The 11 Best Linux Distributions

[@anticyde]

Been a relatively new user on Mint 21 Cinnamon and I'm absolutely loving it. It's a great distro if you're coming from Windows and just want to get things done

[@anonymous_opinions1924]

Mint is totally based. You could go on using Mint forever and have no reason to leave.

[@techguydilan]

Can't go wrong with Mint at all. It's one of my main contenders when I decide to jump off of Windows for a while. I either go with Mint, Debian, or Arch in that case these days, I was a Fedora person up until the RHEL closing their source drama.

[@BWGPEI]

Not so new user here who runs Mint / Cinnamon on laptops and desktops. Definitely second your opinion.

[@JohnSmith-f5g]

Mint and PopOs are the two that actually just work on my laptop. Everything else has annoying issues.

[@crisbalgreece]

Agree 100% !! went there from PopOS and i'm happy so far.. dev stuff and daily use..👍

[@MiukuMac]

As a business user; SUSE (in various forms) as I actually have to get work done and not waste my time. For someone to say they really don't have anything bad to say about a Linux distribution and has no problems is high praise in case you're looking to actually no waste time on trivial issues.

[@marcuswest4572]

Exactly. I run Pop OS on 1 PC (else NIxos). Sometimes you just need a no stress boil in the bag solution

[@novoiperkele]

This. No hassle is the pro choise.

[@marcuswest4572]

TumbleWeed is the nuts

[@oredaze]

I remember like 10 years ago, when I was trying distros on a weak-ish machine, OpenSUSE was the only one that was noticeably slower than the rest...

[@marcuswest4572]

@@oredaze 15 years ago OpenSuse was very niche....times have changed!!

[@DownunderPhx]

Gentoo isn't about minimal installs, compiling kernels, or 'being special'. Gentoo is about choice, and building the ideal system for you. It can be as stable as Debian, as bleeding edge as Arch, or a million things in between. It can literally mimic any distro out there, or be something totally unique. It's amazing.

[@crazychicken0378]

Yeah gentoo is better described as a meta distro

[@GoolagThemTube]

And also very time consuming. That's why most people will never use it.

[@passingleaf1572]

maybe in the future everyone will have thread ripper level cpus on their systems (like your avarage home computer cpu being thread ripper level with normal cpu price). Then gentoo will make so much sense. But for now it's way to much time consuming.

[@terminalvelocity4858]

*Unpopular opinion:* Gentoo seems to be a complete waste of time for the 0.001% difference in performance "gain" from other distributions. The USE flags and licensing configuration are especially irritating and good luck if you try to rollback an install problem. Maybe in the future when everyone has a 128+ core CPU to constantly compile everything you install and update, it would make more sense. Thankfully, Arch Linux offers the exact same experience, but actually values my time spent.

[@eagleearberry5613]

Yeah, the fact that some people reduce Gentoo to that Distro where stuff is compiled and takes long is just weird.

[@DominikZogg]

I like Fedora and as long as Red Hat doesn't do stupid decisions there i'll stay. When test repo is added it's nearly as up to date as Arch (kernel, firmware, mesa).

[@brangtoggez6363]

Yes, I just hope red hat has some sense here. I have used fedora for months now ( not really long though ) and I have no issue with it, again not even one issue. so stable but still can access to new stuff. such a blessing. I tried to hop to opensuse, pop OS, mint. but they are just not on the same level with fedora.

[@wikingagresor]

After recent IBM/Red Hat political fiasco with woke bullshit, I wouldn't recommend to install it on any machine.

[@techguydilan]

My contention with Fedora is that they can screw it easily by removing the developer's license to their source from the Fedora team. At least how I understand it.

[@DominikZogg]

@@techguydilan Fedora doesn't have an agreement like RHEL. Redhat could stop supporting in (human power, money) that's all.

[@techguydilan]

@@DominikZogg that's worse IMO. Because the devs would either have to go to work elsewhere, or figure out how to independently raise funds on top of having to rebase the project. Whereas if they were independently funded, they'd just have to rebase off of something like Rocky or SUSE.

[@yaroslav7328]

Absolutely love Fedora; this distro has not let me down for years. This is an OS for working, as a professional, as a simple user. Very surprised that Fedora (not RHEL) didn't make this list. And, in general, Linux is harmed by the toxicity of the community regarding the choice of distribution.

[@fabriziot1467]

Kde user here. Opensuse TW is my main distro, yast is still the best graphic installer. The second one is archlinux, 10 (maybe less) minutes and system is up and running. However, I still don't understand the plethora of distros out there. Nice video Titus, it made me smile. 💯

[@Kankipappa]

I've had Gentoo on my server over a decade and I never had to reinstall it. Only had to do new install when I upgraded my server hardware since the old one was still using MBR disk layout. :D Funnily enough I never had these big security issues with openssl and the log4j and stuff what were "big news", since I had a choice on choosing what packets to use on my headless home server. Also there are sysadmin kernels these days so don't even have to compile your kernels. On the plus side you don't have the instability of systemd, so the server usually had couple of years of uptimes with just emerge sync and update being done on the fly. It's not for the average Joe that's for sure but it does have it's uses, and for me I have no use get other distros, If I have time to set it up.

