Choosing the Right Linux Distro

[@ChrisTitusTech]

Website Guide: christitus.com/choose-linux-distro/

[@randomname2437]

I used to think you worked with LTT

[@mydroid2791]

Excellent video Chris! I look forward to the other parts! Just an fyi: I am a Windows user that wants to ditch new Windows and switch to Linux, so this type of info is great! And I was thinking Linux Mint on my 2009 machine (i7 cpu, 950 Nvidia, a bunch of HDD with legacy windows on them, and get a new SSD for Linux).

[@OldAndNewStuf]

If you do a Mint installation, could you add some of the extremely useful applets too? I am in particular thinking about: Workspace switcher and to see the computers behavior it is also useful to have applets: Multi-Core System Monitor CPU Temperature Indicator

[@nosbig98]

@@mydroid2791 That machine will probably do quite nicely for Linux. I am running a GT710 card in my daily driver, and the driver support works pretty well, given NVidia's historical hostility to the open-source and free software community. That's exactly how I got started with Linux 20 years ago, running Windows 95 OSR2 on a 6GB HDD and Linux on a 4GB HDD and dual-booting. It was *far* more painful then than it is today, and I'm glad to hear you're interested in learning about Linux and all the various components, subsystems, and applications that make it a far superior experience to Windows, IMHO.

[@Tlyon16_boi]

I have a question, So I am interested In Debian based OS, but what is a decent one. I want to install Linux bare metal onto an old dell latitude laptop, I will be using the OS for practicing hacking skills and things like that. I am interested in running kali Linux bare metal, I have to clarify that the computer will not be my daily driver for things like using the internet or gaming but maybe a casual browse on Firefox. So my main question is, would kali Linux be a good Distro to run on a laptop or should I consider a different distro and then running kali as a VM. hypothetically could I use kali bare metal, The only reason I mention kali so much is because I do run it as a VM on another laptop I use but I just need an understanding on how I should these operating systems. also I was interested in using kali because it seemed like a little challenge considering most of the stuff you do is through the terminal. Thank you for reading my essay, I hope I can get some answers.

[@almosthelpless9374]

I'd recommend Gentoo for people new to Linux. It has the coolest logo.

[@samsh0-q3a]

@@motoryzen it was clearly a joke

[@autovozo5725]

Nah arch has the coolest logo

[@lekemp]

That's mean, newbies might take it seriously

[@autovozo5725]

@@lekemp we do a little trolling

[@methamphetamememcmeth3422]

@@motoryzen Oh deary me, that joke is going to take a few days to compile for you. That's what you get on a single core CPU.

[@TheRealJohnMadden]

As an IT professional who works primarily on Windows systems for work, I got tired of going home and almost felt like I was still at work with everything I was doing. I switched to Fedora and it quickly became my daily driver. I'm dual-booting and have both operating systems installed on their own M.2's so I can switch over to Windows if I want to game or use anything that's Windows-dependent. Your channel was a key factor in why I wanted to switch and I thank you every day!

[@Disgr-Ace]

I know this feeling too well I'm currently jobless but when I worked as a Technology Apprentice for 3 years constantly updating laptops with the latest version of windows from 1909 to 20H2 (Obviously higher now) but I remember coming home and just not bothering with my desktop and playing my consoles instead because seeing windows reminded me of work mentally.... I plan to use Arch but I'm going to be gaming on it then for any non-linux stuff I will just stick to my PS5 like Genshin.

[@Andy-jz1zw]

Amen. I was going to do this on my desktop but only has one nvme2. I'm going to nuke my laptop and install Linux me thinks

[@thesaucesupplier3593]

​​@@Andy-jz1zw You should try to boot it on a virtual machine if you have a laptop to try it out before you try to dual boot it.

[@yoursleepparalysisdemon1828]

fedora looks like an android phone

[@kentreed2011]

​@@yoursleepparalysisdemon1828That's funny because Android and Linux are have things in common.

[@drlukewhite]

Whilst I really respect your experience, and can appreciate that what you suggest here is a really good way of thinking about a choice of distribution for an intermediate or experienced Linux user, I'm glad I didn't receive or follow this advice as a new user back when I was first getting started. What I needed then was a distribution where things just *worked* and I could get to to enjoy the OS, gathering confidence before setting out on deeper adventures. I needed a distro where hardware such as graphics cards, printers, scanners and DVD players were detected and functioned out of the box, where it was trivial to install CODECs and commonly used fonts, where the spell-checker for the supplied word-processor was pre-installed, where there was a simple way to get the widest variety of software (including non-free software), and where it was easy to access and provide network shares without recourse to the terminal or editing config files... Oh, and I needed a large and friendly community who were generous in helping me with the small problems I did face and understanding about my attempts to grope my way through the obscure etiquette of seeking help on forums. Getting these things, I realised Linux isn't that difficult, I didn't have to be some kind of hacker to use it, and I was soon hooked. Each of the three choices here would have thrown up some significant obstacles in some aspects of this, and may have made me give up before I got going. A new beginner would therefore still do better to just start with Mint, Ubuntu or PopOS, and only *then* take on the more philosophical questions raised here, deciding on the best distro, desktop, display manager (etc.) for them, and experimenting with the different options. I've since used each of Debian, Arch and Fedora (and a number of their derivatives), and they are all fine distributions. But I'm glad that I didn't start on any of them!

