The Linux Tier List

[@ethernet764]

*Supreme* 00:11 Debian / Arch *Amazing for New Users* 15:00 Kubuntu 16:10 Linux Mint 23:45 Zorin 24:30 Nobara *Best for Business* 02:20 Alma Rocky Oracle 04:20 Alpine Linux 17:35 NixOS 21:30 SUSE and OpenSUSE *Creative and Unique* 07:30 Artix 08:05 Clear Linux 11:55 Gentoo 20:20 Slackware 20:55 Solus 22:20 Tails and Qubes 23:10 Void Linux *Devil* 02:31 RHEL Centos and Fedora 03:30 Ubuntu *Lightweight* 04:55 AntiX 16:45 Lubuntu 18:17 Peppermint 19:45 Puppy Linux 23:30 TinyCore *Pointless* 05:20 Arco Linux 06:25 Manjaro 09:15 Deepin 09:50 KDE Neon 10:15 Elementary OS 11:20 Endeavor and Garuda 11:37 Feren OS 12:55 Kali Linux 14:00 Parrot 17:10 MX Linux 17:50 PCLinuxOS 18:30 PopOS

[@windows99]

Top G

[@beybrain7896]

Thank you!

[@dnkmmr69420]

I would say NixOS is the most unique of them all. Why? Because it doesn't use /usr (other than /usr/bin/env) and it uses a nix store too.

[@fabiandrinksmilk6205]

@@dnkmmr69420 True, but it's also very valuable for business so I can see why Titus put it there.

[@bonkwonkelchip7569]

PopOs and Manjaro are definitely not pointless but oh well

[@AlekMadeDis]

Linux users: We hate windows and mac os Linux users: We hate Linux too

[@YoungMrBlue]

It’s a love hate relationship with Linux Fueled with our desire to avoid windows 11

[@frosken8889]

​@@YoungMrBlueand my desire for gaming doesn't let me get Linux

[@retrofilmwork]

@@frosken8889 its editing for me. if there is really premiere pro in linux, i'll literally switch right now.

[@kickedfromcampaign]

@@frosken8889most games play well on linux. Just the ones that have kernel level anticheat dont like league of call of duty

[@frosken8889]

@@kickedfromcampaign most indie developers and aaa devloper usually don't upload their games on Linux

[@thehappyhopper]

you forgot about the third supreme tier option templeOS

[@worstedwoolens]

Put some respect on Terry's name he wrote that kernel himself and didn't need to borrow from Linus.

[@bendavis3545]

The Holy Tier ;)

[@hallengard]

Wrong, TempleOS is not linux

[@wizardscrollstudio]

templeOS is God Divine Holy tier. Is above supreme.

[@BigBurgerBoy557]

@@hallengardTempleOS isn’t linux 🤓

[@candyts-sj7zh]

I am a new cyber security student and my school recommended me Kali or parrot. First time ever I used Linux. After using it for a month or two, I learned all these different distros and how most of the stuff just come down from Debian or Arch. And I got a little adventurous and installed debian because I needed to use a unique distro that I can customize the way I want (not that it can't be done to Kali, I just needed to start fresh and learn Linux) and then I just installed debian and all the tools I normally use on Kali. I got ridiculed for doing this by some of my professors lol. They said i was doing "unwanted" work, but doing all this taught me so much that I don't regret the time and effort I spent at all.

[@unique-ad-555]

It's unwanted work when you need to do it more than a few times, typically I'd say Kali is good because after each "job" or "project" you do / between companies you generally want or should wipe / reinstall just to prevent any cross contamination.

[@cerberus5376]

I need help. I want a lightweight distro for gaming like ram consunption under 1gb

[@lastmanstanding5423]

@@cerberus5376 the only gaming specific Linux distro is SteamOS. if not that you'll have to get any lightweight distro and start tinkering with Wine

[@gagozutv2235]

@@unique-ad-555 finally someone says it. Kali is so good in the cyber security space.

[@misham6547]

most of the cybersecurity stuff I use on Kali are the ones I installed myself

[@mevrickduran]

amount of debian users after watching this video: 📈📈📈

[@ddangelobr]

Debian user for 15 years here, so nothing new 🫵🏻😂

[@cundhi]

Saw Debian at the beginning, left satisfied.

[@arunabraham9382]

Super safe and satisfactory for me it was the most misunderstood distro. But I get it now. No headaeche daily driver for me

[@vaisakh_km]

I never used debian (vanilla debian) and i am going to watch it... lets see can he make me switch to it... Edit: after watching... tier list did not affected me.... currently i am on fedora after using arch for so long... as stability goes it's really a sweet spot for me.... but due to recent events, i am thinking about switching to nix.... yes debian might be best for me, but packages are really old so i can't use it for dev (yes, neovim is the major reason)

[@Obnomus]

Debian stonks📈📈📈📈

[@blayd_]

What I love about this comment section is everyone is bringing their own experience to the table and contributing their opinions rather than flat-out disagreeing for no apparent reason. Thanks everyone for all the useful info!

[@SMCwasTaken]

It's ok to disagree as long as you do it in a peaceful way

[@7barney914]

I disagree.

[@reeeeedmil]

@@7barney914 I disagree with you.

[@kalackninja]

@@reeeeedmil how dare you boy

[@kiillabytez]

I think ALL Linux distros suck.

[@glowinthedark9082]

Isn't it amazing how the most supreme distros are both community based

[@BraydenPrice30]

Isn't it amazing that all of them are community based because Linux is community based?

[@thiagotofano]

@@BraydenPrice30 We just need to make sure that RedHat is also aware of that lmao XD

[@friedrichhayek4862]

@@Aloredia freeloader is a communist concept.

[@trovalds]

​@@BraydenPrice30 wrong. Linux Kernel haves 70%+ of this development from full time employees inside companies like IBM. And most distros also haves full time employees working on them.

[@BraydenPrice30]

@@trovalds That is true, but still, without its community, Linux would be just another operating system that very few people use. Linux started out as a community effort, not by companies. The Linux community is what makes Linux special. Many of these companies would not use Linux and therefore develop it if it weren't for the community, because the "companies" you speak of are made of people. People form communities. Also, while 70% may be a lot, so is the other 30%, and without that 30% Linux would not be anywhere near as developed as it is now.

[@MysticRixel]

Both PopOS and EOS were my entry-point to Linux. I do understand the "bro just install debian/arch then lol". But guess what, we mostly use Windows because it is straight forward and it works without that much hassle (most of the time). When you put your distro behind a installation guide and steps that might delete your entire drive by mistake and then ashame people who use easier distros you are not helping the Linux community at all.

[@PolarisCSC]

True. Me, not even close to a script kiddie, switched from Windows to Linux literally 2 days ago, almost deleted the entire drive by mistake, well not really a mistake because I chose to re-partition the drive, not just tinkering around.

[@nathancochran4694]

@@PolarisCSC Lol I just accidentally deleted my entire Windows drive installing Garuda. As a Computer Science student, I got a hard lesson in having backups available. I also specifically double checked what drive had my windows OS on it, and still fucked it up.

[@Words-er5ez]

I tried Linux mint as my first distro and frankly it does everything that I want and need so this whole just install Arch / Debian thing is really nonsense to me. Installing Arch or Debian is more about making customizing your operating system a game you play than actually using anything on those operating systems.

[@Haise-san]

​@@Words-er5ezImagine installing Arch as a daily driver and overlooking some cryptic security configuration and then getting fked over later because you didn't follow the 800 different wiki pages on how to setup your system properly. No thanks, gimme those noob distros instead

[@JasonParmenter]

IDK what kind of data you have that makes this such a big issue, use cloud for very important stuff and if you break your computer while learning Linux it's fine. Also set up btrfs auto snapshots which is extremely simple in any distro pre-update (can show tutorial on how to set this up on any distro if u want) and you will literally never have this issue ever again.

[@metal_anomaly]

I think EndeavourOS actually has a point, I was an Arch user for a long time, and when it was time to upgrade my laptop I wanted/needed a new setup. Endeavour was the most convenient option, doesn't lack anything Arch has, and is just straight beautiful right out of the box. It's not for complete noobs, but as long as they know to be careful, it's actually a great way to learn for people who maybe don't have a lot of time to set everything up manually. It's for people who want a ready, good base Arch setup to build upon gradually.

[@DDracee]

also he mentioned "pointless for the same reasons as manjaro", but endeavor is basically vanilla arch, you aren't breaking endeavor by doing stuff that wouldn't break vanilla arch if anything, endeavor is less likely to break since they'll push gaming-focused patches faster than arch does, like it's not exactly uncommon for latest nvidia drivers to not work at all on latest arch but work out of the box on endeavor

[@zeekaa12]

Endeavour also uses main Arch repositories, it only adds themes and “first time setup” stuff. I installed it specifically because I couldn’t be bothered to do a regular Arch installation process. It’s just easier to install. No y̶a̶o̶u̶r̶t̶ yay to build, it’s already there

[@BeyoondGB]

Copium mate

[@harmzuay]

I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm kind of pissed off that I didn't try Endeavour sooner based off this video. I installed it last night and I've been thoroughly impressed with it so far.

[@orca7025]

EndeavourOS is just arch with a graphical install, so yeah i get your point

[@dramaticnormanbates2605]

I think placing Fedora in the devil tier just because a few community members (Red Hat employees are also community members, as they have no privileges over others) submitted a proposal, which was subsequently rejected by a significant majority of the Fedora community even before an official vote, seems like an overreaction. If I were to submit a similar proposal for the next Debian release, and it gets rejected, would Debian also be labeled as devil? I believe it would be the complete opposite, they would be "based", because they rejected it.

[@jackasome58]

Yea just seems like he's hating Fedora to hate Fedora. I like arch a lot, but Fedora has been a daily driver for me and fedora silverblue is fucking fantastic.

[@elhombre2711]

@@jackasome58 I like Fedora as well but I'm going to give Debian and Arch a try.

[@princesaliya4394]

​@@jackasome58 I'm using workstation. I want to ask that installation of silverblue is similar to workstation or different?? I want to dual boot it with windows 10 so can u suggest me a video to dual boot silverblue??

