What are the best Linux distributions for beginners?

Official Supported Architectures:i386, amd64

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 Pro

The default desktop environment is easy to use

Top Con

Many proprietary (closed-source) packages

By default, Linux Mint includes almost all the proprietary packages just to improve the user experience. See More

AssertiveMorrigan's Experience

Works out the box. Stylish and easy to use graphical interface See More

Top Pro

Compatibility with Debian and Ubuntu software builds and repositories

Mint and gains the very strong package ecosystem and software manager of Debian, including more than 30,000 packages available from the Debian repositories. See More

Top Con

Software Center is a bit behind the times

In its current state, the Linux Mint Software Center is very outdated and contains some broken packages. See More

TactfulChantico's Experience

In my opinion Linux Mint and Ubuntu are the most easy and nice OS following with Elementary OS. I agree with almost all PRO and CON. But I didn't feel a problem Ubuntu going with it's own way. Anyway there are some very nice OS but definitely not for beginners like Open Suse. See More

Top Pro

Full multimedia support out of the box

Linux mint focuses first on usability, and thus provides proprietary multimedia support out of the box. This makes it a good choice as a distro if you're installing it for a novice user that is unable to install full multimedia support themselves. See More

Top Con

Buggy

For some people has really annoying bugs, like choppy menu navigation. Not stable, nor fast, nor smooth. See More

LoveableChrysothemis's Experience

It simply works. Zorin is a pain to customize properly, Debian has cascades of broken dependencies, but Mint works as a charm everytime. See More

Top Pro

Already functional out-of-the-box

Mint comes bundled with software for browsing the web, editing pictures, browsing files, watching videos and even a full office suite (LibreOffice). An average user can use Mint right away after a fresh install, using all the software that comes with the distribution to complete most of their daily tasks. See More

Top Con

Nothing new

Just another fork of Ubuntu. Produces nothing that can't be found in another Debian-based distros See More

HealthyChloris's Experience

For the absolute Linux newbie, Linux Mint is the best place to start. The layout is familiar, and maintenance is simple. See More

Top Pro

Complete and stable

Top Con

Security may be an issue

Linux Mint by default does not have auto updates turned on for things such as xorg or the kernel, thus leaving users with potentially insecure software. See More

StudiousZaqar's Experience

The default desktop environments of both MATE +and+ Cinnamon are fairly easy to use for beginners coming from Windows. See More

Top Pro

The OS is great for both starters and advanced users

The OS has different update settings for different users and has an easy manual within the OS. See More

Top Con

Does not handle multiple languages well

CulturedCopacati's Experience

clean and nice user interface and 99% work is done without using its terminal See More

Top Pro

Very customizable

Top Con

System update can lead the system to unstable

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

LovelyMetztli's Experience

Mint is very windows-like, and easy to install. I recommend this for a beginner but it'll likely grow old if you ever hope to advance in your knowledge of linux. See More

Top Pro

Extremely stable on old systems

Top Con

Cinnamon is not a DE exclusive to Mint

The whole "friendly interface for windows newcomers" thing is a joke. DEs and WMs are a thing independent from distros. And there are better looking, more intuitive Windowslike DEs with larger communities like Xfce or KDE. See More

AwesomestMaximon's Experience

Really easy.Can install packages from Debian and Ubuntu.Similar to win10 See More

Top Pro

Pretty desktop

Linux Mint has a quite pretty default desktop. Cinnamon is adopted by other distros also. See More

Top Con

Cinamon environment is not beautiful and in the same time KDE environment is no longer used

TrustworthyChukwu's Experience

Mint is about as close to windows a linux machine can look. Simpler too. 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

Political

Clement Lefebvre, the lead developer of Linux Mint said “I don’t want any money or help coming from people who support the actions of the Israeli government.” See More

IncredibleNefertum's Experience

it's easy to use,user friendly,like a windows in generaly See More

Top Pro

Easy to install extra drivers

If for some reason your wireless card or some other device is not supported out of the box, Linux Mint comes packaged with a handy GUI for pinpointing and installing the right firmware. See More

Top Con

Cheap Windows substitute

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

ardhill's Experience

Mint is my Daily Driver. I have used many different distributions, but Linux Mint is the one I prefer over them all. It looks good, is intuitive to use and quite simply 'Just works'. It allows me to use my computer as the tool it was intended, and not spend all my time getting my operating system to work. Some Linux OS need too much TLC to keep them going, Windows is a complete time-drain just keeping it updated and secure. Linux Mint just gets out of the way and lets me do my job, recreation, whatever. See More