[@joshuabeckwith7906]

I went with LMDE6. It seems to run so much better than standard mint for my use case (Music Production, Light Gaming) on my workhorse laptop. It takes a tiny bit more know how to setup as the Ubuntu Mint seems to have a bit more compatibility as far as drivers and hardware is concerned but after a bit of work, it's definitely snappier and I have less latency for recording overall, plus with Debian as the base it's super stable and feels so much lighter. It's great, I do 98% of my stuff in LMDE6 now.

[@sohanislam8749]

Lmde is fire . I already used ❤❤

[@VeryUsMumblings]

LMDE is getting really good!

[@joshuabeckwith7906]

@@VeryUsMumblings If they manage to find a way to make the drivers easier to access for newcomers with it then it'll be most of the way there, the only thing that will be missing is access to PPAs.

[@andreyansimov5442]

I switched from Win use in my life (I expect) to LMDE 6 this year. Using not slow laptop with core i5 and GTX 1650 it is really a pain to configure 3D things to work in special apps... CAD, video editing... I spent few hours in forums and terminal to CREATE and configure files of Linux to force it use of Nvidia card only. Its crazy uneffective way of use of PC.

[@joshuabeckwith7906]

@@andreyansimov5442 All you need to do is right click on whatever program after installing the nvidia-driver and choose run with dedicated gpu. That's it. Mine is an Asus TUF with a Ryzen 5 and a GTX1650 also.

[@MartyAckerman310]

Different strokes for different folks. I'm happy with Fedora, it's been my daily driver for 4 years or so. No stability issues, makes me happy to use it, everything seems new and it just works. I have a Tumbleweed install that I boot into on weekends for the fun of it, and I'm really impressed. I also have a Debian 12 install that I really don't like but I keep around because I want to keep my toes in the Debian water. Frankly it's only 6 months from release and I'm already running into issues with software not building because of outdated dependencies. That and the old Gnome kinda grates on me after being in Fedora all day. I had a Mint Cinnamon install around also and was impressed. That would definitely be my recommendation for anyone new, or for an install for my parents to use.

[@deepchange2973]

Linux mint.. The best Linux for everyone easy to install and smooth

[@Bareego]

even better on XFCE4 :) so zippy

[@BaremetalFlesh]

EOS just works :)

[@OldieBugger]

I started with Linux Mint back in... 2016 or 2017, I forget the details. It works very well so I have never had a reason to hop to anything else. I leave the pleasures (and occasionally pains) of distro hopping to others.

[@techguydilan]

@@MichaelJHathaway If Linux has any "just works" distros I'd feel Mint would be one of them.

[@MelroyvandenBerg]

I also use it for years. I'm a software engineer myself. But just recently the packages are getting outdated again too much for my liking. I think I will try void linux. Only if linux mint stop following Ubuntu LTS but just the latest Ubuntu then I can come back without a doubt 😊

[@OldieBugger]

@@MelroyvandenBerg They seem to be pushing everyone to using flatpaks for most apps.

[@Apemania69]

​@@MelroyvandenBerg The outdated packages are the reason i switched to fedora from 2years of mint. Made a new pc with new hardware and mint gave me issues. Installed fedora and like magic everything worked. Full AMD build so linux loves that a bit more then nvidia 😅

[@solutionroute]

My list is short: - Void, an independent rolling distribution that aims for stability, for those who want to control their own destiny completely. - For the desktop, openSUSE Aeon (formerly known as openSUSE MicroOS Desktop). I *love* the minimal OS core, using Distrobox for corralling all my apps and utils, the stability, the nicely done GNOME experience. It's at RC status (probably awaiting finishing all the name changes mostly) but is perfectly solid. It's just the cleanest and most sensible way to configure for personal desktops and get things done while still allowing power users to do anything they need, cleanly. - openSUSE MicroOS flavours for servers and special use cases I bet a year from now we'll all be talking about Aeon (and similar approaches aka Fedora Silverblue/uBlue/etc) a lot more.

[@Tatar_Piano]

Why void, how is it better than other distros?

[@tedwu5824]

I use micro os for coding btw

[@samconnelly7630]

@solutionroute What about NixOS?

[@clintonreisig]

Game developer here. I am happy with Fedora

[@martycarr1477]

Interesting

[@psour33]

For years I didn't like Debian, just because I thought it was ugly and slow. Now I use only Debian because I think it's minimalist and efficient. What a donkey I am. 🤣

[@Tech-expert121]

Its unstable on cinnamon and it looks UGLY

[@TommyViper]

I've wanted to really like Debian, I've even given it a few tries. My desktop environment of choice is KDE Plasma and the stable version is still on 5.27.5. When I switched to Linux full time in May, it was just right before Plasma went to version 6, so I've used version 6 most of my time on Linux so far so I don't know what sort of bugs 5.27 may have still had in it. But on Debian, I get occasional weird graphical glitches. It's nothing Earth shattering, but it doesn't feel as smooth and comfortable to use like Fedora currently is. On the flip side, I'd absolutely love to start using and supporting a full community based distro. And at the same time, I really don't want to use any gimmicky Linux distros. So I'm kind of limited in options. It's either Debian, Fedora, openSUSE (which those two are essentially backed by corporate names), and Arch. I think those are the biggest ones out there even though I am aware there are a few other independent distros. I was thinking about going to their unstable branch, but I kind of backed out as people have said that it can on rare occasion break things. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world but I do depend on my laptop for my second job so I can't have something break on me and then I don't have time to troubleshoot it. I may revisit Debian on their next major release which should be within 7ish months or so, given or take and based on their past release track record.

