this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
108 points (92.9% liked)

Linux

56228 readers
753 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I made the unfortunate post about asking why people liked Arch so much (RIP my inbox I'm learning a lot from the comments) But, what is the best distro for each reason?

RIP my inbox again. I appreciate this knowledge a lot. Thank you everyone for responding. You all make this such a great community.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago

Since I mostly use computers for entertainment these days I keep coming back to Bazzite. It’s fast, stable, kept up to date, reliable, and “just works”. I’ve created custom rpm-ostree layers to faff around, but it’s not actually necessary for anything I need.

I used to keep a second Kubuntu Minimal partition around but I realized I just don’t need it. If I wasn’t so happy with Bazzite, I would probably go with openSUSE or Endeavor.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

Arch, because I get to say that I use Arch. /s

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 hours ago

Gentoo because it is as stable as Debian, less bloated than Arch, has more packages than Ubuntu, is rolling release, can mix and match stable, testing and unstable on a whim.

Even its one downside, compile times, is now gone if you just choose to use binary packages.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

Ubuntu because they provide kernel live patching and they fix issues quickly and my system doesn't go down if I procrastinate in doing system updates

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)
  • The fricking AUR

  • Nothing I don't _actually_ need

  • Pacman

  • Everything is the latest version available–ALWAYS.

  • ArchWiki

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago

Tumbleweed. Rolling release with automated testing (openQA), snapper properly setup out of the box.

Honestly the entire openSUSE ecosystem. Tumbleweed on my main PC that often has some of the latest hardware, Slowroll on my (Framework) laptop because it's rolling but slower (monthly feature updates, only fixes in-between), and Leap for servers where stability (as in version/compatibility stability, not "it doesn't crash" stability) is appreciated.

openSUSE also comes in atomic flavors for those interested. And it's European should you care.

With all that being said, I don't really care much about what distro I'm using. What I do with it could be replicated with pretty much any distro. For me it's mostly just a means to an end.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

EndeavourOS is the best because.

It's currently on my system and said system hasn't burst into flames yet, so I'm too lazy to change it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

Also, its space themed which makes it automatically the coolest.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I use debian cause it just works.

I was a Nix user (more specifically, nix-darwin user) but after being away from the computer for like one year (to study for the university entrance exam), I completely forgot how to use it and resulted in erasing the computer. Nix/NixOS is fun, but it was too complicated for me.

[–] theacharnian 1 points 11 hours ago

LMDE because I get the robustness of Debian stable and the quality of life goodies of Mint.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 19 hours ago

Linux Mint because it's extremely simple and has caused me no issues for over a year. It's the best distribution to get someone who is afraid to switch from Windows or MacOS to understand that using Linux can be just as easy.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

OpenSUSE tumbleweed: Up-to-date, unbreakable due to Btrfs+snapper, very secure defaults (firewall), based in Germany. It works perfectly on my Thinkpad, so I couldn't ask for better.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

As with others, I love Debian Stable.

Most packages have sane defaults, and it's so stable. It's true that it sometimes means older software versions, but there's also something to be said for behavior staying the same for two years at a time.

If hardware support is an issue, using the backports repo is really easy - I've been using it on my laptop for almost a year with no problems that don't exist on other distros. If you really need the shiniest new application, Flatpak isn't that bad.

It also feels in a nice position - not so corporate as to not give a darn about its community, but with enough funding and backing the important stuff gets maintained.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago

I just moved to Debian trixie (soon to be stable) because I needed an upgrade after ~15 years of Gentoo.

I was a proud Gentoo user. I learned a lot about systemd and kernel configuration. Many advances in portage made it possible to find the time to maintain my Gentoo setup. On my laptop I gave up Gentoo even earlier, because updating my system was just too time consuming. I actually learned less and less about the software I was using, because I was trapped in dependency conflict management. The new binary repos did save some compile time, but the actual time sinks are decision for your systems, use flags and the forementioned dependencies.

So, I installed Debian on my main workstation (two days ago). I am already using Debian on on my Raspberry Pis. I did choose a more challenging way using debootstrap, because I want to use systemd-boot, encrypted btrfs and have working hibernation. I am still busy with configuring everything.

One could argue, that I could've used the time on Gentoo to solve my current python_targets_python3_13 issues and do a proper world update. No, this is a future investment. I want the time to configure new stuff, not wait for dependency resolution or waste time solving blocking packages.

