What are the best Linux distributions for 2018?

Default Desktop Environment:Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce

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 tasks. See More

Top Pro

Already functional out-of-the-box

Top Con

Does not handle multiple languages well

Top Pro

Complete and stable

Top Con

The Linux Mint website once provided malware

The website for Linux Mint was hacked in 2016 and its download links led to a modified ISO, which contained malware. See More

Top Pro

Mint 19 forces unwanted updates

Since version 19 Mint adopted Windows 10's policy to force the user to install unwanted updates and even if the user deselects them and marks them not to be installed, they're still being installed. See More

Top Pro

Dedicated upgrade process

The Linux Mint team is very dedicated to upgrading and improving Mint, to the point where the releases are fairly predictable. They are also dedicated to their users, meaning that they are responsive to critiques, suggestions, etc. See More

Top Con

Cheap Windows substitute

Mint tries to be like Windows when it could be different and provide options. See More

Top Pro

Easy installation and configuration

Linux Mint uses the same installer as Ubuntu. It is very easy to use for beginners, and also allows more advanced users to choose their own partitions. Linux Mint's Cinnamon desktop is highly customizable and can be made to look however preferred. See More

Top Con

System updates can lead the system to being unstable

While a new installed system is stable, after an update, there is a slight chance of something not working. See More

Top 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 Windows 7 Start Menu, with categorization and search. See More

Top Con

Upgrade process between version can be painful

The Linux Mint team offers a method to upgrade the OS between versions but they tend to recommend clean installs, which isn't always suitable for everyone. However, following the upgrade process currently is less than straightforward and is easily capable of leaving your system in a confused state. See More

Top Pro

Provides LTS (long term support) versions

Long Term Support versions are versions of software that are continuously updated for an extended period of time, even after newer versions are launched. LTS versions will typically get feature additions and enhancements for an extended period of time, then security updates up until its End of Life. An LTS release should typically be considered good for at least 5 years. See More

Top Con

Looks ugly

The default theme and wallpaper looks outdated and bland. Luckily that is easy to change in the settings. See More

Top Pro

Good community support

There are several different ways to get support for this distribution, including the forums, their IRC channel, or their github repositories if you think their software isn't behaving as it should. See More

Top Pro

Has more desktop options

You can choose between Cinnamon, MATE and XFCE. See More

Top Pro

Not from a big company

Linux Mint is not Canonical, while based upon Ubuntu. See More

Top 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. See More

Top Pro

Supports proprietary software

Linux Mint does maintain a free software environment, however, it does offer full support to proprietary software (Chrome, Skype, Teamviewer). See More

Top Pro

The easiest option ever

The distro is the easiest operating system to run ever. See More

Top Pro

There is a "system restore" tool to restore the OS if something breaks

This tool backs up the core OS files to an external drive with an option for full encryption. See More

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

score 27 · Answer 2

Debian GNU/Linux

Top Pro

Very stable

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

AwareColopUUichkin's Experience

I started my Linux journey with openSUSE and move on to Xubuntu. After a few good Buntu Years I found myself disagreeing with some decisions Canonical made. I didn't wanted a hype but I just wanted a apt-get based system that was stable and robust. Enter Debian! This is where my Linux journey took off. I learned quite a lot because Debian is a bit less user friendly then Ubuntu. But that is so rewarding when you have a system that's rock solid. Usually I run Debian with Xfce4 since that's my DE of choice. But in the past I ran Openbox on Debian. Currently paying around with PekWM. I use my old laptop as an entertainment system. Also driven by Debian. Installing can appear intimidating for new users but there are a gazillion Debian install guides out there. Basically if you can read you can install Debian. I hope to enjoy this fine OS for many many more years to come. P.S. there are more distros based on Debian (including Ubuntu) out there, this is for a reason ;) See More

Specs

Based On:NONE

Package Manager:dpkg with apt, aptitude or apt-build

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 Pro

Standard vanilla Linux desktop

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

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 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: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting. See More

