Tried Hundreds Of Linux Distros...Here's My Thoughts! (DT LIVE)

This special live event will be me talking about the various Linux distros that I've tried over the many years that I've been using Linux. I'll discuss my favorites and my least favorites. I'll give you the distros that I think are best for noobs, best for tiling window manger users, best for minimalists, etc. I will answer interact with the folks hanging out in the KZbin chat!
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[@DylanMatthewTurner]

No NixOS in the DIY/WM group? Come on DT! As an example, after Arch the #1 distro for Hyprland support is probably NixOS.

[@1le0x_]

He add NixOS later at: 42:50

[@XeroLinux]

Thanks for mentioning XeroLinux. 2nd in Top 5 most beautiful nice ! I'll take it :D

[@emacsking4310]

Is Emacs installed by default on Xero?

[@XeroLinux]

@@emacsking4310 Heck no! But it's included in toolkit with option to install DT's config. Not Doom though

[@emacsking4310]

@@XeroLinux k, good for you for making your own distro. Always been a dream of mine just for fun, I know how, but it's like, all I have to offer are my scripts and modified software to make things more convenient, nothing original. I don't want people to think i'm putting out softwae that is pointless.

[@XeroLinux]

@@emacsking4310 Thanks. Xerolinux is nothing special either. Its selling point is the beautiful KDE rice and maybe my toolkit otherwise it's just Arch. The only reason it exists is because many people prefer an easy way to install their system and as way for them to support my efforts during them hard times in my country.

[@pixelcatcher123]

Gentoo was my first and still my fav

[@user-ls5qe7gr6f]

sure

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

I started with Gentoo back in 2003, after 6 years of distro hopping, and I am still here.

[@pixelcatcher123]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 haha man of culture love it

[@FilthyPitDog]

Gentoo is the best

[@pixelcatcher123]

@@FilthyPitDog indeed amigo

[@danjuroff]

Zorin OS is hard to beat for new users. I have 17.1 running on a 5 year old Dell 7000 series laptop, and it's basically flawless, except for the fingerprint scanner, but then I had trouble with it on Windows, too, and stopped using it.

[@purpledragon88]

Zenwalk had impressive aesthetic back in a day. Makes me feel so nostalgic when I look at old screenshots of it now ❤ Edit: It seems it's actually still alive and still looking good :)

[@hsoj9550]

Zenwalk lives? It's been *years* since I heard of that one! Back some 8+ years ago, it really did feel different from a lot of distros.

[@TJWolf]

Linux lite is an awful distro developer has jackhammer up is buttaxe. i wont touch this distro ever again. and other people feel the same way because of what happened in the the past. He was very rude an unrealistic taking awesome advice. i cannot back this distro sorry. sorry i missed you live DT love the videos

[@xoxofx5785]

Honestly you look like hitman.

[@lqlarry]

Why do you think you never see the back of his head.

[@JacksonBottom-cz2fl]

elementary os would have been another good add to the noobs list

[@IlIlIIlIlIlIlIlIl]

Also endeavor os

[@johnofsometrades405]

@@IlIlIIlIlIlIlIlIl I still like Garuda better then Endeavor..Garuda Mint is my daily for my laptop, all the family including my wife or mother-in-law can use it with ease. .y son does photo editing, I use it for working on cars. Very stable, even when doing 2 months of updates. It just works and is easy. But I can run VM's easily to get my Windows for some of the Windows specific programs. Data recovery is easy. Pretty well rounded out of the box. Vanilla should have been in the Noob list. No extra themes, but it is super easy, especially for touch screens.

[@yehudahecht1520]

I haven't used it but I've heard absolutely terrible things about ElementaryOS.

[@IlIlIIlIlIlIlIlIl]

@@yehudahecht1520 what things

[@letusplay2296]

For gaming on Linux, you'd want something with an up to date kernel and up to date drivers. So a rolling release like Fedora rawhide and Arch are ideal. There are a lot of hoops to be jumped through to use Steam on Gentoo, especially if you're using an Nvidia card, but it can be done and it has a lot of potential to be the best once set up because of how granular the configurability is

[@bufordghoons9981]

Yes, I use Gentoo and Steam works just fine with the IceWM window manager. I did a comparison once with Mint and Gentoo. I found Gentoo was less laggy and had better performance by about 8% - 12% (an estimation). The Nvidia card which could not use latest drivers was a little extra work but it worked fine. I upgraded to Radeon graphics card so I do not have to bother with the extra hoop.

