What is the best Linux Distribution for gaming?

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Feb 21, 2020

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Best Linux Distribution for gaming	Price	Based On	Default Desktop Environment
87 Arch Linux	-	N/A	N/A
86 Solus	-	N/A	Budgie, GNOME, MATE, KDE Plasma
-- Manjaro	-	Arch Linux	KDE, GNOME and XFCE
-- SteamOS	-	Debian	Steam Big Picture, Gnome
-- Gentoo Linux	-	N/A	N/A

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score 33 · Answer 1

Arch Linux

Top Pro

A package for almost everything

If you need to install something, chances are someone in the Arch community has already made a package for it. This makes it incredibly easy for you to install and maintain all of the non-media content on your computer. See More

Top Con

Manual install process

Installing archlinux must be done manually from the command line. See More

Specs

See All Specs

Top Pro

Cutting edge rolling release

Latest version of softwares and the OS itself. See More

Top Con

Not for the faint of heart

Arch only holds your hand a little bit of the way. While documentation is great, you are expected to know what you're doing. The result is that when you find the solution for a problem on a forum or elsewhere, the response may be completely over your head. If you're not well-versed in Linux, what would be a minor issue on another distribution can become a drawn-out research project on Arch, as you learn all the inner workings of the operating system, until you understand it well enough to solve your problems yourself. See More

Top Pro

Latest drivers

Latest graphics card drivers. See More

Top Con

Too many package upgrades that require manual intervention

Every year or so there is a update to ArchLinux that will break your system unless you first read the front page of archlinux.org. This happened with SystemD and with a few other updates that require you to do prior steps befor pacman -Syu. See More

Top Pro

As slim or copious as you want it

Arch keeps its core repositories slim and free of unnecessary dependencies. At first installation only a bare system is set up. You can easily get the other applications through the package manager. The repositories are nearly as full as those of Ubuntu, while they are often more up to date. That way you don't have to waste time with software you don't need or want. See More

Top Con

Problems with driver/kernel/gpu consistency

Arch has no proper desktop support, you must craft your system together. Things may work for the first but generally it takes days to configure a stable and working system. This is NOT ideal for a desktop user. See More

Top Pro

Support for a large variety of hardware

From latest wacom pads to obscure wireless cards in laptops Arch's hw support has been and continues to be good. It has worked on laptops where other leading distro's like debian/ mint/ ubuntu failed to detect and work with all hardware. See More

Top Con

Rolling release requires bandwidth

Arch uses a rolling release model for updates. Unlike, for example Ubuntu where a new version is released every six months, packages are updated when they are ready. The advantage is a very up to date system and that the work of upgrading can be spread over a longer span of time to a point where it is hardly noticeably effort. However it can be difficult for people without a high bandwidth connection, or with limits on how many GB can be downloaded imposed by their internet service providers. A GB a month of downloads is quite possible. This can be somewhat offset by Arch being lightweight, besides the relatively small core, the user selects what is installed (and has to be updated). See More

Top Pro

Fast and simple package management

pacman works much faster than apt-get or yum due to better mirrors than other distributions tend to select by default. There are fewer default repositories to download from though all package management is combined into one tool instead of being split into dpkg, apt-get, and apt-cache like on Debian distros. See More

Top Con

Requires some background with Linux and the command-line to setup

Going in with zero Linux knowledge is not really recommended when wanting to install Arch, though it can be a good learning experience for those that are dedicated to trial and error as well as reading many faqs. See More

Top Pro

Simplicity is absolutely the principal objective behind Arch development

The design approach of the development team focuses on elegance, code correctness, minimalism, and simplicity, and expects the user to be willing to make some effort to understand the system's operation. See More

Top Con

Not ready out of the box

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

Top Pro

Good overall system quality

QoL of Arch is generally good. You get something more consistent and doable in Arch then you would get with most other OSes. See More