Top Pro

Dedicated upgrade process

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

Lucifer Morningstar's Experience

Cheap 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

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

PoisedHahanu's Experience

Linux Mint is the king of "It just works" Linux distributions. Absolutely the best for the first experience as long as the computer has moderate memory, processor speed and disk space. 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 Con

The update doesn't work sometimes

Sometimes the update fails to configure a package. See More

ReverentKutkh's Experience

First experimented with Linux Mint 6/7 back in 2007 for my parents, but was so impressed that I switched over to Mint 8 in 2008, and have stuck with it ever since. Prefer the LMDE version over the regular (Ubuntu) version myself, but both are great! :) 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 Con

Limits to the support of propriatary hardware drivers

Mint has limited support for older graphics cards beyond the generic nouveau driver, and some software (like Stremio) only works with official Nvidia drivers (for example). See More

Ajay Kumar Rawani's Experience

Awesome ! See More

Top Pro

Update manager with update policies

Linuxmint has update policies. Unsafe software packages are in all distros. You can check for example here. To get daily reports by email, install the software package called Debsecan for Debian-based Linux. See More

Top Con

The Update doesn't work sometimes

Sometimes the update failed to configure a package. 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

Top Con

The Linux Mint website once provided spyware

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

Top Pro

Offers full support to proprietary software

Linux Mint does maintain a free software environment, however, it still offers full support to proprietary software (Chrome, Skype, TeamViewer, etc.). See More

Top Con

Mint comes from Ubuntu who flirts with Microsoft Windows world

what would happen to Mint if Ubuntu went to Microsoft's arms ? They already work a lot together. Your sectarianism is ridiculous. Microsoft is a member of The Linux Foundation, a subscriber of the quite closed Linux kernel security mailing list. Sure Windows is a privacy nightmare. But things have changed since the release of Halloween Papers and even Torvalds doesn't hold a grudge with M$. And we should appreciate the resulting improvement and wider adoption of Linux and its' components. See More

Top Pro

MATE desktop (as an option)

MATE is a classic desktop as opposed to the newer "Unity" desktop. For people who prefer the classic style this is one of only few modern distributions with still active MATE desktop development. See More

Top Con

Most desktop extensions available through the tweak tool have issues

Most desktop extensions available through its native tweak tool are not compatible with the system and never work. See More

Top Pro

The easiest option ever

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

Top Con

Linux Mint tries to force people to use less powerful custom package management system

The custom package management system is slow, frustrating, and forces you to select and install one package at a time. Can't select a whole load of packages and then run the installations in one go. They've also blocked certain powerful features of synaptic, the default Ubuntu/Debian package management application. See More

Top Pro

Not from a big company

Linux Mint is not Canonical, while based upon Ubuntu. 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

Has more desktop options

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

Top Con

Too many kernel crashes

Top Pro

You Can Choose To Have Auto Updates

Mint has implemented automatic updates. Set it along with Timeshift - the restore package, and you don't have to think about updating yourself again. It all happens automatically, and safely (with Timeshift). See More

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 Con

Problems with AMD/ATI

It supports X.Org drivers for graphics card, but the computer frequently completely freezes. See More

Top Con

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

Based On:Debian Stable>antiX

score 23 · Answer 2

MX-Linux

Top Pro

No systemd

Top Con

Too much customization

ChattyHeryshaf's Experience

great! See More

Specs

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE

Init-System:SysV-init & systemD

Official Supported Architectures:i586, amd64

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

Top Pro

MX Snapshot: lets you make your own distro

Top Con

Longer boot time

DecentSatanaya's Experience

Installed on netbook for a beginner who just loved the system. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Top Con

Includes non-free drivers

MethodicalPicus's Experience

It is stable See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

Top Con

10s of media players preinstalled

AmbitiousKusarikku's Experience

[1] MX Linux is slow. It's nothing like its speedy "cousin," antiX. [2] The UX is clunky. Test system specs: Type: Laptop System: Gateway product: NV55S v: V2.02 CPU: Topology: Quad Core model: AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon HD Graphics bits: 64 type: MCP L2 cache: 4096 KiB Speed: 1690 MHz min/max: 800/1500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1712 2: 1707 3: 1738 4: 1709 See More

Top Pro

Very stable

Top Con

Old software

Many software aplications are older See More

Top Pro

Based on Debian

Top Con

More than 50 tweaking softwares pre-installed

Top Pro

Easy install

Top Con

Installer and configuration tools are different

Installer and configuration tools are different and can take some time getting used to. See More

