20 best alternatives to Tails as of 2018 - Slant

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Debian GNU/Linux

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

Top Con

No default support for non-free hardware

Non-free hardware will not work upon install of Debian and the user will need to search out the correct non-free software to install in order to make them work. This can be difficult if one of the things not working is the WiFi connection. See More

Top Pro

Extremely 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

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

Top Pro

Standard vanilla Linux desktop

Debian runs standard Gnome, XFCE, KDE - it doesn't use its own special desktop environment, 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

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

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

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

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

Top Con

No choices

Debian basically doesn't give you any choices: for example it is very hard to use a different Sound system than ALSA like OSS4, and the same goes for different init systems. See More

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

Top Con

Slow boot

Debian boots very slowly. See More

Top Pro

Comes with over 37,500 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 37,500 packages (software that is precompiled and ready to be installed on a local machine) -- all of them for free. See More

Top Con

Buggy and non-user friendly

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

Top Pro

Well-working team

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

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

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

Top Pro

Rolling or Release based

Every Debian Release can either use a Rolling or Release based model. See More

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

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:CLI, GNOME(Xfce on non-Linux Ports)

Release Schedule:2 Years / Rolling

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482 110

Fedora

Top Pro

Backed by the biggest Linux kernel contributor

Fedora is backed by RedHat, the biggest Linux kernel contributor in the world. Using a distribution made by RedHat means that it will be fine-tuned to work as efficiently as possible since it's made by the same people who work extensively on the kernel and know its ins and outs. See More

Top Con

Unstable

Some packages may break, because there isn't an option to test them before rolling them out. See More

Top Pro

Focuses on innovation

By using bleeding edge software, Fedora allows for innovation to take place by testing out things which other distros are not willing to try due to fears of having instability issues. See More

Top Con

Proprietary drivers are unsupported

Fedora does not support proprietary drivers, meaning that users may have problems with a lot of hardware when using Fedora. The software to make that kind of hardware work can be installed, but it can be done only through third-parties and it's not easy for the average user. See More

Top Pro

Integration with GNOME

It perhaps has the best integration with GNOME (GNOME software works out of the box). See More

Top Con

Updating to a new release can be problematic

While there are a few tools on offer that will upgrade an old Fedora release to the newest, there can often be problems with these methods. Some that may not even crop up at first but will show later down the road. Being that upgrading can be an issue, it can be exacerbated by the fact that Fedora updates every six month, which means twice a year there is a risk of completely borking ones install. See More

Top Pro

Spins and Labs

Spins are images with a different WM/DE, and Labs are filled with a specific theme of packages. See More

Top Con

Optimus support is straight terrible

Running on a laptop with optimus gpu or the driver for your powerful gpu is not gonna happen. See More

Top Pro

Frees developers from some backward compatibility restraints

Fedora has a relatively short life cycle: version X is supported only until 1 month after version X+2 and with approximately 6 months between versions this means that a version of Fedora is supported for approximately 13 months. This promotes leading-edge software because it frees developers from some backward compatibility restraints. See More

Top Con

Too many changes to upstream packages leading to a "Fedora way" of doing things

Linux should be linux, but Fedora is constantly introducing breakage and changes which move things in the wrong direction and make things worse for everyone. See More

Top Pro

Fast and stable updates

Top Con

Not for beginners

It is not a user-friendly distro like ubuntu, PCLos. You will be required to learn a lot of commands even for simple activities. See More

Top Pro

Fast performance

Top Con

Focused on binary release debian and worse at source build infrastructure

Arch provide simple and effective buildpkg script and it just works. See More

Top Pro

Strong commitment to free software philosophy

Top Con

Slow

It is quite slow on some computers. See More

Top Pro

Can still be installed in a bad sector on the hard disk

Top Con

Wayland does not work with Prime/Optimus

On a pc with hybrid video, you must use Gnome on Xorg to let the Prime or Optimus technology work. See More

