Manjaro Linux vs Solus

Manjaro allows the user to access of the Arch User Repository, a very large user-maintained repository of packages for Arch Linux and derivatives.

Manjaro has built-in support for multiple kernels as well as a way to easily install them. Using LTS kernel makes this distro stable and less buggy.

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.The overall features it provides is hard to beat. Arguably be the best desktop distro with lts kernel. Consumes very less ram.

Features include: providing notifications of available updates; mirror management; Snap support, Flatpak support and 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).

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.

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.

All desktops look good by default.

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.

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.

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

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.

Also available as independent variants.

By using Xfce or Plasma (or LXDE, Fluxbox, supported by community) as default desktop environments, Manjaro is able to have a low memory footprint.

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)

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.

Works perfectly.

Which means you don't have to suffer from version to version updates that can break it.

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.

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

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

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

The software center makes it really easy to install the latest software through Snappy and Flatpak. Including third party software.

Very stable and well curated.

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.

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.

So you won't have to enable PPAs or extra repos for that.

The software is well curated in the repos, you have access to flatpaks and snaps, so virtually, all the software you'll ever need is there for you.

The only community who values the newcomers. Very helpful community.