[@Vampirat3]

Thanks for being a man about RHEL. I use your tools too thx !

[@yashagarwal8741]

I have a personal bias but My list goes like 1. Opensuse tumbleweed; 2. archlinux 3. debian & fedora 4. Linux mint debian edition 5. Nixos (it is an awesome proiect but it doesnt caters me.

[@MartyAckerman310]

no doubt Tumbleweed is a nice distro. If I weren't already on Fedora, I'd be on the 'weed for sure.

[@yashagarwal8741]

@@MartyAckerman310 getting opensuse up and running is a pain ngl

[@DefCantGame]

Other than having to run the installer in nomodeset and then removing that after installer, getting openSUSE tw is easy/painless for me @@yashagarwal8741

[@alvaroluffybr]

​@@yashagarwal8741and zypper is terribly slow

[@solaire_of_the_east]

Opensuse tw ftw, it is saddening that it is one of the most overlooked distros until now. It is a great fedora competitor.

[@dianaalyssa8726]

I agree, Ubuntu felt a bit sluggish last time I tried. Debian>Arch>Arco>Mint. Would be willing to try Nobara, nuked Fedora thinking I might try that instead. Mint is okay, just have had weird issues with it nuking it's bootloader. I feel Debian is super stable which is what I'm looking forward to. I would be interested to try LMDE also.

[@MartyAckerman310]

By stability, do you mean "doesn't crash randomly", or "doesn't change"? Because I'd agree with you if you mean the second thing.

[@dianaalyssa8726]

Doesn't change just a consistently solid experience @@MartyAckerman310

[@Daniel-wn5ye]

Ubuntu and it's flavors is full of Snap crapware now, I would not recommend it to anyone!

[@fossrules]

I started with Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 in 2002. I later dropped that when they morphed into SCO. Red Hat 9 was next. Dual booted Suse and Windows 2000(that was cool). Tried Mandrake, Ubuntu, and several others and settled on Slackware in 2004 until very recently. These days I like and use Void. It's an amazing distro with the runit init system. I haven't used Gentoo or LFS. I got CRUX installed up to the CLI. I highly recommend Void. I would enjoy your take on Void. :)

[@siamhie]

I also started with Caldera OpenLinux. It was version 1.1 in 1997.

[@fossrules]

@@AquaFyrre I also ran punch card programs down in the bowels of the University of British Columbia Computer Science Department in the late 70s. One mis-typed character and you failed. Haha

[@Tatar_Piano]

​@@AquaFyrrewhy void though? How is it better than other distros?

[@fossrules]

@@Tatar_Piano I suggest that you spin up a Void VM and try it out. Stable, fast, and minimal. I like the package management system.

[@thegorn]

I avoid void. It’s system-d all the way for me.

[@anonymous_opinions1924]

Debian is the best overall. Widest appeal and range of use cases, very stable and well maintained, been around for ages. Arch, Fedora and Gentoo are good for some specific uses. Mint Debian Edition is the best for beginners.

[@anonymous_opinions1924]

@@AquaFyrre I think "beginners" is a good word. When I started with Linux (or anything else for that matter), I had no problem being classified as such. Never heard someone in real life be offended by that word. "User Friendly" isn't a good term for this case. That implies that the system in question works well for and is "friendly" to its user - in which case, Gentoo would be user friendly, since it's pretty easy and friendly to the kind of person that uses it. When a beginner is looking for a distribution and sees that LMDE or Mint is "the best for beginners", that immediately tells them without a doubt what they need to know.

[@anonymous_opinions1924]

@@AquaFyrre Yeah if they're beginning with Windows and Mac then sure. Of course that seldom happens since people usually grow up with one of those. I think we agree about said Arch users - obviously some of them don't like beginners and thus use the term in a condescending way.

[@Fruchtpfote]

After 17 years of using Linux as a daily driver and a long time with debian and arch I am now happy with Fedora. Fedora combines rolling release with point release, is upstream and innovative and pushes linux and free software to next levels. (Red Hat is one of the biggest linux and open source contributors on the world). 😊

[@Fruchtpfote]

Which Software from Red Hat is closed source? I think you misunderstood a lot. @@ITSecNEO

[@ceruleansky6670]

I agree with your opinion on the Red Hat debacle, the politics surrounding the RHEL based distros still kind of disappoints me, but this is why I now have Debian on my servers, and Debian on my laptop as well. It's still rock solid, and although it took a lot of work hours to migrate all of the servers away from RHEL, in my opinion it is worthwhile.

[@Bareego]

I did learn a lot from Gentoo : 1) it's for ricers 2) prefer to have multiple dependency issues and spend 2 hours fixing rather than lose .2% performance. 3) It's mostly people who don't have a job and have a lot of time to waste

[@Keanred]

I've actually daily driven Gentoo and didn't mind it at all. Wouldn't probably pick it for work, but its really not that bad.

[@renzo532]

Yesterday I wiped my windows 10 and installed linux mint. Best distro so far

[@iWillAvert]

I can't speak much for Fedora, but Nobara I think is pretty great. It isn't too disconnected from Fedora, but does take over in terms of repos and such quite a bit. It's kind of akin to how Garuda is to Arch. It's also made by gloriouseggroll and is in my opinion probably one of if not the best distro for gaming out of the box. Especially if you are an Nvidia user!

