux lets you be flexible about your update policy. If distro repos moved forward, but you don't want to update, you can temporarily switch to Arch Linux Archive, which stores repo snapshots across time. Later, when you're ready to update, you switch back to bleeding edge. See More
Specs
Based On:Independent
Default Desktop Environment:N/A
Init-System:Systemd
Package Manager:Pacman
See All Specs
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3211 665

Kali Linux

All
5
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
2
Karan Forever
Top Pro

Better than ParrotOS, BackBox for hacking purpose

Contains too many tools for hacking. Those tools are not already included in BackBox or ParrotOS. See More
Ryan
Nom DePlume
Top Con

Not intended to be a daily driver

This distro was written for pen testing and security work. It is not meant to be a day-to-day OS (unless that's your job). See More
thermoplastics
Mark Antony Raclawski-Lisle
Top Pro

Standard pentest tool set

See More
JM80
Karan Forever
Top Con

Very old packages

E.G. Firefox's current version is 61 but Kali linux consists of its 52th version. Though kernel is not that old. See More
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Live session distro used for forensics

See More
Hide
215 80

Ubuntu

All
36
Experiences
Pros
22
Cons
13
Specs
Slimothy
Tim Etler
Tom Raleigh
Top Pro

Lots of support

As the most popular Linux distribution, there's a wide range of sources for support online if you ever need help, including the Ubuntu Wiki, Ubuntu Forums and the Ask Ubuntu Stack Exchange site. See More
Orif Khodjaev
Top Con

Unstable

Some people pointed out that updating Arch is a high risk affair. And one should carefully read forums before doing it. The same is true about Ubuntu. Making system updates (like it was with 10.04 to 11.04) that screw so many things up became a routine. Even LTS releases should not give confidence that it will work. See More
thermoplastics
Slimothy
Top Pro

Simplicity

Ubuntu is designed to be used by everyday people. Because of that, Ubuntu has tried hard to make a user interface that's intuitive and looks pleasant and clean. See More
ReceptivePapatuanuku
thermoplastics
Slimothy
Top Con

Relatively high system requirements

The default GNOME desktop environment is a resource hog which requires hardware accelerated graphics rendering in order to run smoothly, making out of the box Ubuntu unsuitable for low end systems and older hardware. Even mildly aged hardware, you'll get far better performance out of a lighter desktop environment like LXDE or XFCE. See More
Paolo
thermoplastics
joelthelion
Top Pro

Great long term support release schedule (2 years)

This allows for users to always have a new supported release available without long unkown wait times in between. See More
Mantas Zimnickas
Top Con

No rolling release

New Ubuntu versions are released two times a year, during this period almost all software receives only security updates and minor bug fixes. See More
Endi Sukaj
thermoplastics
Slimothy
Top Pro

Wide range of software out of the box

The default apps available in Ubuntu cover the gamut of most anyone's needs. From music, video or office applications Ubuntu has an app that will cover the users needs. See More
Monika
PracticalNinsusinak
Top Con

Extremely un-customizable

See More
Slimothy
Tom Raleigh
Top Pro

Just works out of the box

Lots of support for hardware, lots of pre-installed software, and a smooth install process means less time downloading drivers, less time digging through configuration files, and less time deciding on software to use just to get up and running. It also means less time digging through forums looking for support. See More
Monika
Holo Deck
Top Con

Binary incompatible to Debian

Ubuntu releases are based on Debian testing/unstable, however, unlike other Debian-based distributions they are not binary compatible due to different libc versions, so you can't install Debian packages in Ubuntu and vice versa. See More
thermoplastics
Tom Raleigh
Top Pro

Use it on almost any device

Not just for laptops - Ubuntu was designed with tablets and touchscreen devices in mind, and with phone support on the way. Ubuntu also has Long Term Support releases, as well as a version oriented toward servers, so you can use the same OS at work or on mobile as you do on your desktop. See More
Monika
LivelyEopsin
Top Con

Splits the Debian community

The most packages are imported from Debian but Ubuntu uses own bug trackers and develops its own patches. See More
Endi Sukaj
thermoplastics
Laura Kyle
Top Pro

Perfect for collaboration on open source projects

This is probably the best option when collaborating on open source projects in hardware. This is mostly because packages and tools are readily available via software center. See More
SiamSami
thermoplastics
Top Con

Doesn't shutdown/standby properly on Lenovo laptops (b, e & g series) and desktops (Thinkcentre)

Ubuntu has some serious issue with some Lenovo laptops and desktops. Sometimes, it doesn't shutdown correctly. See More
Bryan
Ryan
grigio
Top Pro