[@TheIntNinja]

@@elhombre2711 tell me something is it possible to install arch linux without all the cli interface since there is no gui? and if my laptop doesn't even have ethernet cable to be able to connect to the internet for the installer to work?

[@DarkH4X0]

Yeah it doesn´t make much sense to me too

[@verumignis4778]

The think about kali is that its a disposable environment that just has all the tools you need, without the need to reinstall every time you use it on a new device, you just drop it in, use what you need and wipe it.

[@naturalfps]

yeah his reasoning doesn't make any sense. We use it for convenience not because we can't install a tool.

[@ccelik97]

@@naturalfps His reasoning is mostly based on _installing the system for long term continued use._ But then again, he didn't treat Tails the same way as he treated Kali. So I have mixed feelings about it. Though, I agree with almost all of it to the letter: Except for MX Linux & Kali that is. He did them wrong xd.

[@iamsh4r106]

@@ccelik97 as far as I'm aware you can't install tails, which I guess is the reason he differentiates between them.

[@ccelik97]

@@iamsh4r106 So, being _unable_ to do such a thing as *installing an OS* counts as a positive, so much so that it's a *differentiating factor* to go up in the ranks? And you're telling me that such a thing doesn't already exist and isn't called as a "kiosk" e.g. a platform_as_an_app? Hmmm. Then I guess that's how GNOME (& all the iFruit OSes) also came to be then? I see now. Thanks for the valuable insight. _[proceeds to take some random open-source project with immense customization possibilities only to cripple it down, then calls it "revolutionary" in a keynote or some shit like that]_

[@verumignis4778]

@@ccelik97 The whole point of tails is that it runs in memory, you dont install it because that would defeat the purpose.

[@TheGamersRace]

"All other ice creams suck. Rocky road, Chocolate chip cookie dough, Moose, tin roof, they're all just vanilla ice cream with extra ingredients. You should just buy vanilla ice cream and install the extra ingredients to make your own flavor." 😑

[@timothynoll4886]

That's actually kinda wise and insightful! I'll be keeping that little tidbit in the back of my mind if I do eventually migrate to Linux.

[@janzibansi9218]

arch with extra systemd, flatpaks, wine and gnome is mine😋 (wayland and X11 served separately). tastes like debian, but gritty

[@permanentfacelessness]

buuuuut....

[@xythrr]

I think this comparison sucks. Rocky road is great... rocky road with 400% more rocks that i dont want and cant get rid of isnt.

[@TheGamersRace]

@xythrr But no reasonable person is going to buy individual ingredients to make their own rocky road, they're just going to look for a version of rocky road that doesn't have 400% more rocks in it and is still amazing. Yes, you are going to have people that make their own ice cream, but they're doing that for the experience not because they want that flavor ice cream.

[@PS3PCDJ]

Parrot, Kali, Tails and QubesOS should have their own category "Highly specific usage"

[@iFurane]

You missed the point. Kali gets the pointless tier because you can install every tool in it yourself on any distro, plus nobody uses all the tools in it anyway

[@PS3PCDJ]

@@iFurane Fair, but I can see a point in having a readily available distro for that purpose where you just need to spin it up, even if a bit bloated.

[@stamshem12]

Do you remember all the tools there are? No. Do you have the strength to install loads of tools one after the other? No . So it's really not without a point You have everything organized in Kali and if you want to install more things you install

[@itsmeodx]

​@@stamshem12you missed the point again, chris said that if you could install those tools yourself, you understand how they work more than the person who just found them pre-installed out of the box

[@stamshem12]

@@itsmeodx You're right but It is better to have it already installed on the computer if you have space and have a powerful computer Why don't you already have all the software? KALI Its purpose is for HACKING so why is it "unnecessary" It's the operating system.. and that's what it's for. All the necessary tools are there. Instead of starting to install software software There are programs out there that already install if you find out. Any software Then you write in TERMINAL the name of the software, you don't need to install it is already installed. And that's good I love Kali too I think he is just talking nonsense

[@purposepowerlove]

One added nice thing about Zorin is that the Zorin team has tested all major applications and when you open the software store, for any application you select to install, it has automatically-selected the one that works best with the OS. It might be a deb, flatpak, or snap, but the default will be whatever was tested and works best. Meanwhile, if you want to select another, you easily can from a dropdown. It takes away the headache of the user having to try each and decide what is best. I am not a new user. I work full-time in Linux both on desktop and on servers, but I appreciate how Zorin just works. The last thing that I want to think about is how to get from point A to point B. I just want to install something and have it work. I hate wasting time customizing stuff and playing.

[@kintustis]

That is such a basic responsibility of a distro maintainer. How is that not standard UX practice in linux?

[@yourfavoriteleaker]

​@@kintustis fr

[@Rawrqual]

I agree that you can just install everything on a Debian machine instead of going with Parrot, but when you work in so many different environments it's nice to be able to quickly set up a machine in a few minutes and already have half of the tools you need.

[@patrycjuszsinkiewicz6935]

Well, saving script on you flash drive, or in your repo with all the tools you actually need would be better idea

[@Rawrqual]

@@patrycjuszsinkiewicz6935 I've been meaning to get everything done in Ansible, but I haven't had the time. Definitely the best solution though, I agree.

[@maximofernandez196]

@@patrycjuszsinkiewicz6935 yeah, but that means you have to do that extra work anyway

[@colonelccccc]

Don't say this to him, he said you're a noob if you do that, time doesn't seem to resonate with money in his mind ;)

[@doomfistXD]

or you use ansible after setting up debian for your needs one time and there you go you have a way faster live usb you can plug into any computer which is also bloat free (because you know and chose what stuff you need and what not)

[@Kevin-jb2pv]

Summary: "I use Arch, BTW."

[@Cool-Game-Dev]

i use arch, btw

[@heyitsnemo]

@@Cool-Game-Dev I use Gentoo

[@Cool-Game-Dev]

@@heyitsnemo I don’t know if my wimpy laptop can handle compiling stuff that often

[@EverydayLinuxUser]

The trouble if you steer too many people towards Debian is that they will get stuck and frustrated. Ubuntu, Mint, Pop, MX etc exist because they add the comfort blanket which makes certain things work

[@dadmvdadmv1422]

Hey I did actually get stuck trying to get my usb Wi-Fi working and doing search for solutions for Debian 12 bookworm does not show up half the time it’s older Debian versions so I’m going with mint give it a try

[@ПростойЧеловек-к8г]

@@dadmvdadmv1422 i had the same issue but you don't need to connect to the wifi to install debian there is option to ignore/skip network setup and if you choose it you will able to install debian with working ethernet driver, but if you are a beginner like titus showed choose something in "amazing for new user" tier distro list linux mint is *amazing* choice if you are not to familiar with linux

[@michaeldelyjah5696]

I can guarantee you that Debian isn't anywhere as user-friendly as MX. If I have to figure out how to get my Wi-Fi working in Debian, it automatically loses. End of story!!!

[@dadmvdadmv1422]

@michaeldelyjah5696 well I stuck with debian after getting my wifi working for a few months but got tired of going to search for a problem on the web and it's all ubuntu help mostly so I switched to ubuntu only because of that

[@ascrassin]

@@VintageVectors314 I would argue that then you would have to rename “Amazing for New Users” To “Amazing for non Hobbyist” Because some of the one that do that, like the equivalent for arch. I would not classify them as for new users. Plus many of old users, like me. That just want things to work, even tho if it breaks they know how to make it work again (or at least search for a solution). Still use theses as their daily driver.

[@cjuk81]

I totally agree, most distros are pointless, yet people seem obsessed with them

[@TON-vz3pe]

It's not that simple. You need to choose based on use case and ease of use.

[@TON-vz3pe]

I don't understand what's the point of making something difficult to use just because they want to have something difficult to use.

[@kytv9000]

Same. Your distro, another's 'pointless'.

[@ChrisTitusTech]

This... It really doesn't matter which one I end up on. I install the same thing and make it look the same. It really isn't as big of a deal as people make it out to be.

[@fritzbloedow29]

The "difficult" part is usually because a flavor doesn't have exactly what you need, and you have to set it up, or find a system that does "Exactly" what you need out of the box (yeah... right). Linux isn't easy, you have to learn, and that's "difficult" for all of us.

[@0xyg3n]

"Don't buy fries, just get potatoes and learn to cook."

[@cryo3572]

Ya I'm looking to switch from windows & install Linux on my next laptop and from what I'm learning about it the more I'm falling in love with it being open source and it's customizability, for most people they just whant the easy single option that can sort of do everything but not great at anything in particular, but linux it seems to me that it can BECOME whatever I need it to be, to me it seems like linux with a bit of elbow grease can have it all when you need it, sorry about that tangent and if you have any tips for me I would very much appreciate it!

[@DawoopFilms]

I mean, if I claimed to enjoy fries, yes

[@NoCoolNamesRemain]

Yes, now you can have fries, hash browns, chips (crisps), scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, etc..

[@robertocartomano7734]

​@@cryo3572If you have the time and are willing to spend it learning new stuff and customizing your system to fill your needs and going through some troubleshooting then I strongly reccomend Arch. Yes you will have problems, yes the community is not going to be friendly but once you get it working and set it up it feels great. I switched from windows a few months back, first to Ubuntu and then to Arch and having control over every single aspect of the OS is what made me love it

[@FedoraSilverblue]

@@cryo3572 bro how to download minecraft bedrock linux for free

[@Damglador]

Kali Linux is not pointless if you need a fast setup OS with needed toolset.

[@TomTKK]

Exactly. What if you COULD install these programs, what if you DO know how Linux works? I don't want to dedicate an evening to setting up a system I'll reset later.

[@blackjew6827]

"Why don't more people use Linux?" This video...

[@Skulka]

"All the distros are pointless , because you can install the same stuff on arch or Debian " Yeah , duh. But why would you waste your time doing so ?

[@bladman9700]

"Why dont just use Debain?" "HOW DO I DOWNLOAD ISO IMAGE OF DEBAIN??!!" ~ A New User.

[@arisumego]

He's not saying anything all that controversial, you're just getting way too hurt.

