Which Linux OS is the best?

[gardotd426]

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Would Clear OS be good for general use or it is targeted for specific kind of end users?

No. Definitely, definitely not. 

 

It has almost no software compared to other desktop Linux distros, and it's 100% not intended for general use, it's intended for a very, very specific use-case and if you don't know what it's intended for, then you don't need it. Clear Linux is highly optimized for the Cloud, and of all its uses, a desktop PC is like, last on the list (or really not even on the list). 

 

The best Linux distro (for YOU, because there's no such thing as "the best Linux distro") is whichever one fits your style. Do you prefer bleeding edge, or boring and old/stable? Do you like to tinker? etc. What do you plan to use the computer for? The answer to your question depends on the answers to all of mine. 

[Klemen]

22 hours ago, gardotd426 said:

Do you prefer bleeding edge, or boring and old/stable? 

If by bleeding edge you mean new and improved featuers, then yes. 

22 hours ago, gardotd426 said:

Do you like to tinker? etc. 

I do. I do like to customize things to my own prefernces if possible. But at the same time i wouldnt die if i handt had that feature. 

[TorC]

Current/Bleeding Edge        Debian Testing/Sid

 

Like to 'Tinker'                    Debian Sid

 

Rock Solid Stable                 Debian Stable

 

 

 

[gardotd426]

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If by bleeding edge you mean new and improved featuers, then yes.

Then something based on Arch is your best bet. Though probably not vanilla Arch, as it's a command-line manual installation and generally the progression is "Ubuntu -> Manjaro/Endeavour/Garuda/something else Arch-based -> 'I've been on Linux for two months so I think I'm ready to install Arch now'"

 

But installing and maintaining a vanilla Arch install is the best way to learn Linux by far. I pretty much had the above progression (but add in like 20 other distros because I wanted to try them all) and I've been daily driving Arch ever since (though I also keep a Manjaro and Pop OS partition alongside my main Arch one). 

 

But yeah, something based on Arch is what you want. It's got way more software easily available than Debian Sid/Solus/other rolling-release distributions, it's got the Arch Wiki which is the best resource there is (hands down), Arch-based distros are very quickly catching up to Ubuntu-based ones in popularity so you have a large user base from which to pull support, if you game, they're the best family for gaming, the list goes on. Oh and another huge one is support for new hardware. I bought both the RX 5600 XT and the RTX 3090 on their respective launch days, and Arch-based distros are the only ones that handled the AMD card well (without heavy manual intervention) and the only ones that could even run the RTX 3090, because of their rolling release nature, and the fact that Arch doesn't require GPU drivers to install (because it's command line only during installation, there's no GUI until after you've installed the system and GPU drivers). So where Ubuntu and it's derivatives had Nvidia drivers too out of date to support the 3090, Arch had the official RTX 3090 release drivers available on day one. 

 

And once you're able to handle vanilla Arch, it's by far your best bet. As I said you install it from the command line and so you only install exactly what you want, you completely customize it from the ground up, basically it's like Linux From Scratch only intended for actual use and not as a project. 

[Dat Guy]

What @gardotd426 said is also true for Gentoo.

[Klemen]

On 12/26/2020 at 4:51 AM, gardotd426 said:

But yeah, something based on Arch is what you want. It's got way more software easily available than Debian Sid/Solus/other rolling-release distributions, it's got the Arch Wiki which is the best resource there is (hands down), Arch-based distros are very quickly catching up to Ubuntu-based ones in popularity so you have a large user base from which to pull support, if you game, they're the best family for gaming, the list goes on. Oh and another huge one is support for new hardware. I bought both the RX 5600 XT and the RTX 3090 on their respective launch days, and Arch-based distros are the only ones that handled the AMD card well (without heavy manual intervention) and the only ones that could even run the RTX 3090, because of their rolling release nature, and the fact that Arch doesn't require GPU drivers to install (because it's command line only during installation, there's no GUI until after you've installed the system and GPU drivers). So where Ubuntu and it's derivatives had Nvidia drivers too out of date to support the 3090, Arch had the official RTX 3090 release drivers available on day one. 

okay that seems interesting. I have used Manjaroo once but it was on much much older system. It was nice looking nontheless. Even tho Linux has less background running apps compared to windows (as far as im informed) one would expect linux to surpass windows in pure performance or maybe not performance per-say but more in resource-managed environment to have higher FPS count somehow. Tho does that purely comes down to drivers, game devs or linux distros itself that are still behind the windows in many cases? (in terms of FPS)

[TorC]

That seems to be a topic for a different thread, Klemen!