Top Con

Not ready out of the box

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

Top Pro

No restrictive handholding, pure control over everything

Arch is mainly aimed at experienced Linux users, there is no hand-holding and not much in a way of UI elements when trying to install or tweak settings. See More

Top Con

Fragile packages

Updating an Arch system is always a gamble. The problem could be as simple as a package having a bug causing a program to crash on start or it may be something bigger like the WiFi or Bluetooth no longer working. There is also the slight chance the system may not even boot at all after a large update. If the user does not plan to read the forums weekly/daily or update fairly often, things can go wrong very fast. See More

Top Pro

Excellent documentation

Arch's goal of simplicity means there's usually one preferred way to get things done - through organized and well documented configuration files. This focus, combined with the community's recognition that configuration files can be intimidating, has resulted in excellent documentation that's accessible to newcomers, and very instructive about how Linux actually works. The documentation is often so thorough that, when searching for solutions to problems while using other distributions, such as with video card drivers, oftentimes you'll find the most effective solution in the Arch Linux wiki or on the forums. See More

Top Con

Package manager is so naive

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

Top Pro

Intuitive and easy to use package manarer

Pacman is the besteht package manager I used so far. It has options for everything, even removing orphans. See More

Top Con

Not so great overall

Apart from the ArchBuildSystem/AUR, which brings you newer package versions very quickly, there is not really much where Arch Linux shines. You get better package managers with other systems. The most Linux distributions are far more stable than Arch. You learn more about Linux by using LFS or a source based distribution. You can customize the system much more in LFS or Gentoo. See More

Top Pro

No need for external repos

The default and community repo of Arch Linux are so vast, that there is barely any need for additional software sources. And if there is, the additional software can be added to AUR, which results in the need actually growing the Arch repos. See More

Top Con

Requires expert Linux and command-line knowledge to setup

Going in with zero Linux knowledge is not really recommended when wanting to install Arch, though it can be a good learning experience for those that are dedicated to trial and error as well as reading many faqs. See More

Top Pro

Highly customizable

Tailor the system to your needs. See More

Top Con

Instability can be an issue

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

Top Pro

Helpful for understanding how Linux is installed

Arch does not come with an automatic installation process. The user is expected to walk through the installation steps published on the Arch wiki. This is very useful if, later, something happens to the installation as the user will be more familiar with the foundational steps required to get a full blown Arch installation working. See More

Top Con

Pacman is a slow package manager

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

Top Pro

Helpful community

If searching through the wiki or the forums for any problems turns nothing, any question on the official forums, Arch subreddit or the IRC channel will be answered within minutes. There will probably be no hand-holding however, Arch users prefer to point anyone to a resource that may help them instead of trying to outright solve their problem in a forum thread. This is quite helpful for people who want to really learn how their system works but also for other people who may stumble in that thread considering how most problems don’t have a universal solution. See More

Top Con

No Graphical Installer

although some derivatives such as Manjaro and ArcoLinux exist See More

Top Pro

Arch Linux Wiki

The Arch Linux Wiki is very useful not just for Arch Linux users, but for anyone who uses Linux. See More

Top Con

Pacman is a slow package manager

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

Top Con

Not really for desktop

More like for posting screenshots on Reddit. See More

Top Con

Lost its way

It aimed to be KISS but it has lost its way and is getting more and more complex, for example, it uses systemd which is anything but KISS. It also has now some kind of package post configuration included. See More

Top Con

Occasional upstream package bugs

Most package maintainers look for issues that the packages might have ispecifically for arch. Which means if a package has a bug that applies to all Linux distros regardless of the flavor, the maintainer may not be able to: A) catch it before pushing a update or B) have to wait for the packages developers to fix it. This is a minor issue because most issues are often patched before the end of the day if many users rely on it, or if its a less used package there will be specific troubleshooting instructions on the arch site. See More