Good PPA repositories available

PPA repositories allow you to install the latest version of your preferred software while keeping the rest of the operating system "stable". See More
Monika
Holo Deck
Top Con

Redundant

With the removal of Unity, there is no point in choosing Ubuntu over Debian anymore because everything else is imported from Debian to Ubuntu. See More
Steve Human
Top Pro

Flexible

The setup for personal use is simple enough for anyone to achieve, and can easily be modified to act as a server. Programs and all features are easy to find and use, and first-timers can easily pick up on how to use it. See More
Mantas Zimnickas
Top Con

A tweaked Gnome version

Instead of original Gnome desktop with Ubuntu you get a tweaked Gnome and most of the tweaks makes user experience worse. See More
Matthew
10Meisterbälle
Top Pro

Stable

It‘s one of the most stable Linux Distros. See More
WiseProserpina
Top Con

Systemd

See More
Endi Sukaj
thermoplastics
Tal Ben-Ari
Top Pro

Dedicated software center

The Ubuntu Software Center offers a GUI interface for installing new apps which is extremely easy and welcoming for beginners to Linux. But it should not be used by more advanced users since the method of installing through the terminal is much faster and easier after one is used to it. See More
DelightfulThoosa
Top Con

Not so strong at all

See More
Monika
PleasantCheimon
Harum
Top Pro

Company behind it

This means that the system must run well, otherwise they will lose money. See More
thermoplastics
jbt jbt
Top Con

Company stays behind it

See More
JM80
thermoplastics
Peter Zeller
Top Pro

Good UI for small monitors

Because the menu usually is in the title bar and the launcher auto-hides, the whole screen can be used by an application. See More
Nedas Kuzas
OrganizedFutsunushi
Top Con

Native apps are still being updated

See More
Chloe Montanez
Lucifer Morningstar
Top Pro

Looks good

Ubuntu looks clean even when running from a LiveCD. See More
Endi Sukaj
tri
Top Pro

Cares about stable drivers

See More
thermoplastics
Slimothy
Top Pro

UTF-8 is the default character encoding

Beginning with Ubuntu 5.04, UTF-8 became the default character encoding, which allows for support of a variety of non-Roman scripts. See More
Slimothy
Tim Etler
Top Pro

Unified search

Type any query into the Dash Home, and search will look through files, stores and web-pages to find what you are looking for. See More
Paolo
Chloe Montanez
Lucifer Morningstar
Top Pro

Has a clean Gnome interface

Gnome has lot of extensions available and can be custmoized rather easily. See More
PassionateKakka
Top Pro

Snaps

You can get up to date and stable apps right inside the snap store (Ubuntu Software). The snap store has official snaps provided by major publishers, so you can get most of the software you need without having to add third party PPAs to your system. See More
teadan
LivelyKherty
Top Pro

Runs at low resources

Run far faster than Windows on Dell laptop. See More
PassionateKakka
Top Pro

Support Active Directory

As of Ubuntu version 21.04, Active Directory is supported out of the box. See More
PassionateKakka
Top Pro

Beautiful font rendering

Ubuntu has one of the best font rendering on Linux. It is thanks to how good the Ubuntu fonts are crafted by the Ubuntu team. See More
Specs
Based On:Debian Stable(core) Testing/Unstable(universe/multiverse)
Default Desktop Environment:GNOME
Init-System:Systemd
Package Manager:Debian Package Manager, Snap Store
See All Specs
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1630 535

illumos

All
5
Experiences
Pros
4
Specs
Endi Sukaj
SW
Top Pro

Open Source

Illumos is completely free and open source. See More
Endi Sukaj
SW
Top Pro

ZFS file system

illumos uses ZFS as its file system. ZFS is also a logical volume manager besides being a combines file system. The main features of ZFS include: protection against data corruption, data compression, checking continuous integrity, high storage capacities support etc... See More
Endi Sukaj
SW
Top Pro

Zones

Zones provide an isolated environment to run applications in. Processes that run in zones are prohibited to interfere or monitor any other activity in the system. See More
Endi Sukaj
SW
Top Pro

Performance analysis and troubleshooting

illumos uses DTrace for performance analysis and troubleshooting. See More
Specs
OS Family:UNIX (Solaris)
Hide
20 4

Haiku

All
10
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
4
Specs
DashingTelete
Top Pro

Very Fast

See More
Alejandro Arciniegas
Doug Bromley
Top Con

No one uses it

It's a very niche OS that no one uses. See More
Monika
Alejandro Arciniegas
HardwareHero
Top Pro