[@lejoshmont2093]

Yea debian and fedora are more new user friendly than arch but are slightly harder to work with if you are completely new to linux. Any time I recommend fedora I always mention to add the fusion repositories and install multimedia codecs. Do those two things and you pretty much have a really usable system ready to go.

[@jamiedavinci1328]

As someone who literally tried Linux for the first time yesterday, I 300% agree. I just slapped Ubuntu on a former Windows install and the vast majority of stuff just worked like an ordinary operating system. If anything, after following videos like this and being told "you need to understand all this or you shouldn't be using Linux AT ALL" I was, amusingly, disappointed with how easy to use Linux actually was, and I'm glad videos like this didn't intimidate me out of just jumping in and having a go.

[@Rasspor]

Just wanted to chime in here. I have been following your videos since windows 10 came out. Because, I wanted to get away from windows. So, it is because of you and your videos on Linux that allowed me to finally feel confident to try out Linux again. Thanks to you I have been using Linux without fear. Keep up the great work your doing and many blessings to your family and you.

[@AndrewMiller2010]

Something to remember is that Fedora can be troubleshot and configured using the RHEL guides provided by Red Hat. I've rarely run into an edge case unless I was trying to do something super fancy which is why I stopped doing fancy things outside of a VM.

[@xr3kTx]

Found Fedora after a year of using Linux. Most favorite so far.

[@itzamedave6242]

Same 36 is very nice

[@christopher9727]

.. Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Holy Spirit Can give you peace guidance and purpose and the Lord will John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@wintutorials2282]

same

[@randomname2437]

Arch is my favorite because 1: rolling release 2: pacman is one of the most speedy package managers 3: lightweight iso 4: the aur 5: the speed and responsiveness on almost all hardware 6: it's a diy distro and you choose exactly what you want to install

[@oldensad5541]

2: very minimal and you choose what you need 3: lightweight 6: it's a diy distro that you make yourself This points always confuses me. Didn't you achieve same goal if you install debian\centos\fedora minimal and install all you need clean? What exactly more DIY...ish and light in Arch in comparison? :) No problem with Arch, i like rolling release idea, just ineteresting about this exact points i see so often in conversations.

[@angryteapod1765]

pacman is also a pretty speedy package manager.

[@randomname2437]

@@angryteapod1765 ah forgot to mention that

[@randomname2437]

@@oldensad5541 tbh I feel like 6 and 2 are the same point, but I mean everything you install is chosen by you, I think fedora has an iso where you can do this but idk about CentOS and debian

[@randomname2437]

@@oldensad5541 when I said lightweight, I mean the live environment iso is lightweight, not the entire system

[@bobpeters61]

For newer users migrating from Windows I recommend Cinnamon Desktop Environment. Sort of like a generic Windows 98 - 7 type of interface. A little different, but if you've used Windows to any extent, then Cinnamon will seem intuitive and user-friendly to you.

[@ozywozyroby]

I think the problem,with this is that it truly feels like going back to windows 98, which isnt necessarily a good thing. Mint is what was recommended to me, but it felt sooo bare bones. I spent 15 minutes trying to change whate,side,my second monitor was on in the settings (god forbid it were right click on desktop - display setrings) so,eventually I just gave up,and went to ubuntu and later fedora

[@Sam-vf5uc]

Kubuntu isn't bad either. Its just Ubuntu with KDE Plasma as its desktop, which is also similar to Windows.

[@orkhepaj]

i dont recommend that

[@orkhepaj]

@@ozywozyroby ubuntu broaf

[@glowinthedark9082]

KDE just feels better

[@kangaroochili]

I'm a newer Linux user and over the past year I've tried a lot, if not most of the popular distros. Fedora truly stood out to me. It has an extra level of polish that was lacking in some other distros I've tried. Between the official Fedora repository and RPM Fusion, you have a great selection of software. You won't have the bleeding edge, but you'll never be far behind. It's a good balance both new and experienced users can appreciate.

[@ArniesTech]

It is rare that new users migrate to Fedora but you made an excellent choice 💪😌

[@Viesta]

I plan on having fedora kde plasma as my first linux distro.

[@durschfalltv7505]

@@Viesta Good decision.

[@STONE69_]

Debian forks are really Dominating the Linux World, due to being much more Stable than Arch or Fedora.

[@ArniesTech]

@@STONE69_ yes. a Debian fork is what I would recommend to a new user. Cant go wrong. Rock solid ground to walk on at all times 😌🙏

[@morganmc32]

You make more sense than any book or article on the difference of Linux distros. You are straightforward, with a quick personal opinion. Becoming a fan!

[@lucasgillbergkling8667]

I jumped right into the deep end with Linux using fedora without any pre made DE. Took me 1-2 weeks to get a hold of everything but your videos have been a huge help!

[@4urawrkr2]

I havent messed around with Unix based OSs since high school, and it was nice to come back to this practice that i remember brought be joy when i was younger. Im getting back into it, mostly to optimize my own machine, but your videos don't just blindly recommend a certain distro, they helped me understand what that even means and why the topic is so debated and descisive. Im still picking my distro, but your videos have been instrumental in that process. Thank you for breaking this sort of thing down in a way that can be digested, if it wasnt for people like you, we'd all still be at the mercy of Gates or the ghost of Jobs.

[@methamphetamememcmeth3422]

I just started using openSUSE two weeks ago. The most responsive distro I have ever used. Doesn't break either if you know what you're doing, for a rolling distro that is.