Top Pro

Huge array of binary packages ready to install

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:Gnome Shell

Based On:Fedora

Release Schedule:6 Months

Init-System:Systemd

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305 76

Ubuntu

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

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

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

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

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

Top Con

Canonical (author) is proprietary

Canonical is focused on making money so you can see many proprietary offers by them and the OS has built-in trackers (Amazon). See More

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

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

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

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

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

Top Con

Custom PPAs required for most software

To get the most software available, user must add several PPAs to the system. That has major problems: 1) Terminal recommended for adding a PPA, which can scare away users 2) A PPA can potentially distribute malware by creating a "newer" version of a package than available in other PPAs, such as the Linux kernel. 3) PPAs must be recreated and re-added with every major system update See More

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

Top Con

Canonical does not respect Ubuntu users' preferences

In 2012 it became impossible in Ubuntu to move the close-window-button back to the upper-right corner of the window, where it always was before. To the questions of their users Canonical replied that they know better than users where it would be convenient for users to have the close-window-button. See More

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

Top Con

Extremely un-customizable

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

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

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

Top Con

Software can be outdated, if not severely outdated

If you try to download "unpopular" software, so you may find you're downloading a version that's several years old. See More

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

Top Con

Random system errors may pop up

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

Top Con

Company stays behind it

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

Top Con

Not so strong at all

Top Pro

Cares about stable drivers

Top Pro

Company behind it

This means that the system must run well, otherwise they will lose money. There is no better incentive! See More

Top Pro

Has a clean Gnome interface

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

Top Pro

Looks good

Ubuntu looks clean even when running from a LiveCD. See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME(various editons with MATE, Xfce, LXDE and other)

Based On:Debian Stable

Release Schedule:5 Year LTS / 6 Month Releases

Init-System:Systemd

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613 196

Android-x86

Top Pro

Has Bluetooth & WiFi support

Top Con

Short list of supported devices

Currently it's tested on only the following devices: ASUS Eee PCs/Laptops Viewsonic Viewpad 10 Dell Inspiron Mini Duo Samsung Q1U Viliv S5 Lenovo ThinkPad x61 Tablet Check them out, download a build and try it for yourself, read their forums and see what is presently happening, from the SurfacePRO 3 work in progress to the older Asus T100 ongoing work and many other PC's, Laptop, 2-in-1's, the older Surface 2, Dell XPS 12, Dell Venue 8, HP Stream, Sony Viao and many others. AOSP KitKat is their present released product, Lollipop version 5.1.1 is their present development cycle....there are builds available for either. See More

Top Pro

It's a complete port of Android to x86

Top Pro

Open source

Using Open Source Mesa for GPU / Video and presently up to Linux Kernel 4.0.6, with some Kernel 4.1 test builds available from contributors.... See More

Top Pro

Actively developed

Since 2009 the pet project of running Android on a PC by a highly respected developer, has gathered many developer contributions from the open source community...and in 2015 they are still going strong and delivering. Contributors are welcomed and needed for ongoing development work, any donations are accepted. See More

Top Pro

Stable device support

Runs on more devices than any other available Android on a PC product presently available, KitKat, Lollipop, all open source. See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:Android

Based On:Android Open Source Project

Release Schedule:N/A

Init-System:Android init

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18 1

CentOS

Top Pro

Greatly favours stability over anything else

CentOS favours stability over being up-to date. For this reason it ships with packages that may be up to two years behind in order to ensure stability over everything else. Using older versions for packages means that they have been thoroughly tested and used in production for quite some time, and are ensured to play well with each-other. This strategy has paid off quite a lot in the past. One example is the Heartbleed bug which left CentOS unaffected since it was using a two-year old OpenSSL library which did not have the bug. See More

Top Pro

Applications don't have to take into account potentially breaking changes in libraries

Since CentOS backports all updates and bug fixes to older versions in order to maintain package compatibility across releases, applications hosted on Red Hat Linux don't have to worry about potential breaking changes in libraries they use, especially language libraries. See More

Top Pro

Built-in support for containers

Comes with built-in management tools for containers (Atomic CLI, Cockpit) and a container runtime in the form of Docker engine. See More