Beta has been released

After about 6 years since the alpha version, beta has been released on Fri, 2018-09-28. Check here for release notes. See More
Travis Rigg
Top Con

Small community

It is important when developing to be familiar with tools that other developers use. You can make any utility in any language you feel like, but if it's in an esoteric language that no one can read targeting a small platform that no one uses, then it was just something you did as a hobbyist, not as a developer. This is not to say that Haiku isn't a great operating system to hack around on. Just don't delude yourself into thinking you're doing it to get familiar with tools that you need to know to be a better developer. See More
CaffeinatedLuna
DashingTelete
Top Pro

Only need 512mb ram

See More
Alejandro Arciniegas
Doug Bromley
Top Con

Unfinished

It's still in beta and quite unstable. Making it unsuitable for developing applications of any kind. See More
DashingTelete
Top Pro

Stability

See More
OpinionatedAglibol
Top Con

UI quite different to other OSes

See More
OpinionatedAglibol
Top Pro

Runs perfectly on old Hardware

See More
Specs
License:MIT
OS Family:BeOS-like
Programming Language:C++, C
Widget Toolkit:Interface Kit
HideSee All Experiences
76 17

Devuan GNU+Linux

All
9
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
3
Specs
WhiteLilac
VERSION4
Monika
Top Pro

It's Debian

Devuan is Debian just without systemd, it just mirrors the the Debian archive and repacks packages that have hard dependencies on systemd. See More
Monika
DreamerLugus
Holo Deck
Top Con

Difficult to install on non-free hardware

Unlike Debian, Devuan offers no unfree netinstall media, so if your system needs unfree drivers (e.g a laptop or a tablet), you'll have to download the Debian firmware on a separate USB. See More
Monika
DreamerLugus
CooperativeBerstuk
Top Pro

Stability

It is stable like Debian. See More
Nedas Kuzas
EncouragingMacuiltochtli
WhiteLilac
Top Con

No systemd

See More
WhiteLilac
VERSION4
Nedas Kuzas
Top Pro

Excellent for normal people

It is easy to use and is a good choice for beginners. See More
MethodicalAmaethon
EnergeticMacuiltochtli
Top Con

Fragmentation

Forked distributions like Devuan and Artix fragment the Linux community and hurt the original project. Debian users who do not want systemd should use Slackware or BSD instead. See More
ResponsiveHoenir
Top Pro

No Systemd

See More
Karan Forever
Top Pro

Most decent look amongst other XFCE distros

Default XFCE theme is unique of all the XFCE distos including MXLinux, Xubuntu etc. See More
Specs
Based On:Debian
Default Desktop Environment:Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE and XFCE
OS Family:GNU/Linux
Release Schedule:Long-term support (stable edition) and rolling release (testing and unstable editions)
See All Specs
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531 83

Void Linux

All
20
Experiences
Pros
14
Cons
5
Specs
SplendidAgdistis
Monika
VERSION4
Top Pro

Rolling release

A single instance of Void will be supported forever without needing to reinstall (you can update the system every day instead of having to install one major update every 6 months or so). See More
Alex
Nedas Kuzas
MellowPhrike
Top Con

Not suitable for those new to Linux

Documentation is scarce, NTFS partitions aren't automatically mounted, etc. See More
WhiteLilac
VERSION4
Alex
Top Pro

Runit init system

An init system with the "do one thing and do it right" mentality. Void Linux does not support systemd. See More
Nedas Kuzas
MethodicalNefertum
SiamSami
Top Con

Not popular

Void Linux is not a popular Linux distro. So, if you run into a problem then it's likely you won't find any fix except from the maintainers. See More
Nedas Kuzas
CourteousCaishen
Monika
Top Pro

Runit is fast and easy to configure

Runit init system is incredibly fast to boot and very simple to use. See More
TirelessTengri
Top Con

Nvidia CUDA cumbersome to setup

If your using a Nvidia card with programs that require CUDA for fast rendering (Blender), you can expect some trouble getting it to work as it's not included with the Nvidiadriver of the nonfree repo. See More
Svjatoslavs Krasnikovs
Semi
Top Pro

Very lightweight

Base installation can idle at less than 250 megabytes of RAM. See More
Nedas Kuzas
CapablePerkunas
Top Con

No packages

Void developers refuse to package brave. See More
Monika
WhiteLilac
VERSION4
Top Pro

Very minimal

More minimalistic than Arch since it doesn't use systemd. See More
Nedas Kuzas
IntuitiveShullat
Top Con