[@Alex-zu5jh]

Same, tumbleweed was stable for me. Only problem i just can't run forza horizon 5 no matter how i try to configure it.

[@rishirajsaikia1323]

@@Alex-zu5jh does opensuse tumbleweed get tons of package updates.

[@VHSJayden]

As a new user of Linux, this video is extremely helpful. You explained everything so well.

[@ArniesTech]

There is no best Distro for sure. Your use case, workflow and taste determins the product 💪

[@randomname2437]

The correct answer

[@guilherme5094]

👍

[@jozefsoucik3115]

just note, that you can use ventoy - "image selector" - no need to flash image to drive, just copy in folder images and choose one after ventoy booted.

[@Kylian381]

6:45 i would argue that opensuse is in fact a amazing distro as well and can be very new user friendly. having used arch for 2 years i wanted to switch up things and tried out opensuse TW and many things just work no fuss or anything it just works. Yast is very powerfull and can do prety much anything from a GUI although i like the terminal some things are just quick and easy to do using yast.

[@t-bonestake5144]

I'm super excited about these builds that you are talking about -- starting with a base distro and making your own system from there. I watched your arch build, but I was hoping for a more in-depth problem solving walk through. For example, when you have graphic driver issues, how do you go about researching what your issues are and how to solve them, rather than having done the research prior to the video. I recently migrated from ubuntu 18.04 to 20.04 and my desktop broke. The screen locker no longer worked and I was unable to find a resolution with a ton of web searches and reinstalling the desktop environment. I eventually installed the Cinnamon desktop which had a working screen locker and went from there. I have been using linux for several years, but the inner workings of the desktops and how to fix issues like that are still somewhat esoteric to me. Keep up the awesome videos!

[@intertop10]

Dont do this to your self, Dont just Dont you will cry

[@STONE69_]

Did you try time shift to solve that problem, by rolling back, that usually fixes many problems.

[@geegoo]

I installed LMDE (Mint) and then converted it to sid repos. Works like a charm and am actually rocking Wayland on a 970 with Nvidia proprietary (and dkms hooks), I had to enable nvidia-drm, some systemd services etc but it's silky smooth, perfect vsync compared to all the x11 problems in that regard, I know not everyone experiences the same Wayland compatibility but damn has desktop Linux come far and is only improving. PipeWire is great too.

[@logicalfundy]

I should note - I'm a bit of a power user and I used Linux ~20 years ago, so I'm not really a "new user." But I've been working on moving away from Windows, and I chose Manjaro. First of all, why I'm moving away from Windows: It's becoming obvious Microsoft wants to control my system more than I do. Just today I got an ad asking me if I wanted to send voice data to the mothership. A lot of people are getting Windows 11 ads pushed on them. It was recently found that Microsoft was considering adding ads to the shell. The OS is becoming an advertising system, and Microsoft clearly wants more control - you can't even install the OS anymore without a Microsoft account (without some sneaky hacks). Problems that were simmering with Windows 10 are coming to full boil in Windows 11, no thanks. But on to why I chose Manjaro: * It's based on Arch, but it's not as bleeding edge. As a gamer, I do need things to be updated enough to work well with modern games (especially with Valve updating Proton at a dizzying rate) - but I still need some stability to make it my daily driver. It should be noted that the Steam Deck also uses Arch, so I expect Manjaro to work better with Steam and Proton than a Debian or Fedora based distro. * It's easier to use than Arch. It is one of those distros designed to be accessible to newcomers - and I haven't used Linux in many years. Also I just want to get to work, I don't want to spend 90% of my time configuring the OS. I'm a bit disappointed that you don't recommend using Linux to people who just want things to work. Linux shouldn't be shut to some users who just want to get to work and not worry about the details. And I would argue that some distros (such as Mint or POP) are fine for that purpose, and I don't think it's wise to gatekeep just because as a power user you can install Linux essentially from scratch using one of the three base distros.

[@yoyonel1808]

Thx for your video and sharing ! For me => Debian/Mate + Flatpak: this combo work great ! -> stability from Debian (11) -> speed/simplicity/low_ressource from Mate (Windows Manager) -> with Flatpak i can access (easily) to all versions i want for many applications/software (with isolation :p) => I'm pretty happy ^^ ps: for dev side, i'm using docker massively :p

[@kcmperry]

I am looking forward to these upcoming installs. I have been using Linux Mint for three years and have not distro hopped to anything else because Mint just works for me. But because is works so well, I have not been pushed to learn these topics. I have been thinking of going through an Arch install to try it out but now will follow these upcoming videos. Great content as always Chris!

[@lejoshmont2093]

Mint is a pretty cozy home. I suggest you start your venture with learning how to install use virt-manager - qemu/kvm.

[@lekemp]

Great video Chris. Keep up the good work bro! I started with Linux Mint then POP OS, and now really happy with Fedora, it has up to date packages while being stable and it just works

[@untype]

I just switched after years of Zorin to Fedora 36 and love the vanilla gnome DE. Stable so far but strangely missing a default mail app. Otherwise, updates and software seem great so far with everything just working. Thanks for the awesome video, it’s going to help a ton of people conceptualize how this all works together.

[@rahulparmar3410]

I started using zorin os ( from1 month) I'm thinking to switch Fedora 36.