Top Con

Works only on AMD64

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

Top Con

Documentation only makes sense if you know how to adjust it

While the documentation is a very valuable reference for experts, the recipes often don't actually work on your own computer. Some articles are outdated, incomplete, contradictory or duplicated. Only if you are expert enough to know which steps to skip, to adjust or which other documentation parts to plug in, you can make it work. See More

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score 63 · Answer 2

Solus

Top Pro

Great package management

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

Top Con

Not much software

There is not much software available. See More

GardenData61371's Experience

The Distro that ended my Distro hopping. See More

Specs

See All Specs

Top Pro

Easy installation

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

Top Con

The default desktop environment is not very customizable

Maybe due to the fact that it's a relatively new project, Budgie desktop environment of Solus OS is not very customizable. You can only change the theme and wallpaper. Hopefully this issue will be resolved in the future. See More

EmpatheticSraosha's Experience

Super stable, fast, best SO ever. See More

Top Pro

Home of LSI (Linux Steam Integration)

The devs put a lot of time into optimizing the distro for optimal performance, LSI is a tool which fixes a lot of bugs and increases integration and performance of Steam games with the system. See More

Top Con

Slow development

Top Pro

Stable

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

Top Con

It's impossible to get Radeon proprietary drivers

Sadly even Solus creator stated that right now it's impossible to use Radeon proprietary drivers on Solus because it doesnt support .deb packages that are only way of attaining them from AMD. See More

Top Pro

Built from scratch

Top Con

Software a bit slower to launch than for other distributions

Top Pro

Looks great out of the box yet customizable

Budgie has now evolved and is much more customizable than it was in the past. Solus is making great improvements. See More

Top Con

Forums are not very friendly

Top Pro

Responsive

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

Top Con

No USB Image writer

Top Pro

Optimized

The devs put a lot of working into optimizing system libraries for the best performance. 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

There is often a black screen after update

Top Pro

Rolling release

Top Pro

Exclusively for desktop systems

Top Pro

Most stable Rolling Release Distro

Top Pro

Seamless packages

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

Top Pro

Generic pre-installed drivers work efficiently

See All

score 15 · Answer 3

Manjaro

Top Pro

Steam installed by default

Top Con

A start job is running for LiveMedia MHWD Script

No timeout on a boot script that can't easily be diagnosed. See More

Specs

See All Specs

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

Installing software with pamac takes more clicks than necessary

Mostly due to GTK3. See More

Top Pro

Pretty UI

Balanced colors, icons, and wallpaper. See More

Top Con

A fair amount of the documentation is outdated or incomplete

Not a huge deal though, due to the similarity with Arch. See More

Top Pro

Based on Arch and user friendly

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

Top Con

Can still be unstable

Here are the details of it. See More

Top Pro

Community flavors available

Spins/versions include : Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, GNOME, i3, lxqt, mate, xfce, kde, minimal. 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 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

New packages and security updates are held for testing longer

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

Top Pro

MHWD offers easy hardware management with free and non-free drivers

Decent GUI for selecting video drivers, and easily installing and switching between multiple kernel versions. 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

Top Pro

AUR support enabled by default

Top Con

Nothing new

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

Top Con

Weekly manual updates

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

Top Con

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

ARM version just got dropped

See All

score 23 · Answer 4

SteamOS

Top Pro

Made for gaming

SteamOS is built by Valve specifically to run on machines for gaming on Linux. See More

Top Con

Not built around the desktop experience

SteamOS is, first and foremost, meant to act as a gaming console - it doesn't ship with even some of the most basic applications, such as a file manager or image viewer. As a result, using SteamOS as your primary operating system would require a fair bit of work. See More

TirelessKydoimos's Experience

I am enjoying this debian based distro. I play not only linux games but also mac, windows games through streaming. What I need else ? I could not play three OS'es games in an OS without it. ☺ See More

Specs

See All Specs

Top Pro

For entertainment, it just works

What media center software do for videos, it does for games (and later videos). See More

Top Con

Hard to install

If you've installed Arch you're probably fine, but for those used to simple installs like (Ubuntu to name just one) you should prepare some patience, determination, and painkillers. Good news is, it's getting better (it's very young). See More

SensibleHunor's Experience

yes See More

Top Pro

Native graphics processor support

The OS natively supports Nvidia, Intel, and AMD graphics processors. See More

Top Con

Steam OS is simi-abandoned.