Manual unclear about base configuration

Manual does not explain how to fix GRUB and gives no partition hints to the available options. See More
Monika
WhiteLilac
VERSION4
Top Pro

XBPS (X Binary Package System)

A brand new package manager that is fast, full-featured, and tailored specifically for Void Linux. See More
MetalUpa
Top Pro

BSD-like improvements with Linux

Full support for LibreSSL, an OpenSSL fork focused on maximizing security. The xbps-src package builder works in a similar manner to BSD's ports collection. See More
Monika
SOLAR VERSION 3
TirelessAhriman
Top Pro

Musl image available

Musl libc is lighter and faster than bloated glibc. Musl has been argued to be more secure overall than glibc also but is also not supported by all software. See More
Monika
WhiteLilac
VERSION4
Top Pro

Easy to use installer

Unlike it's closest competitor, Arch, Void includes a very user-friendly and simple installer in the ISO. See More
Alex
Nedas Kuzas
Semi
Top Pro

Friendly forum

Unlike the Arch Forum, it is a friendly forum (although small). See More
Monika
VERSION4
Nedas Kuzas
Top Pro

Xbps-src

Xbps-src is a source packages collection which is pretty similar to FreeBSD's ports and may replace AUR for Void users. See More
Monika
SOLAR VERSION 3
Begs
Top Pro

Many packages

There are some packages in official repos, than may be found only in AUR. See More
Karan Forever
Top Pro

Different DE's live ISO's are available

Arch Linux doesn't make ISO's with different DE's. One need to manually install it through CLI version. But Void which is competitor of Arch, provides a wide range of DE's ISOs. See More
WhiteLilac
VERSION4
Alex
Top Pro

No systemd

Uses runit instead of systemd. See More
Specs
Based On:Independent
Default Desktop Environment:CLI, XFCE, Cinnamon, Enlightenment, LXDE, LXQt, MATE, GNOME
Init-System:runit
Package Manager:XBPS & xbps-src
See All Specs
HideSee All Experiences
724 123

openSUSE Tumbleweed

All
12
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
5
Specs
Laura Kyle
DynamicMenhit
Top Pro

Stable

Tumbleweed is stable enough to use every day. Updates are OpenQA tested to ensure stability before being released for Tumbleweed. Bleeding edge untested software can be tried using OpenSUSE factory. See More
M Edward Borasky
Top Con

Little / no third-party support

Like it or not, most third parties don't want to deal with less-popular distros. So most of them only support Ubuntu LTS and those versions of RHEL/CentOS that are still supported. See More
Alex
Affan Saleh
Top Pro

Easy installation and cutting edge apps

See More
LivelyMaahes
Top Con

Complex multimedia codecs and plugins installation

See More
M Edward Borasky
Kirill Pimenov (kirushik)
Top Pro

Tumbleweed + OpenSUSE Build Service

See More
damian101
Top Con

"Online Update" update in YaST control center only works in openSUSE Leap.

See More
Monika
CalmTaranis
Top Pro

A large amount of software

See More
thibdb13
damian101
Top Con

Packman repository has to be added to have good software support.

For me, not really a con See More
LivelyMaahes
Top Pro

Good selection of preinstalled applications

See More
Alex
ArtisticTammuz
Top Con

Slow and painful unfortunately, especially compared to other modern distros

See More
DiligentMokhNaana
Top Pro

User friendly + Good support

Active and friendly user community, updates come fast See More
Specs
Price:Free
Based On:Jurix>SUSE
Init-System:Systemd
Release Schedule:Rolling
See All Specs
HideSee All Experiences
316 63

FreeBSD

All
10
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
4
Specs
SomeCallMeTim
Top Con

Pathetic third-party application support

Need to run Photoshop? No luck. Even most software that's portable to Linux will have a hard time running on FreeBSD. You're stuck with ONLY running the free software. See More
thermoplastics
Henry Hu
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Powerful ports collection

Ports provide a wide collection of software which are easy to build, install and modify. They contain recipes and patches to build various software, so you can simply run "make && make install" to build and install the software. You may also keep local patches and it would be picked up automatically. It also allows you to use the latest software even if you are not using the latest version of the operating system. See More
thermoplastics
Henry Hu
Top Con

Inferior driver support for workstations

Lack of drivers for some modern personal devices. See More
Henry Hu
Top Pro

Batteries included

Base system contains basic developer tools, including compiler, debugger and system utilities. See More
RobustBaalshamin
Top Con

Not for beginners

If a user needs an easy way to navigate around the filesystem, a text only Unix-derivative is not his best choice. See More
thermoplastics
Furquan Ahmad
Top Pro