[@rangerboi9715]

was getting rid of windows on my laptop at this moment already decided for fedora. What a day to be alive. Thank god linux distros exists

[@OcteractSG]

Forgetting OpenSUSE. It and the other three are the four major families of Linux that most users run.

[@c.j.hatton]

Fedora has been the best distro for me. I had driver issues on arch and manjaro. I have an nvidia gpu, and arch didn't seem to utilise it well. Nothing felt smooth and videgames were unplayable. I tried multiple debian based distros, including ububtu and linux mint. Despite what you said, all of them had stability issues. This may be driver related again, but apps would frequently crash, and I had more system crashes than on windows. I've been using fedora has my main os for over three months now (I had been on and off linux for nearly two years before this and I still primarily used windows). I've had absolutely no issues with fedora. It works perfectly fine, with no driver or stability issues. I love how it just works. I do use kde plasma with xorg though (wayland is still buggy for me, although it has gotten a lot better in the past year). I'm comfortable with fedora, and I'll probably keep using it. I have no reason to change distro.

[@wolfwoof2000]

1 years on pop os and then 3 years on Fedora, I wouldn't switch to something else now. Pop os was getting outdated, I love Fedora. Rare bugs, stable and gnome. Got a new laptop, it took me 30min to setup everything again, and it just works. Gnome is so refined now that it competes windows or macos 👌 Love the frequent updates with the stability !

[@wintutorials2282]

@@wolfwoof2000 Im on pop os right now and use fedora on my laptop. I have an nvidia gpu in my desktop, are the drivers for fedora stable?

[@MarkLKahnt]

Fedora originated as the “Community Development” edition of Red Hat and has continued to be where the systems emerge over time. Red Hat is now owned by IBM, and the work done on many projects come from Red Hat and IBM programmers in conjunction with other folks around the world come into the world through Fedora as a result. This means that Fedora tends to see that code a bit earlier than the rest of us. RPM was also the standard package format for many of the Linux distributions before Ubuntu and the like came along. DEB packages developed the ability to identify dependencies and draw the necessary additional packages to make sure that things would work long before Red Hat moved to address that. Still, Fedora/Red Hat have long had many derived distributions, but they have been less visible over the years relative to Debian derived distributions. I suspect that the dependencies may still be enough of an issue to just make custom distributions harder. Mandriva, for instance, was initially a Red Hat based distribution in the days when Fedora was still starting up. The logo for Red Hat has long been a red fedora hat, a sartorial fixture of one of the project’s founders, and as users submitting patches or functionality around the Red Hat code base organised into a community driven project, Fedora was a way of showing the interaction with Red Hat. When I started using Linux, back in 1999, there were three packaging systems, RPM, DEB, and Slackware’s gzipped files. Virtually everyone beyond Debian and Slackware were dealing with RPM at the time, causing various independent systems like SuSE to need to follow Red Hat’s code base to ensure that pre-packaged applications in closed source would also work with them (eg. Adobe Reader, Oracle database). Once Debian developed the automatic resolution of dependencies, more and more distributions developed drawing on it.

[@fireloks6362]

I started with Corel Linux (I'm old!) Lol

[@enderbug]

I recommend LFS for very beginners. It is built very simple.

[@WaldemarB-wj1nq]

Lol

[@miguelborges7913]

I believe that they should use only one core too, and do LFS on the weakest PC available.

[@miguelborges7913]

@@datacoderX it was ironic...

[@orkhepaj]

another hipster distro?

[@theruq7171]

LMAOOOOO

[@Scott00]

For newer users I will only recommend Linux Mint and Fedora (spin) depending on system and their skill level, with Fedora just have to add few extra steps to walk through installing codecs, rpmfusion, flatpak, etc.

[@GenialHarryGrout]

I use PCLinuxOS with a MATE desktop. Not cutting edge but it has always worked for me without any problems.

[@speedyfox9080]

For new users I recommend LFS. It is the best! New users will be up and running in no time!

[@randomname2437]

Fully customizable too!

[@user-fr3hy9uh6y]

I started with Red Hat but moved to LM (Debian) for day to day use. Stability and ease of use was the main driver. I still have a 32 bit install of Debian on a computer to continue to have access to 5 inch disk drives. Can't wait to see how to install the LM desktop on that old Debian machine.

[@MohAmuza]

I began learning Linux Mint in a virtual machine last week, and I'm already enjoying it. I plan to spend more time mastering the basics before fully transitioning.❤

[@MW-mn1el]

Nice video.. OpenSuse is an upstream “root” distro in between Arch and Debian. Very similar to Fedora in term of core user base, and it’s capability. Fedora is default to Gnome, and OpenSuse Tumbleweed is best with KDE. Both are good choice for power user, developer and sysadmin.

[@Lanzetsu]

I always feel OpenSuse doesn't get the respect it deserves... almost never in the spotlight and to me it has been my daily driver and the still the best KDE distro for years

[@jbonn5365]

@@Lanzetsu I agree, 100%! Tumbleweed is absolutely fantastic! I've grown to love it! Been using it now as my daily driver on several machines for about two years!

[@larsradtke4097]

Tumbleweed FTW! My Asus laptop with Nvidia and Ryzen only works flawless with tumbleweed out of the box. I can run MST hub on the USB-C port with 2 displays connected, one to HDMI and get 4 screens without issues. all other distributions are crap pool of problems. Ubuntu 22.04 will not even boot sufficiently. Fedora only gives me internal Ryzen HDMI, Nvidia is not usuable. Manjaro works on live but breaks after install. I don't get why people neglect Opensuse so much, as it always runs better.

