What is the best alternative to Tails?
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.
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 g...
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 shou...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pro Integration with GNOME
It perhaps has the best integration with GNOME (GNOME software works out of the box).
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...
Con Unstable
Some packages may break, because there isn't an option to test them before rolling them out.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
Pro Extra launchers
Comes with a taskbar launcher and the Pixel launcher.
Pro ARM Virtualization
Like android-x86, it comes with ARM virtualization support, so you can run many Android ARM apps on your x-86 device.
Pro Google Play Store
Google Play Store is installed by default.
Con Limited hardware support
Like android-x86, it has limited hardware support.
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....
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 ha...
Pro Live session
You can run the OS from a LiveUSB.
Pro Better than ArchStrike
Contains many more tools than ArchStrike and far easier installation than ArchStrike
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...
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.
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 wh...
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.
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.
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 s...
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 performan...
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.
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 softwa...
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...
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.
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.
Pro Based on Debian
It is based on Debian which is the best Linux distribution for desktops.
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.
Con Slow default repos
Download speed for packages from the default repos, is abnormally slow.
Con Slow
Very slow - launching apps takes more time than other distros. On the other hand - booting and shutting down is very fast on SSD.
Pro Persistent changes
Changes you make in the configuration persist if you run from USB.
Pro Modules
Standard tar archives plus some simple shell scripting produces modules that you can load dynamically into the OS for added apps and functionality.
Con Infrequent releases
Since Slax is maintained by only one person, releases are not that frequent. So it may take a while to get bug fixes or new features once you start using it.
Pro Greatly favours stability over anything else
RHEL 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...
Pro Each version is supported for a really long time
Each released version of RHEL is supported for around ten years by Red Hat with constant bug fixes and security updates.
Con You need to buy a license
RHEL is a commercial Linux distributions and it's rather expensive as well, the cheapest license costs $349.
Pro Modern desktop environment
The default desktop environment used by Solus is called Budgie and is quite nice and minimalistic.
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.
Pro Extremely user-friendly
This distribution promises you a very tailored user experience and it does deliver on that promise. The developers provide you with a custom desktop environment and a set of neat programs. And the whole desktop looks simply gorgeous.
Pro UI design consistency
Excellent uniformity between all the stock application and an overall extremely clean design with simple animations.
Pro Lightweight & fast
Runs well on limited-resources hardware, including netbooks or chromebooks.
Con Very slow development cycle
elementary does not offer any release date for their stable releases going more with a "it's done when it's done" attitude. Making depending on newer apps a difficulty as well as a poor choice for those that need consistent release schedules for their OS.
Con Old base and applications
The slow release schedule makes the applications outdated. It drags behind Ubuntu LTS (on which it's based) which itself drags behind Ubuntu which is often still quite far behind Arch for example.
Con UI doesn't let you change anything
Every installation of elementaryOS looks excactly like the same
Pro Extremely low minimum system requirements
Puppy Linux requires 128MB of RAM and 333Mhz of CPU, although 256MB of RAM is recommended.
Pro The whole OS runs off of RAM
Since Puppy Linux is completely loaded and run off of RAM instead of HDD, it's read/write speed is not a factor.
Pro Designed to run as a live USB/CD
A portable version, that can be carried on a thumb drive without requiring installation, weighs less than 100MB; a Live CD - less than 150MB. You can even save your settings and files for Puppy on the external device/media. Running off a live CD also has security benefits, as your system will res...
Con A bit ugly
Using puppy makes you feel like you just jumped 20 years into the past. Being that the purpose of Puppy Linux is to run or really low resource machines the software used is often on the older side, which is precisely why it has a 20 year old look.
Con No built in compositing
Being a low resource distro there is zero built in compositing for the JWM window manager. Though one can be added through a bit of work.
Con Smallest software library ever
You can barely find any precompiled packages for Puppy.
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 t...
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.
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.
Con Not for the faint of heart
Arch only holds your hand a little bit of the way. While documentation is great, you are expected to know what you're doing. The result is that when you find the solution for a problem on a forum or elsewhere, the response may be completely over your head. If you're not well-versed in Linu...
Con Manual install process
The installation process for Arch Linux is not as streamlined as it is in other distributions. You have to install the OS, Desktop Environment, Network software and configure everything by yourself.
Con Not ready out of the box.
You have to install your day-to-day software requirements manually.
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.
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.
Pro Works great on old laptops
It does not have a lot of system requirements so it works pretty well even on older laptops.
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.
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.
Pro Compatibility with Debian and Ubuntu software builds and repositories
Mint gains a very strong package ecosystem and software manager of Debian, including more than 30,000 packages available from the Debian repositories.
Pro Familiar user interface
Mint is highly recommended for both users coming from Windows, as well as users coming from Ubuntu, but unhappy with Ubuntu's recent, rather dramatic interface changes. Mint provides an updated interface with a look and feel similar to Gnome 2, with an application menu reminiscent of the Windo...
Pro Already functional out-of-the-box
Mint comes bundled with software for browsing the web, editing pictures, browsing files, watching videos and even a full office suite (LibreOffice). An average user can use Mint right away after a fresh install, using all the software that comes with the distribution to complete most of their daily...
Con Security may be an issue
Linux Mint by default does not have auto updates turned on for important packages such as xorg or the kernel, thus leaving users with potentially insecure software.
Con Cheap Windows substitute
Mint tries to be like Windows when it could be different and provide options.
Pro Low resource consumption
System requirements include 128 MB RAM, 2.5 GB hard disk space, and a 300 MHz processor.
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 (Termino...
Pro Built in compositing
Bohdi Linux has built in compositing. Users can choose a composited desktop upon first boot by choosing the fancy profile.
Pro Configurability
KDE Neon uses KDE as its desktop environment, which is highly configurable, but also has great defaults.
Pro Works out of the box
Since it's built on the strong Ubuntu base, KDE Neon works seamlessly with a huge variety of hardware.
Pro The best looking Linux OS
It really is a great and stunning looking OS.
Con Steep learning curve for beginners
It's a really sparse, bare-bones system, no automatic driver install for example. It can be quite hard for someone not used to Linux.
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