Jails mechanism

Jails allow for partitioning a system into several independent "mini-systems", a feature not found in many of the popular OS choices. See More
SomeCallMeTim
Top Con

Very shallow desktop support

See More
pICO
Top Pro

Stable updates

See More
SharpCaelus
Top Pro

Great philosophy

FreeBSD won't change everything from a version to another, it tries to keep and maintain old tools as long as possible, and won't replace half the system every two versions like GNU/Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Arch or Fedora does. everything is stable and also pretty minimal. FreeBSD is designed for performance. See More
Specs
License:BSD
Price:Free
Language:C
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45 13

NixOS

All
8
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
3
Specs
thermoplastics
xan
Top Pro

State of the art package manager

Atomic non-destructive upgrades / rollback of a system upgrade / declarative reproducible system configuration / unprivileged installation of packages / transparent source or binary deployment. See More
SiamSami
Top Con

Documentation is not good

See More
IMac
Top Pro

Reproducible System

NixOS is configured using the Nix package manager, allowing your system to be replicated and kept in sync across multiple machines. Great for keeping a laptop and desktop in sync. See More
SiamSami
Top Con

Uses a text-based installer

See More
Monika
Matthew
IMac
Top Pro

Robust

Packages don't break after a NixOS upgrade as they are prone to with other distros (especially Arch). See More
SiamSami
Top Con

A configuration change might end up bricking your system

See More
Matthew
IMac
Top Pro

Minimal

You can start with a minimal environment and add packages and software to suit your needs as you go along. See More
Specs
Init-System:Systemd
Package Manager:Nix Package Manager
OS Family:GNU+Linux
Release Schedule:Point or Rolling
See All Specs
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90 25

Artix Linux

All
11
Experiences
Pros
7
Cons
3
Specs
Monika
IngeniousKurunta
DedicatedInshushinak
Top Pro

No systemd

See More
AmiableAzimua
Endi Sukaj
Inguna Gudareva
Top Con

Few Arch packages might not be available yet

Developers are working migrating all packages into their own repositories while ensuring there's no systemd malware. See More
Simona
teadan
Yoši Yoda
Top Pro

Runit

Artix actively supports the runit init system known from Void Linux. (Equally besides the OpenRC init system known from Gentoo). See More
OpinionatedBeletSeri
Monika
IngeniousKurunta
Top Con

No systemd

Some packages flat out won't work because systemd is non existent, sadly pipewire needs systemd to run. Hopefully Pipewire becomes usable soon. Edit: Pipewire does work but you will have to make a startup script. See More
AmiableAzimua
Top Pro

Rolling distro

See More
Simona
EnchantingDiJun
Top Con

No tiling WM (i3/sway) out of the box

See More
teadan
AmiableAzimua
OptimisticCantzicnal
Top Pro

Close to bare Arch Linux

No learning curve if you're coming from Arch or any of its derivatives. See More
teadan
AmiableAzimua
Top Pro

Flexibility

You can have a functional system in less than 10 mins using GUI installer OR you can do it "the Arch way". See More
AmiableAzimua
Top Pro

Lightweight

Only the software you would need like Terminal emulator, file manager, media player and a browser. See More
ExcitedOzwiena
Top Pro

Compatible with Arch Repositories

It is fully compatible with almost all packages from community, extra, multilib and AUR. See More
Specs
Based On:Arch Linux
Default Desktop Environment:Bash (Unix shell), Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, LXDE, LXQt, MATE and XFCE
Package Manager:Pacman
OS Family: GNU/Linux
See All Specs
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1049 193

Parabola GNU/Linux-libre

All
15
Experiences
Pros
7
Cons
7
Specs
Monika
CrediblePhilomelus
Top Con

Won't work out-of-the-box on the most PC's

Almost all PCs need non-free drivers but Parabola has none to offer. See More
Slimothy
Malcolm Sparks
Top Pro

Protects your freedom, certified free by the FSF

See More
Monika
ImaginativeCharon
EmpatheticThoon
Top Con

Not compatible with AUR

Unlike other Arch-based distros, this free distro doesn't support AUR. See More
PrincipledCacoch
nanon
Top Pro

Option to use OpenRC or Systemd

Parabola has an OpenRC edition and a Systemd edition, so users can choose which init system they want. See More
Monika
PrincipledCacoch
Alex
Top Con

Small repositories

Since Parabola is a completely free distro, there is no non-free software available and the community repositories are small compared to the AUR. See More
Malcolm Sparks
Top Pro