[@urimc]

@@bladman9700 the download is an iq test

[@human__________]

@MichaelDustter if you want to be just up and running with stuff you shouldn't be using anything arch in the first place. clearly you don't know what you're doing cause if you did you wouldn't need those in the first place. just use something from the "amazing for new users" tier

[@ronaldood4678]

I’ve run Debian, Arch, and Gentoo, and love all 3 for different reasons. That being said I don’t think EndeavourOS should be pointless. It’s beautifully designed and has a good community, plus being so close to base Arch makes it far better than Manjaro. I still prefer building my system from scratch but for installing “Arch” via endeavourOS on other systems or just wanting a convenient method of install with relatively good maintenance, EndeavourOS is admirable.

[@jetstreamsam-296]

I daily EndeavourOS but I basically just use it as an Arch installer. It's possible to strip all the theming and extra packages in the live-boot installer and with maybe 5 minutes of work post-install it can be brought back to basically just base Arch. I do understand why it was placed in the pointless tier (to be fair my use-case alone is borderline proof for it's placement) but I think it's great for someone that wants to try out Arch quickly or just to spin up a fairly bare-bones Arch install quickly.

[@harisahmad7871]

​@jetstreamsam-296 the Endeavour community alone among the Arch community make it worthwhile

[@_Lumiere_]

​@harisahmad7871 it's great for a newcomer to Arch imo (me). Their forums are active and newbie friendly, and they have sane defaults. It's great for dipping your toes into Arch. I came over from Manjaro because I felt like it was kinda weirdly unstable if you use any aur packages (which you're bound to do) and it holds you back from using the terminal.

[@galacticsurf979]

Yeah a bit harsh on Endeavour - I am that noob that wants to try Arch and earlier this year Endeavour is what I used to give Arch a try. Was a great learning experience! Think this guy is way too harsh.

[@ardnys35]

i have started using linux with endeavourOS 7 months ago, and i have been using it daily for all my things for 4 months since my daily windows computer broke. i changed the default endeavourOS stuff to just i3 and it's perfect now. i had to install databases and bunch of programs for my uni classes. it's working really well, and i was able to daily it without breaking anything. I learned a lot and maybe i'll be able to use vanilla arch at some point.

[@ayushmaanraturi]

It's amazing how both supreme distros are so opposite of each other, Arch: The Bleeding Edge; Debian: The Rock Solid. I use Debian BTW

[@falkorskyflyer5666]

Debian is the supreme of the supreme. I use Debian btw. 👀

[@ayushmaanraturi]

@@N95G what kind of personal ids are you talking about? In general, Linux is safer than windows

[@bettermasteryi7043]

@@N95G Linux is safer than windows, no idea what personal ID you are talking about.

[@JamesJacob-lr5gt]

@@bettermasteryi7043 do you have a source for that?

[@joshuacrumley2031]

I wouldn't touch Debian with your 10 foot pole. systemd is RH software. I REFUSE to touch anything that RH has it's hands on.

[@donut4ever983]

*Moved to the Pointless category* Good video, your bias was high at times. Some systems it felt like you gave a concise description of and some were ignored. I guess you can't make the video too long. I appreciate the effort that was put into the Video.

[@KenNordin]

It would be nice to see a "Daily Driver" tier. Ones that would really give Windows a run for their money.

[@codeman99-dev]

What would even go there?

[@screenoholic]

The "Amazing for new user" tier does that. You can drive them daily without any thoughts.

[@Xiuhcoatl1]

You can probably use all or any of them as daily driver, even business use.

[@burnstick1380]

Depending on your knowledge level. For me who knows a bit about IT and Linux (got Linux mint basically the same time as i learned about linux) arch runs great. It was a steep learning curve but all things i need run on it (except games).

[@SelectedPeppa]

Debian is a solid daily driver .. It does all for me. Dev stuff, Citrix stuff , and I can even run steam and windows games ...

[@daixso]

ArcoLinux has a lot of resources to help newbies learn Arch and Linux in general. Eric has a ton of great videos you can follow their learning path and get a ton of info. Granted he could do it with Vanilla arch too but he makes learning Arch really approachable

[@Freakskpp]

i agree , for newbies who want to go into arch , its really efficient on the learning curve and video documentation , i would have put it in the amazing for new user , as the xl iso come with everything installed and explained .

[@joshua_lee732]

Thats not an official Arch resource....

[@snowmean1]

I have vastly different experience with Arco. As an experienced Arch user I just needed a fast option to install Arch on my new laptop, so I started to look around and at that time Arco was the most confusing project around Arch. Overwhelming amount of "variants", documentation also was sketchy with links to the GitHub, etc. I guess I could figure it out, but that would require significantly more time than just installing plain Arch from scratch, so I picked EndeavourOS and it did the job just fine - in 20 minutes I have fully configured Arch running on my laptop without need of reading anything really.

[@WanderingCactus]

@@snowmean1 I second the Endeavour recommendation, nothing real special about it, but easy fast install and just works. I've moved away from Arch (LM:DE now), but if I go back, it's Endeavour.

[@Kalasklister1337]

​@@WanderingCactusthirded. I understand the idea behind arco but really endeavour is where its at for easy configs if you are in a hurry. Vanilla arch best with install script if you have the time

[@TheRajeshphadke]

I think MX should be amazing for new users simply because it's better handling of proprietary drivers out of the box and it has KDE version which is comparable to Kubuntu. It also comes packed with utilities, tools to help new users.

[@catriona_drummond]

MX start dialogue box has helped me a lot. and it's full of actual local readable help files.

[@foootz]

I think MXlinux is unique for it's portability and persistance, I've olayed a lot with having an OS in my key chain usb drive

[@no-stresscat1519]

It's lightweight for sure, but not really newbie friendly. Been using Linux Mint for quite a few years now, and tried MX on my laptop. It took a lot of Googling and poking around just to figure out how to get the sound to go from the laptop speakers to the HDMI cable so I could watch movies on my tv. The UI wasn't very intuitive. Also, I would never recommend KDE to new user. It's so easy to dive in and mess something up, and there's no default setting to fall back on.

[@catriona_drummond]

@@no-stresscat1519 True about KDE, I usually try XFCE.

[@TheRajeshphadke]

@@no-stresscat1519 Agree about KDE missing back to default feature. About HDMI, did it work seamlessly in Mint? I was and am still fan of Mint. My only gripe is proprietary drivers. Specially faced issues with Broadcom BCM4313 drivers, as it loads open source drivers which work but speed is slow without any clear errors. Very difficult to realise there is issue. Easy to load proprietary drivers but realising there is issue with drivers is complex.

[@boat378]

I just want to commend how well this tier list video is presented. Most videos tiering this many items would be over an hour long, but so many items are cleared swiftly in a single explanation. Bravo.

[@erfann]

I agree with you on most of your selection. I however find it hard to accept the tier you've chosen for Kali. It's extremely useful to have all those utilities come preinstalled on a distribution and an iso, and run it from a USB stick. It's way too much work to just install these if there aren't scripts for it. Additionally, sometimes and for certain reasons it would not be practical to have them actually installed; running them live makes more sense. They also have specific patches applied to the kernel. Also, MX would be better in the "Creative" or "Amazing for new users" category. It's a systemd-free version of Debian, and the new users, even power users would love all the utilities. I would also bump Gentoo to supreme. Being able to optimize your whole system to your CPU architecture, adjust the compiler and its flags with just a few environment variables, change a dependency according to your needs, harden some parts or the entire OS, etc etc etc makes you the creator of your system, and that's just amazing.

[@joekazama2875]

Definitely agree with the Kali take. When you are working in a live environment more often than the average user then those prepackaged utilities are a god send.

[@krdough]

His view on Kali and Parrot comes from his lack of experience in that field. These aren't OSes you daily. The whole point is they're loaded with tools so you can quickly test things and move on. Installing tools on another distro doesn't teach me anything - it's just an annoyance that gets in the way of me doing my work. These distros are merely a means to an end.

[@timurkravchenko7824]

u can make live cd with all this stuff literally in a FEW commands, with any mainline distro

[@the-lettere]

Imagine a consultant wasting their entire test window by compiling all the required tools from source... 😂

[@timurkravchenko7824]

@@the-lettere Most of the distros distributes precompiled binaries, except you are Gentoo user or something like that.

[@maxmouse3]

It's amazing how Debian became so much better the last years. Not that it was bad, it was great, but it indeed killed the need for many distros. Mostly agree with the list. I still think fedora is pretty good overall and kali fulfils a very specific niche and demand, even though I don't use either :)

[@tumescent]

openSUSE tumbleweed is a great arch alternative. Gets updated faster than arch, more stable due to automated testing, easy rollback with snapper installed by default. If you're irritated by bloatware you'll have to fight the pattern system but once you set it up it's a very rock-solid experience. Also uses RPM packages so software made for Fedora/RHEL is usually compatible

[@dR0L0b]

exactly my thoughts!

[@olafschermann1592]

But they should not make it in german. Even as a german native speaker it is horrible to google non english error messages.

[@PierreMalan]

For a business - daily driver at home NO thanks

[@xeiAiex]

I think a lot of people just don't have any idea what they're talking about in regards to openSUSE because KZbinrs don't talk about it so they think it sucks or it's weird because they don't know anything about it. openSUSE is fantastic for those who know what they're doing. It's not meant for brand new users, but for those who are capable, it really gives you an amazing system to work with. And yes, at home on the desktop too with Tumbleweed.

[@coldisopropyl]

NASA supercomputers run SLES

[@Wanderer3639]

I cannot express correctly how much I disagre with the whole "is just debian/arch", all distros could theoretically be reduced to just scripts to install... probably but still it's not the same. Also the complication of trying to install something like debian/arch and make it work it for home use its beyond 90% of all computer users of the world(if not more). I am willing to bet that 80% of computer user of the world can't even use the automatic problem fixer from windows, let alone install a OS, let alone use a CL and even less install everything required to make debian/arch work out of the box like Mint/Neon/Kubuntu/etc. I even suspect that the majority of devs wouldn't be able to do the last one. I highly suspect that 50% of computer of user of the world don't even know that file formats(.zip/.exe/.png) are even a thing! Edit: Maybe the last one is a bit of an exaggeration... maybe... all smartphones pretty much hide the file formats so I am not sure....