[@BjørjaBear]

CachyOS is a good one for gaming. Stuff works out of the box with little hassle, and you still have the ArchWiki etc

[@181E-16Hz]

Nobody mentioned SerpentOS. It has a moss package manager and offline rollback features. You should try it DT when the final ISO is released.

[@neilpatrickhairless]

Been waiting on SerpentOS to get a little older. I wanna try it out but GNOME isn't my thing so idk if I will like it but I am gonna check it out in a VM anyway

[@johnofsometrades405]

Mandrake and Ubuntu were my original starters back in 2006 I forgot about

[@emacsking4310]

Wrong

[@johnofsometrades405]

@@emacsking4310 please explain. I used Mandrake at ITT in 2001, in 2006 I was working as a wed developer and I used both Mandrake and Ubuntu. Mandrake was big around 1999 when I worked a tech support company.

[@keilmillerjr9701]

Mine was Mandrake and SuSe. I bought them at walmart.

[@BjørjaBear]

CachyOS is quite newbie friendly. I have a year with Mint behind me coming from Win 10, and I've used CachyOS for three months or so, it seems a good distro so far.

[@neilpatrickhairless]

90% of computer users I see today couldn't own a computer in the 80's or 90's when you had several dozen floppy discs worth of install for some distributions, and if one failed, guess what? Oh, and there was no desktop. And there was no app store. And there was not more than a handful of choices at any rate for anything, especially operating systems and kernels

[@emacsking4310]

This is factual

[@Justice4all2023]

MX Linux is very user-friendly I have found. Users don't have to use the terminal much with MX Linux and the updates and upgrades are GUI easy

[@TheCyborg94]

I'm an "Intermediate Level" user of Linux and I use Linux Mint, but sometimes use Manjaro (I'm thinking about switching over eventually, but not in a rush to do so). My recommended list for newbies to Linux would be: 1. Zorin OS (by far the easiest for Windows and MAC users) 2. Ubuntu (mostly easy for Windows and MAC users) 3. Linux Mint (easy to use for former Windows users) 4. MX Linux (an alternative to Linux Mint) 5. Linux Lite (another alternative to Linux Mint). Manjaro is more geared towards people who have some level of experience in Linux in my personal opinion because things occasionally require a little knowledge of the command line.

[@emacsking4310]

1-5 SUCK!

[@cybernit3]

Most Ugly OS; Atari ST TOS/GEM looked really bad even AmigaOS Workbench looked better. Gaming distros: A1RM4X's channel is good for gaming optimizing info seems to like Linux Mint, Cachy OS (Arch based), and now Cachy OS with Hyprland (Seems to have less input latency).

[@toby9999]

The AmigaOS was ahead of its time and was impressive given hardware limitations.

[@cybernit3]

@@toby9999 Ya quite true, it had pre-emptive multitasking where Windows, Atari ST/TOS/GEM and MAC had lousy cooperative multitasking.

[@toby9999]

​@cybernit3 I can remember using the first macs (the little boxy one). The UI wasn't much better than the Amiga but it was monochrome which was a backward step. Later, we had power macs. Still no preemptive multitasking. Whenever one mac would hang, it would bring down the whold lab.

[@cybernit3]

@@toby9999 Ya, now the MACs have basically freeBSD variant which is Macunix. Just the Apple products tend to be quite expensive is the main reason I never bought into them. I remember in 1983 trying out the LISA at a Computer Store and thought wow this is state of the art, heh.

[@jafniko]

My first linux distro was Mepis Linux. It was based on Ubuntu with KDE 3.5.

[@wyattj84]

MX Linux is great for the whole family, but has great host blocking for the kids and has a suite of apps in the package installer specifically to grab all the tux math paint and typing apps. great for young kids learning computers. It even works well to run like a server with a resource light environment, if its something like a Jellyfin server. The batch naming in Thunar is also outstanding.

[@steeltormentors]

MX-Linux user here! Yeah it's been a great experience so far, super stable and nigh unbreakable. recently upgraded from 23.2 to 23.3 with zero issues.

[@emacsking4310]

Stop using MX and use the working man's os!