Top Pro

Built-in disaster recovery solutions through clusters

CentOS has several built-in solutions for disaster recovery. For example, it comes with pacemaker which can be configured to manage multi-site and and stretch clusters across multiple geographical locations for disaster recovery and scalability. It can also be configured to trigger notifications when the status of a managed cluster changes by using enhanced pacemaker alerts. See More

Specs

Publisher:The CentOS Project

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME 3

Based On:Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Release Schedule:Concurrent with RHEL

58 6

Pop!_OS

Top Pro

Made by a hardware seller

System76 is a hardware company. It configures machines to ship with Linux pre-installed. This means its entire business model centers around delivering a quality desktop Linux experience. As a result, the company pours more attention onto the desktop. It can fix visual issues and may be able to provide a smoother overall experience than you would have installing a different version of Linux on your machine yourself. Providing Pop!_OS also empowers System76 to make certain fixes for users directly rather than having to coordinate with Canonical or the broader Ubuntu community. See More

Top Con

64 bit only

Some older PCs still have 32 Bit processors. This limitation will be a major con for those who use an older PC since they will not be able to install, run it in a VM or live media See More

Top Pro

A separate NVIDIA version

Most linux distros seem to hate Nvidia's graphics cards e.g. Fedora and OpenSUSE. System76 have decided to be kind. They have decided to form a good relationship with Nvidia fans and Nvidia itself. By creating a separate installation media that is dedicated for providing support to Nvidia's graphics cards. Even going as far as putting Nvidia's driver updates on Pop!_Shop for users to easily access and install. See More

Top Pro

Pop! makes GNOME look really good

If you're a fan of flat desktop interfaces reminiscent of Material design on Android, you'll like the theme that comes as a default in Pop! OS. The desktop and title bars all use a bright turquoise theme that makes the interface feel happy and borderline retro-chic. I found it to be like something you'd find printed on a ringer t-shirt. See More

Top Pro

Nice gnome theme dy default

Has nice gnome theme looks really good See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

Based On:Ubuntu

Release Schedule:2 Year LTS / 6 Month Releases

Init-System:Systemd

7 1

Phoenix OS

Top Pro

Comes with Nougat

Unlike Remix OS, Phoenix OS is recently released and comes with Android 7.0. Remix OS support is discontinued and no further updates can be expected. But Phoenix OS updates can be expected. UI is same for both OS. See More

Top Con

No ISO

To install Phoenix OS, you must use an exe file. This can be particularly annoying when trying to use a virtual machine, or when using another operating system than windows. See More

Top Pro

Accelerated gaming

With Phoenix OS you guys can play any android games on pc with 30+ fps but minimum requirements must be met (pentium 4 cores with 8 gig ram) [must] and even Intel gfx would also work to run heavy games like mc5 (fps) and kritika (role playing) or pubg(tps) usually puzzle games never lags on this OS See More

Top Con

Google Play service is not updating

Don't expect Google services-based apps. See More

Top Pro

Regularly updated

Phoenix OS updated at least every month, bringing in new features and bug fixes with every release. See More

Top Con

32-bit version is no longer supported or updated

The developers of Phoenix OS have dropped support for the 32-bit version of Phoenix OS. It is still on Andriod 5.1 Lollipop and was last updated on 19 October 2017 See More

Top Con

Google Play service is not updating

Don't expect Google services-based apps. See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:custom(Android + Phoenix OS launcher)

Based On:Android Open Source Project

Init-System:Android init

Package manager:Package Manage

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48 8

Ubuntu LTS

Top Pro

Most users are already familiar with it

Ubuntu is the go-to Linux distro for most people, so there is a sense of familiarity and comfort in using something they have used before. See More