[@cryptic_daemon_]

I been using it for most of this year, and is a great OS for gaming!

[@BruceMallett]

Over the years I've tried a handful of distros but my "steady" has been Tumbleweed. I've kept that on one system for many years and, for a rolling distribution it has been remarkably stable. K/ubuntu is another I keep trying but so far can't fathom why it is so popular.

[@TheDazedly]

Gentoo was my first distribution. :) It took a long time to compile KDE on a pentium 3. :D

[@ezequielpartida5846]

I tried all of those linux you mention and they are great.. but I always go back to the only Mandriva Fork that keeps all Mandriva idea. Unfortunately Mageia Devs don´t promote it as they should but Mageia 9 is rock solid. I use it for gaming, virtualization, packaging and some programing. It works great with my Nvidia hardware and AMD. All devs are great people and work hard to keep it as stable as possible. I have 4 servers working with mageia with no problems at all.

[@Ken-vq6iv]

I'm using Mint Cinnamon and Kubuntu. Both recognize my old Samsung laser printer (model ML-2510) and not recognizing that printer is a deal breaker for me. I've tried other Linux distros and tried the CUPS route, but my printer is unusual and not included on CUPS. I'm probably an intermediate user and have used the command line interface on several live Linux versions to try and make the printer work, including on Debian (also using the SPLIX program), but had no success. I understand the point made; that the basic system is the same between Cinnamon and Kubuntu; that the DE is the only difference. Since both are working for me and giving me everything I want from an OS, I'm sticking with them for the moment. Thanks for the video; good information!

[@FrDismasSayreOP]

We run Rocky for our server, no problems whatsoever. I generally use Linux Mint, and since I don't run the bleeding-edge, it's perfect and stable.

[@arthurwatts1680]

Most distros go through the FOTM phase based on novelty/boredom and power users seem to end up back with vanilla Debian. Linux Mint 22 is giving me the tools I need atm - a fast, functional browser and a bash prompt - the rest is window dressing ;)

[@ussul6524]

I tried Arch as noob and failed miserably. So Mint makes me feel like I do nto even have OS. Love it.

[@ForOdinAndAsgard]

@@MichaelJHathaway I would never recommend Vanilla Arch to new users but Manjaro and BigLinux are not bad choices for new users if they are prepared for a steep learning curve.

[@kevinsteinman8967]

@@MichaelJHathaway That's what we call Gatekeeping, well known in the Archverse. I always found their forums very very toxic. Don't get me wrong but I do have respect for Arch but I don't use it. Have I used it...three or four times perhaps and always left it at that.

[@lpnp9477]

Endeavor os forums are lovely and helpful and the distro is quite good if you're comfortable with yay

[@Masta_E]

@@lpnp9477 Changed to EOS a while back and after about a week felt like I had a grasp on the package manager and yay. Few months ago I decided to switch to Arch and ended up feeling very comfortable due to my time on EOS. Ironically I have had less issues on EOS/Arch than Debian, Fedora, and their forks. Highly recommend EOS, and with some time and messing around I easily think it is the best fork of Arch, has everything you want with nothing you don't.

[@ErlendDavidson]

I ran Gentoo for about 15 years, from about 2003 until 2018. I haven't used it in a few years, and I've heard they are affected due to a lack active maintainers but I do miss it a bit. I certainly prefer it to Arch, as it was a lot more stable.

[@SquaresToOvals]

Glad to see Gentoo here at the top :)

[@LdotSdot210]

I tried debian 12 last week and for whatever reason it was fine on first boot but after I updated it wouldn't see any wifi networks and I had no audio. The wifi issue went away when I downgraded the kernel but the audio issue remained. I ended up going with EndeavorOS in the end. Loving it so far.

[@Etem92]

They released a buggy kernel which is very rare for Debian to do but I guess even they make mistakes. They fixed it with the .67 release, so it should be safe to update now.

[@LdotSdot210]

@@Etem92 oh okay, I might check it out again then.

[@Nick-rs5if]

I think my favourite distros are Nobara, EndeavourOS and Mint. I currently run Nobara as a daily driver. I am primarily playing games and so like it because it comes pre-configured, and is developed by the same guy who makes Proton-GE (GloriousEggroll). It is everything I need it to be out of the box. Apart from Nobara/Fedora, I have run several Arch-based distros in the past, including Arch itself. Have to say that EndeavourOS is my favourite. It is just everything I need it to be. I am thinking of switching back to it at times. Mint is and will always be an absolute favourite. Absolutely amazing distro, you simply cannot go wrong with it.

[@akshatsingh4937]

For me i love the out of the box experience provided by the pop os and i love the modified gnome they ship the distro with.Also, I am eagerly waiting for system76 to release their new cosmic desktop environment

[@ordinaryhuman5645]

The funny thing is that when I tried Debian 12, I apparently got a bad live image and couldn't update anything, I think due to messed up package dependencies. When I tried to fix it, I borked the whole thing and it wouldn't boot. So my first experience with the rock solid distro was pretty underwhelming... back to Fedora I went.

[@abinashmohapatra5152]

The exact problem happened with me also. I raised the issue in the debian forum. Some guys guided what to do next, with codes. I followed the instructions and the issue was resolved.

[@nilneonilesh]

It’s happening with everyone, there was a broken linux kernel. I can’t update anything either, but i can boot up with an old linux kernel version. When booting up, choose advance and pick the other kernel version and not the latest one

[@nilneonilesh]

Can you tell me what was the issue and the forum discussion link?