[@JohnnyThund3r]

Or even if you're a user who knows how to do these things, why waste the time? "Let's spend a 2 weeks setting up our OS, so by week 2 we can finally install all the programs we need to work on our project, just to spend the next week troubleshooting and bug-testing our desktop environment to actually get to the same point we would by day one if we had started with Endeavor OS instead!" Here's a hot take: Arch Linux should have been at the bottom and Endeavor OS should have been at the top!

[@MegaDante4]

This!!! The moment he went "is just debian/arch" I just hit my head on the table cause, why I would waste time doing what other distro already do out of the box? I get the point to "own your own system" "get only what you really need" but cmon bro, other distros would save a lot of time and I don care if it comes with a godddamn voice recorder I dont going to use, is easier to remove what you dont want than setting up the whole system, I thinks hes talking from a "purist/try hard" perspective but thats dumb, work smarter, not harder!

[@tactful_proposal]

​@@JohnnyThund3r Here's my hot take: Arch should be the "unique" distro. It's useful if you want to advance your Linux knowledge, see how the sausage gets made, but it's not stable enough for a daily driver. Not one that an update could leave you stranded, at least.

[@tactful_proposal]

I find the justification for "great for beginners" category arbitrary. Put a bunch of distros in the pointless territory because "that's a fork of a fork", and what were the first two distros in that category again?

[@imraan_alam]

KDE team never say that neon is a disstribution

[@gklinger]

This. In fact, they specifically say it is NOT a distribution. It's for testing KDE and that's it.

[@U1TR4F0RCE]

I believe Kubuntu is meant to be the distribution from the KDE team in fact

[@CathrineMacNiel]

@@gklinger it's not? God damn, what am I using then O.o

[@cameronbosch1213]

@U1TR4F0RCE I'd say Tuxedo OS is better than Kubuntu, as it's basically Linux Mint but preloaded onto Tuxedo laptops and with KDE Plasma instead of Cinnamon. And yes, that means it patches out Snap for Flatpak support out of the box. And I think for most users, it's a better beginner option.

[@mariozenarju6461]

@@CathrineMacNiel A KDE testing ground that often breaks itself. Last month I tried doing a fresh install of it, it did *not* want to cooperate. No Downloads/Pictures/Videos/and-so-on folders in the home directory, didn't detect my already existing Plasma settings from Kubuntu so I had to customize it from scratch, PPAs weren't working, all around unstable. Kubuntu with the backports-extra repository is what KDE Neon User should've been

[@oscarcharliezulu]

I’m now living in a world where Oracle is seen as a good player. I have to sit down and have a stiff whisky.

[@rightwingsafetysquad9872]

If Manjaro didn't mess up and brick updates so often, I'd say they deserve to be in Amazing For New Users for all the same reasons that he cites for Kubuntu and Mint. And I have a hard time saying Red Hat is the Devil in spite of recent events. They have contributed so much to the Linux ecosystem that it would be completely unusable without them. The DE distributions aren't completely pointless, maybe people shouldn't really use them, but the DE developers need a platform to demonstrate their work before they get upstreamed. Lastly, Gentoo should be in God tier.

[@onejdc]

I loved Manjaro for about 3 weeks until update hell. I second your opinions. Gentoo is only God tier if you happen to in fact, be, God. As someone who ran Gentoo as my daily driver for years, I can say that it definitely has the absolute best (extreme customization) and worst (everything you want to do is a labor of love) going for it.

[@PaulaXism]

@@onejdc You have to stay on top of a Manjaro machine. Don't forget your weekly update cycle.. or learn how to neuter pacman security.. lol

[@robertlunderwood]

Manjaro should honestly be in the Devil category due to issues with their security certificate expiring.

[@d-phoenix2198]

As more or less a normie on the whole Linux scene I just installed Manjaro as my first distro and ran with it for the past 1.5 years. Never had any issues with it bricking or anything. The only issue I ever had was OBS stop opening but that solved with a simple Graphics re-install. Maybe I am one of the lucky ones I don't know.

[@gfrewqpoiu]

If you really want a more easy Arch, then use Endeavour OS. Or something like Anarchy-Installer (which is just a TUI installer for regular arch, better than the archinstall script). Sadly Manjaro takes away the two best things of Arch, being always up to date and the AUR. While the AUR mostly works, they don't offer any support for it and updates can quite easily break your system. And they had quite a few issues over the years with certificates and them merging broken stuff from Asahi without the approval from that distro.

[@QuantumRads]

14:04 so wrong. Most pentest companies out there are using it. Its has several tools already installed, security researchers are not going to waste time installing tools when there is a OS that already includes them. I have worked with at least 10 different companies that use it.

[@dingokidneys]

As a Debian user, I agree that it is supreme. I also agree that many people fire up Kali to feel like Mr Robot (hell, that's me a bit) but it really is very lightweight and quiet on the network. A standard installation of Debian (maybe not Arch) is actually quite a bit more "chatty" on the network. I like how Kali feels stripped back and doesn't put extraneous stuff out that you need to filter out to analyse network traffic. This also makes it surprisingly good on old under-powered hardware. I have it on a 2008 Dell laptop and it's pretty slick.

[@RSD22.]

So weird I have a dell from 2008/2009, latitude e5400. random I know, sorry just surprising to know

[@sebastiansteffens3518]

As a total noob to the Linux world, I cannot tell you how insanely valuable this video is with regards to finding a path through the distro jungle. Thank you so much for creating this. Last weekend I got myself a used Thinkpad, installed Debian with GNOME thanks to your recommendation and am blown by how awesome, beautiful and functional the entire system is - and that everything just works. I cannot believe that all of this is provided free of charge and love the fact that I feel like my device is really mine for the first time in my life. Thank you!

[@SadMatte]

Not to mention the minimal amount of resources required to run a linux OS

[@kiillabytez]

Is it really yours though?

[@LemurJovian]

Don't trust this guy

[@michalsvihla1403]

@mattemathias3242 Well, he said he's running GNOME, so maybe not that minimal. :D

[@fooboomoo]

gnome is pretty lean what do you mean?

[@chasing1ogic]

Would've definitely love to hear the raionale behind Debian and Arch being the only supreme tier picks. I feel like we got great insight on everything on the tier list except the two at the top.

[@isodoubIet]

I have to say I react with some bemusement to gentoo being described as "for tryhards" but not arch.

[@michelle778]

I can live with Debian in the supreme category, but explanation is lacking. It is not supreme in every category. Arch though does not belong there, arch belongs in the pointless category. All other major binary based distros can deliver more usability and stability - if you want customization there is no way around Gentoo or LFS. Arch is pointless - a non debatable fact. Well ok - it is a rolling release - so let's give it half unique half pointless.

[@KingHalbatorix]

Arch is absolutely idiotic, there's a reason it has the reputation of only being used by jobless nerds that are picking a distro to even further differentiate themselves from other linux users. I say jobless because almost nobody who makes an income working with computers is going to jeopardize that income by using arch. If for whatever reason they absolutely NEED rolling release, Fedora Rawhide, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, and Debian Unstable would be their choice in that order.

[@masaufuku1735]

@@michelle778 Rolling release without requiring building everything from source is literally the entire point of Arch and why it's *not* pointless. Some of us aren't interested in running 2 year old software. That's also why Debian and Arch are the only "supreme" tier picks - Debian for slow/stable distro, Arch for bleeding edge distro that may occasionally break and/or require manual intervention during updates. Arguably either LFS or Gentoo also belong up there as a "from source" distro. But Arch is easier and faster to install, maintain and use then LFS or Gentoo while still providing up to date packages. Of course these days you increasingly have the alternative of installing up to date packages via flatpak or snaps, which can give you the best of both worlds. But if you're doing that, then an immutable distro (like NixOS or Nitrux) is an even more stable option.

[@davidboeger6766]

​@michelle778 Amen. I mean, I'd put it in the unique category just because it's the ultimate tinkerer distro, but one of the things that bugs me is that the Arch loyalists almost always seem to extrapolate that to Arch being best for general productivity, when in reality, those things are not only different, but most often diametrically opposed. An OS is a tool for most people. Tools boost productivity best when they work consistently without tinkering. Imagine how long it would take to build a house if you had to disassemble and reassemble your nail gun for a strange, untested software update every few hours. That's not to say being able to do that isn't valuable, just that it hardly makes it the greatest thing ever.

[@SuperShesh2]

Wow all of those arch derivatives opinions are supremely unhelpful, thanks for giving nothing except "just use arch"

[@arduous222]

Manjaro is not *that* bad. Manjaro is definitely not for the beginners, that's for sure, but for those who just don't care too much about customization and something that works right out of the box, it works splended. I partly agree with him, arch seems supreme, although I haven't tried it fully yet. But its documentations are more like man-pages for expert users without any good recommendation, making it extremely unfriendly towards new users. Manjaro can be a way of just tasting how arch works --- and works great as a business desktop. I think it's worth recommending.

[@DonaldWyman]

I get why EndevourOS is in the pointless tier, but it is still my favorite distro. I know how to install vanilla arch my self, yet I like the most defaults for a base Endeavour install. It is also not bloated like something like Manjaro (nor does it use its own repos down stream from arch, which is the main reason people should avoid Manjaro.)

[@ccelik97]

The reason for it being "pointless" is Arch Linux still insists on not to just add or have some official "Arch Installer, with a GUI e.g. with Calameres, turnkey Secure Boot support etc" .iso file for the users to have an easy time with (not to mention the _"Always keep an eye on the Arch Linux news website or else don't cry to us when your _*_pacman -Syu_*_ update breaks your system, you f1lthy l0ser"_ attitude of theirs, instead of fixing up their own sh1t). According to the likes of some Arch Linux people _"If yuo ain't using the CLI then yuo ain't no worthy of using _*_our_*_ sh1t!!",_ which is nonsensical at best. So take EndeavourOS being in the pointless tier as a *"You're nowhere near perfect and you know exactly why."* statement towards Arch Linux itself. In other words you're required by the Arch Linux distribution to use an unofficial installer called the "EndeavourOS.iso", not "ArchLinux.iso", due to the various (glaring) shortcomings of Arch Linux as a Linux distribution.