[@dennispater8833]

Opensuse is also my daily driver. I installed it with gnome and I recently installed one for a friend with xfce on an older machine (leap). In my eyes it's very stable and i personally use thumbleweed.

[@vincentvandenBergh1986]

openSUSE Tumbleweed KDE is my daily driver for over 2 years now. I came from Kubuntu and wanted a KDE focused system without snap-d crap so there was only 1 real option. First I did LEAP to learn everything about yast and controlling the system (including zypper) , then did a clean install of Tumbleweed that yet has to fail and break during a zypper dup (which I do at least once a week ).

[@sephiroth7818]

I always try everything every now and then but I always end up staying with Debian Sid. It's what I've used for almost 20 years. Arch is good for people who want the latest and greatest. Fedora is for those who want the best commercial support. And Debian is for those who want the most stable. None of the 3 are a bad choice.

[@jonah5814]

I’ve used Arch as my daily. I went back to Mint just because it works and feel familiar. It is also the most stable for daily usage.

[@shivashishyadav8740]

i really love Linux mint development, themes, packages, applets, extnesion what anyone just wants is already there well made. just one problem i have is that software packages are old, and i totally understand why...just you know getting from the software center is a different thing. also, i don't really like flatpacks... apart from that what Linux mint gives is totally commendable and appreciated.

[@davidczepanski1359]

Nice summary, Chris, great breakdown. That this explainaion is required is the main reason there's so much confusion around moving to linux. What's a Distro? What's a desktop environment? A package manager? A window manager!!! Once you get your head around this sort of stuff, the choices and confusion are stripped down a great deal.

[@zoinkshaggy]

Great video. I"ve used all 3 of these distros. I've used arch the most. I switched about a month ago to void linux. I wouldn't recommend to a new user though. I just wanted to try something new that wasn't based on something else. I always enjoy your videos. Keep it up.

[@Sandeepan]

runit + musl =

[@zoinkshaggy]

@@Sandeepan I am using the glibc version. I was unsure about software compatibilty so I chose the glibc version. I may try that version at some point.

[@monomonster]

Another consideration is 'Will it work with the computer?' I have a Acer Swift 3 and among Debian-based distros, the biggest problem I found was many didn't like the sound device on the computer. The only one of my goto distros that had the proper sound drivers was Linux Mint 21. Even LMDE didn't work. So keep that in mind.

[@BWGPEI]

Very interesting. I do look forward to the Debian install and setup you talked about, because that is the next level for me. Distributions have been "black box" items for me to test with live hardware, and any distribution that installs, updates successfully, and then reboots is worth further study. (The the number that have not is daunting.) Current daily drivers in our house are all Linux Mint / Cinnamon Desktop because that distribution passed the first tests, and was easy to use for old MS Windows users who need something better. Many Thanks for all of the help and advice you've posted over the years. May you live long and prosper!

[@TheSensationalMr.Science]

so for new users it would be like this for why to choose each one? Stability Bleeding edge Debian Fedora Arch Hope you have a great day & Safe Travels!

[@tjwreds1]

Debian is the best distribution that has ever been.

[@AndrewErwin73]

I was a long time Arch user. Around 6 years. But I saw all these videos praising Fedora 36 and decided to try it out. I love it! It works out of the box with my older GPU's (and other hardware) and it is not that far behind Arch! (updated to 8.18.9 over the weekend). And since I generally build most of my software from source, I am not missing any packages (that I can tell anyway)... and it seems perfectly stable so far (2 weeks in).

[@demanuDJ]

I'm using both Arch and Fedora. I could stay only with Fedora because its great distro, solid and stable, but I miss a lot of AUR software like music production plugins which on Fedora I must install for example from git manually and upgrade them, but on Arch AUR + yay makes everything for me. If something went wrong I have btrfs snapshot and I can go back. If there could be AUR equivalent for Fedora then it would be my main distro.

[@madthumbs1564]

Yeah, Arch should be considered a new user distro because of how easy the AUR makes things.

[@accounta09]

Fedora has their own AUR-like repo called COPR.

[@MyRealityIsProof]

I've been using Cinnamon since December for my everyday use. I love it.

[@arlcr]

Hi Chris, I like and follow your channel a lot. However, with regards to the 3 base distributions, don't you think there are more? I can think of OpenSUSE which is not technically derived from Fedora because the timelines are a bit different. There are 2 others as well, which would be Slackware and Gentoo. Any thoughts?

[@johnwelander]

Ha ha, I chuckled at your last comments as I use Mint 20 and onwards on a couple of my machines (I'm just a hobbyist of many years) and this distro does in fact just work; at least compared to Windows 10! I have used Linux for at about 17 years+ on and off and mint to me is the perfect OS because it so it's job (day to day computing) without complaint. I will keep dipping my toes into other distros though as that is indeed part of the fun of Linux to me. Thank you for such a great channel!

[@itzamedave6242]

Did a test drive of Fedora 36 at release and was quite nice even the new Gnome isn't terrible but kde is still my preference.

[@ArniesTech]

I always feared Fedora a bit but with 36 I made the move and damn I love it 💪😌

[@AA-ks7bo]

i installed fedora 36 with kde as my first linux experience. there is a fair bit of jank, especially with multi monitor, but otherwise it's been 5 days of smooth operation for me. rn running a dual boot but wanna make sure i absolutely don't need windows before wiping it off my drive.