Top Pro

Supports non-free drivers

Top Con

Causes overheating on some hardwares

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

Remixed Debian testing

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

Top Con

Too much preinstalled applications

Top Con

Only one Desktop Environment

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 93 · Answer 3

Manjaro

Top Pro

Based on Arch and user friendly

Top Con

Not that beginner friendly

Archlinux, on which Manjaro is based, appeals to power users who want to control bloat by customizing every aspect of their build/install. While Manjaro is a more user-friendly of this, users with some knowledge of Linux and terminal commands will find the most benefit, especially if using a tiling windows like the popular Manjaro i3wm release. See More

SkillfulHilaera's Experience

great See More

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE, KDE Plasma, GNOME

RAM:64

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

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

WittyPamola's Experience

Velocidad de inicio, velocidad y desempeño de apertura y cierre de ventanas, compatibilidad con sistemas de ofimatica y sus recomendaciones, instalado en un Lenovo L430 Core I3 8gb Ram SSD 220gb See More

Top Pro

A rolling-release distribution

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

Top Con

Can still be unstable

Here are the details of it. See More

Lucifer Morningstar's Experience

Who wants an Arch based Distro as a beginner ? Stick with Stable stuff like debian based Ubuntu distro. See More

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

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. The issue here is that this is not done frequently, which means that Manjaro may be getting package updates much later than Arch. See More

Martyn Harrison (msheu)'s Experience

well laid out interface and KDE version looks amazing See More

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

Manjaro to discontinue support for beginners' 32-bit computers

Manjaro, just like its parent distro Arch already has, is planning to eventually discontinue support and distro SW for 32-bit PCs (i686, x86). But many beginning Linux users are still using 32-bit Windows7-compatible machines, and have no plans to discard these PCs once Manjaro leaves 32-bit by the wayside for 64-bit (amd64, x86_64). See More

PioneeringKoliada's Experience

Best distro for modern Hardware See More

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

Bad Dependencies

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

AntiWindows's Experience

Manjaro Linux has good performance for real and virtual machine. 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

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

AmbitiousKusarikku's Experience

Manjaro is slow. Test system specs: Type: Laptop System: Gateway product: NV55S v: V2.02 CPU: Topology: Quad Core model: AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon HD Graphics bits: 64 type: MCP L2 cache: 4096 KiB Speed: 1690 MHz min/max: 800/1500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1712 2: 1707 3: 1738 4: 1709 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

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

MemorableInvidia's Experience

User friedly, polished and far cleaner than debian like. pacman is definitively amazing compared to dpkg 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

Uses systemd

PracticalLiber's Experience

Great first Linux experience for a beginner like myself. Very stable distribution, backed up by access to the AUR for when you feel a little more confident. See More

Top Pro

Very good looking desktops

All desktops look good by default. See More

Top Con

Same cons that apply to Arch Linux

Since it is based on Arch Linux. See More

VladimirB's Experience

Ubuntu8-18, Mint 17-18, Manjaro 18 , OpenSUSE. 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

Bloated

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

most of favourite programs do not have official versions for Manjaro.

Also most of favourite programs do not have official versions for Manjaro and or reliable versions in AUR (ppa- repos for Ubuntu provide much better quality so far) e.g. Virtualbox (when you try to install it from AUR pacman reports missing database) or Megasync from Mega.nz has no version for Manjaro at all. 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

Nothing new

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

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. As a result, it requires more disk spaces. See More

Top Pro

Steam installed by default

Top Con

Very slow development for 32-bit hardwares

ArchLinux-32 community maintains their forums every day. They upload new ISO's every month. But Manjaro-32 community upload new ISO's once in every 6 months. And provide only a DE-mate. See More

Top Pro

Good documentation and forum

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

Deepin desktop environment is a worthy attraction

Top Con

It's Archbuntu

Top Con

Redundant

It's just Arch Linux with an easier installer so there is no reason to use it. See More

Top Con

Nothing new.