[@metalhead-6448]

@@ccelik97 you can always use scripts like archinstall if you hate so much the manual install lelele

[@ccelik97]

@@metalhead-6448 Ah, yes, that nonargument: Do you also volunteer to maintain that "script" for me for indefinitely, for as long as Arch Linux is around? Because you know, like most end users I also have some very particular (& ever-changing) requirements which I expect to be _perfectly_ & _consistently_ delivered upon? So yeah, no: These "scripts" aren't a suitable replacement for a proper live installer GUI session like with Calameres etc.

[@feelalivemusix7536]

This guy doesn't know what he's saying. Anyone who thinks EndeavourOS is pointless have obviously never tried it.

[@ccelik97]

@@feelalivemusix7536 It's a spiritual successor to what Antergos was for Arch Linux at the time and as expected it's still the better installer than whatever Arch Linux thinks their users are worthy of. So yeah. If I was willing to _pet_ a rolling release distro (in the traditional sense) then I'd be hard pressed to choose between Debian sid and EndeavourOS (not ArchLinux.iso). Soontm the local AI agent powered, adaptive system maintenance will be a thing and we won't have to worry about _"Oh, I wonder if today my system will break because I didn't read the distro's news/warnings on the website prior to running the usual update command?"_ stuff of the old. So basically it'll be once again _someone else_ that had to step in to _compensate_ for Arch Linux's lack of quality because they refused to fix their own sh1t for so long.

[@bn40400]

I've used Linux Mint for years now and I've learned quite a bit about Linux from using it. I've really never had a need or a want to distro hop or try different distros. Just satisfied alone with Mint, they do a great job of support as well as making things fresh again with new version releases and features.

[@starspawn4591]

There you go, I have distro hopped for ages and I can tell you : most advice on trying other distro's is overblown. Most distro's are more or less exactly the same. Even the 'stable release' argument is bollocks, I have seen so many 'stable' distro's just break after a few days of using them.... Stick to Mint, I will probably do the same, there really is not much need to switch to anything else. (everything just works, more or less).

[@thegeth4293]

Mint is the best if you just want a desktop experience. And thats it, no elite hacker/programmer stuff, no low power toaster linux, just whatever a normal office worker whos used to windows would do.

[@legitimo1788]

Mint is one of the best distros, you really can stick with it forever

[@DylanDurdle]

@@legitimo1788 I was using Linux Mint Debian Edition since 2012, but I converted the install back to a pure Debian during LMDE 3 because Linux Mint was always 8+ months behind Debian.

[@eruiluvatar236]

Mint is really good. I started before the time was time (late 90s) on redhat, on the very early 2000s I switched to debian because apt is awesome. On the mid 2000s I switched to ubuntu because some debian related drama with wifi firmwares and because it was much less of a headache. On early 2010s I switched to mint when ubuntu tried to make the aberration that is unity the default desktop despite the cries of their users and started to show their corporate side. Since then I have been quite happy with ubuntu mate. If mint goes evil or turns bad I may go back to debian but so far it seems like they will keep being great (ie removing snaps and replacing them with apt packages when possible). Some people will say that it is for noobs but under the really great UI it is just like debian but with more things working out of the box. Some purist may complain about mint being more relaxed about closed source firmwares, codecs and so than debian. But that is unnecessary suffering as if we go to the extreme there is very little in the way of fully open hardware. For me mint is an OS that I can use most of the time without it getting in the way but that will also allow me to tinker as much as I want.

[@CZLubosKocman]

There is more to SUSE / openSUSE than a single Enterprise oriented distribution. We have also a rolling distribution, Immutable system with flatpak desktop etc. Otherwise nice and entertaining video. Thank you!

[@SnorreSelmer]

Thanks for an excellent tier-list! Since Arch refuses to install on my laptop with full-disk encryption, I decided to go "native" and installed Debian instead two months ago. Haven't regretted it one second.

[@kewejuankenobie]

I remember finding a screen in a museum area at a Mont-Blanc observetory in France that had the Debian 11 logo displayed instead of the museum content. I thought that was cool.

[@ilyasabi8920]

Well debian belongs to a museum kinda right I guess 😂

[@leonbishop7404]

@@ilyasabi8920 💀

[@Cardiacman]

Arch/Debain > ALL

[@jeffersonmcgee9560]

Arch divided by Debian is greater than All? Damn, that's a hard equation

[@hardbrocklife]

Fedora will be either a paid OS or a software telemetry device soon

[@MikroLGS]

@@jeffersonmcgee9560 nah, its quite easy. it is: ((round up AUR Package amount) / (round up Arch repo package amount))*(round up Ubuntu based distro number / round up Red Hat based distro) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ (round up openrc distros) * (round up distros with runit) which equals to: (100000/10000) * (60/30) __________________________ 10 * 6 and then equals to: 20/60 so its 1/3

[@victornecromancer]

Debain is the og

[@rahilarious]

After Gentoo, Fedora is the winner for me. Better website, updates, stability, better package manager, drivers. Perfect millenial between boomer debian & genZ arch.

[@gwgux]

I still put Pop_OS! in the amazing for beginner category. I also put Tuxedo OS in there too. Between Pop_OS! and Tuxedo OS, you have two distributions made to run on hardware from their respective companies and have their own tools to handle it, but they can also stand on their own as terrific beginner friendly distributions that go in different directions. Then there's Mint that sits between the two while being more vendor agnostic.

[@ecw0647]

Indeed. I tried out Tuxedo and would rank it with Mint as best for new users. Everything just works.

[@Little-bird-told-me]

I use POP. It needs an urgent update. Heck the vim version is still 0.6. Even Ubuntu is higher. All their softwares are dated and POP shell is not updated for over 3 years. They can't just wait wait and wait to launch reskinned Gnome aka CosmicOS. What ! Are they building a space ship ?

[@gwgux]

@@Little-bird-told-me I think they probably have a tight development team with not a lot of room to spare while they're working on their new COSMIC desktop in Rust. I agree it would help their image if they did more frequent updates or at least updated some utilities more often, but it's a gamble they're taking. If COSMIC rocks the world in the way they're hoping it will, it'll be huge surge for them. If it flops, it'll be forever compared to Ubuntu's controversial Unity desktop that drove many people away from Ubuntu and how to drive people away who would rather distro hop than change the DE themselves.

[@nefrace]

@@Little-bird-told-me well i think building a new desktop environment to compete with Gnome from scratch in Rust really feels like building a space ship

[@Little-bird-told-me]

@@gwgux Trust me I hope so too. I really love PopOs and its tiling window manager. No other DE has an integrated WM. POP has been my daily driver for the past two years but now its showing its age. Even Debian 12 has newer package than POP, that telling something. Personally I don't know what's the craze about this Rust. Is its faster than C ? Or is it because it has the concept of borrow checker which makes every developer standup. I doubt if it would be substantially faster than Gnome, but we will see. I know what they are doing, System76 is trying to create an *Apple ecosystem* with and integrated software and hardware ecosystem, I get that part, but the longer they make every one wait, they more customers they will loose. The Linux eosystem, is brutal and people have many option here. The community even has the power to *cancel* Big boys like Redhat for their shenanigans. I don't even know when POP is launch its cosmic desktop, that why I am considering Debian 12 or even Arch_Gnome44

[@philippebarillecavalier9275]

Been on Gentoo since 2015. Can be annoying to get drivers right on a new machine, but once set, it's the end game os. I use "stable", "unstable" is the one for people with a lot of spare time. Also, just don't bother with it if new to Linux and want to try everything. You will be miserable.

[@dmitripogosian5084]

Same here, on Gentoo since 2004 :) Can't live without compiling my kernel anymore (not that it is necessary with Gentoo), it is an addiction :)

[@anthonymcpherson9710]

Running Mint on my desktop and LMDE on my laptop for many years now. The stability and reliability is such, that it is POINTLESS for me to explore other distributions. Great analysis by Chris...

[@VimPoR]

i use hyprland on arch... and yes i agree with u.... linux mint is good, stable, reliable etc.... i think linux mint is not just for newbies.... its also a good distro for advanced users too.... i use it daily on my laptop and its my first linux love

[@f-j-Services]

mint was the truth, have not used it for like 4 years now, but it was all I used for a while. I thought support ended or will be ending soon for it...? I don't keep up on much anymore.

[@rupe82]

I had weird desktop issues with Mint Cinnamon that couldn't be fixed so I had to ditch it.

[@gost]

@@rupe82 same here. may be hardware was the issue. now Kubuntu is my choice for a newbie. extremely lightweight and no limits for customization.

[@jackieburkhart3268]

i dont know what the people above me are saying but when i first started on linux, i did a lit of distro hopping and ended up on mint. and mint was the most reliable system I've ever used. even though i use arch nowadays, mint will forever be one of my favorites.

[@tejing2001]

The rationales generally made sense to me, but I really expected NixOS to go into the unique tier. I mean, yeah, it *is* good for business, you're not wrong, but if completely throwing out the FHS and turning system configuration and management into a programming exercise isn't unique, I don't know what is. It has a draw of its own entirely outside of the business space, because it keeps the maintenance cost of tweaks so much lower with the declarative config. I've actually made so many customizations, tweaks, and fixes, that I would never make in another distro, because I know that I won't get bogged down or lost regarding how my customizations work. I can go read the code that defines them.

[@stefanplusplus917]

the roblem with this tierlist is that the tiers are not mutually exclusive. both argument are correct, thus the ambiguity.

[@bayuchandrasukma820]

I have just recently moved over from Windows to Mint, and it might be one of the best decision I've ever made. Everything just works and lightweight while also being very familiar. I do have to say that for some reason, my Kubuntu install has some of the apps straight-up crashes and never work despite coming OOTB (case in point for mine is Elisa and the Discovery apps), but then I just decided to go with Mint and never went back.

[@nimlouth]

Yep, was exactly my experience too. I searched around for a lightweight distro for my oldest laptop after failing with manjaro KDE in my not so old laptop. Ended up installing Mint 21 MATE after trying several other "light" distros (including peppermint) and was totally surprised by just how well everything worked compared to manjaro specially. Plus, thanks to things like flathub, your distro is not so important anymore these days in therms of being stuck to some specific software sources. So having a stable and solid-performing distro is very much a guaranteed smooth experience.