The main reason to switch from Gentoo to Debian is being able to install security updates fast without blocking packages in the same slot.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Fedora is quite unremarkable, no issues of late. Or ever, for that matter. It's glorious.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Fedora is just a no-drama distro that works, and I love it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Its actually a high drama distro, they push new changes before many other distros. For instance they were one of the first to go to Wayland by default and there is an upcoming vote to remove 32bit stuff In the next release, which would make it so steam only works as a flatpak because steam on Linux is 32bit

Fedora is my distro of choice also

[–] [email protected] 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Fair!

The vote resulted negatively, BTW, as far as I've heard. 32-bit are there for now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

Good to hear, I was hoping that wouldn't get approved by the engineering and steering committee

[–] [email protected] 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

I use Kubuntu. It is defintly not the best Distro. I am just used to it and too lazy to get used to another distro. My days as a distro jumper lie 15 years back...

Tbh though, I might switch to Debian stable whenever Trixie comes out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago

It isn't. I'm on PopOS 24.04 Alpha 7 (soon to be Beta 1), because of COSMIC (and because I was having some bugs with Fedora a few months back).

I recently wanted to tinker with a piece of software that wasn't packaged, and I couldn't compile it because of outdated libraries. I could return to Fedora specifically to tinker with it but as an ex-distrohopper, I know it isn't worth the effort.

Even though Fedora or some version of it will likely be my forever distro, I will stick to PopOS for now because I can't be bothered to distrohop and back up months' worth of files, including game saves and a ton of stuff in my Downloads directory.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago

I use Nobara with KDE for my gaming computer, Mint with Cinnamon for pretty much everything else.

Mint is the closest to a "Just Works" experience for me. Cinnamon is rock stable, especially on Mint Debian Edition. I don't remember the last time Cinnamon crashed or had any major bugs for me.

I use Debian for most of my servers, stable and simple. Arch on a junker Thinkpad to test and mess around with new programs and window managers.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

NixOS. I've gotten so used to the declarative nature of NixOS, that I simply cannot go back to a "normal" distro anymore.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

Bazzite.

Super easy install and setup. Ready to start installing games at first boot. Just a wonderful OS to use.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Debian. Truly the universal operating system. Runs on all of my laptops, desktops, servers, and NAS with no fuss and no need to keep track of distro-specific differences. If something has a Linux version, it probably works on Debian.

Granted, I am a bit biased. All of my hardware is at least 5 years old. Also came from Windows, where I kept only the OS and browser up to date, couldn't be bothered with shiny new features. A package manager is already a huge luxury.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago

Arch, everything it does provide works extremely well, I can configure everything how I want it without having to fight a distro maintainer trying to be clever, I get new features and bugfixes whenever they go in without having to worry about a distro maintainer deciding whether it’s relevant or whether I should just live with crashes and security issues for another two years because they figured it wasn’t important or critical enough.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago

Fedora, because it just works, it’s familiar, and I’ve got things to do.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fedora Atomic because I don't fucking care what package manager and whatnot sits underneath.

I just wanna relax in my free time and not worry about all this fucking nerd stuff.

Touching grass > Troubleshooting a broken system

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago

Arch users here, just touched grass for the first time. Felt like bloat, had my lawn paved.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 23 hours ago

A bit of tinkering. Thoughts?

Obligatory "There is not a single distro that's the absolute best for each and every one." disclaimer aside, my personal favorite is definitely secureblue for being a hardened-by-default distro that adheres to the ~~'immutable'~~ reprovisionable, anti-hysteresis paradigm while enjoying a healthy stream of improvements pushed out by an active group of contributors.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Mint Cinnamon. All my hardware works, and it can do the few things I require my work PC to do. It even remembers things like my default audio device - something Ubuntu refused to do for years.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

Debian stable.

Everybody think they are a special snowflake who needs bleeding edge, or a specific package manager or DE or whatever. Truth is 99.99% do not. They just like to believe they do, claim they do, try it, inflict self pain for longer than they need, convince themselves that truly they are, because of the pain, special.

Chill, just go with stable, it's actually fine.

Edit: posted from Arch, not even sarcasm.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Arch is the best, the arch wiki is massive, pacman is just amazing, no nvidia drivers bullshitting, and rolling release has only broken one thing once, life under the arch is pretty great

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Also PKGBUILD's are the superior packaging format. Back in the day people use to talk about preferring debian or redhat based distros based on how much they liked debs or rpms. Building packages on Arch is easier than pretty much any distro I have ever tried to build packages on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 19 hours ago

I recently needed to build newer versions of some packages for Debian. Now, they're go based so the official packaging is super complicated and eventually I decided to try and make my own from scratch. After a few more hours of messing with the official tooling I start thinking "there must be a better way."

And sure enough, after a bit of searching I found makedeb which allows you to make debs from (almost) regular PKGFILEs. Made the task a million times simpler.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›