[@steeltormentors]

@@emacsking4310 did i ever ask you for advice? oh i will continue using MX, as long as it doesn't break or have issues.

[@emacsking4310]

@@steeltormentors fair

[@cantdance3077]

This was a fun video

[@osamaadel2132]

Can you explain the DEEPIN distribution, its advantages, disadvantages, and how to install it?

[@davechorney]

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned, but Feren OS was awesome when I ran it. Ubuntu based with Plasma. Rock solid and rather easy on the eyes.

[@emacsking4310]

FerenOS is no good.

[@sunriseleatherco.6587]

It's pretty hard to find much wrong with the Garuda Linux Sway Edition. Very polished and rock solid.

[@UltraZelda64]

Zenwalk was the first distro I used as an everyday distro when switching from Windows XP back around 2004-2006. It's still alive, but IMO it's only a show of its former self. I do not like the direction they've taken it, especially in terms of appearance, and I ran into some serious bugs when attempting to try it out in a VM (mostly regarding package management/updates IIRC).

[@emacsking4310]

Zenwalk should be illegal to use. It's so GARBAGE

[@davidturcotte831]

What software are you using to make the list?

[@DistroTube]

Emacs!! :D

[@davidturcotte831]

@@DistroTube Oh. That makes sense. I couldn't tell because of the LISP. RDRR Thanks for the reply, fellow DT.

[@samconnelly7630]

What are your current thoughts on NixOS?

[@emacsking4310]

My thoughts are that I will never use garbage operating systems

[@samconnelly7630]

And that's why Nix has a garbage collector.

[@emacsking4310]

@@samconnelly7630 lol

[@emacsking4310]

@@samconnelly7630 loll

[@jakobw135]

What happened your opinion from a video you posted recently, where you praised Garuda Linux as being - the BEST and most BEAUTIFUL you have ever used?

[@aintnochange]

Maybe he changed his mind, nothing wrong with that.

[@jakobw135]

@@aintnochange If so, WHY?

[@jakobw135]

Looks like he is still in favor of it! 👌

[@charlescole645]

I wonder if Sparky Linux is also good for the noobs

[@AdventureSMBW]

How the junk is Zorin not in the NOOB list???

[@emacsking4310]

Bro has beef with zorin fr fr

[@emacsking4310]

Zorin is junk though, no use.

[@IlIlIIlIlIlIlIlIl]

It's bad

[@Alankerk]

mario you can't say that

[@BurgerKingHarkinian]

​@@Alankerk*how-a the junk is-a Zorin not-a in the NOOB list? 🤌🏼 Wahoo!

[@Torach]

After running windows again for 5 years I took the leap once again to linux. This time to Arch and I have to say that linux has come a long way in these 5 years. I am not going back.

[@johnofsometrades405]

I absolutely Loved Vanilla on my laptop for work. Now I've been using Garuda for my desktop, Garuda Mint for my Laptop and I couldn't be happier. MX and AVMX was my first, I found it far superior to Mint when starting off. deepin I absolutely liked when starting off until I found out the background and something being transmitted. Never trusted it afterwards

[@cerescop]

I put Linux lite on a old 2 core Dell Inspiron 15 laptop and had problems with it. I then loaded Mx Linux on it and had no problems with it at all. It is still on there. The old wifi adapter even started working on the laptop.

[@jakobw135]

There is a version of Linux Mint that is based DIRECTLY ON DEBIAN, and not on the TWICE REMOVED from the original, as usual - which is based on Ubuntu, and that is based on Debian. What is the name of that distro?

[@skelebro9999]

LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition)

[@emacsking4310]

Arch Linux maybe?

[@Rohambili]

38:12 Which is clearly not working, and when you ask about it on his discord only suggestion use the simple installer or whats that bullcrapp 1:01:06 No! They have bugs to you:D

[@johnofsometrades405]

I think Vanilla should have been on that list, other than it can't be customized, I don't think it really needed it, and using it over a year on a work laptop as a mechanic, not always updated, sometimes months without updating and regardless it worked flawless and I never had a single issue, loaded fast and always worked smoothly

[@jbzorger2003]

Yes. I was using Bodhi for years. It’s light and fast. Looks good but using moksha DE is a pain in the ass.