Top Con

Relatively high system requirements

The default Unity 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

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

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

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

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

15 3

Peppermint Linux OS

Top Pro

Friendly and helpful forum

Top Con

Since it is based on Lubuntu, the double click speed needs to be slowed down

It's false that Peppermint 7 is tout court based on Lubuntu. Take a look at ths: "Peppermint Seven makes use of the Xfwm4 window manager, and Xfce bottom panel in the LXDE desktop environment. This is unlike other Linux distributions that use LXDE as the default desktop environment where it is common to use the Openbox window manager, and lxpanel." And more: "Peppermint Seven is built on the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS code base and makes use of its package repositories." Contrarily other linux distributions Peepermint creators never said Peppermint 7 is based on Lubuntu, like LXLE. Using LXDE and being based on Ubuntu is very different of being simply based on Lubuntu. In fact, Lubuntu is not faster than Peppermint and has loads of lacks for a nowadays OS experience. See More

Top Pro

Looks great

The XFCE Whisker menus and dark theme are well designed. Easy to move the panel to the top and add plank on the bottom. See More

Top Pro

Fast and light on resources

Ram Consumption is the same as LxLE, but more efficient and because of Whisker Menu and other tweaks that let us feel more like we have a XFCE desktop environment, as keyboard shortcuts, for instance, it looks like we'got here the fastest and lightest, globallty speaking. Very good on performance. Download Respin 7 (march 2017), install Libreoffice and then compare, for example, openning Libreoffice Writer inside Peppermint 7, Extix 17.04, Lubuntu 16.10, Xubuntu 16.04, Backbox 4.7, Linux Mint 18.1 Xfce an Mate or Linux Lite 3.4 (and others, I've tried many distros). Finally, you'll find out that after openning a few apps in Peppermint remains it smooth and light. Nemo file explorer on Peppermint is incredibly faster than in Mint Cinnamon; lx terminal is very fast oppening; updating is fast. And after all distro keeps working and working very solidly and consistently along the time. And yet the look and feel environment is pleasant. See More

Top Pro

Comes with a variety of helpful tools

Works great with teamviewer, synaptic, XNview, KODI and Pdf-Xchange editor (via playonlinux). Netflix works awesome with chrome browser. The ICE SSB tool is great for creating web apps that run as if you installed them locally. The Software Boutique (packaged with The MATE Welcome software Center) recognizes all the software and installs them in one click. See More

Top Pro

Peppermint 7 is stable

Peppermint 7OS (32 and 64 bit) has been updated to the Respin PPA . Kernel updated to 4.9.24 on 23-April -2017 with no issues and all software still runs great. See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:LXDE + Xfce

Based On:Lubuntu

Init-System:Systemd

Package manager:dpkg

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56 11

Doudou

Top Pro

Concise "all in one" kid experience

From the pre installed apps to the interface everything about this distribution is dead simple. No necessary set up, just boot and go. See More

Top Con

Based on an old distro

DouDou Linux is based on Debian 5, which is pretty old. So this means the software found in the distribution will be old. This also means the hardware support will be lacking compared to newer based distros. So for those that do want to install it would be a good idea to make sure the hardware is supported by Debian 5 and DouDou Linux. See More

Top Pro

Installable live cd

DouDouLinux comes as a live cd, meaning this distribution can be used on any computer not matter the OS in Live CD mode as well as installed fully onto the device depending on the hardware support. See More

6 2

Nix os

Top Pro

Upgrading the system is extremely reliable

Since NixOS stores all its packages in isolation from each other in /nix/store and because of the declarative configuration model, upgrading NoxOS systems is extremely reliable. Furthermore, it gives you the ability to roll back upgrades. See More

Top Con

The configuration language is hard to figure out

For good reason. It's a purely functional language. However not even close to bash. See More

Top Pro

Extremely reproducible state of installation

Every package in your system is generated from a configuration file. This makes it very easy to reproduce that environment. Just copy the config file into a new machine and it's done. See More

Top Pro

Versatile snapshot system

You can use and test snapshots without rebooting. Booting into snapshots or test configurations is possible without risking the system's stability. See More