[@defaultdan7923]

i worked in reverse order somehow (started with mint, wasnt too happy, then switched to kubuntu) and ended up quite pleased. i guess linux really does have something for everyone, even if sometimes what works for one person doesn’t work for another.

[@maccaberry1041]

Fedora 40 KDE is perfect for new users and old users. Its not the devil. Its simply the best for 90% of users.

[@permanentlybored195]

he is just hating on fedora to hate on fedora

[@lantistk1304]

he just fedora hater

[@pixelstriko1642]

NixOS isnt just for reproducible servers, it has a lot of features that are also attractive to everyday users: reproducibility allows you to replicate your config across, for example, your desktop and your laptop, it also has a very large range of packages, and I have almost never searched for a package and not found it, even lesser known ones.

[@Irgendeinwer]

But if there's no package available, you have to do it yourself :)

[@Korodarn]

I like endeavour, even if it's pointless, I don't need to decide everything from a default arch, and it is close enough that it still gets me into that same ecosystem. I tried garuda and had some weird issues, and the theming is easy enough to get if you want it. I used Manjaro before Endeavour, and Nobara after Endeavour and came back to it because I really prefer the base of Arch to the Fedora base of Nobara. I used gentoo for a number of years but that's when I had more time to toy with compiling and building stage4s and all that, it is a tedious distro, which is fine when you are up for it.

[@nikoraasu6929]

endeavour has a much better community than arch linux too

[@seeibe]

Yeah, what is pointless will be very subjective. If these distros really were pointless, nobody would use them. I don't have an issue with people using these distros if it helps them. What I do have an issue with, is when people like Linus from LTT go straight to a distro like Manjaro or Pop!OS, and then complain about quality issues. Putting these distros in the "pointless" tier makes perfect sense for giving advice to new users. If you know exactly what you want, though, it's totally fine to go for these "pointless" distros.

[@seeibe]

@@nikoraasu6929 Frankly I care less about how "nice" the developers and community are, and more about the quality of their work. You can't deny the quality of the arch main repos, or the value of the AUR and the arch wiki. If I wanted to actually contribute or socialize, yeah I'd probably choose a different community, but that's a totally different story from choosing a daily driver for your desktop.

[@nikoraasu6929]

@@seeibe I've been daily driving EOS for over a year now and I have nothing to complain about, and EOS also uses official AUR and the main arch repos, so I lose nothing and gain a lot by using it over base arch

[@seeibe]

@@nikoraasu6929 Which is what I said? If you know your stuff, it's your decision. But if the EOS devs messed up big time and broke your system, you would know that you can just switch to Arch, instead of declaring that Linux as a whole is bad and unstable.

[@iamjaiguy]

I actually like Endeavor just because it’s surprisingly close to vanilla Arch, it just does most of the set up for you

[@flo0010]

so you just reexplained his point. They could just contribute to upstream to make the setup easier and provide their theming/desktop as a separate package

[@vaisakh_km]

​@@flo0010 honestly, i don't agree with him... , many of these distro are great stepping stones that lead to those upstream OSs... - i started with arco linux to move over to arch - kali linux to learn little bit of hacking... just improve my software skill, not to go into cyber sec... it introduced a lot of tools to me... without it, i wouldn't know many things existed, ( also it started my Linux journy.. ) - Fedora, great stepping stone for RHEL... but then again... they joined dark side... so i can't say much

[@happygofishing]

​@Don_CoyoteI just thought of something, what if archinstall hosted a local web server so you could get a gui installer, but without needing x/Wayland session?

[@vaisakh_km]

@@happygofishing just no.. web technologies is more bloated than an xserver.. also we could just use framebuffer to make perfectly fine gui installer without needing x or wayland

[@flo0010]

@@happygofishing how are you gonna view a website without a display server?

[@malcaniscsm5184]

Really interesting episode. I've been very much enjoying Garuda this last 6 months, because it really is lovely to use for someone who doesn't want to change a whole lot but does want up-to-date packages.

[@breadmoth6443]

as a Slackware user, I am happy where Slackware is. I am also a special case as I started using Slackware fully in '05 even when ubuntu was probably it is peak or getting there. I am glad I stuck with Slackware, no regrets.

[@snowmean1]

Slackware was the first Linux distro I met in the enterprise (~2004). Not entirely sure, why IT department decided to use Slackware for the infrastructure, but since that Slackware will always have a special place in my heart.

[@breadmoth6443]

@@snowmean1 depends on the environment , i gather that the environment your IT dept at that time had no windows users - and one of the main gripes people had with slackware was its no official support for kerberos until literally until the 2010s...

[@breadmoth6443]

@@kidmosey while i have dabbled with other distros in a VM , i still end up back with Slackware as my distro when it comes to bare metal though...

[@Skelterbane69]

Installing and using slackware is what taught me linux.

[@bli3366]

I quit winblows back when W2K was up-to-date, and had switched to Mac. After Jobs died, and Mac started turning all of their "computers" into appliances, when my macbook pro died, I wound up back on an old P4 desktop for awhile, trying to finish school. Slackware 13.37 was the only distro at the time I could get to work on that old machine because everything else had switched to using SMP kernels, which would not run on that old girl. I was still using Slackware for my home NAS machine up until something like 2015/2016, mostly because it just worked, and the only time it required a reboot was after the power went out.

[@omidjavedan7239]

I think Pop OS has a lot to offer. The NVIDIA image it provides is a real boon, making graphics driver setup incredibly straightforward, which can be a lifesaver for newcomers and they don't have 'sanp'

[@stuntman083]

I agree, it seems like most of these reviews are by non-gamers. Pop OS is the only S tier for gamers due to automatic Nvidia install

[@omidjavedan7239]

​@@stuntman083 I'm not really into gaming, but I've been using Linux since 2012, starting with Ubuntu 12.04. Currently, I'm rolling with Arch Linux as my daily driver since 2019. Dealing with Nvidia drivers on Arch can be really challenging, not Arch's fault, but Nvidia's not playing nice with the open-source community. If you're using an Nvidia GPU, PopOS is a lifesaver. It gets you up and running in just 20 minutes, and the best part? No mandatory Snap packages unlike Ubuntu, which is awesome. Now, here's the catch-I'm not a big fan of PopOS's shortcuts and the desktop environment. They've changed pretty much every shortcut imaginable, and I'm not up for learning a whole new set. It takes time to set things up right, and even then, you might miss some shortcuts. Plus, switching the desktop environment can make your system a bit bloated, which isn't my cup of tea. Honestly, if people plan on gaming on Linux, I'd steer clear of getting a system with an Nvidia GPU. Otherwise, PopOS is a solid choice.

[@turtlewax3849]

Nobara also has Nvidia support, but it is done by a guy who really knows gaming and the OS he is using.

[@breakfast7595]

Well, it's also one of those distros that 'just works.' I don't have issues with peripherals. Things like my webcam and printer don't require any additional software most times. Nvidia support is about as good as it can be on PopOS (I say this because I really don't like Nvidia and they break shit in updates). I like Debian, and I'll have to try it again as its been a while, but I really think PopOS is a solid distro.

[@s01itarygaming]

If you're trying to be new user friendly to PC gamers, then gnome is probably not the way to go. The default desktop of Pop is really an uncomfortable transition for anyone on windows (which is the overwhelming majority of new users who need a good nvidia drivers setup).

[@RoryIsNotACabbage]

Not as harsh as I expected. I use endeavour but I still agree with your point of just learn arch; you should already know arch if you use EOS, but I sometimes need to click install and not think too hard

[@penguin2137]

yup, i mean EOS is Arch for people who don't want or aren't ready to install Arch the ArchWiki way. i think that's the main point of this distro and it gets the job done that way

[@wewduck6874]

I agree with this. I use Arch myself but i think EOS isn't pointless. I often just don't want to bother with installing arch and EOS works amazingly for that. It's a great distro for those who already know arch (or are learning) but don't want to bother with doing it manually

[@notoriog]

I'm actually a big fan of EOS. Always found it more productive than actual arch.. Also some of the terminal packages they ship by default are great, like eos-packagelist for example.

[@jamesrodriguez8899]

I switched from arch to EOS just to try and get some proprietary drivers to work with some open source drivers, but since then I forgot to switch back to arch and just stayed on EOS🤷‍♂️

[@dan.devine]

My view on EOS (from a long time arch user) is that it's a great place to end up with once you understand Arch. When you can install Arch from the terminal via a chroot/pacstrap and you understand how all of that works, why burn time doing that any more, unless you have a specific highly custom goal in mind. EOS is great from that perspective - just a few tweaks on top of vanilla Arch and a piece of cake to get up and running. It's become my go to from that perspective. archinstall just doesn't do it for me, so I'm glad EOS is a thing.

You gotta be some kind of masochist to install pure Arch. Yeah of course you'll learn a lot. But nobody go time for installing Linux from scratch through command line using fdisk and mkfs and creating a basic bootstrap system, mount /dev, /proc, etc, chroot in there and install a whole freakin desktop environment. That's great if you want to learn and tinker, but come on. This is 2024, not 1994. Endeavour is what Arch should be like : graphical installer, sets up a basic desktop with the DE of your choice with a minimum set of tools and no fluff. There's no point in pure Arch other than using it to creating yet another Arch-based distro.

[@heihar2007]

And people wonder why not more people switched to Linux.

[@bahmoudd]

real

[@firerbreathingshark814]

There isn't that much of a wonder since most people have an answer of a beginner distro (Linux Mint). The real issue, which has been highlighted by Linus Torvalds over a decade ago -- which has been helped a bit helped with the steam deck -- is that: 1) Regular users don't want to install another operating system when they get another computer 2) And if they are willing to go through the trouble, commercial/industry software have iffy support, (like no adobe famously) Linux (Android) was able to take over the mobile market for instance since the phones came with it installed, and it was open source so it was easy to develop for.

[@InternetUser-u6u]

oh no, multiple choices!!1!!! what am i going to do!!1!!

[@Bananabo-at]

I actually got a headache form this morning

[@JasonParmenter]

Wdym, Debian is not complex at all. It has a graphic installer with options for DE etc. And Arch is when you upgrade if you want to get further into it. That's it? Literally what is bad about this? Genuinely curious.