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

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

Top Con

No gfvs pre-installed

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

Top Con

Slightly bloated

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

score 24 · Answer 4

Peppermint Linux OS

Top Pro

Comes with a variety of helpful tools

ExcellentKotharWaKhasis's Experience

Stable, user friendly ans has LTS. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce

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

Top Pro

Fast and light on resources

Top Pro

Looks great

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

Top Pro

Friendly and helpful forum

Top Pro

Peppermint 10 is Stable

Top Pro

Offers a long term support release

Peppermint 10 (20190514), based on the 18.04 LTS (long term support) code base. See More

Top Pro

Peppermint9 is stable

Peppermint 9OS (32 and 64 bit) has been updated to the Respin PPA. See More

Although Solus may not have as much software as other distributions, the software selection is well curated and is quick and easy to install through the included software center. See More

score 26 · Answer 5

Solus

Top Pro

Good software selection

Top Con

Not much documentation online

If you run into a problem, there's not much help available online. Nearly the only source of documentation you have is the Solus website. See More

HelpfulPeklenc's Experience

I use this as a daily driver, but it is not beginner friendly. The lack of important software means you will have to compile many programs from source. The choice of inbuilt software is terrible. They pack in Nautilus and other outdated software. Snap and Flatpak support is good, so if your programs are offered as that, you will be fine. Appimage support is nonexistent. The forums are terrible and this project is underfunded. Development is extremely slow. On the bright side, this is one of, if not the fastest modern linux distro that doesn't require very much setup. This is the best distro for gaming period. Its package management is idiotic. It needs Deb or Rpm support. See More

Specs

Based On:Scratch

Init-System:systemd

Official Supported Architectures:x86_64

Package Manager:eopkg package manager (PiSi fork)

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

Easy installation

Top Con

The default desktop environment is not very customizable

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

Ferre Franckx's Experience

Ex distro-hopper :) Solus is for me THE distro to go to. Although the software is not as abundant as other distro's it's MORE than enough for my everyday tasks. Modern, fast, beautiful, stable, always-up-to-date. See More

Top Pro

Stable

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

Top Con

Not much software

There is not much software available. See More

ConfidentWongTaiSin's Experience

Sehr Benutzerfreundlich! See More

Top Pro

Great package management

The software center makes really easy to install the latest software. Including third party software. See More

Top Con

You rely on software center to update your applications

Solus - and therefor all the applications - can only be updated via the software center, so you will be running outdated applications until the devs update the software center, which can take some time. See More

ChattyNinurta's Experience

best rr distro See More

Top Pro

Built from scratch

Top Con

Slow development

CaffeinatedHermes's Experience

Doesn't handle installation on UEFI very well. Many problems creating a working live-usb from iso. See More

Top Pro

Default experience is clean and easy

The default desktop experience on the Budgie version is very clean and streamlined. Although the Budgie DE isn't the most customisable, but it's customisable enough for me to recreate the desktop style of ElementaryOS with the dock and bar at the top. See More

Top Con

No USB Image writer

Top Pro

Provides a solid out-of-the-box experience

Multiple looks and feels to choose from, default software is useful, hardware issues are rare. See More

Top Con

Software a bit slower to launch than for other distributions

Top Pro

Frequent updates

Users get new software quickly and don't require proficiency to maintain their system. See More

Top Con

An upgrade breaks the system quite often

Top Pro

Modern desktop environment

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

Top Con

Forums are not very friendly

Top Pro

Rolling release

Top Con

There is often a black screen after update

Top Pro

Responsive

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

Top Pro

Exclusively for desktop systems

Top Pro

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

Most stable Rolling Release distro

The visually appealing and easy to use installer makes dual booting as easy as it can be. See More

score 29 · Answer 6

Pop!_OS

Top Pro

User-friendly installer

Top Con

Gnome GUI only

TruthfulArke's Experience

After my computer murdered by the virus known as Windows 10, this OS saved my computing experience and made some of my games run faster See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

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

Top Pro

A separate NVIDIA version

Top Con

64-bit only

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

Top Pro

Made by a hardware seller

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

Top Con

Gnome is bloated and bad

Luckly, you can change the desktop environment with simple commands out of the box, like: Cinnamon, XFCE, KDE and others. See More

Top Pro

Pop! makes GNOME look really good

If you're a fan of flat desktop interfaces reminiscent of Material design on Android, you'll like the theme that comes as a default in Pop! OS. The desktop and title bars all use a bright turquoise theme that makes the interface feel happy and borderline retro-chic. See More

Top Pro

Lutris and Steam are in the Pop Shop

Meaning no mounting PPAs or dealing with .deb or flatpaks for Lutris See More

Top Pro

Optimized for modern hardware

Whereas normally, to use a brand new computer with a Linux OS, you would typically try to use unstable and sometimes buggy drivers - or struggle without hardware support until a stable release comes along. See More

Top Pro

Nice gnome theme dy default

Has nice gnome theme looks really good. See More

Top Pro

Ready to play games, out of the box

If you still miss how easy it was to just click-install and play games in Windows, Pop! will give you that similar expectation. See More