Top Pro

Comes with over 56,500 available 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 56,500 packages (software that is precompiled and ready to be installed on a local machine) -- all of them for free. 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

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

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

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

Slow boot

Debian takes a lot of time to boot du systemd wich isnt useful on singleuser systems. 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 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

Install and forget

Once installed you can almost forget about it and start to use your desktop for your daily tasks See More

Top Con

No "install now" icon on the desktop

When you run the live CD/USB there's no icon on the desktop reading "install now" as it is with the most of the other distroes. The app for installing Debian is hidden deep inside the menu and you have to dig very hard in order to find it. Even a slightly experienced user would think of looking for that app in the menu but someone who came from Windows wouldn't even bother looking for it anywhere. That's not a good way to attract former Windows users. 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 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 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

Rolling or Release based

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

Big open-source project

The Debian project is the biggest open source project with over 5000 active contributors. See More

Top Pro

The Debian Social Contract

Guaranteed commitment to adherence to values, principles, priorities, requirements and guidelines by the Debian project See More

Top Pro

A real installer

UNlike other Distributions that just extrat their LIve image, Debian offers a real traditional and modular installer to customize the installation. See More

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

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

Top Pro

Apt-build

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

Top Pro

Many ports

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

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

Top Pro

Widely supported

Almost any software that is available for Linux provides a Debian package. See More

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

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 Linux, what would be a minor issue on another distribution can become a drawn-out research project on Arch, as you learn all the inner workings of the operating system, until you understand it well enough to solve your problems yourself. See More

score 31 · Answer 3

Arch Linux

Top Con

Not for the faint of heart

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

Dela Anthonio's Experience

I enjoy using Arch Linux. I like using the latest software for a variety of programs. I also like how the AUR has a large selection of packages that I can install. My Arch setup is stable for the most part. An issue may arise every 3 months and it's usually easy to fix. See More

Specs

Based On:NONE

Default Desktop Environment:N/A

Package Manager:Pacman

Sometimes you can have a surprise, but in most cases it can be fixed quickly. See More

Top Con

Instability can be an issue

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

NeighborlyTyphon's Experience

A lot of packages updated. Rolling release model. Best wiki ever. Solid system. See More

Top 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. See More

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

ExpertVali's Experience

The reason Linux never took off on the desktop was, IMHO, the need to get down and dirty to install and have it work. That and coupled with the arrogance of the Linux community. I speak from first hand experience with comments like ...If you have to ask that then you shouldn't be using Linux... etc etc And add in the confusing, myriad of distros that boggle the mind of even experienced IT professionals. Mint at least makes a reasonable attempt to be usable out of the box, makes updating simple, and provides just about all the apps you'd need in a a 'normal' office job. In fact if Windows hadn't made such inroads onto the desktop, Mint as it is now, would be pretty much a no brainer. See More

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

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

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

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

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

Top Pro

Very good to learn how Linux works

Top Con

Not ready out of the box

You have to install your day-to-day software requirements manually. See More

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

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

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

Top Con

Can be demanding

For busy people an OS should just run work applications and stay out of their way... this doesn't. See More

Top Pro

It is Linux at the core

This distro is barebones enough to make a new distro from. See More

Top Con

No GUI installer

No GUI installer and even if you manage to find one (there are some but they're not what you'd expect from a GUI), you still have to do everything manually, including setting things up the average user doesn't know, care about and/or understand. See More

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

Top Con

Package manager is so naive

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

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

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

Top Pro

Helpful 3rd-party installers

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

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

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

Top Con

Lost its way

It aimed to be KISS but it has lost iits 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

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

Top Con

Works only on AMD64

It is the only official supported instruction set of CPUs. See More

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

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

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

Top Con

No Graphical Installer

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

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

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

Top Con

Multiple Aur helpers

Arch has strict reasoning behind what goes into the official repositories accessible by pacman. As a result, many other projects end up in the Arch User Repository (AUR). Effectively using Arch, and getting easy access to all of the available software, means either manually downloading and installing from the AUR, or installing an AUR helper - these work along side the main package manager (Pacman), but are a bit less standardized or heavily supported. See More