[@ordinaryhuman5645]

@@nilneonileshLinks are a no-no in comments on YT, but it was specially an issue with the live image ISO for Debian 12.0. I think this forum post was related: "Debian Bookworm (12.0): dependency issues prevent kernel upgrade (raspi-firmware issue)"

[@nilneonilesh]

@@ordinaryhuman5645 quick update: my issue was regarding some unmet wireguard dependencies, reinstalled it and upgraded to latest kernel version. Fixed.

[@KC_rocka]

Chris you really need to try Void, it's such a fast, lightweight, no frills, stable distro, used it for the past year and have had no problems with it at all, I even do some gaming on it, been running the new Path of Exile patch on it, it's so smooth and my pc isn't even that good.

[@misterdrgn5155]

I (primarily a NixOS user) tried out Void and liked it. It felt like a smooth experience with fast software downloads and surprisingly good coverage of the packages I wanted. My problem was that I couldn't come up with a good reason to keep using it, instead of going back to NixOS(/Mint). I even posted in the Void Linux subreddit, and people generally said that there wasn't a good reason. So I guess that's my issue with Void--it's a cool, unique distro, but it doesn't really fill a niche, as far as I can tell. Unless it's a particularly specific one: a stable, rolling distro with faster software updates than Tumbleweed and less work than NixOS.

[@skirvishley]

Chris, stop giggling, try void for a few days and then get back to us.

[@k0mp4k]

I've been daily driving Gentoo since 2004. From very light custom desktops to full plasma on modern hardware. I have tried other distros but they feel inferior. I guess the best distro is the one you use the most.

[@Auridian]

1. Debian 2. Tumbleweed 3. Fedora 4. Debian derivatives 5. Arch derivatives 6. Arch

[@TheDisturbed0ne1]

I like Kali for random CTF events and stuff like that. It's a quick and easy way to get all the stuff I might need, and then just wipe everything when it's done!

[@thegorn]

Kali is great in a VM

[@muddyexport5639]

Catching. up on your vids. I started following you in the 2016 timeframe. One of the first vids you said pick one and make it your own. At the time I was distro hopping for the sake of distro hopping. Picked one, modified it for my own liking and needs and still there. and using and modifying as needed. Distro hopping is fine for those who like it (free country) or use to make income content. Just not for me. Having said -- THANKS! Good vid. I look forward to the next iteration.

[@Cavi587]

I love debian. But I daily drive pop_os. It stinks of Ubuntu, but the devs are doing a great job. And it's a lot more up to date compared to Ubuntu. Being on the 6.6.6 kernel on an Ubuntu based distro is pretty great. When the update dropped there was a brief moment when my arch laptop and my pop_os PC were basically on the same kernel version. That doesn't happen often, if at all.

[@bes12000]

Love Arch it's extremely fast, everything opens instantly like im time traveling, always being updated nearly daily. Im dual boot with a stripped down Windows 11 custom install with no start up apps enabled and Arch is MUCH faster starting up too, about 2 seconds vs Windows 11's 20 seconds.

[@anonymous_opinions1924]

Arch is great. IMO Arch, Debian, and Mint are the distros that matter. Some people will do well with Fedora too I guess.

[@joeltyler3427]

We'll, Kali has that windows mode for red teaming. Plus there's a wsl version as well.

[@michaelgleason4791]

Before I even watch this, I already know for some reason you decided to light the Internet ablaze with this video.

[@stephenreaves3205]

I use Gentoo as my daily os (Actually I'm watching this video on Gentoo). I love it

[@michaeltodd2012]

Not a big Linux user but enjoy testing out distributions. I have Ubuntu on my Ras Pi 400, Lbuntu on an old HP Desktop and Peppermint OS on an old Acer laptop.

[@OnlyLinuxGaming]

I have actually been enjoying my time on Manjaro these days. Although slackware has always held a place in my heart. I just wish it was frequently updated.

[@lpnp9477]

Have you tried endeavouros? It's like manjaro with good configs out of the box

[@gilliebrand]

Debian is amazing, I never thought that I would ever move away from Mint, but then I went to MX and loved that distro, but Debian is faultless, a real game changer. A great review, thanks for sharing!

[@sean7221]

Why not LMDE?

[@gilliebrand]

@@sean7221 I have that running on a desktop also. Distro choice is a strange thing...Ubuntu has never 'felt' right for me, Mint was my go to distro for years, MX changed that, and Debian 12 'feels' like a perfect fit for me, but that's just my opinion, I'm really no expert when it comes to Linux.

[@RobertR-v9w]

loving life over here on arch still. some day I'm gonna go gentoo and also try rolling Debian

[@linuxmobile]

I can't see NixOS here. I think is the best of the best. After more than 15 years using linux, I think it is the best distribution (for experienced people).

[@paulomanoelrs]

I find Gentoo so much easier than arch Linux these days... Funny how things change overtime 😅

[@cr4sh0veride]

Started with slackware 8->Ubuntu->Gentoo->arch->Debian->manjaro and been with manjaro for as long as I can remember.

[@1steditiongamer276]

Not directly in the list, but I'm glad to hear you mention PoPOS.

[@kusanag0]

I’m an old Slack user. It’s cozy and I love the stability and no fanfare.