[@ArniesTech]

@@AA-ks7bo I love the spins but thats why I stick to the stock versions, as all the love and effort of the main devs goes into it. I was no GNOME guy AT ALL but the polished experience convinced me 🙏

[@AA-ks7bo]

@@ArniesTech customization was my reason for switching to Linux, so KDE was the target since day one

[@karlasimmet8777]

For a newbie your technical knowledge is way to advanced

[@nikczemnydev]

I tried a lot of distros over the last 2 weeks (only the ones I remember - kde neon, kubuntu, manjaro, endeavour, mx linux, pop, garuda and mint) and fedora was the only one that greeted me with a black screen. And I even checked a few olders versions and spins with the same result. I've seen some memes about fedora and nvidia, and I do have a laptop with rtx 2070 so it's probably that but still, a bit disappointing. I would love pop os with kde instead of gnome, that would become my daily driver instantly.

[@angTinTuong]

because of this video, I have decided to move to Fedora from Ubuntu and really happy with this decision even though facing a pretty annoying issue during Fedora installation. It more stable and less bugs than Ubuntu 22.04 Thank you Chris

[@zaubermaus8190]

hey chris, i wanted to know if there is a reliable way to "rollback" a linux system? i mean something like system restore points in windows, not an ordinary backup solution. because every time i decide to install and use linux (which is every other year), it doesn't take me long to fundamentally break it, since i really like to tinker with my operating systems AND i like bleeding edge... usually when i try to recover from things like that and try to find solutions online, all the linux geeks tell me to just reinstall the whole system, since it wouldn't be worth the time to try and fix things... though i *did* learn a bit from my mistakes and started to use different partitions for home and root, so i could reuse the home partition (most of the time). but it would really be great to just hit a button in an app before tinkering with partially updated or experimental stuff and being able to get back to that point with another press of a button if things go wrong.

[@fakename7847]

Timeshift or Back In Time Linux apps. Note: I recall Chris has a video in Timeshift. Good luck.

[@zaubermaus8190]

@@fakename7847 thx mate.

[@fakename7847]

@@zaubermaus8190 Anytime. : )

[@mr.vortex1]

I'm not the most experienced with Linux yet either, but something I've learned is that during the install process some distros let you choose BTRFS as the file system when you are formatting your hard drive. This file system is specifically designed to help you roll back your device to a previous state if something breaks. I use an app called Timeshift to create these snapshots. It's best used in conjunction with a partitioned drive since it only backs up system files by default. Then when you need to roll back, you can do so while the system is running, or if it's totally borked you can do it from a live USB.

[@zaubermaus8190]

​@@mr.vortex1 i'll look into it, thx :)

[@jasperaj1]

I had installed arch on a linux Thinkpad maybe sometime around 2018 then forgot about it. In the meantime I moved to literally the other side of the world and the other day this laptop fell into my hands. Well, I started to update it using pacman. At first painfully slow. Then I updated the software mirrors and voila, it updated. There were some minor hiccups during the process, but I got there and it works. Probably I just got lucky? Anyway it impressed me greatly that package management survived years of downtime.

[@MikeBramm]

There are a couple things you should fix on the web page you showed: 1] Under "Bootloader", the first sentence has "This can is usually either GRUG...". This should be changed to either "The can be either GRUB..." or "This is usually GRUB..." 2] "render" should be "renderer" (in the heading and in the first sentence).

[@henriquemiguel95]

I started with Ubuntu and stayed with it for more than 1 year, in the mean time I moved to ZorinOS and Ive been using for 7 months and I'm not leaving it, I love this distro no matter what other distros have to offer. Good video!

[@bstar777777]

I think Cinnamon needs to be in the list of desktop environments. I don't personally use it, but I did run it for about 6 months a couple years ago and was really impressed with how stable and polished it is. It doesn't look the best, but I recommend it without any reservations.

[@stephenwilson0386]

Agree 100%. I use openSUSE Tumbleweed and ran Plasma for a long time, but finally got tired of all the glitches and buggy-ness and switched over to Cinnamon. For me it's the best mix of customizable and stable. Sure I miss out on some eye candy, but I'd much rather have a stable platform to get my work done than have the perfect transparent blurry windows - at the end of the day looks are a distant second to getting stuff done without worrying about crashes.

[@MichaelJHathaway]

what do you mean it doesn't look the best? Cinnamon has crazy eye candy when configured.

[@bstar777777]

@@MichaelJHathaway I agree, I just mean the “out of the box” experience.

[@johnjbateman]

I really really appreciate this explanation. I absolutely hate all the distro reviews out there that just talk about the DE and package manager.

[@scugnizz]

i use arch btw

[@anghDescartes]

nice video. I opt for SuSE as it matches all my needs and stability is never an issue.

[@CodyHadley]

Chris Great video. I fall under Arch Linux after coming from Ubuntu or Debian based Distros when I first got into Linux 20+ years ago. You mentioned there not being really any forks of Fedora Linux but I know of one called Blag Linux. I had a friend who used it back in the day and he customized everything in it. Keep up the great content and look at Blag Linux!