[@mrbc2004]

Mostely agree, but just wanted to point out that Arco is not just a distribution you "install and forget" ... It's a learning project, great for beginers and intermediate users. They have a LOT of merit. I've been using Artix with DWM for a while now, and it works great for me :)

[@topherfungus8424]

Three of my hosts are on debian 12. two are on Arch. I agree with your God tier

[@Niarbeht]

My guy, the point of security distros like Kali isn't to have it as your daily driver, but to have something you can shove into a VM and you'll immediately know what tools it has available.

[@EdwardRLyons]

How many Linux distros are there? How many have there been that are no longer with us? Why so many? As a general computer user, rather than a geek, I just want a maximum choice of two or three, with perhaps specialist distros for business, etc. This proliferation of distros is why I still believe after so many years that Linux is never going to become a replacement for Windows. Consumers simply don't want that much bother, having to wade through huge lists of distros, the vast majority of which are of no use to them. Thank you, Chris, for highlighting the small number of distros that should be recommended to newbies -- it takes some of the pain out of trying to navigate the maze that is Linux.

[@sangrino7166]

There are lots and lots of Linux distros because it's open source and people have the freedom to make one.

[@pilo3323]

>saw debian and arch at the top >pressed the like button immediately

[@DreadFox_official]

I simply like that Kali has pre installed the tools I need, they also came out with Kali purple. With Kali I can quickly move to learning about new security tools without downloading them. It also sets me on a path of learning about applications I've never seen before

[@overlord1995]

I've never used it, but I would've said the same. He says just install the apps yourself, but probably you'd never find out about some of those very niche apps otherwise. Kali Linux has certain connotations, I think it's not pointless, it belongs in the "great for very specific new users" category.

[@sldw3221]

@@overlord1995 There is a script called "katoolin" you can install all tools in kali with one command in your debian.

[@jaybiddy955]

I looked at kali/parrot as my school set up learn the tools learn what you like move from a rolling release to a LTS and build your own right now im installing the pentest framework (PTF) from trustedsec on mint and gonna test that i agree with john hammond when he said "i think you graduate from them" but their not pointless

[@darrkstarg]

Gentoo has a very special place in my heart. That is where I learned how to install and configure linux with nothing more than the instructions it came with and some poking around back 13 or 14 years ago. It was a blast to learn and I highly suggest it if you really want to learn about the inner workings and all that.

[@isteal7427]

I think kali is more useful to boot as a live USB or a small persistent USB instead of the base system. The issue isn't that the software installs are hard but rather it is just a nice list of tools and well organized. I'm not a huge fan of kali, but I use it for bug bounty and CTFs because it is convenient

[@kilobytecache6192]

I like how you point out how temporary these charts are, and how things always change. I hope Pop OS continues, it might get me to switch from Fedora.

[@snowmean1]

Debian and Arch are keepers though...

[@BraydenPrice30]

Agreed, I'm on Fedora right now, and loving it up until recently with all this red hat drama. It really hurts because Fedora's community has always seemed great to me. Fedora has also been a great force for change from what I can tell with flatpaks and the immutable space and many more. It really makes me sad that I have a feeling that it will be downhill from here 😢 But hey... Maybe I'm wrong and Fedora will turn ship and become even more amazing. That's unlikely though considering how involved red hat is directly and indirectly in Fedora.

[@snowmean1]

@@BraydenPrice30 I personally feel sorry for Fedora taking piss for just being under RedHat umbrella, while it is still (mostly) community driven project, and community made pretty sane decisions lately. I guess the biggest problem with Fedora is its uncertain future. After RedHat broken promise on CentOS, it's hard to guarantee that Fedora will remain in its current state for long or at all, and this concerns drive people away from this amazing distro. But I totally disagree with Fedora ended up in the same category as RedHat/CentOS, they are different, and currently I would recommend Fedora for immediate installation today, but would be worried to install it for a long-run.

[@Kalasklister1337]

​@@snowmean1exactly what i wanted to say. Well put

[@Raphy_Afk]

You massively under estimate the value of the Nvidia compatibility for gamers. As a new user, Linux mint made me flee Linux for months and pop os made me uninstall windows

[@juankherrera147]

I didn’t expect him to say that about Pop OS either, considering it takes the user experience to another level and eases one of the biggest headaches there can be, which is installing Nvidia drivers.

[@Falthad]

I haven't used Nvidia for years so I have no idea the struggles of making Nvidia hardware work on Linux Mint. AMD was plug and play for Mint. Sorry to hear that went horribly for you.

[@SeanCC]

@@Falthad I've had Nvidia driver support with Mint for years and wonder what this is about, both desktop and laptop

[@izraphailzero5610]

lmao. "pointless because you can install all this stuff manually" then why you're not using raw kernel? why you need a distro? just pick a kernel and add all the stuff you need! Thats simple!

[@MetsariSika]

Though I disagree with some of the choices, it was fantastic to hear about your opinions and reasons for ranking certain distros. The video was great food for thought and gave some ideas about the next VM install / distro hop!

[@kenrtx]

One thing to consider is the communities of those distributions. EndeavorOS for example is just arch with a calamaras installer. But their community is helpful especially for newer users.

[@ccelik97]

EndeavousOS has, for the same exact reason as Antergos did back then, have a real reason to exist; yes. For as long as Arch Linux itself doesn't provide a nice, "yeah, install me on your actually existing PC" GUI installer, the likes of EndeavourOS will keep on having a real reason to exist.

[@gfrewqpoiu]

Because of their custom GRUB config, their systems got into a bootloop on some hardware when arch had the grub issues. But on the other hand, they were the main people behind the fix so there's that too.

[@JohnnyThund3r]

@@ccelik97 And Arch Linux should never provide an "easy mode" to install by default. Arch Linux is for Arch Linux users and they fulfill vital role in the Linux ecosystem that befits all of us, don't contaminate their pond with scrubs, they don't belong there and it would literally ruin everything that makes Arch Linux great to begin with and hurt the entire Linux ecosystem as a whole if they did such a thing.

[@ccelik97]

@@JohnnyThund3r Such pretentiousness, such entitlement. "Cool", I suppose.

[@JohnnyThund3r]

@@ccelik97 I don't use arch, btw!

[@eutral]

I like how your list isn't just like "good, mid, bad, trash" but points out where it is useful

[@Tn5421Me]

A distro is really just 3-4 things: The kernel that is included by default The package manager Any defaults/preconfigured settings/preinstalled packages mutable/immutable system(s)

[@costafilh0]

I must give Mint and Linux another chance, preferably sooner rather than later. If I wait until I'm forced to switch due to Microsoft's issues, the transition might become much more challenging and time-consuming. It's essential to explore Linux and familiarize myself with it now, to make any potential switch a smoother process.

[@mephisto--]

Start with dual boot :)

[@mihairomulus2488]

@@mephisto-- or a virtual machine if dual booting doesn't sound prefferable

[@mihairomulus2488]

Mint has done me nothing but justice, I hope you enjoy.

[@ladams391]

I hear that. I'm not a total beginner when it comes to Linux, actually I used a laptop with a Fedora/Arch dual boot system as my only machine for several years up until a few years ago, at which point I built a desktop for gaming. Proton wasn't anywhere near the level of compatibility and ease of use it is now at that time and having used WINE on my Linux machine I knew that just wasn't going to cut it, so I swallowed my pride and installed Windows 10. Fast forward several years during which I've been using exclusively Windows 10 and Microsoft announces everything they've decided is the right direction for Windows 11 and literally all of it is either functionally or morally repulsive to me and the end of support for Windows 10 is drawing ever nearer, and having spent these years of using Windows quietly watching from the sidelines as the OS that actually feels like home to me improves as a desktop system dramatically with Proton and other recent tools or improvements fixing nearly all of my former problems with it, I know it's time to start making the move back to Linux. I am a bit rusty when it comes to using Linux though, so I know the sooner I start doing so the easier things will be when Microsoft and Windows become functionally dead to me at the end of support date for Windows 10.

[@Its-Just-Zip]

My 2 gripes are the kali placement and the fedora one I looked into the proposed telemetry from fedora and its down right ethical, i would prefer it to be opt in instead of opt out but its currently just a proposal and can change. As for Kali, it is kinda pointless to actually install and run as a full distro, but oh man it is good as a live ISO to boot into on demand. Run your work distro of choice and have kali on your key ring for when you need that toolkit.

[@theviniso]

Yeah, I think it's too soon to place Fedora alongside RHEL. RedHat has made some questionable decisions lately but Fedora remains a damn fine distro so far.

[@Sight-Beyond-Sight]

Or run Kali on a VM in your Windows system like I sometimes do.

[@bluenoseixmr]

@@Sight-Beyond-SightI don’t know anyone who doesn’t run kali in a VM or actually runs it as a primary OS.

[@onejdc]

@@bluenoseixmr yep. I don't "run Kali" because I need a security laptop. I boot into an ephemeral environment that already has all the tools I need, do what I need, and get out.

[@GeekIWG]

I disagree with some of your rankings, but that's OK. Linux is about freedom, including the freedom of choice. You've just chosen differently than me.

[@arshkhanlm3086]

Ubuntu and Red Hat isn't

[@Rombizio]

Depends on what you need. If stability is required than Debian, as excelleent as it is, might not be better than Slackware. If you need to give a new machine to a user that never used Linux, then Mint is better than Arch. Again....each distro for its purpose.

[@asldfjkalsdfjasdf]

Pop OS can be pre installed an the user can select the username on the first boot. It also has an recovery partition by default. So it has its unique features.

[@abrotherinchrist]

Garuda user here. I chose it because it's geared towards gaming but trying to update recently I've run into issues. As soon as I have time I'll be trying out Mint, Debian and NixOS for both home and business use. Thanks for the honest feedback on these distros.

[@alicethegrinsecatz1611]

Edit: Please read the comments below. Outdated comment: The proposal was for opt-in telemetry. So, if the Fedora community agrees to it, the user needs to activate the telemetry.

[@GER_Jan]

As long as it is opt in and they are as transparent with it as they were in the proposal I don’t mind

[@julian.morgan]

That it was strictly opt-in was my understanding too - I also think it's a crying shame that the broader Fedora community gets tainted by RHEL/IBM's anti-open source behaviour, especially as I know a great many Red Hat engneers (including GE) are passionate about open source.