All the benefits of Arch Linux, only 100% certified free software

See More
Monika
SOLAR VERSION 3
ImaginativeCharon
Top Con

Incompetent developers

They only care about removing "non-free" software, rather than making a properly working OS. See More
WonderfulSiliniez
Top Pro

Very Secure

See More
Monika
ImaginativeCharon
Top Con

Same cons that apply to Arch Linux

See More
Monika
WonderfulSiliniez
Top Pro

Has its own repos

Parabola has its own repos (which are almost as large as Arch Linux) and the IceCat browser is included. See More
Monika
ImaginativeCharon
Top Con

Serves no purpose

It's just Arch without non-free software and is basically a niche OS with few users. See More
WonderfulSiliniez
Top Pro

Can be migrated from Arch Linux without a CD/USB

See More
Monika
EmpatheticThoon
Top Con

Not really free

People have to pay hundreds to maintain this distro. See More
PerseveringZipacna
Top Pro

Based on Arch Linux

See More
Specs
Based On:Arch Linux
Default Desktop Environment:LXDE
Init-System:Systemd or OpenRC
Package Manager:Pacman
See All Specs
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325 75

Manjaro Linux

All
35
Experiences
Pros
17
Cons
17
Specs
Chloe Montanez
Endi Sukaj
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Arch User Repository access

Manjaro allows the user to access of the Arch User Repository, a very large user-maintained repository of packages for Arch Linux and derivatives. See More
Monika
SiamSami
Top Con

Can still be unstable

Here are the details of it. See More
WiseTakemikazuchi
Endi Sukaj
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Based on Arch and user friendly

Manjaro is an Arch-based distribution with all the benefits of the Arch ecosystem and community but with the added benefit of being much more user-friendly than Arch.The overall features it provides is hard to beat. Arguably be the best desktop distro with lts kernel. Consumes very less ram. See More
BH7tytbnff7b56tyunmhghghhjkhf8iy
Top Con

Installation is extremely buggy

There's no easy way to switch from local keyboard layout if non-Latin installer language is selected. See More
WiseTakemikazuchi
Chloe Montanez
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Support for multiple kernels

Manjaro has built-in support for multiple kernels as well as a way to easily install them. Using LTS kernel makes this distro stable and less buggy. See More
Karan Forever
Top Con

Very slow development for 32-bit hardwares

ArchLinux-32 community maintain their forums every day. They upload new ISO's every month. But Manjaro-32 community upload new ISO's in every 6 month. And provide only a DE-mate. See More
Positronic Tomato
Top Pro

Improved stability due to a longer testing period for new packages

Packages from Arch's repositories are tested (about two weeks) longer for stability and compatibility issues. Patches are applied, when necessary, before being made available in the stable repositories. See More
BH7tytbnff7b56tyunmhghghhjkhf8iy
Top Con

Slightly bloated

See More
thermoplastics
Mustafa Gündoğdu
Top Pro

Friendly community

If you ask questions of users in their forums or on other platforms, they are willing to help you. Also according to the developers, they are open to new ideas in order to make the distro better. See More
cll
Madis
Top Con

Weekly manual updates

Since it is rolling release, it needs updates nearly every week, which (though are checked for automatically) must be manually downloaded, confirmed and installed. That may annoy or scare off many new users. See More
HardwareHero
Ben Hovey
Top Pro

Stable and consistently up to date

Manjaro receives regular updates, but more importantly these updates are stable. The updates are rolled out, which means you can easily update the software without needing to re-install. See More
xji
Endi Sukaj
Jean Pierrec
Top Con

The Manjaro unstable repository is slow to sync with the Arch stable repository

The Manjaro unstable repository syncs with the Arch stable repository and if any package has moved, it gets moved to stable. Manjaro gets package updates a bit than Arch. See More
Laura Kyle
Ram
Top Pro

Installation is a breeze

Calamares installer and MHWD is the reason why this distribution is good for desktop user- friendliness! Audio codecs, latest packages,latest kernel and easy upgrade to the latest build makes it the best choice for new users. See More
ouuan
Top Con

Imcompatible with Arch User Repository and archlinuxcn

Because Manjaro packages are not synced with Arch, using AUR or archlinuxcn could break dependencies. See More
AmiableArmazi
Positronic Tomato
Top Pro

Excellent graphical package manager (Pamac)

Features include: providing notifications of available updates; mirror management; Snap support, Flatpak support and AUR support (with the option to suppress unnecessary confirmations during the install process); update settings (frequency, whether to check for updates from the AUR, packages to ignore updates for); and a history of packages installed, updated, or removed (from the official repositories - AUR packages are not currently tracked). See More
Monika
Yoshiyuki
InterestingNiamh
Top Con

