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PCLinuxDistributionsDebianDebian-basedoperating systems

What are the best Debian-based Linux distributions?

68

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1.2K

User
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1 min

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Here’s the Deal

The Best 2 of 64 OptionsWhy?

Best Debian-based Linux distributions	Price	Based On	Default Desktop Environment
91 Debian GNU/Linux	Free	N/A	GNOME(CLI, Xfce, MATE, Cinnamon, KDE, LXDE & LXQt are available)
91 Devuan GNU+Linux	-	Debian	Xfce (KDE, MATE, Cinnamon and LXQt are available)
86 Knoppix	-	Debian	LXDE, KDE or GNOME
-- Dog Linux	-	Debian or Ubuntu or LinuxMInt	JWM (depending on version)
82 Siduction	free	Debian Unstable>Aptosid	KDE, Xfce, Cinnamon and LXQt

Debian GNU/Linux

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Top Pro

Very stable

Debian has a Stable branch, where packages are thoroughly tested before a new release. Furthermore Debian is known to be the definition of stable when it comes to Linux production systems. See More

Top Con

It is the original

But here was asked for a debian-based distro. See More

AdaptableNunbarsegunu's Experience

Its the best ditsro ever. I bet my soul on it and have won See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME(CLI, Xfce, MATE, Cinnamon, KDE, LXDE & LXQt are available)

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Main Usage:Universal, depending on branch

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

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Stable release contains extremely outdated packages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

HumorousMontu's Experience

This is the original distro. How can something be based on itself. 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

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: https://packages.debian.org/en/source/sid/nvidia-graphics-drivers See More

EmpatheticGelos's Experience

I've used Debian for almost 20 years. Once in a while looked at the rest but always returned to my first love. For these last 10 years it's just me and Debian a very happy marriage. I use sid which makes it a rolling distribution. For my private uses SID is 99,xx % stable See More

Top Pro

Widely supported

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

Top Con

Debian doesn't give you any choices

Even dpkg supports this feature with virtual packages: For example, it is very hard to use a different sound system than ALSA, eg: OSS. This could be easily done by creating a virtual audio package that is provided by both ALSA and OSS packages but debian does not provide such a package. The same goes for different init-systems which lead to the creation of devuan. See More

MerryTuriacus's Experience

very good See More

Top Pro

Rolling or Release based

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

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 choices

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

Top Pro

A real installer

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

Top Con

Not designed for general desktop usage

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

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

Outdated kernel of the live system

Since the LiveCD is based on Debian stable the kernel is old, outdated but stable. See More

Top Pro

It can be Stable or rolling release distro

Debian has a stable branch which is one of the most stable Linux distros but it has veeery old packages. There is, however, a rolling release branch "sid" too which always has newest available packages. See More

Top Con

No good choices of fresh desktop environments

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

Top Pro

Debian is an investment for the future

Top Con

Breaks if you suspend/resume

Breaks when you resume the activity on the system. 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 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

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 Con

An investment for the future

Top Pro

Comes with over 55.500 packages

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

Top Con

Buggy and non-user friendly

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

Big open-source project

The Debian project is one of the biggest open source projects with over 5000 active contributors. 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

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

The Debian Social Contract

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

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) which transforms your debian install into a source based distribution. See More

Top Pro

Wide choice of hardware platforms

Debian has one the widest choice of hardware platforms, including: amd64, armel, armhf, i386, ia64,mips, mipsel, powerpc, sparc, s390, s390x. See More

Top Pro

Supports SecureBoot

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

Top Pro

Unique release cycle

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

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 Pro

Many ports

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

Standard archives

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

Top Pro

Great choice for returning Linux users

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

Top Pro

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

But has quite a few bugs from 2016-2017, apparently for long term. See More

Top Pro

Apt and Synaptic give you plenty of choice for daughter distros

the apt install program is the same among all derivatives, once you know apt (graphical: Synaptic) you know your way in all daughter distributions See More

Top Pro

Package splitting

debian splits packages to make sure that only used parts of a package are installed which will also greatly decrease the the download times and disk space wich is needed. See More

Top Pro

Inconsistent init systems

While Linux uses systemd, non-Linux ports use the traditional sysvinit. See More

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Devuan GNU+Linux

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Top Pro

Init freedom

You can install different init-systems (currently with beowulf SysVinit, OpenRC and runit are available). See More

Top Con

Difficult to install on non-free hardware

Unlike Debian, Devuan offers no unfree netinstall media so if your system needs unfree drivers (e.g a laptop or a tablet with WLAN), you will have to use Debian's nonfree firmware on a separate USB stick to install it. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce (KDE, MATE, Cinnamon and LXQt are available)

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Main Usage:Universal

Top Pro

Rolling or Release based

Like Debian every Devuan install can either be rolling (oldstable, stable, testing, unstable) or release (jessie, ascii, beowulf, ceres) based. See More

Top Con

XFCE as default desktop

Since Xfce is not a full DE, it has no polkit client or archive manager so you have to borrow that stuff from other desktops like MATE or GNOME which require to install their DE-specific dependencies. See More