[@SingasongAoC]

@@julian.morgan no - it's opt-out. From the proposal: "This is to ensure the system is opt-out, not opt-in. This is essential because we know that opt-in metrics are not very useful". They stress this on various locations in the document. They consider opt-in useless...

[@eumario30]

The whole problem with opt-out/opt-in comes down to choice, and notification. If your not clear about which is which, people are just going to assume it's the other, and that's where the problem lies. It needs to be clear if it is Opt-In, or if it's Opt-Out, so that they know what it is they need to do, when it comes to that. And it needs to be clear, and simple what information they are giving up when they Opt-In/Opt-Out of the Telemetry. Cause most common users will think, "Oh, they are going to take my Credit Card Numbers, and Social Security Number, and record all my conversations", when really, it's "Your Computer's Hardware, and a Unique Identifier to your PC, to distinguish it from the similar hardware setups out there that may match your computer's hardware."

[@DMSBrian24]

it's not opt-in, it's only opt-in for existing users upgrading to the next version, for all new users installing it, it will be opt-out, they described it in a very shady way and act as if it was opt-in but it's not

[@serg_sel7526]

If you're too lazy to watch whole video: Debian and Arch are supreme distros, mostly anything that forks them is pintlessless (just use the upstream lmao). Red Hat and anything that relied on it is devil, as well as Ubuntu. By the way, while Arch is really superior to anything else (I use it btw), its community is something that I don't like... Arch is superior in use

[@bbhi340]

I used to run Arch on my laptop. But I ran into all kinds of issues with networking and external monitors. I switch to Fedora, and it works great.

[@fabiandrinksmilk6205]

Fedora has been great. It's just a shame that there is this Red Hat drama again. Not long before that we were positive about Red Hat working on important stuff for the Linux desktop, like color management, HDR and VRR.

[@bbhi340]

@@quality-item it's my daily driver. I don't have the time to debug my machine. I want something that works

[@ex0stasis72]

Just now rejoining the Linux community again after a while, and I had no idea Debian had made a comeback in terms of being user friendly until this video. I'll check it out for my next stop. My last distro was Manjaro in about 2019, and I loved it for it being cutting edge enough to support my hardware and to get all the new bells and whistles, but whenever I got busy with real life and put off updating and maintaining my OS, I'd update everything, and something would break, and it'd be a pain in the neck to fix. Now, I'm looking for something more stable, and if I want cutting edge, it's probably going to application specific, so I can just use a flatpack for that if I need to. I'll try Debian next.

[@iFurane]

I started with Linux Mint and it is probably the most newbie-friendly linux distro. I later switched from Manjaro to EndeavourOS because I want my OS to be installed as quick as possible unless I have the time to do it all myself (yeah I have installed Arch Linux myself), plus Manjaro just doesn't feel good anymore.

[@vk8a8]

AMOUNG,

[@harmzuay]

As someone who is relatively new to Linux (I have maybe 2 months under my belt), I'm shocked at putting Endeavour in a "Pointless" category. For someone like me who would naturally gravitate toward something like Arch, but who doesn't have the knowledge yet to understand what I need and what I don't need, Endeavour is an amazing gateway. I think turning people away from that kind of thing is a disservice to the entire Linux community.

[@Drbeattles]

let me tell you something. even arch users are gravitating to endeavor OS. only the diehards are complaining. Endeavor is the best of arch without much of the down sides. sure learn arch so you don't break but you can bust out the arch wiki and it will work on endeavor OS. all the tips and tricks on arch still work on endeavor and its easy and quick to install and comes with several must have arch programs preinstalled like yay. so use endeavor OS! arch might as well be a kernel due to coming with nothing. this guy doesn't get endeavorOS' function and thats to be arch for people who have a life.

[@fooboomoo]

even with the knowledge to use vanilla arch i prefer a derivative every time (cachy in my case)

[@stephenanthony5923]

As an intermediate Linux user for work and fun I'm interested to check out Nobara, Alpine, Alma, NixOS, AntiX and maybe even Parrot Linux based on these recommendations. And there's a lot of other great stuff on this list too. Learn something new today. Thanks Chris!

[@PaulaXism]

AntiX is brilliant on old limited hardware. I run it on my 486 ;)

[@gabrielyoshinoflorencio198]

I consider myself a noob when it comes to linux and recently installed endeavourOS after trying Mint, so far i'm liking it a lot and when i get more acclimatized with the whole linux environment, maybe i would try to install vanilla arch. Anyways, thanks for your videos, Chris!

[@Socio_Linux]

Linux Mint has a KDE version that I loved, I preferred it over Kubuntu, but they dropped it. Great tier, I agree on almost everything. I put Pop OS! On business tier because is the System 76 distro and comes with their equipments.

[@cyberdyne981]

[edit: My bad - I read Mint and my brain switched to MX - Doh!] I had not heard they were dropping their MX/kde build. It is still on their download page for MX-21.3. I think MX had the best KDE tuned distro of the whole crowd. (That said, I don't use it as my daily driver; I'm a Cinnamon on LMDE junkie for my main pc/desktop).

[@aethro4375]

I daily Mint with Kubuntu's DE and can't tell the difference. Installation is really easy, straightforward, it's quite stable. Maybe the only minor issue would be that you have 2 apps that do the same thing.

[@OkarinHououinKyouma]

​@@cyberdyne981agree MX KDE was the best KDE experience for me 😢

[@debnadaebna9981]

What does KDE mean?

[@aethro4375]

@@debnadaebna9981 It's an organization that makes Linux tools, a desktop environment etc.

[@hughtoons]

For me I've found Linux Mint is the most featureful and stable workstation.

[@timoteostation]

I completely agree with this tier list! Especially now, when I finally decided to migrate from Fedora to Arch. I could choose Debian, but I'm not happy with the delay of Neovim 0.9+, even in the unstable version Neovim still remains in versions 0.7+. Also, I really like the challenge to my Linux knowledge, it will be my first attempt at working on a window manager. Void, Alpine, Artix and Rocky Linux are also interesting options. Thanks for mentioning them - even you mentioned AlmaLinux along with Rocky, I think it's ok.

[@KyzerSusie]

Not a bad list at all. I haven't tried all the distros you mention, but I have tried nearly 30 over the past couple decades. I settled on Mint for my two desktops and laptop, not because I'm a newbie, but because it's the one I like the most. It suits my purposes, it's comfortable, and I'm easily able to configure things to get it working the way I like.

[@laniusdev]

I think Chris thinks there are only two types of desktop Linux users: a noob and Chris Titus. A lot of these 'pointless' distros provide so much utility for intermediate users or just users that don't want to waste time running pacstrap manually, or picking and choosing a sets of packages, which just feels like it could be done by the installer. Also many of the quality-of-life things provided by these 'pointless' distros just wouldn't be there if there wasn't a separate project for that. Oh, they could just contribute their packages and tweaks to upstream distro? Well, good luck with that. And if someone wants a badge of honor for installing Arch 'the Arch-way', then they probably are just re-typing commands from Archwiki anyway. Some people might prefer installing just vanilla, some people just prefer to have a ready-to-go system installed quickly that only requires some minor tweaks. And as already mentioned in other comments, these might be a great entry-point for people to become actually an advanced user. That more or less also applies to Debian and Debian-based distros. Vanilla Debian is much easier to get into for a noob for sure, but still distros like Kali or ParrotOS, provide a great utility, not acknowledging that seems outright dumb or just a bait. Also MX Linux and PCLinuxOS seem to have all the prerequisites to be put into your 'creative' tier, but probably you would need to realize that MX doesn't use systemd just like AntiX and PCLinuxOS is actually an independent rolling-release distro that uses apt-rpm and also doesn't use systemd. You cannot recreate these setups on Debian. Maybe MX, but good luck switching the init system.

[@vckrklck13]

Bot?

[@RealAdiker]

I may agree that Manjaro is pointless, but couldn't disagree more regarding EndeavourOS. It's basically Arch Linux with all the essentials, with very friendly GUI installer, but the most important thing is that it uses Arch mirrors and kernel. The only notable difference could be dracut instead of mkinitcpio to create kernel image. Putting it as "pointless" makes your "tier list" pointless.

[@balsalmalberto8086]

Yea..a lot these have live environments, and not spending time installing and customizing has its uses.

[@julian.morgan]

Only one I disagree on is Pop_OS - I think it adds a bunch of useful QoL things for new users, especially for laptops - I recently installed and tested a bunch of distros when setting up an old Thinkpad laptop for a totally non-techy friend and Pop_OS is super user friendly. For example, a GUI based couple of clicks to create a recovery partition and full support for .deb and flatpaks and system wide flatpaks from their Pop Shop. So I think it deserves a place in the beginner friendly category right now, and with Cosmic will only get better.

[@domantasdobrovolskas2759]

PopOS is the best distro I've used(still use) so far. Didn't have a problem with it unlike other more popular OSs. Haven't tried Arch yet.

[@esaedvik]

I really dig it as well. I'm sure many other distros would work for me, but I was so impressed by the ease of installation and the UI and just robustness and the fact that I can just install almost anything on it and it just works. I have it on two old PCs (i5-2500k and i5-8600T) now and planning to install it on my main gaming rig as well. Haven't been able to wreck anything and I've really tried :D I've tried Ubuntu forks (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu...) in the past and mostly they all failed already in the installation. Just took the wind out of me, so gave up back then, this being like 2007-8-ish.

[@cones914]

0:14 you forgot hannah montana linux.

[@krispee5842]

I remember Garuda Linux being my second system after Linux Mint. I wanted to use Arch, but at the time I couldn't for the life of me get a good install going. Garuda was great for me because it allowed me to have a working system with gui while easing myself into the Arch terminal. I quickly grew out of it however as my install broke once when I was trying to switch from Cinnamon to KDE and again when I accidentally did a simultaneous gui and console update. It's been a couple of years since then and I'm happily living on a healthy Arch system, although I did break my user once.

[@dansanger5340]

Arch is supreme only for people who want bleeding edge distros. It's not supreme at all for general users.