Bad dependencies

This is similar to the mac0S experience in that you're not allowed to remove plank. See More
Alex
thermoplastics
Phillippe Ke
Top Pro

Good documentation and forum

The Manjaro community is very helpful, and there are lots of tutorials. See More
Monika
Alex
DetailedSilenus
Top Con

You can't change the default theme in certain applications

Although it is possible to change the default dark theme, this has no effect on Firefox, which appears to have the dark theme "hard coded". Hardened Linux pros may find a way to change this, but for the rest, it renders an otherwise nice distro a no-go. See More
thermoplastics
Christoph Schwaeppe
Top Pro

A rolling-release distribution

Manjaro uses a rolling release method for all updates, so once a system is installed, as long as the user regularly updates there is no need to re-install. See More
Monika
WiseTakemikazuchi
Francisco
Top Con

Nothing new

There is nothing new in Manjaro compared to any other Arch based distribution. See More
10Meisterbälle
Top Pro

Very good looking desktops

All desktops look good by default. See More
Simona
VigorousGanymede
Top Con

Deepin desktop environment is not a worthy attraction, there is a problem with changing Multi language layout

See More
AmiableArmazi
Александр Филёв
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Uses low memory

By using Xfce or Plasma (or LXDE, Fluxbox, supported by community) as default desktop environments, Manjaro is able to have a low memory footprint. See More
ExceptionalTaevataat
Top Con

Redundant

It's just Arch Linux with an easier installer so there is no reason to use it. See More
Monika
Kristaps
Shaurya Kalia
Top Pro

All major desktops and even less common ones like Budgie, Lumina, LXQT, Deepin, Enlightenment, etc. can be directly installed from official repositories

Also available as independent variants. See More
Monika
ExceptionalTaevataat
Top Con

Same cons that apply to Arch Linux

Since it is based on Arch Linux. See More
Monika
neau
Top Pro

Manjaro provides its own distribution-specific tools such as the Manjaro Hardware Detection (mhwd) utility, and the Manjaro Settings Manager (msm)

Run automatically during the installation process, it allows for Manjaro to work fully on your system 'straight out of the box', without the need to manually identify and install the necessary drivers or to manually edit the appropriate configuration files. Also usable via the terminal after installation, the features of the mhwd command include: The choice of free (i.e. open-source) or non-free (i.e. proprietary) drivers Identification and listing (general or detailed) of your system's hardware Identification and listing (general or detailed) of installed drivers Listing of available drivers for installation (free and proprietary) Support of hybrid graphics cards (e.g. Nvidia Optimus) Easy removal and installation of drivers (selected automatically, or you can identify and choose your own) See More
TalentedXiwangmu
Top Con

It's Archbuntu

See More
Monika
PerceptiveEpiphron
Top Pro

Different editions to select from + Manjaro community

You can choose between different Manjaro editions which have their own change in features, and there is also Manjaro community editions where the community can make their own changes. See More
Nedas Kuzas
SpiritedCicolluis
Top Con

Black screen after boot, no login possibility

See More
Simona
VigorousGanymede
Laura Kyle
Top Pro

Deepin desktop environment is worthy attraction

See More
BH7tytbnff7b56tyunmhghghhjkhf8iy
Top Con

No gfvs pre-installed

So no Trash (and possibly smartphone file system access via USB) support. See More
Kirk Johnson
Top Pro

Steam installed by default

See More
Monika
SiamSami
Top Con

Bad way of handling dependencies

Manjaro is based on Arch Linux. Arch Linux and its derivatives have a bad way of handling dependencies. To handle dependencies, it installs a whole another program which contains the required dependencies. See More
Specs
Based On:Arch Linux
RAM:64
Default Desktop Environment:XFCE, KDE Plasma, GNOME
HideSee All Experiences
3613 702

OpenSUSE

All
30
Experiences
Pros
16
Cons
13
Specs
Endi Sukaj
Aaron Seigo
Top Pro

Extremely reliable

The packaging team is dependable resulting in system updates that come in a timely fashion and systems which rarely, if ever, break due to packaging. The versions of software that are selected and the configuration of them is typically extremely high quality. See More
Izem Lavrenti
AwesomestDziewona
Top Con

Some clear differences from other Linux distros

This might be a systemd issue or OpenSUSE specific, but changing certain text files does not update things. They must be edited in YaST, or in /etc/sysconfig/ See More
Izem Lavrenti
AwesomestDziewona
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Easy installation and administration

openSUSE makes use of a GUI tool called YaST to install and setup an openSUSE system. YaST is very easy to use and makes the process of installing and maintaining an openSUSE installation a breeze. See More
InterestingHapi
thibdb13
Top Con