[@emacsking4310]

Yeah, Bodhi Linux more like "Badhi Linux"

[@Zetverse]

I'd add Archbang to the Ugly distros even though I use it and love it, but by default it looks very early 2000s with that openbox theme and wallpaper.

[@neilpatrickhairless]

Openbox is cool if you mess around with it a little. I have a bunsenlabs ISO I mess around with in VM that uses Openbox and it's honestly my favorite of all time... I also liked Crunchbang back in the day though

[@emacsking4310]

Archbang is useless

[@johnofsometrades405]

I also like Parrot over Kali

[@IlIlIIlIlIlIlIlIl]

Kali is better

[@stewie3128]

Kali isn't a daily driver

[@johnofsometrades405]

I know Kali isn't a daily. But using both as intended, I find Parrot better fitting for me as they are designed

[@emacsking4310]

Parrot 💩 Kali 💩

[@jakobw135]

You mentioned installing BASIC Debian Linux, the bare Bones, so to speak, and then using packages from other distributions to keep it as a rolling release. Just - HOW - do you do that?

[@emacsking4310]

What's the best Linux distro for wood workers?

[@emacsking4310]

Are you really that stupid? You can use any Distro.

[@neilpatrickhairless]

TempleOS seems to be popular with carpenters though that's not a Linux distro hahahahaha

[@AnilMaurya-u9c]

OpenSuse Tumbleweed 🔥

[@toby9999]

Is there a problem with the Windows 11 look? I think it looks pretty good. As for the old brown Ubuntu, I didn't mind the look but boy, was it unstsble. That said, very informative video. I'm not a Linux user, but if I decide to give it another try, this video will be my guide.

[@emacsking4310]

Yeah, windows looks like 💩💩, DTOS UI is best.

[@skelebro9999]

Dang it. I missed the stream :(

[@emacsking4310]

That's okay buddy. You can now watch the video.

[@Floaterification]

Manjaro had some memory issues on my laptop that caused crashes at least once a day, I would recommend Endeavour as a noob Arch distro (I haven't managed to break it yet) as long as the baby power user doesn't panic at the first sight of CLI

[@toby9999]

We used an early version of Ubuntu at work, and it was also unstable, crashing randomly daily. Sometimes, multiple times a day, causing loss of work.

[@marco31]

Can't confim this. Manjaro works fine on my system for about 5 years.

[@emacsking4310]

Manjaro belongs in the 🗑️🗑️

[@levskilevov4888]

Where is OpenBSD, NetBSD, and DragonflyBSD on this list ;-)?

[@OpenBASED]

"Linux distros"

[@gurjaka]

Where nixos?

[@emacsking4310]

DUMPSTA

[@donpeer4477]

What? No noob votes for Twister? Granted it's not a standalone OS. But, it can easily be made to look like Mac or Windows for your Mom!

[@emacsking4310]

Twister... GARBAGE!

[@seancondon5572]

DT? can you grow a beard? Or do you have one of those less-than-favorable facial hair patterns? Maybe you can try a goatee? Get the Command and Conquer Kane look, maybe? That'd be good for Halloween.

[@emacsking4310]

Derek pls don't grow facial hair

[@johnofsometrades405]

I used the paid Zorin and Elementary for Mac Users and older Macs

[@emacsking4310]

You installed Zorin on your Granny's PC, it broke, then you slapped Elementary on it, and made this comment. Really dude, it's not like you're converting people to Linux daily, monthly, yearly or even every decade. Your conversion frequency is ONCE IN A LIFETIME. lol.

[@johnofsometrades405]

@@emacsking4310 and you have no idea what you're talking about. Owning my own shop, partnered with a electronic shop, we did a whole lot and he still does. We would get pallets of old Macs no longer supported, but worked fine. Get Linux installed and donate to schools in need. Customers that came in, we would give them the option. Never once did I have either brake. So no, it didn't happen, but I did have an older lab, maybe a granny, we put Elementary on and she didn't realize it didn't have FaceTime

[@emacsking4310]

@@johnofsometrades405I remember now.,, I was in your shop once, remember I donated the 2018 mac pro max config. I am a very generous man!

[@purpasmart_4831]

@@emacsking4310 I installed Zorin Light 16 on my dads laptop and he has never had a single issue.

[@musawi2156]

I thought nixos was a linux distrobution, Very strange!

