Best Linux based OS?

[splootbloot]

you read the title. discuss...

 

[Kazooduck]

This is NOT an objective question, not trying to be mean, just overstating it. What are your use cases, what is your skill level, how much time are you willing to spend, what specs do you have, all are important in finding the best distro for you.

quote me with more info and I’m happy to help.

Edited March 9, 2022 by Kazooduck
wrong use of subjective

[HeroRareheart]

For my main rig, none. I game on my main rig so it run's Windows. I'm most familiar with Ubuntu so I tend to put that on everything else unless I need something for a specific deployment such as TrueNAS for a NAS.

[Kazooduck]

Just now, HeroRareheart said:

For my main rig, none. I game on my main rig so it run's Windows. I'm most familiar with Ubuntu so I tend to put that on everything else unless I need something for a specific deployment such as TrueNAS for a NAS.

Familiarity isn’t everything, (support is different :p) if you care enough to install Linux, I would go a bit deeper into the foss space as Canonical has their fair share of non foss ordeals, try looking at mint for ease of use!

[splootbloot]

2 minutes ago, Kazooduck said:

This is NOT a subjective question, not trying to be mean, just overstating it. What are your use cases, what is your skill level, how much time are you willing to spend, what specs do you have, all are important in finding the best distro for you.

quote me with more info and I’m happy to help.

I was asking what is everyone's opinions on what they think is the best linux based OS. For me, I use Mint alot due to the simplicity and small size. 

[Eigenvektor]

3 minutes ago, Kazooduck said:

This is NOT a subjective question,

I think you mean objective, since "best" is highly subjective. I'd say the question is pure flamebait.

[splootbloot]

Just now, splootbloot said:

I was asking what is everyone's opinions on what they think is the best linux based OS. For me, I use Mint alot due to the simplicity and small size. 

(in fact, I'm using it on my laptop right now!)

[HeroRareheart]

Just now, Kazooduck said:

Familiarity isn’t everything, (support is different :p) if you care enough to install Linux, I would go a bit deeper into the foss space as Canonical has their fair share of non foss ordeals, try looking at mint for ease of use!

I have tried to swap to Linux on my main rig twice now, each time it was a massive headache and total disaster that ended in rage. It's not worth my time to swap my main rig to Linux however I do experiment with other distros every now and then on my other machines.

[Kazooduck]

2 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

I think you mean objective, since "best" is highly subjective. I'd say the question is pure flamebait.

whoops I do don't i ;D

[Kazooduck]

5 minutes ago, HeroRareheart said:

I have tried to swap to Linux on my main rig twice now, each time it was a massive headache and total disaster that ended in rage. It's not worth my time to swap my main rig to Linux however I do experiment with other distros every now and then on my other machines.

I meant not for your main rig, but for the experiments.

[splootbloot]

Arch users on their way to tell someone about how awesome their distro is:

 

 

(i love arch btw)

[Kazooduck]

Just now, splootbloot said:

Arch users on their way to tell someone about how awesome their distro is:

 

 

(i love arch btw)

arch after making an installer

[splootbloot]

10 minutes ago, DarkGamerA said:

for me its ZORIN OS

oooooooooh!! that looks sleek as hell!

[Lightwreather]

I find myself preferring OpenSUSE a lot these says when using a Linux system. Somethign about it having a GUI package manager neat KDE Implementation, etc. makes me like it. That said, this question is highly subjective, as someone noted previously.

[Eigenvektor]

36 minutes ago, Kazooduck said:

arch after making an installer

Aka Manjaro (or EndeavourOS)

[RONOTHAN##]

I usually go between OpenSUSE and Fedora, both of which are really nice distros. Very stable, very quick with updates, and most of what I want setup out of the box. I usually go for Fedora on a laptop since it's Gnome implementation is better and Gnome's virtual desktops implementation is amazing for single, smaller display. For a desktop or if the machine has a Nvidia GPU, I'll go OpenSUSE since it's much easier to get a Nvidia card working and with a full sized display, KDE is preferred and OpenSUSE has one of, if not the best KDE implementation of any distro. 

[WkdPaul]

The thread was moved in the appropriate section, also, please elaborate on "best", because depending on what you do, that will differ greatly...

[whispous]

I like Mint, having started with Ubuntu.

[TorC]

Best Linux distros of 2022, according to TechRadar (whose opinion is just a good as anyone's here)

https://www.techradar.com/best/best-linux-distros

I say PCLOS as of this moment, but what do I know?  LOL

[Ultraforce]

1 hour ago, TorC said:

Best Linux distros of 2022, according to TechRadar (whose opinion is just a good as anyone's here)

https://www.techradar.com/best/best-linux-distros

I say PCLOS as of this moment, but what do I know?  LOL

I think it's interesting and a bit unusual that Elementary OS wasn't on the list. I definitely don't think Elementary OS is for me personally, but I imagine for people who were used to the style of macOS as it is one of the intriguing Linux Distributions that ask for people to pay for them.