Top Pro

Simple by design

Arch linux is actually incredibly simple. Its 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

Top Con

pacman is a slow package manager

Compared to other distribution packages the extracting of a pacman package archives is taking ages. See More

Top Pro

On avarage 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

Top Con

Not really for desktop

More like for posting screenshots on Reddit. See More

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

Top Pro

Easier to review the distribitions packages.

Unlike other some distributions its super simple to review the packages you download on the official arch repos or arch user repository. See More

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

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

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. See More

score 29 · Answer 4

Manjaro Linux

Top Pro

Based on Arch and user friendly

Top Con

Can still be unstable

Here are the details of it. See More

stalliondrift's Experience

My Experience was worse than experience with any other distro. Corrupted MBR, unable to install kernel of my choice, constantly crashing logout greeter, suspending to RAM works sometimes and memory leaks by the kilo. It's like Manjaro was written by someone who began programming recently. See More

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux

Init-System:systemd

Package Manager:pamac

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE, KDE Plasma, GNOME

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

Top Pro

A rolling-release distribution

Top Con

Too many bugs which appear to be the same in all DEs

Too many bugs which appear to be the same in all desktop ENVs. The most annoying is the frequently crashing logout app which prevents you from doing a regular reboot or shutdown and the only option left is to treat it like Windows XP - hard reset from the hardware button of your computer. Naturally, this doesn't guarantee your work will be saved, especially if it's something you can't just press Ctrl+S for. Another very annoying bug is that all Manjaros refuse to wake up (when the system was suspended to RAM) and all you get is a black screen with running fans. For comparison, Linux Mint doesn't have these two problems. See More

Jonas Gierer's Experience

Installation is quick and painless. Updates come frequently, but not too frequently. The forums are great, and compared to other forums quite newcomer-friendly. The wiki is second only to Arch's. Overall my new favorite distro, which I use on all my workstations. See More

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

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 later than Arch. See More

Nic Tanghe's Experience

support for most desktops and eazy to set up. See More

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

Top Con

No support

Ask a support question and you only receive nasty wise guy replies. The developers will lie to you and blame you and your hardware for their incompetence. The developers are indignant and you may thing they are playing stupid but they are not playing, they are actually stupid. See More

SophisticatedKinieGer's Experience

Very easy to use it! A huge options of programms through PAMAC+AUR. It's elegant, beautiful, stable an Rolling Release (automatic update). See More

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

Top Con

Uses grub2

Grub2 is not embeddable which means it can't be put inside the file system where the OS is. Because of that grub2 can only go in the MBR of the storage device which is a very gentle part of the device and easily corruptable by grub2. When the latter happens, the only way to restore MBR is to launch Windows from another storage device and use a non-free program to rebuild MBR. See More

ResponsiveCliodhna's Experience

Unstable, complicated, with challenging customization, stuffed with commercial apps like Microsoft Office 365. Who is standing behind it's popularity? See More

Top Pro

Support for multiple kernels

Manjaro has built-in support for multiple kernels as well as a way to easily install them. See More

Top Con

Nothing new

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

Herman Orlando Morales Lopez's Experience

Manjaro es lo mejor de lo mejor, no problemas como con las distros basadas en debian See More

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

Top Con

Updates break the system

Mark Shepherdson's Experience

easy to install and easy to use See More

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

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

ArticulateFascinus's Experience

My experience with Manjaro was horrible. I tried Manjaro on two different computers to rule out that it’s because of hardware which wasn’t the case. This is how Manjaro really is. Firewall can't be enable permanently using the G.U.I. ROM drives don't work, printers and scanners don't work, WiFi doesn't work, updates breaks it, nasty lying obnoxious community that is toxic, no support from the Manjaro forum, only nasty wise guy replies to questions. They blame the user and their hardware when that is not the problem. Updates come in a week or more apart which leaves your computer vulnerable. The Manjaro developers are indignant lying lowlifes that don't care and don't check their work. Manjaro is garbage! See More