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

score 139 · Answer 7

Ubuntu

Top Pro

Lots of support

Top Con

Relatively high system requirements

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

Vaibhav Barthwal's Experience

I personally feel that it is very easy to use in both command line and mouse clicking. See More

Specs

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

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

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 Pro

Simplicity

Top Con

Likes to reinvent the wheel

Cannonical tends to ignore existing solutions, tries to develop their own and in the end gives up. It is with their Mir display server and Unity desktop environment. Severe changes like that are not beginner-friendly. See More

VersatileWurrunna's Experience

Mint is Awesome for Beginners, VERY Intuitive Windows Type theme, but ... Ubuntu has embraced Gnome in 17.10 and 18.04 LTR and in my opinion, well worth the effort. Give it a try and watch Ubuntu get Wayland's Support speed ahead! and their embrace of Gnome 3.26 which is awesome with their Extensions. And let the Linux Convergence begin! See More

Top Pro

Very well documented

It's very simple to troubleshoot Ubuntu for most computers or laptops, even on Macs as there is a plethora of documentation across the web. See More

Top Con

Canonical (author) is propertiary

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

bipul kumar's Experience

it have a huge community support to help and solve any problem.i think gui is also better for begginers. See More

Top Pro

Dedicated software store

Ubuntu offers the Software Center in their older version of the OS as well as a program called Gnome Software, in their newest release of the OS. Both use a GUI interface for installing new software, which is extremely easy and welcoming for beginners to Linux. More advanced users can also install software through the terminal, as it tends to be much faster and easier, after one is used to it. See More

Top Con

Is known for problems with updates

Crashes often when upgrading the system to a new version. See More

StudiousZaqar's Experience

The main stock Ubuntu has had Unity desktop for awhile now. Interface is confusing for new users. See More

Top Pro

Just works out of the box

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

Top Con

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

CompetentEnbilulu's Experience

It's great 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

Includes adware

Advertisers pay to have their links or software preinstalled. Like the links to Amazon installed by default in the dock. See More

IncredibleParthenos's Experience

I decided that because Ubuntu was the most popular Linux distro I should get it for support. This is my first Linux distro and I am happy with it. See More

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

Binary incompatible to Debian

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

MemorableInvidia's Experience

Can't upgrade without reinstallation. UI is messy. DEFINITIVELY NOT FOR BEGINER : poor support if any problems See More

Top Pro

Has a clean Gnome Interface

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

Top Con

Messy repositories

Managing thousands of PPAs is most definitely not user friendly. 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

Unity interface might be confusing for new users

Unity does not align itself with the normal desktop paradigm and thus has a bit of a confusing UI in comparison to the norm of a Windows user. See More

Top Pro

Stable

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

Top Con

Tends to do its own thing

Ubuntu has a user interface that is specific to Ubuntu and is now working on its own display server. It also tends to have configuration that is done slightly different (and arguably more beginner friendly) than elsewhere. So while this is a great Linux distribution in its own right, it might not be the first choice for someone wanting to learn Linux itself. See More

Top Pro

Looks good

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

Top Con

Unity has relatively limited customization

Many users select Linux because they have heard it is customizable. Compared to other desktop environments, Unity has relatively few options to alter the look & feel. 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

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

There are many different DEs with it's base other than Unity

Luckily Ubuntu offers full support for many branches such as Ubuntu-Gnome, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu-Mate, and Lubuntu. All of which come with a different DE than Unity. So flexibility is the word. See More

Top Con

Extremely un-customizable

Top Pro

Good PPA repositories available

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

Top Con

Random system errors may pop up

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

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

Cares about stable drivers

All distributed drivers are well reviewed and will rarely cause an issue. 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

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

Redundant

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

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

Systemd

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

Splits the Debian community

The most packages are imported from Debian but Ubuntu uses own bug trackers and develops its own patches. See More

Top Con

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

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

Top 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

The desktop UI was made to resemble Windows, but alternative settings are available. See More

score 36 · Answer 8

Zorin

Top Pro

Familiar interface

Top Con

Limited desktop styles in Free Version

All free editions only offer Windows XP, 2000, and 7 and Gnome 2. You have to pay $9-10 in order to get Unity (Ubuntu) and Mac OS X themes. See More

EnthusiasticBrizo's Experience

Easy to install and learn - much simpler than windows! See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu LTS

Default Desktop Environment:Gnome / Xfce

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Zorin in compatible with Ubuntu's sizable repositories of Free Software. See More