Valve no longer frequently updates SteamOS. See More

Top Pro

Streaming service integration (under development)

Valve is in talks with streaming companies such as Spotify and Netflix to bring their features to SteamOS. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 5

Gentoo Linux

Top Pro

Can by optimized to any given CPU by using proper compile flags

Since everything is being built on your PC you can fine-tune the code to make use of your CPU. And all it requires is two lines of string variables in a global config. See More

Specs

See All Specs

Top Pro

Fully customizable

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

Top Pro

Portability

There are many architectures available for Gentoo : i386, x86-64, PowerPC, PowerPC 64, sparc, DEC Alpha, ARM, MIPS, PA-RISC, S390, IA-64, sh, m68k. See More

Top Pro

Portage's emerge is powerful

Portage is a package management system with a huge amount of options and features. See More

Top Pro

Full control of the software

You build the package from a source you can see and read. You decide which features you want to build in and which aren't needed. You can choose build options, optimisation and whatever else fancy stuff you want modified. With a binary distribution this simply isn't possible. See More

See All

score 13 · Answer 6

Pop!_OS

Top Pro

A separate NVIDIA version

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

Top 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

DecisiveMerope's Experience

Never been a Gnome fan, but Pop!_OS changed that. Great distribution for work and play. The repositories have everything I need, unlike Ubuntu, and the included proprietary and Vulkan drivers make gaming excellent. See More

Specs

See All Specs

Top Pro

User-friendly installer

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

CoolWosret's Experience

Ended my distro-hopping. Excellent for both work and play. 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

Shaun Prince's Experience

Depending on how much effort you like putting into building your Linux gaming rig, setup can be a very time consuming sport. As I would typically start with Debian, and end up with a Frankenstein that would resemble Gentoo, POP! takes a different approach. With the NVIDIA version of this OS, enough assumptions are made that you get a completely usable foundation that is good enough for the average gamer, while sill allowing the advanced users to tweak on it. 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 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

Pop! makes GNOME look really good

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

Top Pro

Nice gnome theme dy default

Has nice gnome theme looks really good. See More

See All

score 19 · Answer 7

Deepin

Top Pro

Steam installed by default

Deepin includes steam installed by default. See More

Top Con

Slow on some computers

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

Specs

See All Specs

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

Customization is a bit hidden

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

Top Pro

Based on Debian

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

Top Con

Deepin spies on you

The deepin store spies on your every move, it's no better than Windows. See More

Top Pro

Best for daily use

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

Very easy to install the OS

Installing Deepin is very easy, even easier than installing Ubuntu! The installer doesn't ask you a lot of questions. It doesn't ask you about making a swap partition (it automatically makes a swap file) and thus makes installing the OS very easy. See More

Top Con

Slow default repos

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

Top Pro

Contains better graphics drivers

Deepin has it's own version of graphics drivers and it's own version of wine which makes it very good for gaming. See More

Top Con

Slow

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

Top Pro

Supports Flatpak

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

Top Con

Mix of toolkits

GUI is partialy written in QT, but also in GTK+. 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

Easy to install

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

Top Pro

Not based on Ubuntu

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

Top Pro

Launches programs faster

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

Top Pro

Exciting applications

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

Top Pro

Can be made to look like Windows

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

Enjoy the simplicity of Deepin's desktop

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

Top Pro

Great design to the app store

The app store is gorgeous. See More

Top Pro

Blur and transparent design

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

Top Pro

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

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

Top Pro

Has their own tool kit

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

Top Pro

Quite lightweight

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

Top Pro

VLC media player works without any issue

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

Top Pro

Easy to use

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

Top Pro

Includes a lot of packages in the official repository

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

Top Pro

Rolling release

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

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

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

See All

score 8 · Answer 8

Fedora

Top Pro

Always up to date Kernel

Fedora is known to be up to date, using the latest kernel in a matter of weeks after being released. It has a good balance among stability and bleeding edge. More up to date kernel = better compatibility with drivers for gaming. See More