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

Top Con

Developers always blame the user and hardware when that's not the issue

Top Pro

Excellent graphical package manager (Pamac)

Features include: providing notifications of available updates; mirror management; 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

Top Con

Toxic community

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

Top Con

New packages and security updates are held for testing longer

Packages are usually about two weeks behind Arch's stable repository. While some urgent security updates are released as soon as they become available, other security updates are held for testing longer. See More

Top Pro

Good documentation and forum

The Manjaro community is very helpful, and there are lots of tutorials. See More

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

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

Top Con

Many of your hardware won't work due to missing packages and missing information

Top Pro

Steam installed by default

Top Con

Bad dependencies

This is similar to the mac0S experience in that you're not allowed to remove plank. See More

Top Pro

Very good looking desktops

All desktops look good by default. See More

Top Con

Not secure because updates come a week or more apart

Top Pro

Uses low memory

By using XFCE (or LXDE, Fluxbox, supported by community) as the default desktop on an install, Manjaro is able to have a low memory footprint. See More

Top Con

Firewall won't stay enabled using the G.U.I.

Top Pro

Deepin desktop environment is a worthy attraction

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

Top Con

Daily manual updates

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

Top Con

Slightly bloated

Top Con

No gfvs pre-installed

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

Top Con

Bad Dependencies

This is similar to the mac0S experience in that you're not allowed to remove plank. See More

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

Top Con

Calls itself "stable," but actually just holds Arch Linux repositories back for a week

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

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

score 4 · Answer 5

Gentoo Linux

Top Pro

Full control of the software

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

Specs

Based On:NONE

Init-System:OpenRC

Package Manager:Portage

Default Desktop Environment:NONE

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

Top Pro

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

Top Pro

Portage's emerge is powerful

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

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

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

Top Pro

Fully customizable

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

Top Pro

Gentoo does not impose a standard look-and-feel

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

Other debian based XFCE distros- Xubuntu, Debian XFCE, Devuan leave small footprint on system whereas MXLinux uses too much CPU resources on same system. See More

score 9 · Answer 6

MX-Linux

Top Pro

No systemd

Top Con

Causes overheating on some hardwares

ArticulateFascinus's Experience

I have been using MX Linux after my horrible experience with the worst Linux distro which is Manjaro. I installed MX Linux and everything works and keeps on working reliably. MX Tools and MX Tweak makes it easy. Theme it and set it up the way you like it is made easy with the MX Tweak. It's fast. Great support forum. The cons claimed are cons because they are not true. There are no cons. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian Stable>antiX

Init-System:SysV-init (default) & systemD

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE

It's mainly a debian stable with some recompiled/backported debian testing packages. See More

Top Pro

Supports non-free drivers

Top Con

Remixed debian testing

Top Pro

It's fast

Top Pro

Easy to use

Top Pro

Easy install

Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Pro

Very stable

Top Pro

Good MX Tools and Package Installer

MX Linux comes with its own set of tools called MX Tools, designed to make life easier for users. See More

Top Pro

Based on Debian

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

score 12 · Answer 7

Fedora

Top Pro

Backed by the biggest Linux kernel contributor

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

Elias Van Ootegem's Experience

Hit the ground running. Fedora is quick to set up, has great support (as it shares DNA with RHEL, there's a very high chance of packages being available). It walks a fine line between stable and bleeding edge, sometimes this causes issues, but overall the stability of the last couple of releases has been fantastic. Fedora has ditched X11 for Wayland, which did show, but I've not experienced any issues in over a year now. The updates are insanely frequent (on average daily), but they can be applied fast and painless. See More