[@katrinabryce]

For me, Debian and FreeBSD on servers; LMDE on the desktop. Maybe next time I install a desktop I will go with regular Debian. While I know how to play around with operating systems, I mostly don't.

[@katrinabryce]

@@MichaelJHathaway Yes I know. Wasn't the case with older versions, which is why I went with Mint. Now I use it because it works fine and there is no need to change.

[@YannMetalhead]

For beginners Linux Mint is the very best, period.

[@Smittron]

For me: 1. Kubuntu 2. Ubuntu 3. Mint 4. Debian for desktops and 1. Debian 2. Ubuntu for servers.

[@raf.nogueira]

I tried all these distros there for many years and the Fedora was the best one still... I never had any problems, in the past I used to have problems installing amd drivers, but since the AMDGPU drivers in kernel, never had any problems anymore..

[@PatrickDAllen1]

I have an old Mac Mini from 2010 running with WattOS R12 on it and I'll be the sleeper here by saying... It's a GREAT OS for reviving old hardware (it's super lightweight) and easy to learn (great for beginners based on Debian 12) and also able to do quite a bit of advanced stuff for more experienced Linux fans. It hits all the marks based on your use cases, in my opinion. The only thing is maybe not the best for playing any kind of games, although... Steam will install on it, for sure.

[@abergner]

Tried several distros when trying to move away from Windows 11 when it was released. Tried Ubuntu, PopOS!, Arch, Kubuntu, and Mint before finally settling on Fedora. It seemed to have the packages I was looking for with a relatively easy setup, had recent updates in their repositories, and was very stable. May fire up Debian in a VM and give that a spin, though, just to have a backup in case RH does something stupid to Fedora.

[@casadogaspar]

I really think NixOS should be in the list, people in DevOps are loving it. After Infra as Code, now it's OS as Code. For automations/configs/advanced users like me it's the most interesting Distro for the last what? 10-15 years

[@PS_Tube]

Kali for me is for what it's meant. A pen-testing environment being carried around on a usb stick. I have had issues with parrot every time I wanted to try it on my laptop.

[@Hobgoblin88]

Debian, Arch, Slackware. These are my top 3. It all depends on whether the computer in question is used alot or not. So my Gaming desktop runs Arch, and my laptop runs Slackware. My wife her PC runs Debian because she just needs it to work. She doesn't care about the latest and greatest.

[@user-mikesmith]

Prioritizing availability of software, good tiling, consistency in UX, and confidence it will not break: 1. PopOS - all the software I need, great tiling, and consistent experience. Some out of date packages I need to build from source like Neovim. Cosmic DE is super exciting. 2. Arch with AwesomeWM/Polybar/Rofi - up to date software is great but the AUR is needed to meet all software needs. Loses on consistency of experience as it takes quite a bit of configuration to get most app visual styles to match. If I could get everything without AUR, it would probably be my #1 choice. 3. Debian with KDE Plasma - very customizable and useable tiling scripts. Not sure when the tiling scripts will break as these sometimes don’t survive big updates. 4. Fedora with PopOS shell installed was an option to get more up to date software and good tiling, but I ended up preferring just PopOS so used this setup the least.

[@ijhuana]

Great thoughts as usual Chris thanks for sharing!

[@alexmason5668]

I have played with Mint and Zorin after being a life long Microsoft user who loved windows 7, tolerated 10 and doesn't want 11. Zorin looks better but Mint works great out of the box. I'm not a power user but I have done gaming on it and it's working really nicely

[@HomelessShoe]

I committed heresy by changing Linux Mint layout into Windows 10 theme, just for the sake of my mother. She used to hate Linux (technically still does) as it looks so alien to her, so I used my brilliant penguin mind to trick her by disguising the Mint Layout into Windows 10 layout. She was quite shocked how well Linux errrr... I mean, Windows suddenly performs. Poor soul fell for my witchery like an unaware child that gets his/her medicine wrapped in something delicious. Kekeke

[@thegorn]

As long as she can play solitaire she’ll be fine

[@ArefinKarim]

Debian, Mint and Fedora. Simply GOATED.

[@ArniesTech]

Debian always feels like home, BUT, as a German, it's OpenSUSE that has a special place in my nerdy heart. ❤🦎

[@Observation-9]

Enjoying your say on Distros... Could you also discuss on, Window is lately copying all of KDE desktops features and still cannot match KDE and why there is no Distro with KDE desktop as their main desktop like Gnome is favoured. KDE than spins why ?.

[@thegorn]

Historical license issues, and also development team geographical location and spoken language issues. KDE is more euro centric. Gnome more North America / Canada.

[@longlost8424]

been playing with garuda (arch based) for the past few years now. stable and reliable to boot....

[@dbaldock9]

Currently running Debian 12 (KDE Plasma) on my 2013 desktop PC (Asus X79-Deluxe, Xeon E5-2667 v2, Nvidia 1080 Ti) and on a 2019 laptop (Core i7-9750H, Nvidia RTX 2070), and Linux Mint Debian Edition (Cinnamon) on a 2011 Asus Eee PC 1215B netbook (AMD E-450 APU, Radeon HD 6310).

[@ppen9u1n]

First "Linux influencer" tier list that IMHO is worth taking seriously. Personally (with about 30 years daily driving experience), for most serious usage I'd put NixOS first, and consider the others a "necessary evil" maybe useful sometimes for compatibility reasons. Because these days manually configuring installs and not having versioned config management should be avoided if at all possible, and you only get this with a fully declarative paradigm.