Top Con

Proprietary drivers are unsupported

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

SplendidEnkidu's Experience

I have used fedora as a daily driver for about 3 years now. It allows you to learn RHEL ,which is a good skill, but in terms of use there are better distros. There is a new implementation called flatpack, which is the new app delivery method but you can get by with dnf and rpm repos. You are able to do some heavy-duty projects but also run things like steam games extremely smoothly. If you don't care about troubleshooting a systemd distro, then there really isn't a reason not to get Arch or Ubuntu. I really like fedora, but I just wanted to warn anyone who thinks they are getting something extra, the extra stuff is boring to most people. See More

Specs

See All Specs

Top Pro

Stable

Fedora is a very stable Linux-based OS, as the developers place a lot of value in quality engineering. See More

Top Con

Updating to new release can be problematic

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

IngeniousEiresione's Experience

With couple offre tweaks, it's the best distribution out there See More

Top Pro

Huge array of binary packages ready to install

Top Pro

Fast performance

Top Pro

Spins and Labs

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

Top Pro

Backed by one of the biggest Linux kernel contributors

Fedora is backed by RedHat, the 2nd biggest Linux kernel contributor in the world. Using a distribution made by RedHat means that it will be fine-tuned to work as efficiently as possible since it's made by the same people who work extensively on the kernel and know its ins and outs. See More

Top Pro

Fast and stable updates

Top Pro

Great community

Want to find an answer to a question: Fedora community, Rhel community, CentOS community are most active and friendly communities. See More

Top Pro

Strong commitment to free software philosophy

Top Pro

Focuses on innovation

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

Top Pro

Integration with GNOME

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

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score 1 · Answer 9

Xubuntu

Top Pro

Great performance

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

Specs

See All Specs

score 7 · Answer 10

Linux Mint

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

Specs

See All Specs

Top Pro

Pretty desktop

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

Top Pro

Has more desktop options

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

Top Pro

Compatibility with Debian and Ubuntu software builds and repositories

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

Top Pro

Complete and stable

It's based upon Ubuntu LTS or Debian. It depends on which one you select - Linux Mint or Linux Mint Debian Edition. The Debian Edition is even more stable. See More

Top Pro

Familiar user interface

Mint is highly recommended for both users coming from Windows, as well as users coming from Ubuntu, but unhappy with Ubuntu's recent, rather dramatic interface changes. Mint provides an updated interface with a look and feel similar to Gnome 2, with an application menu reminiscent of the Windows 7 Start Menu, with categorization and search. See More

See All

score 10 · Answer 11

Ubuntu

Top Pro

Solid and great driver support

Top Con

Unity sucks (no longer present in newer versions)

Bloated unity desktop sucks, but maybe it will be better with 18.04 with Gnome. See More

TrustworthyChukwu's Experience

slow and bloated See More

Specs

See All Specs

Top Pro

Ubuntu GamePack is a Gamer's Distro based on Ubuntu

Top Pro

Possibly the BEST Forum in the world for easy help, should you need it

Top Pro

Lots of support

As the most popular Linux distribution, there's a wide range of sources for support online if you ever need help, including the Ubuntu Wiki, Ubuntu Forums and the Ask Ubuntu Stack Exchange site. This can come in hand particularly with gaming as the large userbase, tutorials and forums will allow one to troubleshoot any issues they have with gaming and their particular rig. See More