Specs

Based On:Independent

Package Manager:RPM Package Manager, DNF package manager

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

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

IngeniousCariocecus's Experience

Been using Fedora since the release of Fedora Core 1 back in 2003, and have lived through many of the changes over time that have been introduced. I particularly recommend fedora due to the community behind it being outstanding. 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

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 months, which means twice a year there is a risk of completely borking one's install. 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

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

Strong commitment to free software philosophy

Top Con

Unstable

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

Wayland all the way (X fallback only) has driver issues

In recent times, Nvidia has started to finally provide drivers for Linux users. The old trusty warhorse X, is well supported. Fedora has of course chosen to jump on the Wayland bandwagon, which can throw up some driver issues specifically with the proprietary Nvidia drivers. For day to day use, nouveau is more than good enough, but for (occasional) gamers, having the nvidia drivers might be something they want See More

Top Pro

Fast performance

Top Con

Slow

It is quite slow on some computers. 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

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

Most software you need will have an RPM package

The 2 main packages that you'll find for third party software are deb packages (debian and derived distro's like Ubuntu), the second being RPM. See More

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

Huge array of binary packages ready to install

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

score 22 · Answer 8

Ubuntu

Top Pro

Just works out of the box

Top Con

Random system errors may pop up

Specs

Based On:Debian Stable(core) Testing/Unstable(universe/multiverse)

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager, Snap Store

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

Top Pro

Cares about stable drivers

Top Con

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

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

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

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

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

Looks good

Ubuntu looks clean even when running from a LiveCD. 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

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

Tracking

As of 18.04 the package ubuntu-report tracks the users' system info. 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

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

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

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

Not so strong at all

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 Con

Ships with Amazon adverts/links

An icon link for Amazon is installed in the dock by default. 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

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

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

Company stays behind it

Top Pro

Has a clean Gnome interface

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

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

Too few options to customize

There's no way for the user to hide or remove the side bar from the left side of the desktop and get back the regular bottom bar. And in general there are too few options to customize Ubuntu which makes it even worse than any Windows on the matter. 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

Redundant

With the removal of Unity there is no point in choosing Ubuntu over Debian anymore because everything else is imported from debian into ubuntu See More

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

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

Good UI for small monitors

Becaue 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

No native driver support and nouveau may be broken, especially for KDE, and not suitable for some GPUs. See More

score 10 · Answer 9

openSUSE

Top Con

Poor support for nVidia drivers in Tumbleweed

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

Rafael Linux User's Experience

Year using this distro after Mandriva (now Mageia), Ubuntu and derivatives, etc, and I can say this is the unique (and maybe Fedora) that you can use in Windows domains professionally, for programming and for multimedia edition. Even for net administrators, YAST is the BEST tool for everything. See More

Specs

Based On:SLS>Slackware>Jurix>SuSE Linux

Package Manager:rpm with zypper

Default Desktop Environment:Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, LXQT, NONE

On the surface YAST looks simple enough, but inside can be as complicated as a WindowsOS registry. Using YAST is not user-friendly for beginners. See More

Top Con

YAST not intuitive at all

Top Pro

Very stable

Stable, reliable, rock solid. See More

Top Con

Old kernel by the Leap version

Kernel in Leap 42.3 is in version 4.4, that's pretty old. See More

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

Top Con

Short lived distro

Every release lasts 18 months only before needing a major upgrade. See More

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

Top Con

Limited community support

The community is fairly small, and there is no indication on the forums regarding when issues will be solved. See More

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

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

Top Pro

Probably the best KDE desktop experience

Both Gnome and KDE desktop options are well polished to fit with the openSUSE theme and environment, so either desktop is a great choice. See More

Top Con

Official English forum page enters in a loop after login

It's impossible to enter official OpenSUSE forum. For more than half a year, after login, the site ends showing a "Too many redirections" and nothing else. See More