Top Pro

Binary compatible with Debian

Devuan is fully binary compatible to Debian. It also has one compatible release for every Debian release (oldstable, stable, testing, unstable). See More

Top Pro

It's Debian

Devuan is Debian just without systemd, it just mirrors the Debian archive and repacks/removes packages that have hard dependencies on systemd. See More

Top Pro

Stability

The stable release is almost on par with Debian stable. See More

Top Pro

Excellent for normal people

It is easy to use and is a good choice for beginners. See More

Top Pro

Most decent look amongst other XFCE distros

Default XFCE theme is unique of all the XFCE distos including MXLinux, Xubuntu etc. See More

Top Pro

Very secure

More secure than Debian because it doesn't use Systemd. See More

Top Pro

No systemd

Isn't using systemd as init which is bloated and can spread malware into your system. See More

62 Other Options Considered

Knoppix

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Top Pro

fast

Top Con

DVD version requires a lot of RAM

Many computers are incapable of loading the whole 4 gigabyte DVD into RAM. There is an older CD version, however. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian

Default Desktop Environment:LXDE, KDE or GNOME

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Main Usage:Live Desktop, System Rescue

Top Pro

Powerful and lightweight

Top Con

LiveDVD version requires a lot of RAM

Many computers are incapable of loading the whole 4 gigabyte DVD into RAM. There is an older CD version, however. See More

Top Pro

Great hardware detection

Top Con

Runs off of optical disk by default

You have to enter a special boot option to run Knoppix entirely in RAM. See More

Siduction

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Top Pro

Debian based

Siduction is fully binary compatible with debian unstable/sid. See More

Top Con

Dropped complete destops

In their recent release they dropped 2 complete desktops(GNOME & MATE) and support now only one complete (KDE) and 3 incomplete desktops(Xfce, Cinnamon & Lxqt). See More

NiceTlilhua's Experience

THe only debian based distro that is still based on Sid See More

Specs

Based On:Debian Unstable>Aptosid

Default Desktop Environment:KDE, Xfce, Cinnamon and LXQt

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Main Usage:Recent Desktop

Top Pro

Stable for desktop usage

It is stable enough for desktop usage since all major debian changes are done in experimental/rc-buggy See More

Top Con

Big bloated Installation

It extractes the LiveCD to your desktop and potentially many packages you will never need. See More

SensibleUksakka's Experience

Great distribution if you want recent packages but at the same time some stability. See More

Top Pro

No packagekit

It does not install Gnome-software, Apper, Discover or any other packagekit solution that can interfere with apt. See More

Top Con

Ugly asthetics

It is pretty ugly by default See More

NeighborlyCromCruach's Experience

Pure debian See More

Top Pro

Unstable based

Even the debian team recommends the testing or unstable branch for desktop systems. See More

Top Con

Unstable based

New packages are only tested a very short time in experimental and regular package updates are almost untested. See More

Top Pro

vanilla packages

since it is based on debian it also uses almost vanilla packages. See More

Top Con

Supports many Desktop Environments

It does not focus one desktop and tries to support multiple at once See More

Top Pro

Secure Boot support

It supports secure boot which is great for LiveCDs and dual boot systems. See More

Top Con

Upgrade warings are not included

There is only a forum thread for upgrade warnings. See More

BunsenLabs Linux

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Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Con

Long lag between when Debian releases and when bunsenlabs releases.

EagerHeqet's Experience

There's a lot of lag between when Debian releases and when bunsenlabs releases, so I always consider hopping to another distro, but I never do and always wait it out because I just love bunsenlabs so much. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian Stable

Default Desktop Environment:Openbox

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Main Usage:Lightweight Desktop

Top Pro

Different

It not just another distribution that ships an already in debian available desktop . See More

ChattyLethe's Experience

I tested it on my Acer Aspire One AO725 notebook. All hardware worked well. Blender worked to with no render smoothly. See More

Parrot GNU/Linux

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Top Pro

Compatible with Debian

It is compatible to Debian >=testing. See More

TrustingAtaguchu's Experience

Made for pentesting, but home edition is great as a general distro. Used for over a year would recommend! See More

Specs

Based On:Debian Testing

Default Desktop Environment:MATE, KDE

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Main Usage:Desktop, Penetration testing

Top Pro

Testing based

It is always based on the latest testing release so it includes more recent software than a stable based distribution. See More

Top Pro

Focuses just one desktop

It focus the MATE desktop which makes it unique compared to the more general distros. See More

Linux Mint Debian Edition

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Top Pro

Faster and more responsive than Ubuntu-based editions.

Debian has less overhead and customizations than ubuntu which makes it more responsive. See More

Top Con

Requires deeper knowledge

Requires a deeper knowledge and experience with Linux and Debian package management than Ubuntu-based editions. See More

HilariousOrmenos's Experience

Stable, with a load of open source stuff. Best for corporate environments See More

Specs

Based On:Debian Stable

Default Desktop Environment:Cinnamon

Package Manager:Debian Package manager

Main Usage:Desktop, Showcase for the Cinnamon desktop

Top Pro

Fully compatible to Debian

Its fully compatible to debian stable so more advanced users can easily switch to the testing or unstable branch. See More

Top Con

What is the point?