[@BorosBlake]

Where is NIX OS ?

[@emacsking4310]

Out side in the dumpster.

[@ReLoneR]

it's not a linux distribution

[@hrmf32]

kali linux nobody ever talks about this great distro.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Kali Linux is a great security tool but it is not a desktop OS.

[@hrmf32]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 your wrong, it is, it is debian based on xfce or others.

[@toby9999]

A couple of points... 1) I don't accept that having Windows preinstalled is the only reason why people don't use Linux. There has been for years, a community of people building their own machines (PCs). There was for a couple of decades where I live, a huge network of "swap meets" where new and used hardware could be purchased, or all of the parts for custom builds. The PCs I owned from.1996 to around 2020 were like that, with an OEM licence purchased as an optional extra. Linux was always the other option. On top of that, there must be a mountain of old hardware (laptops and PCs) just begging to have Linux installed. But it doesn't happen much. 2) I would argue that too many distros *IS* a problem. Most people don't want to spend time trying a bunch of them. I sure don't. It's difficult enough to get one system working. I've just recently seen my son doing it. What a pain. Additionally, too much effort is spent on reinventing the wheel instead of improving the wheel. Linux won't displace Windows as a desktop option until it's clearly better than Windows, otherwise why bother? It's not there yet in my opinion. Not for the masses.

[@lowzyyy]

As many veteran Linux users said, you really dont need nothing more than arch, debian, fedora. Every other distro is based on them.

[@neilpatrickhairless]

I put Linux based desktop distros on everything I find that is over 10 years old, especially desktop PCs... laptop stuff can get wonky sometimes but laptops are problematic dunce caps in general. Only other type of OS I have installed on anything is an ancient Gateway 2000 that has Haiku on it (mostly works except for internet -- no WiFi, still has original modem in it) and I have a Dell PC that originally was Vista/Ubuntu dual boot from stock that I throw whatever I am scared to run on anything else onto because I don't care if it breaks

[@daddybrian11]

im using kubuntu on my gaming laptop

[@neilpatrickhairless]

openSUSE Leap here and I use it for gaming sometimes. I have a very modified version of FlightGear that runs like a champ and it's pretty damn resource intensive

[@genjii931]

Immutable distros?

[@attainconsult]

Qubes is what I would like on a laptop but as you say a resource hog

[@emacsking4310]

Qubes is for illegal people only, not us working men.

[@linuxjrm]

Antix is outstanding

[@neilpatrickhairless]

Someone gave me an absolute POS potato 2010 Dell Vostro former school laptop because they couldn't get it to boot into Windows 7 anymore. I wiped the drive, threw on antiX I had just lying around on a CD of all things and gave it to my Uncle to watch KZbin and stuff on. It runs really well on ancient underpowered hardware that wasn't very good to begin with and runs cooler than it did with Windows installed weirdly enough... Though it still runs hotter than hell

[@emacsking4310]

Yeah, it stands out as A REALLY BAD OS

[@samnwakefield2032]

Well he flat mix this one if not the most techy looking and beautiful desktop is gonna be ....mabox linux

[@hrmf32]

Gentoo is great, compiling sucks.

[@jbzorger2003]

Me too.

[@swagmuffin9000]

i would put garuda instead of manjaro for beginners. you could be brain dead, but that distro ships with everything you need to get started, and they made it easy to get anything extra. also, totally agree with xero and deepin being on the best looking. i think they are better than garuda out of the box. redstar os would be one to put under never run, that and something like DVL

[@phasechange5053]

Blocked thx

[@stevensawolkin3873]

Why don't you just lose your biases and call what you refer to as "protest distros" "alternative distros" instead? Oh, wait, you lost your old job due to biases, too, didn't you? Well, it's still an adventure to hear you try to pronounce "aesthetics" every time, old son.

[@keithbozin1228]

I will not watch this video because of the click bait face on the cover photo

[@emacsking4310]

He made it just to make you angry Keith. Relax fool from Reddit.

[@Johan87577]

He got your engagement so 🤡

[@happygomonkey]

might as well unsub. he really loves the soyface.

[@emacsking4310]

First (OH WAOW ARENT I THE BEST)

[@AstronautLoveTriangle]

No.

[@emacsking4310]

@@AstronautLoveTriangle No give me updoots pls