Top Pro

Great for Haskell development

It has all of hackage in it's package manager (which is confusingly named "nix" as well) due to being based around hashing and allowing you to compile in a sort of virtual machine (really just changing the PATH variable temporarily) it solves many of the versioning problems that you commonly have with cabal. Here's a tutorial (there's many others as well) http://www.cse.chalmers.se/~bernardy/nix.html. Also I should note that you can use the package manager a la carte on Mac and most any linux distro. See More

Top Pro

Has docker like system built in

Top Pro

Allows parallel configurations for multiple projects

As everything is isolated, you can have on the same machine multiple configurations to meet project requirements that would be mutually exclusive on other OSes. See More

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9 3

Deepin

Top Pro

Enjoy the simplicity of Deepin's desktop

The desktop interface and apps feature an intuitive and elegant design. Moving around, sharing and searching, etc. has become simply a joyful experience. See More

Top Con

Customization is a bit hidden

GUI is not straight forward for changing GTK+ or QT themes. See More

Top Pro

Excellent apps

Having Deepin installed also means you have thousands of quality apps to choose from. The apps which come with installation will suit your needs to browse the Internet, listen to music, watch videos, talk with friends, editing documents or simply any task you want to do at home or in your office. See More

Top Con

Team doesn't know what to do

Deepin has changed the base 4 times, and the name 3 times. The Desktop Environment also has been changed 4 times. See More

Top Pro

Quite lightweight

Deepin 15.7 is lighter than Windows 10 and Ubuntu. See More

Top Con

Slow on some computers

Very slow - launching apps takes more time than other distros. On the other hand - booting and shutting down is very fast on SSD. See More

Top Pro

Well-designed in every detail, developers have a professional aproach to the system

Deepin has a sane default set of apps including custom apps of their own design that gives the distro a very consistent look and feel. By working with the community on these tools as well as custom translations there is a great sense of polish when using it that is not often seen when using such a new desktop environment. See More

Top Con

Slow default repos

Download speed for packages from the default repos, is abnormally slow if you don't choose the correct sever. See More

Top Pro

Has its own toolkit

It has its own toolkit called "Deepin Tool Kit". And the maintainers themselves use it. See More

Top Con

Deepin store apps not up to date

Top Pro

Great design to the app store

The app store is gorgeous. See More

Top Con

Installer lacks features

Top Pro

Best for daily use

Top Pro

Rolling release

It is a rolling release Linux distribution which is quite popular these days. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

It's very easy to use. You can easily uninstall a program by going to the menu then right-clicking on the preferred app and selecting "Uninstall" option. See More

Top Pro

Blur and transparent design

Deepin has a blur and transparent design throughout the OS, which makes it one of the most beautiful Linux distros. See More

Top Pro

Can be made to look like Windows easily

By default, Deepin looks kinda like macOS but it can be made to look like Windows by right-clicking on the dock and changing the mode from "Fashion Mode" to "Efficient Mode". See More

Top Pro

Exciting applications

It has some exciting applications, such as Deepin Graphics Driver Manager which can easily change between free and proprietary drivers without any issue. See More

Top Pro

VLC media player works without any issue

In some cases, VLC media player has some problems with Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based Linux distros. That isn't the case with Deepin. See More

Top Pro

Easy to install

Installing Deepin OS is very easy. Even easier than installing Ubuntu! See More

Top Pro

Supports Flatpak

Deepin OS supports Flatpak. It also has some Flatpak programs installed by default. See More

Top Pro

Automatically cleans package cache

Deepin automatically cleans package cache. Cleaning package cache is a good thing as it will make the OS much faster and lighter. See More

Top Pro

Company behind it

The Wuhan Deepin Technology is behind this Linux distribution. See More

Top Pro

Based on Debian

It is based on Debian which is the best Linux distribution for desktops. See More

Top Pro

Launches programs faster

Programs load and launch faster in Deepin than other Linux distributions. It takes only about 3 seconds to launch Chrome. See More

Top Pro

PRO Network Managment

Deepin has the facilities to create VLAN and other configuration like Wifi Hostpot on their GUI. See More