Top Pro

One-Click install

A much better system than 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

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

Top Pro

Versatile and flexible

If you have sufficient knowledge, you can tune up OpenSUSE to do anything it can't do in first instance. See More

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

Top Pro

Supports RPM packages

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

Top Pro

"Tumbleweed" Rolling Release

Regular and easy upgrades to stable and well-tested software. See More

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

score 5 · Answer 10

Deepin

Top Pro

Great support for graphics cards

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

Specs

Based On:Debian

Main Usage:Desktop, Showcase for the Deepin Desktop

Origin:China

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

Top Pro

Not based on Ubuntu

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

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 Con

Customization is a bit hidden

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

Includes a lot of packages in the official repository

The official repository of deepin OS includes over 73,000 packages. 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

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 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

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

Well-designed in every detail, developers have a professional approach 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 Pro

Supports Flatpak

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

Top Pro

Easy to install

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

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 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

Great design to the app store

The app store is gorgeous. 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

Rolling release

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

Top Pro

Lighter than Windows 10 and Ubuntu

Deepin 15.7 is lighter than Windows 10 and Ubuntu. 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

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 Pro

Gives warning messages when upgrading packages using apt

Deepin uses their own modified version of apt. When there is a distribution upgrade available and if we try to upgrade by running "sudo apt upgrade", then this modified version of apt gives this warning message, "DDE programs will work abnormally if run this command. Run sudo apt dist-upgrade or sudo apt full-upgrade instead." See More

Top Pro

Includes both Windows and macOS style interface

You have access to a large user repository, Ubuntu guides can mostly be applied since both are based on Debian. See More

score 4 · Answer 11

SparkyLinux

Top Pro

Based on Debian

Michael Willenburg's Experience

Rolling release based on Debian, what's not to love??? See More

Specs

Based On:Debian stable or testing

Init-System:systemd

Default Desktop Environment:LXDE/LXQt, MinimalGUI(Openbox)

You have the option for Sparky to be based on Stable or Non-Stable, bringing greater flexibility to user priorities. See More

Top Pro

Rolling or Stable Choice

PerceptiveKarkinos's Experience

Faster than Debian in my experience, due to a lightweight core, and extremely flexible as you can choose update schedule, and nearly any desktop environment under the sun. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight core

Sparky is designed to be lightweight in it's core. It is based on Debian but optimised for old hardware, meaning you can run a full heavy desktop environment on a lightweight foundation, bringing greater performance compared to similar Debian or Ubuntu-based distros. See More

Top Pro

All vanilla desktop environments available

Any Linux desktop in it's vanilla form can be installed on top of Sparky, whether that be alongside a pre-existing environment, or on top of a basic command line system. Furthermore, the command line system is easy to operate due to Sparky's advanced installer utility, from which you can choose whichever desktop environment you desire, straight from the Debian repositories. Guidance is on their website. See More

Top Pro

Rolling Release

Now the OS is amazingly customisable See More

score 1 · Answer 12

Elementary OS

Top Pro

With new tweak tools customisation is not a problem

Top Con

No proprietary driver installer

Elementary OS removed the driver installer of Ubuntu. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Pantheon

Origin:UK

Sane defaults with less confusion for new users. See More

Top Pro

Simplicity, limited configurability

Top Con

Quite buggy

Top Pro

If you like MacOSX the UI/UX is similar

Top Con

Emacs doesn't work

Emacs crashes due to a partial gnome library update. See More

Top Pro

A dedicated StackExchange site

elementary OS has a dedicated StackExchange site where users can easily find answers to common questions. See More

Top Con

Window control button placement may be unintuitive to some

elementary OS has window controls on the left side of the window. It may be less intuitive to users coming from other operating systems that put window controls on the right. See More

Top Pro

Active Google+ community

There is a place where elementary users can ask their questions and usually get answers pretty quickly. Not only by the other users, but the devs are pretty active themselves, often engaging in the discussions on the hows, whys and plans of the os. See More