Top Pro

Ubuntu-based

Top Con

Lack of customization

The free edition is packed with buil- in features but it has limited customization options. See More

SupportiveEnten's Experience

Super easy to setup. Zorin connect is amazing for getting your android phone communicating with your computer like IOS. Great design and easy to setup without having to do any workarounds. See More

Top Pro

Partial Windows compatibility

Zorin includes WINE and PlayOnLinux to run many Windows applications and games. See More

Top Con

Free editions not that well-supported

For beginners to get the best support, they are ultimately pushed from Trying (Free) to Buying. This is eerily similar to the historical "free" crippleware software from the pre-millennial DOS and Windows 3.1 OS's/GUI period.... You either had to buy that software to continue to use it (along with getting needed SW support/manual) or else that SW would just stop working after a certain defined period of time. See More

Top Pro

Good Selection of pre-installed software

New users may be unaware of what software is available for Linux, but Zorin includes a good selection for everyday tasks out of the box. See More

Top Con

High resource usage

Zorin OS uses Gnome 3 desktop environment which is one of the, if not the, heaviest desktop environment. See More

Top Pro

Windows desktop style

The desktop UI was made to resemble Windows 7, but alternative settings are available. See More

Top Pro

Very easy to use

Top Pro

Stable

Top Pro

Printer-ready

The settings app in Zorin supports many different kinds of printers and readies them out-of-the-box. See More

Top Pro

Installer can set up dual boot

The installer is based upon the Ubuntu installer, supporting dual boot capabilities. See More

Top Pro

Low resources consumption

Top Pro

Bundles tools for changing the look and feel of the distribution

Zorin includes look changer and theme changer. See More

Top Pro

Accessibility features

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

score 9 · Answer 9

Devuan GNU+Linux

Top Pro

Debian without systemd

Top Con

Difficult to install on non-free hardware

ResponsibleTaweret's Experience

Light resource usage See More

Specs

Based On:Debian

Default Desktop Environment:Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE and XFCE

Official Supported Architectures: AArch64 (ARM64), ARM EABI (armel), armhf (arm hard float), Intel 386 (i386), ppc64 (64-bit PowerPC) and x86-64 (AMD64)

Release Schedule:Long-term support (stable edition) and rolling release (testing and unstable editions)

Isn't based on systemd which can spread malware into your system. See More

Top Pro

Init based

Top Pro

Stability

It is stable like Debian. See More

Top Pro

Excellent for normal people

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

Top Pro

Very secure

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

It's Debian

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

Uses vram, and a zen kernel. See More

score 5 · Answer 10

Garuda Linux

Top Pro

Super-fast

Top Con

Needs a lot of RAM

Minimum is 4GB, for most Linux distributions it's 2GB or less. See More

Specs

Desktop Environments:x11

Top Pro

Easy entrance to Arch Linux

Filled to the brim with lots of quality-of-life changes and optimizations that are simple enough for long-time Windows, long-time Mac users, and Arch newbies to understand. Though, it also leads to bloat or not necessarily helpful extra software. If you're not into the "bloat" added in, try checking out the barebones version, you'll need to know a lot of things bout Arch to fully use barebones. See More

Top Pro

Themes

The dr460nized KDE theme is awesome. See More

Top Pro

Highly customized interface

You already have most of the customization done for you out of the box. See More

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

score 36 · Answer 11

Deepin

Top Pro

Easy to use

Top Con

Strange development organization

There aren't any sort of improvements over Deepin v15.1, though the only changes are icons, that become better. See More

MightyEtugenEke's Experience

Easy to use, and looks really nice. Has a great app store. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Origin:China

The OS is extremely easy to install as it doesn't ask you about making a swap partition. Some Linux beginners doesn't know anything about a swap partition and becomes confused. See More

Top Pro

Easy to install the OS

Top Con

The only Linux distro that can't restart normally (on a PC)

ImaginativeEndursaga's Experience

beautyfull and simple to use 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

Cannot customize desktop environment

Because the developers have locked down desktop customization is A HUGE detractor against the idea of setting things up how you want. 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 Con

Based in China

Top Pro

Excellent apps

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

Top Con

Very slow installer

Because the servers are in China. 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 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

Company behind it

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

Top Con

Deepin store apps not up to date

Top Pro

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

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

Top Con

Slow default repos

Download speed for packages from the default repos, is abnormally slow. See More

Top Pro

Rolling release

It's a rolling release. Meaning that it will get updated automatically. See More

Top Con

Rather buggy, numerous screen hangs, and Firefox downloaded in Chinese

Rather buggy, numerous screen hangs, and Firefox downloaded in Chinese. It simply seems to be a Chinese distro made by, further for Chinese. See More

Top Pro

Has its own tool kit

They have their own tool kit called "Deepin Tool Kit". And they themselves uses it. See More

Top Con

Customization is a bit hidden

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

Top Pro

Great design to the app store

The app store is gorgeous. 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

Not based on Ubuntu

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

Top Pro

Loads programs faster than other Linux distributions.