[TorC]

I was also surprised to see Kodachi in the list.  I tried it a few years ago and kinda liked it.  It has obviously has become more polished and security-oriented

(i.e. Wiping the RAM without affecting the system).

[splootbloot]

god, i just realized how stupid of a question this was. i was trying to ask "What is your favorite linux distro?" but my mind immediately jumped to "Best distro". sorry for any inconvenience

[nanopone]

there isn't one. the best linux distro is the one you make the best one.

the only difference between them is the methods you use to install software, and how it comes set up out of the box. you can turn any distro into any other distro with a little bit of work. there is very little seperating them.

[jde3]

If you like looks of a desktop take a look at Deepin.

https://www.deepin.org/

 

 

It's a Chinese distro (Debian based) that has a unique desktop environment (DDE) that is totally it's own thing written in qt. However you can build the desktop on other distros like Gentoo if you want. It reminds me of Android X86.

My experience with it is while very pretty, it's not quite as usable as Gnome or XFCE. (or MacOS) .. If looks is what matters to you tho, it's not bad.

Edit: Looks like someone ported DDE to Ubuntu. Take a look at UbuntuDDE if you like the above there.

[10leej]

On 3/10/2022 at 9:09 AM, splootbloot said:

god, i just realized how stupid of a question this was. i was trying to ask "What is your favorite linux distro?" but my mind immediately jumped to "Best distro". sorry for any inconvenience

Well when you see charts like this one you're not really stepping into an area where the "best" actually exists (that image isn't even the full scope of linux, just the Debian family of distro's).

 

If we have to ask what my favorite distro is? It's mostly Gentoo because it's the one distro that actually lets me have a system built entirely for.. my use case. And no LFS is not a distro.  

If I were to be a more practical and normal person I'd use Debian, or Fedora (with rpm fusion enabled) on my desktop. But really it's just because those distro work best for... Me... out of the box.

 

So yes, I actually encourage you distro hop and try different distro's out until you find one you like. For the most part people have hystorically settled on the Ubuntu family (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Mint, Zorin, and such) which is downstream from Debian. This gives Ubuntu the massive power of the google search result. However alternatives like the Arch family of distros (ArchLinux proper, Manjaro, Endeavor, Garuda) have been gaining in popularity as more and more Linux content creators have been making use of the distro's massive community based packaging systems (aka the AUR), but the Fedora (ultimately the Redhat) family has been popular and is well known for a generally helpful community as well as being well known professionally.  

If you want more niche you could look into stuff like Solus, Void, Gentoo, PCLinuxOS, and Slackware but I caution against those as some don't really have a bright future, are really reliant on you educating yourself as a user, or are extremely opinionated in the direction their project is going.

 

Ultimately though, like I said the distro really doesn't matter because I can take Fedora, and change whatever aspect of Fedora I want. I can use a different kernel (switching off Linux entirely for the HURD kernel), I can change the desktop environment (switch gnome for KDE, XFCE, LXQT, and such), change my sound system if I want (swap off the new hotness of pipewire to the controversal pulseaudio, or go full minimlist with ALSA) and I cn do this with any distro I want. It's just a question of do I actually want to take the time to do that. As this is the nature of Open Source Software.

 

Now that i got that out of the way. lets talk use cases. Because depending on your viewpoint there actually could be a "best distro"

 

Gaming?

Honestly for me the dedicated distro for gaming on the desktop is probably int he Arch family due to their bleeding edge nature getting me the newest improvements in drivers, Fedora is pretty close behind but it kinda requires some tinkering to get started compared to say, Manjaro

 

Development?

Well that depends on what kind your doing really, but geenrally if your develeoping you want upstream, but for something like python development then any distro works. Your better asking about text editors than distro's.

 

Office Work?

Mint, Ubuntu LTS, OpenSUSE LEAP all the way both support Microsoft Services fairly well and are solidly stable.

 

General Purpose I just want it to work?

Ubuntu

 

I want Easy?

Ubuntu (only because of google search)

 

I want to exist offline?

Endless OS

 

I hate change?

Debain

 

I hate myself?

Gentoo

 

I'm a hipster?

ArchLinux

 

I'm a real hipster like LTT was back in the day?

Devuan

 

I want innovation in my distro?

Fedora

 

I want to shout freedom and grow a neckbeard and love LISP like it's 1959?

GNU Guix https://guix.gnu.org/

 

I want freedom but maybe not the neckbeard?

Trisquel https://trisquel.info/

 

I want freedom but I'm a hipster?

PureOS https://pureos.net/