Top Con

The desktop doesn't let you to put icons by default

Top Pro

Consistent development practices

All Elementary apps are written in Vala and hosted on Launchpad, and there are standard APIs such as contractor for applications to interact with one another. This is different from most distros, in which apps are written in a variety of languages. This design decision makes it easy to get started developing for Elementary and to understand how the various pieces fit together. See More

Top Con

Doesn't support 32-bit hardwares anymore

One can install pantheon DE from new ubuntu's repo but Elementry OS is not making new ISO's nor is it supporting them. It makes confuzzled to new users. See More

Top Pro

Built on Ubuntu

Built on Ubuntu LTS with all its qualities and support. See More

Top Con

Upper panel requires extra spaces

The upper panel in Elementary OS requires more space. This can be a problem for computers with small monitors. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight & fast

Runs well on limited-resources hardware, including netbooks or chromebooks. See More

Top Con

Not very configurable

Top 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. See More

Top Con

Poor Linux community reputation

The devs of elementary OS feel anyone not paying for their Ubuntu respin are not worthy of using it. Which upset a good bit of people. Obviously the core dev team have issues with their community outreach and PR. See More

Top Pro

UI design consistency

Excellent uniformity between all the stock application and an overall extremely clean design with simple animations. See More

Top 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. See More

Top Con

Outdated or bad default applications

Top Con

UI doesn't let you change anything

Every installation of elementaryOS looks excactly like the same See More

Top 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. See More

Top Con

Heavy animations

It has some animations that don‘t run good on older hardware. See More

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

score 3 · Answer 13

openSUSE Tumbleweed

Top Pro

Tumbleweed + OpenSUSE Build Service

Top Con

Little / no third-party support

Specs

Based On:Jurix>SUSE

Origin:Germany

Release Schedule:Rolling

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

Top Pro

Easy installation and cutting edge apps

Top Con

Complex multimedia codecs and plugins installation

Top Pro

Good selection of preinstalled applications

Top Con

Slow and painful unfortunately, especially compared to other modern distros

Top Pro

Stable

Package Manager:eopkg package manager (PiSi fork)

score 1 · Answer 14

Solus

Top Pro

Generic preinstaled drivers work efficently

Specs

Based On:Scratch

Init-System:systemd

Release Schedule:Rolling

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

Stable

Top Pro

Responsive

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

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 Pro

Most stable Rolling Release Distro

Top Pro

Seamless Packages

It may not have the most obscure packages, but the packages it does have is a good number of everything a Linux user needs. Gamers, developers, desktop users, etc. all have the necessary packages and then some. The packages themselves are integrated perfectly and are very well updated. See More

Top Pro

Exclusively for desktop systems

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 Pro

Modern desktop environment

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

Top Pro

Rolling release

Based On:Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL Source)

score 2 · Answer 15

CentOS

All

1

Specs

Package Manager:RPM Package Manager

It is very customizable using the help of conky and Plank dock. Looks awesome while being fast and mean at the same time. See More

score 3 · Answer 16

Voyager Linux

Top Con

Not user friendly

Top Pro

Very customizable and lightweight

Aditya Thapa's Experience

Xubuntu on steroids, basically. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian/Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME or Xfce

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

score 3 · Answer 17

Kali Linux

Top Con

Not intended to be a daily driver

Top Pro

Live session distro used for forensics

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

Top Pro

Standard pentest tool set

You can easily adjust the workspace to your needs. See More

score 4 · Answer 18

Kubuntu

Top Pro

Customizable

Top Con

Often unstable

There have been several bugs reported. Some of these bugs are: shutting down randomly, refusing to boot, refusing to shut down, menus may act strange, icons may disappear, etc... See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:KDE

Unlike some abandoned, unfinished distros, Kubuntu is up to date and offers a fully functional desktop environment that targets workstation users. See More

Top Pro

KDE Plasma 5 has the most modern look among GNOME, etc.

Top Pro

Full featured desktop environment that is actively developed