[@robertcabrera6232]

You're badly mistaken about Gentoo. I ran it as a daily driver for over a decade on an early 2000s Dell XPS laptop with no problems. As another poster mentioned, Gentoo is about choice, and not having distributions make decisions for you. If you want OpenRC for init - no problem, want SystemD instead - no problem, want to run bleeding edge like Arch - no problem, want to run rock stable proven reliable like Debian - no problem, want a slimmed -down system that will run on a server - no problem, run on a tablet - no problem, want to try every package under the sun and bloat up your system - no problem, want to run X11 as your display server- no problem, want to run Wayland instead - no problem, want to run Alsa or Pulse Audio or Jack or PipeWire for sound, it's your choice - no problem! The bottom-line is Gentoo can be anything you want it to be, you are the one in complete control of your system and what runs on it.

[@Onion_Head_]

Try Alpine, I think that for Kiosk usage or container specific tasks It's really good

[@donavonurfalian]

Gentoo is one of the most used Linux Distro insofaras ChromeOS is essentially built on Gentoo, and it is said that 4% of the world uses it in Chromeboxs and Chromebooks. Arch---}Void---}Gentoo---}LinuxFromScratch are for people who have tech talent and want to learn everything under the hood. For the rest of the 90% there is a Mickey Mouse version of a brainless install and rock solid performance.

[@kevinsteinman8967]

As far as I know from ChromeOS Devs that Chrome was built from Gentoo backend.

[@SSquirrel1976]

I have been bouncing around in VMs trying different distros. Some seem to have issues installing in a box on MacOS but they install in the win10 dual boot so who knows. Mint or LMDE for a Cinnamon desktop and a variety of options for KDE. EndeavourOS, Fedora, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed have been my favorite so far for that DE. I have a couple of old computers that I will likely be installing Linux one so I imagine one of these will be how I go. I put LMDE 6 on my MIL 12 yr old Dell along with a few hardware upgrades. More than what she needs. Oddly enough, Debian is one of the OSes that refused to even boot off the iso in Vbox. Already have a Debian base in LMDE tho so I’m fine w that.

[@vickys.2348]

I have used several distros from first starting to use Linux back in 2012. Ubuntu was first, then Mint, MXLinux, Manjaro, back to Ubuntu and also Zorin. For new comers, I would recommend Zorin. There are a lot of things like getting a printer set up that are automatic with Zorin and not with Ubuntu. At least, not in my experience. However, one uses a particular distro to better fit their needs, not to be popular. I am dual booting Zorin on an external drive with Windows. Have Ubuntu running on a VM on another computer with Windows 11. I like Manjaro and Garuda, but right now they are too much for the external drive combo I have with the old computer I am dual booting from. I am getting my husband in to Linux and the Ubuntu layout he does not like so we will be installing Zorin. The good thing is for him to get familiar the concept of Linux and then pick the distro he is most comfortable with that is better for his needs. Thank you for all the informative videos you do.

[@DMoRiaM]

I really like Debian, but I migrated to Devuan when SystemD became the only option. Devuan is not perfect - in fact, no distribution is - but it is the closest I can get to Debian without SystemD. I've learned a long time ago that when something is good, it will naturally gain adoption. If something is forced down my throat as the best solution, and I'm obligated to use it, I simply can't accept it. I appreciate the KISS philosophy that GNU-Linux provides.

[@Bob-1802]

I tried Devuan but the not so-easy installation could not handle encrypted disk option correctly. Ends up to 'grub' command line at boot. I probably miss something! I tried Peppermint Devuan edition with a Calamares installer and... ended up with the same problem when encryption is enabled. My solution was MX Linux. It's Debian based, easy installer and it lets me choose with/without systemd at boot. So far so good. EDIT: I realized a month later that Devuan is ok with disk encryption. Short story: a key on my laptop keyboard decided to take a break 🙄 when I tried Devuan.

[@techthamudu1489]

Everyone likes Mint.

[@hansdampf2284]

What’s the matter? I have been daily driving gentoo on my desktop for more than a decade. It really isn’t as hard as people make it out to be. If you stay on stable branch it’s not that much compiling either. Once you dive into user patches you’re lost to it anyway. But I can see your point of “special” here

[@mcnguyen1890]

Been running Kali as a vm in a window host since 2017, and its the only linux that i use. The reason why is that everything that i need is already installed and they just work. I rather spent my time working on my assessment or CTF than spending 2-3 hours working on errors like python dependency from my tools. I remember pre 2020, there were a bunch of stories where people upgrade their kali right before or during their oscp/ecppt exam and everything breaks. I aint leet enough to put all of this stuff on ubuntu and relive those days lol.

[@mzs114]

I think Debian unstable and experimental are good alternatives to arch.

[@RixtronixLAB]

Nice info, thanks :)

[@Redyf]

I use NixOS btw

[@UltraZelda64]

Debian, Arch, NixOS, openSUSE is a good list. I feel like Mageia doesn't get enough praise though; it's probably the best, most direct descendent to the Mandrake/Mandriva line.

