note: ratings are calculated from the opinions of our contributors

1. Easy distros

1.1. Kubuntu

Kubuntu offers a windows-like experience with KDE Plasma and lots of options for customization and a simple UI. Includes the Discover store for easy installation of packages and apps.

Details

Desktop environment - KDE Plasma 5

Package manager - apt, snap

Difficulty - Easy

Overall rating: 7.6/10

1.2. Pop!_OS

Pop!_OS comes with a special nvidia version, with drivers included out of the box. The installer is pretty straight forward, and the distro includes the Pop!_Shop for easy installation of packages/updates.

Details

Desktop environment - Cosmic / Gnome

Package manager - apt

Difficulty - Easy

Overall rating: 6.9/10 (nice)

1.3. Linux Mint

Offers a windows-like experience with cinnamon. Nothing fancy, which can be considered a pro.

Note: Linux mint mixes Ubuntu and Debian packages, which is considered bad practice. See: ?debwiki Dont Break Debian

Details

Desktop environment - Cinnamon

Package manager - apt

Difficulty - Easy

Overall rating: 7.3/10

1.4. Nobara

A gayming version of fedora. Offers nvidia drivers ootb like Pop!_OS. Advertises itself as a content creation, gaming and streaming distro.

Details

Desktop environment - Gnome

Package manager - RPM (DNF)

Difficulty - Easy

Overall rating: 7.2/10

1.5. Ubuntu

The most popular distro out there. Very solid, although there are some issues with snap packages. Ubuntu also uses a modified version of the Gnome desktop environment, which might pose some problems.

Details

Desktop environment - Modified Gnome

Package manager - apt, snap

Difficulty - Easy

Overall rating: 7.5/10

2. Moderate distros

2.1. Endeavour

If you like Arch but don't want to suffer through installing it, endeavour is definitely a good option. The installer comes with many customization options

Details

Desktop environment - User decided

Package manager - pacman

Difficulty - Moderate

Overall rating: 7.8/10

2.2. Debian

Old reliable, father of most linux distros. Not recommended for users who want the latest and greatest, since debian focuses on stability, not fast updates.

Details

Desktop environment - User decided (default: gnome)

Package manager - apt

Difficulty - Moderate

Overall rating: 6.8/10

2.3. Fedora

The real linux enterprise experience. Fedora is essentially a non-server version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Comes with SELinux out of the box, which some users consider a security feature, and others an NSA backdoor.

Details

Desktop environment - Gnome

Package manager - RPM (DNF)

Difficulty - Moderate

Overall rating: 7.0/10

3.

3.1. Arch linux

Provides a minimal system for power-users who want to customize every aspect of it.

Note Everything needs to be installed manually. like, you dont even get a gui. look at the image below.

Details

Desktop environment - None, kek (user decided)

Package manager - pacman

Difficulty - Hard

Overall rating: 6.7/10

3.2. Gentoo

Highly customizable distro, mainly because of USE flags, overlays, and patches. The only drawback is that its source-based, which means every program has to be compiled from source code at install time. This means that if you want to install firefox, you have to compile firefox, which takes a couple hours, or if you want wine or steam, you have to recompile half of your system with x86_32 support :3

Details

Desktop environment - None, kek (user decided)

Package manager - Portage (emerge)

Difficulty - Hard

Overall rating: 5.1/10

3.3. Alpine linux

Great CLI installer (it said 'have a nice day' to me). Alpine linux provides an extremely minimal base system for old hardware, power users, and containers.

Note: Nvidia GPUs are NOT supported, due to the use of musl

Details

Desktop environment - None, kek (user decided)

Package manager - apk

Difficulty - Hard

Overall rating: 7.2/10

4. Credits and notes

Data source, and more distros available at:

The #linux distro spreadsheet

Credits!

Editor: kenzie <@kenzie.webm>

Some screenshots: breadtard <@breadtard>

Peer review: #linux

You: the reader


made with webgen <3 - Webpage compiled at Tue, 22 Aug 2023 00:07:06 +0200