Even though there is a lot of design, Deepin OS still manages to load programs faster than other Linux distributions. See More

Top Pro

Launches programs faster

Programs load and launch faster in Deepin than other Linux distribution. It takes only about 3 seconds to launch Chrome! 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

Quite lightweight

Even though there is a plenty amount of design in Deepin OS, it is still quite light. If there is nothing running in the background, then it takes about 950 MB of ram. Also, Deepin OS keeps becoming lighter on each release. See More

Top Pro

Based on Debian

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

Top Pro

Supports Flatpak

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

Blur and transparent design

Deepin has a blur and transparent design throughout the OS, which makes it one of the, if not the, most beautiful Linux distro. See More

Top Pro

Includes both Windows and macOS style interface

Top Pro

Great support for graphics cards

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

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

Network Managment

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

Seamless transition from Windows to Linux

Easy to install, comes with default packages to typical needs e.g. Chrome, WPS office, System Monitor and a bunch of multimedia utilities. It's easy to install and uninstall applications, it has a great app store and is fast. On the same laptop runs much faster than Windows 10 did. See More

Being based on Ubuntu, it's very beginner friendly. See More

score 30 · Answer 12

Xubuntu

Top Pro

Easy to use

Top Con

XFCE development is slow

The desktop environment used in Xubuntu has not been updated in over two years and is developed at a snail's pace. See More

StudiousZaqar's Experience

Xubuntu is better than mainstream Ubuntu with the latter's confusing Unity interface. At the same time, Xubuntu as a "community project" is slightly less supported than mainstream Ubuntu (important for beginners!) This is reflected by the fact that Xubuntu is much less popular on DistroWatch than mainstream Ubuntu and even less popular than Lubuntu. If beginners require a less resource-intensive Ubuntu-based distro than even Xubuntu, then Lubuntu is easily their best choice. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce

Xubuntu is a very light OS, if one has an older computer that no longer supports a new OS, Xubuntu is the perfect fit. One great example is that on older MacBooks, Xubuntu is a good choice, when they no longer support the newest version of macOS. See More

Top Pro

Great for older computers

Top Con

Somewhat unsupported as a secondary Ubuntu "community project"

Xubuntu is slightly less-supported than mainstream Ubuntu with Unity. This is reflected on DistroWatch, as Xubuntu is less popular than mainstream Ubuntu. See More

DecorousHarmonia's Experience

It works! I have tried just about every Linux distro that installs with a desktop from go, and this one gave me the least trouble setting it up how I like it. I refuse to use Linux on a fairly new computer, as support depends on communities and volunteers, and they are continually playing catch up with new hardware. I don't know why reviews prefer Ubuntu itself or Linux Mint, they make my computers run like dogs, and so illogical and counter intuitive to navigate. My second choice is Lubuntu. I started off with Red Hat and hated Debian but thanks to Xubuntu and its Ubuntu software availability without wasting time compiling, I am converted. Cannot understand why a destop has to look cool, functionality rules. See More

Top Pro

Light on resources

It uses xfce desktop, which is highly configurable, yet easy to use and very low on ram and battery. No eye-candy like unity or KDE. See More

Top Con

Redundant

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

Top Pro

Easiest packages to install

Uses .deb packages. These are the easiest to install for new users because you'll find instructions for them but not for .rpm packages, for instance. See More

Top Con

UI is pretty generic without customization

The default XFCE UI is pretty generic and sometimes ugly unless customized to suit the user's needs and liking. Customization in XFCE is easier than on Unity, but still hard for beginners. See More

Top Pro

Conservative, yet modern

It comes with all Ubuntu goodness but without bloat, a perfect mix between new ideas and usability. See More

Top Con

Looks somewhat ugly

Xubuntu uses XFCE out of the box which is somewhat ugly and may not be appealing to new Linux users. See More

Top Pro

Works out-of-the-box

Doesn't require a lot of configuration like Arch or even debian. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