[@beadsman13]

I tried Linux in 2005 I believe it was. It was Suse (I don't remember what version). That distro made me to scratch Linux. I had problems with sound, codecs and I think the third one was internet. I remember Slackware was very popular among advanced users and now I don't hear anything about that distro. Is it still around? And why nobody talk about it?

[@TheBlueThird]

Blag Linux is no longer being developed. For quite a while now. The website is still up, but you won't get any updates.

[@brainyquizchallange]

I'm running POP 22 and Fedora 36. Now after a year with POP, I'd like Fedora base with system 76 cosmic dt with it's bells and whistles. Just having pop-shell in the fedora repo is a nice start though.

[@gabrieldesimone4644]

hey great video, for me an ideal distro would be something like: lightdm/sddm + Xorg X11 (yep, wayland dont let me share my screen through Zoom) + some sort of util to have the same trackpad gestures that I have on Wayland + gnome (with custom theme). And I will choose fedora or something arch based that doesnt blow up on system update but performs well with X11. Problem: I want a distro that does all that for me, I want something that "just works", and the true is that, for common usecases I know no distro that works out of the box.

[@danmarius]

I've started using Fedora as my main OS in 2014 and I am not complaining. 10 years ago, after big Linux break, Fedora was chosen for that time brand new computer. It it still installed on that computer and it is still used daily because I fully migrated to Linux.

[@donaldmickunas8552]

Hey Chris, Great video. Well organized and presented. I do have to laugh though. “If you don’t want to understand how Linux works, then I don’t recommend that you change to Linux.” That is the position of every “gray beard” in Linux. This in the face of distros bending over backwards to make it so that people don’t need to understand how Linux works. Let the flame wars commence! Having said that. I agree with that position. However I am not attempting to maintain a KZbin channel. Chris Titus still ROCKS!

[@osamaanees8406]

Yeah, Its like saying if you dont want to learn how a car works then dont use it.

[@philippecardin1109]

I've been using Arcolinux(Plasma)as my daily driver since the past almost 4 years without replacing the os, only updates. Of course there's been some minor bugs over the years, but nothing that can't be fix, especially with a solid community and a friendly developper behind the system, wich i think is as much important as the system itself.

[@j_rryplays8038]

Qubes is forked from fedora!

[@ChrisTitusTech]

That makes a ton of sense, the one thing fedora does so well is containers and virtualization.

[@jamesmurphy2416]

I started using linux about 20 years ago when there were far less options as there are now, but the points you're making basically applied back then as well

[@rabid6449]

good job Chris. the best thing I ever did was go through Slackware package by package and experiencing what I would call a "guided built from scratch Linux setup". Really makes troubleshooting easier but I've settled back into my Debian ways and lazy xfce desktop

[@JamieStuff]

I run Debian on my cloud servers for the stability. My desktop (what I'm on now) is Arch. I have a few Raspberry Pi computers running Manjaro, and I've become a fan, to the point that I've been recommending it to people. Being Arch based, the Arch Wiki and the AUR both apply, so you have a good, (usually) up to date reference available.

[@naomegumi5048]

My experience in Ubuntu 20.04 'Focal Fossa' (where I called Ubuntu 'Yotsuba'), isn't bad for using in my 2GB RAM Laptop. Not only that, since I'm using Ubuntu starts on 18.04 to latest release Opens me up to a world of Linux that I'm familiar with, even though there are many other distros I haven't tried. So, Ubuntu is good for newbie like me.

[@geoffk777]

What I recommend: 1. If you really want to learn the OS and are willing to spend some effort getting it all working right, than Arch or Endeavor 2. If you just want it to work on day 1 and keep working with minimal attention to the OS, than Mint (with Cinnamon or KDE Plasma as the desktop). I'm an old-school Unix nerd, so I use Arch. But, if my Dad asked for a distro, I'd send him to Mint. Fedora is too cutting edge for newbies and Red Hat has been acting badly as a company lately, so I can't recommend it.

[@samla2404]

Best Linux experience & explanation yet

[@vealpiccata9680]

Last year, I celebrated 20 years of keeping my windows xp going. Then I bid it farewell & with the help of your videos, I chose Debian Buster for my new system. No regrets, I love it. I feel like I'm not intelligent enough to handle Arch. I wish I was, but on the other hand I feel like Debian might be the better fit for me anyway. I don't need to be that updated. However, I get the impression that Fedora might be the baby steps to Arch?

[@DanyelLawson]

endeavouros is the baby step towards arch. - it is an installer for arch with a few niceties that installs a desktop too plus the yay package installer that rocks - arch means no more distro upgrades even when arch switches major underlying systems

[@arvindhn036]

Do you still use Rocky Linux as your default Desktop Distro.? if yes, tell us how is your experience with it so far, if not, Then what made you change your mind.

[@KatyushaLauncher]

He uses Fedora

[@dimii27]

This is the sanest Linux tutorial I've seen. It feels like I'm treated like a human being

[@wolfwoof2000]

Love Fedora, I've been using it for 3 years, just got a new laptop it took me 30min to setup everything again Fedora just works, if there is a bug it's patched up after rebooting. Never had a crash or bsod ever again Gnome is awesome, gestures are beautifully animated, I wouldn't see me with a macos or windows

[@aramrahgozar]

This is why this channel is different than other Linux channels. Here you learn.

[@williamevans6830]

Hands down best comment on distro hopping there are only 3 distros that matter. Great video will help any newbie get straight into Linux and not get overwhelmed.