Top Pro

Not based on Ubuntu

Some people don't like Ubuntu nor its derivatives. See More

Top Pro

Very stable

Even though it is based on Debian unstable, it is still pretty stable and you will hardly ever get a dependency issue. See More

Top Pro

Great support for graphics cards

Deepin OS includes a program called "Deepin Graphics Driver Manager" which can easily install a good driver for the graphics card. See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:Deepin Desktop Environment

Based On:Debian Unstable

Release Schedule:Rolling release

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201 45

Solus

Top Pro

Modern desktop environment

The default desktop environment used by Solus is called Budgie and is quite nice and minimalistic. See More

Top Con

Software a bit slower to launch than for other distributions

Top Pro

Rolling release

Top Con

Slow development

Top Pro

Easy installation

The installation procedure for this distribution is quite simple. It's GUI based and all you have to do is to follow the instructions given by the installation window itself. See More

Top Con

No USB Image writer

Top Pro

Great package management

The software center makes it really easy to install the latest software through Snappy and Flatpak. Including third party software. See More

Top Con

The default desktop environment is not very customizable

Maybe because it's a relatively new project still in its infancy and this may be fixed in the future, but Budgie is not very customizable. You can only change the theme and wallpaper. See More

Top Pro

Responsive

System boots quickly and stays responsive. Does what operating system should do, and does it really well. See More

Top Pro

Exclusively for desktop systems

Top Pro

Stable

The system itself is very stable. All packages in the repository seem to be carefully picked, well prepared and run stable. See More

Top Pro

Built from scratch

Specs

Price:Absolutely Free

Default Desktop Environment:Budgie, GNOME, MATE

Release Schedule:Rolling Release

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176 45

Bodhi

Top Pro

Low resource consumption

System requirements include 128 MB RAM, 2.5 GB hard disk space, and a 300 MHz processor. See More

Top Pro

Minimal base system

The philosophy for the distribution is to provide a minimal base system so that users can populate it with the software they want. Thus, by default it only includes software that is essential to most Linux users, including file browsers (EFM), a web browser (Midori) and a terminal emulator (Terminology). See More

Top Pro

Different profiles to choose on first startup

Bohdi Linux offers a few different profiles to choose from when first booting the OS. See More

Top Pro

Built in compositing

Bohdi Linux has built in compositing. Users can choose a composited desktop upon first boot by choosing the fancy profile. See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:Enlightenment 17(Moksha-fork)

Based On:Ubuntu LTS

Release Schedule:5 year LTS (same as Ubuntu)

Init-System:Systemd

42 14

Ubuntu MATE

Top Pro

Simplicity of Gnome with the power of Ubuntu

Debian was good to use but has limited documentation and is difficult to pick up. Ubuntu MATE brings the ease of design and logic of the Gnome 2 style desktop so it's easy to get around coupled with the vast documentation, forums and ease of learning/using the Ubuntu system. See More

Top Con

Not bleeding edge

Users who want the latest and greatest software would be happier using Arch Linux, Antergos or another rolling release distro. However, because Ubuntu MATE is based on Ubuntu, users still have access to a large repository of recent software. See More

Top Pro

Perfect for people who like Gnome 2

The goal of MATE is to maintain the look and feel of Gnome 2, while maintaining compatibility with Gnome 3. To that end, it has also forked and renamed many of Gnome's core applications. It benefits from the years of work and polish that have gone into the Gnome project. See More

Top Con

Redundant

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Ubuntu MATE install. See More

Top Pro

Highly configurable

Comes with an option to configure as Windows-like, Mac-like, Gnome-like, etc. in a single click. Wonderful to get you started without having to learn it all from scratch. See More

Top Pro

Works great on old laptops

It does not have a lot of system requirements so it works pretty well even on older laptops. See More

Top Pro

Behaves like Ubuntu with Unity - after Ubuntu-Gnome transformation

No better place to continue Unity experience with Ubuntu (Left-side panel, HUD) and not as awkward as Gnome See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:Mate

Based On:Ubuntu

Release Schedule:2 Year LTS / 6 Month Releases

Init-System:Systemd

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