[@matthewmoore757]

For me my top pick is Debian. It's not even a contest. If you know what you're doing, you can have a fully loaded, or fully stripped-down install, It can be stationary, or bleeding edge. Debian is super versatile. You can do just about anything you want with it. If i had to pick a runner up, I would probably pick Manjaro. A few years ago i would have said Arch. But i no longer have the time and patients to maintain an Arch system anymore. Manjaro does most of the leg work for me. While their devs do make many boneheaded and amateurish mistakes, when they do get it right, it's quite nice. Still doesn't hold a candle to Debian though. :)

[@user-mikesmith]

⁠​⁠@@AquaFyrre Debian installer lets you pick from a number of DEs including Cinnamon. Personally I picked KDE Plasma but it has many options at install time.

[@user-mikesmith]

@@AquaFyrre I just like trying one of everything. I have Cinnamon on my Linux Mint install so wanted something with KDE Plasma to try. I have AwesomeWM on Arch and a laptop with PopOS. I probably use the laptop the most actually. But enjoy trying out things.

[@Adityarm.08]

Ubuntu has improved massively in the last releases. I drive it daily & love the overall experience.

[@suestreet9934]

One word - Firefox ☠ Seriously, munt the browser and it's all over

[@Adityarm.08]

@@suestreet9934 it used to be slow at startup but but a few patches fixed it enough for me not to notice. Is there any other problem you are trying to call out with it?

[@Darren-p1m]

I always wanted to use fedora but could never get on with it, started on mint many years ago now I run kde arch so all good. I laughed when you talked about gentoo 😁

[@Your_Degenerate]

I'm surprised about Debian. I ran into an install bug where it installs to the wrong drive which overwrote my storage drive. It wasn't till later while watching a Switched To Linux video about LMDE that I even found out it was a Debian bug. Virtually nobody in the KZbin space mentioned it (that I watch). Such a deal breaker not being on everyone's radar is strange. They must have fixed it and changed their ISOs as I re-downloaded it and had a successful install.

[@paultapping9510]

yeah, the last 2 system updates have been a complete mess, and I've seen very little about it in general. I found 1 reddit thread that explained my recent issue. That said, rolling back is very simple.

[@klaspeppar5619]

I’m kind of curious about Gentoo now, maybe I should go and “f*** around and find out” in a Virtual Machine.

[@Dazz_Youniversual_Studios]

11:40 I'm using the 6.6.7 Linux Kernel, although I use the Zen Kernel.

[@markh.6687]

Moved from MX KDE back to Mint MATE. MX has some great backup tools, but it isn't a newbie's distro (and they say this so no hate here). Had a few odd issues in MX that just made me leery of staying with it. Mint has user tools Debian lacks and is more daily-nonubergeek-user-friendly than Debian. But screen scaling and older eyes are pushing me towards Win7 to see what it would do on a 1920 x 1080 16:9 laptop screen.

[@techguydilan]

If you can't go as far back as Win 7 (Windows 10 and 11 are actually a bit easier on the eyes as far as fractional scaling ability), Chris Titus's WinUtil actually does disable a lot of the telemetry when you apply that tweak. I've been using it for a while and it cuts a lot of the random traffic to Microsoft servers down.

[@markh.6687]

​@@techguydilan Win10 was on the laptop; the restore USB failed to work, so I'd have to work with the .wim file, but I think I've got a Win7 installable somewhere in my collection. Win10 also suffers the 'automatic re-install of dreck on updates' unless Chris's tool stops that also.

[@techguydilan]

@@markh.6687 not really, at least to my knowledge. I think that is a common problem with Windows in general.

[@SSquirrel1976]

Win 7 is likely going to have your system just flashed a vacancy sign to internet malware as soon as it logs on the net but hey whatever works.

[@markh.6687]

​@@SSquirrel1976 7 is still "protectable" with good firewalling, browser settings, and antimalware software. But it's all a work in progress at the moment; I've got a spare drive I can use for the Win7 experiments while keeping Mint for now.

[@IAmPattycakes]

I did some sysadmin work and a lot of daily driving on RHEL servers and desktops. It's okay. I didn't have problems with how it's set up, but vs something like (open)SUSE, it's just lacking a lot of tooling that makes things comfortable.

[@kensolar69]

I found MX 21 to be Meh, but MX 23 is my new favorite, just seems to have everything I want, looks good and easy to run .

[@maurolimaok]

Hi Chris I'm a Brazilian guy on my 56yo, on my first steps on Odin Project so... a complete newbie. This channel is a must. Thanks a lot. I've been searching how to install LATEST gnome on Debian 12, and it seems I have to change do Unstable, SID ou something like that. Would you mind to make a video about it. I really believe Debian is better than Ubuntu , but I also believe it's nice to have latest somethings, like Gnome, without breaking Debian stability. Another suggestion: I simply don't get how to install MANUALLY, after install ZSH or other alike. There is always something like Oh My something... I want to undertand, and do it manually. Any insights, please?

[@victornecromancer]

Não entendi sua dúvida, amigo. Talvez eu possa te ajudar

[@nuck477]

Oh My Zsh é uma customização de temas

[@SleepTime-Dark]

​@@victornecromancerEle quer saber como instalar o gnome mais recente sem quebrar o sistema

[@SleepTime-Dark]

​@@nuck477Exatamente, tem que instalar o zsh e o oh my zsh

[@AtanasMinkovFeed]

About Gentoo: Or use it if you have way too many threads available. One can't have too much fun setting up a Threadripper desktop with 1/4 TB memory and building everything from source. Not ideal for laptops though. Imagine updating firefox on a laptop running on battery power.