[@BrockLeyland]

Been using opensuse leap, everything is in the manual, packages are easy to install via YaST (rpm), support is great, since it's linked to suse.

[@OzarkPatriot1]

I settled on openSUSE last year and never looked back. Tumbleweed is rock solid for being a rolling distro and hasn't let me down yet. Plus, YaST. Nuff said.

[@stephenwilson0386]

Same here. I've hopped to just about every distro at one time or another, but keep coming back to Tumbleweed. I left it awhile back due to Plasma being glitchy, but recently gave it another try with Cinnamon and it really checks all the boxes now. It really blows my mind that openSUSE doesn't get nearly as much press as Fedora, Arch, and others. It has all the polish of a professional workstation system, and you can pick any DE. Not to mention they have you covered whether you prefer a stable point release or rolling bleeding edge.

[@methamphetamememcmeth3422]

YaST, very true.

[@babasingapura]

Thank you. This really helped me understand the components that go into a Linux distribution.

[@Andres0772]

Loved how easy was to understand the most relevant aspects of each distirbution. I've been using linux for years and still learned some things from here such as the systemd as bootloader.

[@hopelessdecoy]

Honestly in my experience for a normal desktop person choose an Ubuntu flavor. Best support both communities and hardware plus and you can use the OS like an appliance not an engineering environment.

[@HopliteSecurity]

This was fantastic! Thank you so much for making this video as I was able to point several people towards this video. I think there is allot of confusion around Linux distros and this video does an amazing job of clearing any clouds of confusion.

[@kozas0]

For someone that is not completely newbie to Linux, the one that would be able to install his preferred desktop environment, editor, web browser and so on, the distribution differ on other aspects than the one you mention, if he can get his favorite packages from the distro or not, how often these packages get updated, the release model, how well the packages are integrated with each other and how well they work.

[@Eren_Yeager_is_the_GOAT]

Arch breaking is actually a feature because it's fun to repair it :D

[@latuman]

When trying out linux, maybe one of the biggest concepts you have to accept and wrap your mind around is this: Your OS can just "break" and that's it. You will absolutely have to learn to fix it or die trying.

[@juanroldan4379]

Your recommendations are spot on and well based.

[@jitendradoc]

Kubuntu is best for me. My HP printer works, the interface is very pleasing to eyes. Faster than buntu, Zorin. App store opens very fast. Konsole is good for a newbie. Office is polished. What else an average user want! Your video is awesome💗. Keep up the good work. 💗💗💗💗

[@kenm3209]

Good video for people that already know a LOT of the basics... I would like to see someone, YOU, do a video that talks through an explanation of computers from hardware, thru BIOS, to boot manager, to various system pieces and what each does and why, for people as though they know NOTHING, other than wanting to know about computers from zero

[@tymz-r-achangin]

I have a pc with Asus Z97-A motherboard, Intell i5 4690k processor, 16gb DDR3 ram, and 3 internal hard drives. My 1st hard drive, I already have Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit on it and been using it for the past few years (no, I do not want windows 10 or 11) My 2nd hard drive is for installing Linux Mint 20.3. My 3rd hard drive is a 3tb thats just for back ups. for Windows and Linux files So what are the steps for installing Linux Mint 20.3 onto my 2nd hard drive and optimizing the settings for multi-boot?

[@dierkrieger]

I have run so many Distros and POP OS rates up there at the top. I started running Linux back in the late '80s and used it 100% for college. Pop OS is bulletproof and easy to use with everything working right, which scares me.

[@Daggenthal]

"Nobody forks Fedora, kinda curious as to why on that" @ 13:20. Mostly, RedHat is forked, which is how we got CentOS, Fedora, and Rocky Linux. Albeit Fedora is a supported child by RedHat completely, CentOS / Rocky are forked off of RedHat.

[@amyrviegas]

Best video explanation of linux distributions!! Congrats!!

[@kikdtd]

awesome recap. this was the kind of overview I was looking for. thank you

[@phoenixphasisryan5658]

I started with MX Linux (still use it) but I am playing around now with MANJARO, FEDORA & GARUDA DRAGONIZED GAMING (for gaming). Now for like privacy an such I use KODACHI OS. I am still somewhat new to Linux (about a year to year an half). This is just what I'm using an trying out. I qm setting up one of my laptops for LINUX MINT for friends whom come over. I'm over WINDOW'S. As well I prefer KDE Linux, I hate GNOME. Eventually I would like to learn how to create my own Linux distro.

[@umpquarover]

That GNOME screenshot is ancient!

[@Alias_Anybody]

I'm not quite sure why there's always such a focus on bleeding edge packages? Unless a) your hardware is still warm from the fabrication or b) you absolutely need the latest feature in a specific program I'm not sure why you wouldn't always prioritize stability and ease of use. I mean, the browser, the one program which really has to be up2date will be in even the most conservative distros. Apart from that, how many people would even notice if their version of LibreOffice Write, VLC or whatever PDF viewer is new or one year old?

[@ordinaryhuman5645]

This is what I was thinking when I opted for Linux Mint recently, but I found myself wanting the latest versions of the Linux kernel and GPU related drivers for gaming to fix some bugs, and my hardware is ~3-4 years old. I recently have been trying Fedora instead, and out of the box Elden Ring has had noticably better performance and seems more stable. It makes no difference for casual browsing and document editing, but it can make a difference with gaming.