[gardotd426]

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Even tho Linux has less background running apps compared to windows (as far as im informed) one would expect linux to surpass windows in pure performance or maybe not performance per-say but more in resource-managed environment to have higher FPS count somehow. Tho does that purely comes down to drivers, game devs or linux distros itself that are still behind the windows in many cases? (in terms of FPS)

Well 90% of the games you'd be playing aren't native to Linux, they're running through Wine (or Proton, but that's also Wine). For Windows games that use Vulkan natively, performance is often on par (or better) than Windows, but for DX11/DX12 games, it's kind of hard to get equal to Windows performance when you're having to translate DX11 or DX12 to Vulkan on the fly. That said, the fact that Linux can run Windows DX11 games at 90-105% performance (because yes even some DX11 games run faster on Linux) is flat-out astonishing. As for native games, the issue is usually that the company doing the port half-assed it, but there are in fact many native ports that do run better than the Windows version. CS:GO and Shadow of the Tomb Raider are two examples where the native Linux version runs faster than Windows. 

 

But if gaming is like, your top priority, and you aren't willing to give up a couple games that might use BattlEye or Easy Anti Cheat or something like that, then I would suggest not switching at all, or dual-booting. For me, I only play one EAC game (Apex Legends), and no BattlEye games and no Valorant, so I just use a single-GPU passthrough VM w/ VFIO to play Apex, and all the rest of my games I play on Linux. GeForceNOW now working on Linux is also pretty awesome 

[gardotd426]

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What @gardotd426 said is also true for Gentoo.

Gentoo is not comparable to Arch. It's 1000x more work, both in installation and maintenance, with far less easily available software. Also many of the best tools (like those from TK-Glitch) are geared toward Arch and work best with Arch. 

 

Gentoo is not even remotely what you start out with, even if you want to learn, and there's no real reason to use Gentoo except for ideological reasons (usually hating systemd). Source-based distros are wayyyyyy more trouble than they're worth. 

[Dat Guy]

11 hours ago, gardotd426 said:

It's 1000x more work, both in installation

Yes.

 

11 hours ago, gardotd426 said:

and maintenance

No.

 

11 hours ago, gardotd426 said:

with far less easily available software

Also no. Count overlays in as well.

[gardotd426]

11 hours ago, Dat Guy said:

Also no. Count overlays in as well.

Lmao right, Gentoo has as much easily accessible software as Arch Linux with the AUR. Riiiiight. 

 

Either way, Gentoo is a horrible choice for this person. 

[Dat Guy]

Yep: Both need to be added once and work fine then. Riiiiiiight.

 

Please don't even try sarcasm here. It makes you look weird.

[TorC]

UPDATE -- Here is a recent third-party take on "The Best Linux Distros . . ."

Pay special attention to the info within the link  install Debian Testing or Debian SID,  FYI.

To each his own, but this webpage is more or less right on, IMHO.

[Alexeygridnev1993]

It's easy to get confused by a plethora or distros, but, essentially, most distros can be divided into four big groups: Debian-based (including all forks of Ubuntu, Zorin OS, PopOS, Elementary OS, etc.), Arch-based (Arch, Manjaro), RHEL-based (RHEL, Fedora, CentOS), and Gentoo-based. There are distros which do not fit any of the four above-mentioned groups (like Clear Linux from Intel) but those are exceptions. Within those groups, package managers and general logic of how they work is pretty similar, so, it will be easier to move from one distro to another within a given group, and harder to switch between groups.

 

Debian-based distros (especially Ubuntu and its derivatives) are the most widespread as desktop systems, and Ubuntu is increasingly important in servers, so, I would recommend to start from any of Ubuntu derivatives; any skills you learn there won't be useless.

 

What desktop environment you run (GNOME, KDE, Xfce, LXQt, or others) is pretty much irrelevant for learning Linux, desktop environment in Linux is just a package which can be installed and removed (i.e. you can get a standard Ubuntu which uses GNOME, remove GNOME and install KDE, no problem). So, desktop environment is just a matter of personal aesthetic preference and of your hardware (i.e. GNOME is much more resource-demanding than LXQt).

[Lightwreather]

I'd like a small something to what @Alexeygridnev1993said in his last para, the DE doesn't matter much when you're trying to learn and as you continue using it, there will be itch to explore other distros and embrace that, as you keep trying others you'll eventually also find which distro and DE would be most suitable for your taste.