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score 9 · Answer 12

Zorin OS

Top Pro

Windows desktop style

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

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

Specs

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Top Pro

Ubuntu-based

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

Top Pro

Bundles tools for changing the look and feel of the distribution

Zorin includes look changer and theme changer. See More

Top Pro

Low resources consumption

Top Pro

Accessibility features

Top Pro

Stable

Top Pro

Partial Windows compatibility

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

Top Pro

Installer can set up dual boot

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

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score 5 · Answer 13

Elementary OS

Top Pro

UI design consistency

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

Top Con

Very slow development cycle

Elementary does not offer any release date for their stable releases, they're going more with a "it's done when it's done" attitude. This makes depending on newer apps a difficulty as well as a poor choice for those that need consistent release schedules for their OS. See More

Specs

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Top Pro

Built on Ubuntu

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

Top Con

Old base and applications

The slow release schedule makes the applications outdated. It drags behind Ubuntu LTS (on which it's based) which itself drags behind Ubuntu which is often still quite far behind Arch for example. See More

Top Pro

Extremely user-friendly

This distribution promises you a very tailored user experience and it does deliver on that promise. The developers provide you with a custom desktop environment and a set of neat programs. And the whole desktop looks simply gorgeous. See More

Top Con

Upper panel requires extra spaces

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

Top Pro

Lightweight & fast

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

Top Con

Problems with basic functions

Problems often arise with functions like keyboard layout and touchpad. See More

Top Con

Emacs doesn't work

Emacs crashes due to a partial gnome library update. 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 for users coming from other operating systems that put window controls on the right. See More

Top Con

UI doesn't let you change anything

Every installation of elementaryOS looks excactly like the same See More

Top Con

Outdated or bad default applications

See All

score 1 · Answer 14

Ubuntu MATE

score 1 · Answer 15

Ubuntu LTS

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15 Games Considered

My Recommendation for Arch Linux

My Recommendation for Arch Linux

A package for almost everything

Manual install process

Cutting edge rolling release

Not for the faint of heart

Latest drivers

Too many package upgrades that require manual intervention

As slim or copious as you want it

Problems with driver/kernel/gpu consistency

Support for a large variety of hardware

Rolling release requires bandwidth

Fast and simple package management

Requires some background with Linux and the command-line to setup

Simplicity is absolutely the principal objective behind Arch development

Not ready out of the box

Good overall system quality

Not ready out of the box

No restrictive handholding, pure control over everything

Fragile packages

Excellent documentation

Package manager is so naive

Intuitive and easy to use package manarer

Not so great overall

No need for external repos

Requires expert Linux and command-line knowledge to setup

Highly customizable

Instability can be an issue

Helpful for understanding how Linux is installed

Pacman is a slow package manager

Helpful community

No Graphical Installer

Arch Linux Wiki

Pacman is a slow package manager

Not really for desktop

Lost its way

Occasional upstream package bugs

Works only on AMD64

Documentation only makes sense if you know how to adjust it

My Recommendation for Solus

My Recommendation for Solus

Great package management

Not much software

Easy installation

The default desktop environment is not very customizable

Home of LSI (Linux Steam Integration)

Slow development

Stable

It's impossible to get Radeon proprietary drivers

Built from scratch

Software a bit slower to launch than for other distributions

Looks great out of the box yet customizable

Forums are not very friendly

Responsive

No USB Image writer

Optimized

An upgrade breaks the system quite often

Modern desktop environment

There is often a black screen after update

Rolling release

Exclusively for desktop systems

Most stable Rolling Release Distro

Seamless packages

Generic pre-installed drivers work efficiently

My Recommendation for Manjaro

My Recommendation for Manjaro

Steam installed by default

A start job is running for LiveMedia MHWD Script

Arch User Repository access

Installing software with pamac takes more clicks than necessary

Pretty UI

A fair amount of the documentation is outdated or incomplete

Based on Arch and user friendly

Can still be unstable

Community flavors available

Bad dependencies

Improved stability due to a longer testing period for new packages

New packages and security updates are held for testing longer

MHWD offers easy hardware management with free and non-free drivers