Xubuntu is very fast and makes good use of resources. See More

Top Pro

Quick boot time

Boots at about double the speed of most distributions. See More

Top Pro

Comes with lightweight applications

Xubuntu is designed as a lightweight operating system and Linux distro. It uses XFCE by default and comes packed with XFCE applications which are generally pretty lightweight. See More

Top Pro

Customizable

Official distro of XFCE, one of the most customizable desktop environments. In XFCE you can create as many tasks bars as you need and configure every one of their elements and behaviours. You can also change any icon, font, color... etc. Literally there's nothing you can't change in GUI. See More

Default Desktop Environment:Bash (Unix shell), Cinnamon, GNOME (Testing), i3 (Testing), KDE Plasma, LXDE, LXQt, MATE and XFCE

score 3 · Answer 13

Artix Linux

Top Pro

No systemd

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux

Official Supported Architectures:x86-64 (AMD64) and AArch64 (ARM64)

Package Manager:Pacman

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

Top Pro

Rolling distro

Top Pro

runit

Top Pro

Flexibility

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

Top Pro

Lightweight

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

Top Pro

Close to bare Arch Linux

No learning curve if you're coming from Arch or any of its derivatives See More

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

score 67 · Answer 14

elementary OS

Top Pro

UI design consistency

Top Con

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

PatientMefitis's Experience

If Apple were to create an open source macOS clone of itself — Elementary OS would be it. Beautiful. Intuitive. It just works. And that's the way a PC should be. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:Pantheon

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 Pro

Extremely user-friendly

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

PerfectUnut's Experience

Looks very similar to MacOS which can give new users a sense of familiarity. Based on Ubuntu, pretty fast (in my experience at least) and has a very polished feel to it. The installer is also very user-friendly. Over See More

Top Pro

Simplicity, limited configurability

Sane defaults with less confusion for new users. 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 Pro

Built on Ubuntu

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

Top Con

Quite buggy

Top Pro

Lightweight & fast

Runs well on limited-resources hardware, including netbooks / chromebooks. 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

Customization is not a problem with new tweak tools

Now the OS is amazingly customizable. See More

Top Con

Heavy animations

It has some animations that don‘t run well on older hardware. Fans will spool up when the graphics and animations put a strain on the CPU if GPU support is not enabled or available. See More

Top Pro

Dual boot setup is painless on a Windows 10 machine

Top Con

Outdated or bad default applications

Top Pro

The UI/UX is similar if you like MacOSX

Top Con

PPA disabled by default

Top Pro

Great app store

The new app store AppCenter that was recently released is fantastic. It has some very useful and great looking apps. See More

Top Con

UI doesn't let you change anything

Every installation of elementaryOS looks exactly like the same. See More

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

Problems with basic functions

Problems often arise with functions like keyboard layout and touchpad. 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

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

A new approach to many old ideas.

Simple little details to user friendliness that surprise Linux/Mac/ and Windows users alike. See More

Top Con

Not very configurable

Top Con

Emacs doesn't work

Emacs crashes due to a partial gnome library update. 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 Con

Hangs often

Crashes often, especially when using a browser (whether it is Midori, Chrome, Chromium, Epiphany or Firefox). Granted, it's still is probalby faster than running Windows on the same (especially old) machine. See More

Top Con

No proprietary driver installer

Elementary OS removed the driver installer of Ubuntu. See More

Top Con

Limited and outdated packages

Packages can be very outdated, and many can't be installed from official repos. See More

Top Con

Boring UI

It can be very boring. See More

While Debian is certainly among the most popular distros on DistroWatch, it just isn't designed for beginners coming from the Windows and MacOS worlds. Debian's end-user support for beginners is tortuous to say the least, and it's an INCREDIBLY steep learning-curve for beginners to successfully install and learn to use Linux through Debian! See More

Answer 15

Debian

Top Con

Not really designed for Beginners

Top Pro

Comes with over 37500 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 37500 packages (software that is precompiled and ready to be installed on a local machine) -- all of them for free. See More

StudiousZaqar's Experience

While Debian is an incredibly awesome distro itself, I'm surprised that it's listed as a Beginners distro. Mint, Ubuntu, and other Ubuntu-based distros are much, much better than Debian for those who've been using Windows-based PCs and or Macs. See More

Specs

Official Supported Architectures:amd64 (x86_64), arm64 (aarch64), armel, armhf, i386, mipsel, mips64el, ppc64el, s390x

Package Manager:dpkg (Debian Package Manager)

Release Schedule:approximately every 24 months

Main Usage:Universal