Nearly all packages in Mint are available in Debian. See More

ProductiveAnhur's Experience

iz gud See More

Top Pro

Feature rich

Incredibly lightweight yet feature rich and familiar desktop. Low CPU usage. Low memory usage. Runs VMs super smoothly. Native apps are universally best in class stable open source tools. See More

Top Con

May not work with newer packages from Ubuntu

LMDE is Debian based and while Ubuntu is also Debian based, Ubuntu uses newer packages than the version LMDE is based on, which can lead to some Ubuntu apps not being able to be installed. See More

LuckyMomus's Experience

Very solid project See More

Voyager

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Specs

Based On:Debian/Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME or Xfce

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Main Usage:Live System, Desktop

Whonix

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Specs

Based On:Debian

Default Desktop Environment:KDE

Main Usage:Live Desktop, Privacy

MX Linux

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Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Con

Remixed Debian stable

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

AwareTellumo's Experience

4 year Linux user See More

Specs

Based On:Debian Stable>antiX

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Main Usage:Stable System with backported Desktop

Top Pro

Based on Debian

Top Con

Uses Debian Stable

Even the Debian team recommends the use of testing or unstable for a Desktop system. See More

ConscientiousEndovelicus's Experience

I cant run VLC Media Player without it freezing the whole computer and no way to get out of it except the off switch See More

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 Con

Old software

Many software aplications are older See More

IntelQuackCore's Experience

great clean and snappy See More

Top Pro

Binary compatible

It is fully binary compatible with debian stable. See More

Top Con

Not much out of the box

While this might be a pro for some, it is a pain to have to go and find all the software you end up installing anyway. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Top Con

Too much preinstalled applications

Top Pro

Very stable

Top Con

Causes overheating on some hardwares

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

Top Pro

Easy install

Top Con

Includes non-free drivers

Top Pro

Supports non-free drivers

Top Con

Too much customization

Top Pro

Supports but doesn't rely on Systemd

Mx linux runs using the sysvinit init system, but it also uses systemd-shim to support systemd without relying on it. See More

Top Con

10s of media players preinstalled

Top Pro

No systemd

Top Con

Only one Desktop Environment

Top Pro

Can also be used as an emergency tool

It has almost all tools to repair non booting systems or recover files & folders and save them on a safe place. And when thought together with it starts quick on live-session. In addition, you can do these with "your own", customized distro (snapshot). See More

Top Con

VLC Useless

Top Pro

MX Snapshot: lets you make your own distro

Can create your own ISO (snapshot) and use it either as live-session and install back when needed. With the (pre-installed) Snapshot tool you can easily create an ISO of your running system and then save it to a USB (or other media) and use "your own" distro as a live session or install back whenever you like (even on a different PC with different specs with no issues). You can even give that customized ISO to friends (selecting "non-personal" ISO when creating the snapshot; thus resetting the accounts & passwords and Home folder etc.). Also you can save that ISO directly encrypted via MX Live USB Maker tool. Again, you can install MX encrypted during installation with just ticking a box, no matter if it's the official ISO or your snapshot. See More

Trisquel GNU/Linux

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Top Pro

Polished look and feel

Fresh installation looks great. See More

Top Con

No non-free drivers by default

What brings you the best and free OS if you can't connect to the internet? See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME, LXDE, MATE, Openbox

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Main Usage:Desktop without unfree software

Top Pro

Good but not so good

There's been a lot of effort put in this project through the years, there is no question about it. It's 100% free and it's very user-friendly, but it being based on Ubuntu 16.04 isn't the best thing, as you are working with software that still is actual but the versions are not the newest. See More

PsychOS

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Top Pro

Runs well on older, 32-bit hardware (i686)

PsychOS is designed for older/lighter, 32-bit, i686 hardware with plans to go even further back with i486 (PsychOS486), i386 and older (PsychDOS), and so on and so forth as opposed to always trying to run on the latest hardware, not that it could in most cases anyway since 32-bit i686 operating systems will run on most x86_64 ones. See More

Specs

Developer:https://theouterlinux.gitlab.io

File Size:3.8GB ISO

PureOS

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Top Con

Broken repositories

Nothing downloads, cannot search the repository, cannot download anything from repository too. See More

Top Pro

You can download and install it, without the need to purchase their laptop

PureOS is available from their site for free for anyone to use, no need to purchase any of their laptops in order to check out the OS which is a tweaked build of the Trisquel distro. See More

ConfidentTheros's Experience

I was so inspired to use it, when I turned it on, I wanted to make sure it was based on Debian, I wanted to download screenfetch, and it failed! Downloading anything would result into a fail! See More

Specs

Based On:Debian Testing

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

Main Usage:Desktop

Init-System:systemd

Top Con

Slower updates??

Updates are slower than an unmodified Debian. See More

Top Pro

PureBrowser and TOR

PureBrowser is a modified version of Firefox that comes with security focused plugins. There is also a copy of TOR installed in the OS by default. See More

Top Con

No non-free drivers by default

What brings you the best and free OS if you can't connect to the internet? See More

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