Old kernel by the Leap version

Kernel in Leap 42.3 is in version 4.4, that's pretty old. See More
thermoplastics
Marc Telesha
Top Pro

Easily get packages from other sources

SUSE Build Service offers packages from the same sources as Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise and other distributions. This is the most underused package tool in Linux today. See More
InterestingHapi
Top Con

Poor support for nVidia drivers in Tumbleweed

No native driver support and nouveau may be broken, especially for KDE, and not suitable for some GPUs. See More
Gregg Roemhildt
Endi Sukaj
Stefan Ivić
Top Pro

Probably the best KDE desktop experience

Both Gnome and KDE desktop options are well polished to fit with the opensuse theme and environement, so either desktop is a great choice. See More
ConscientiousMazu
Top Con

Bloated and slow

See More
WhiteLilac
Gregg Roemhildt
DevDad
Top Pro

"Tumbleweed" Rolling Release

Regular and easy upgrades to stable and well tested software. See More
ElatedPhobos
Top Con

Short lived distro

Every release lasts 18 months only before needing a major upgrade. See More
Monika
thermoplastics
Ibsen Torres
Top Pro

Very stable

Stable, reliable, rock solid. See More
Monika
InventiveTudigong
Top Con

Updates

Not a huge problem, but Tumbleweed is better updated via the command line. See More
Endi Sukaj
thermoplastics
Marc Telesha
Top Pro

One-Click install

Much better system then other distros for installing any package. It is as simple as clicking on one button and typing in your password. Adds a repo to your system keeping everything updated at the same time. See More
Monika
s twenty
Top Con

Massive ISO download

The base ISOs are over 4 gigs, so be prepared for a very long DL if you have slow internet. There's a network installer version, but that just delays the long DL. See More
Izem Lavrenti
AwesomestDziewona
DevotedChrysus
Top Pro

Convenient package management with Zypper

Fast, reliable, powerful and almost impossible to leave a broken system. The Yast interface will also give you access to a Zypper GUI if you are uncomfortable with the command line. See More
VigorousGanymede
Top Con

Bad support to NTFS fotmat.

See More
Endi Sukaj
InterestingHapi
Top Pro

Amazing choice for both newbies and power users

OpenSUSE is very easy in terms of installing packages, administration and customization, yet very powerful in the same. Every user should find his own piece of cake in this OS. See More
HardwareHero
John O'Shaughnessy
Top Con

Limited community support

The community is fairly small, and there is no indication on the forums regarding when a issues will be solved. See More
Endi Sukaj
InterestingHapi
Top Pro

Supports RPM packages

Popular format shared with distros like Fedora, RHEL, Scientific Linux, Mageia etc. See More
Alex
damian101
Top Con

Packman repository has to be added to have good software support

See More
Monika
ModestPilnitis
Top Pro

Built-in drivers

Does the job needed and has the hardware drivers for the application built-in by the H/W supplier. See More
ConscientiousMazu
Top Con

Startup takes a long time

See More
Izem Lavrenti
AwesomestDziewona
Top Pro

Dedicated professional community

Directions on other desktop Linux's often force you to use GUI packages or have steps that introduce security issues. OpenSUSE has a professional community and directions are usually geared toward GUI and CLI with similar steps. See More
InventiveTudigong
Top Con

Updates

Not a huge problem, but Tubleweed is better updated via the command line. See More
Ray
HarmoniousKaratgurk
Top Pro

Outstanding community support

OpenSUSE has a VERY active user community. Questions on forums are generally answered in minutes. See More
Endi Sukaj
Jean Pierrec
Top Con

Complex permissions policy

See More
Monika
PrivateHaukim
Top Pro

YaST

Best administration and setup tool. See More
InventiveTudigong
Top Pro

Feature rich

It comes standard with a large number of pre-added applications that sort out your day-to-day use. See More
RespectfulThaumas
Top Pro

Fast

Applications feel fast. See More
Specs
Based On:Jurix>SUSE
Default Desktop Environment:Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, LXQT
Init-System:Systemd
Package Manager:RPM Package Manager
See All Specs
HideSee All Experiences
775 210

Plan 9

All
6
Experiences
Pros
2
Cons
3
Specs
HardwareHero
Top Con

Difficult to use software made for other systems

Plan 9 is very different from most other operating systems, and as such it's extremely difficult to bring in software designed for other operating systems ('porting').