this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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Linux

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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.

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So we can clearly see the most popular distros and the reasons why people use them, please follow this format:

  • Write the name of the Linux distro as a first-level comment.
  • Reply to that comment with each reason you like the distro as a separate answer.

For example:

  • Distro (first-level comment)
    • Reason (one answer)
    • Other reason (a different answer)

Please avoid duplicating options. This will help us better understand the most popular distros and the reasons why people use them.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (8 children)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago
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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (8 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago
  • Community run distro
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
  • Very stable, and can run the bleeding edge through Snap/Flatpack/Appimages, Distrobox, or VMs/Containers
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I love debian because it's always there for you.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago
  • Compatible with more devices than many distros
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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Easy to set up, very helpful community. If you liked Manjaro or think Manjaro is sketchy but like the idea of a slightly pre-configured arch, check it out.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

It's arch. It just happened to be the composition i had my previous arch setup as. Yay for AUR stuff, KDE Plasma for DE. Includes a couple of useful tools and makes for a very solid OS.

Anyone who has been in the Ubuntu sphere of things with Linux, should take a moment to try arch. EndeavourOS is perfect for these people.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

This, basically Arch but quick to install with all the most important things installed and ready without being bloated.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (8 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The big advantage IMHO, is the out of the box BTRFS set up that lets you simply roll back to a non-broken state, right from the grub menu, should an update break your system. I haven't had to use it yet, but it is a huge source of comfort knowing it is there.

Also, many people coming to opensuse remark how much snappier it is than other distros.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had to scroll waaaaay down to find this. Mindboggling how underrated this distro is!

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (5 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Only FOSS software and repositories unless otherwise enabled

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Cutting edge application releases so I get the newest toys after they’ve been decently tested

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Arch. I can't live without the AUR at this point.

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

We cannot forget about the wiki, which is a great resource for not only the Arch distro, but for any Linux install.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (24 children)
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (12 children)
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (5 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

The Arch Wiki is in a language made by users for users. Meaning that its easy to understand because the wiki allows to talk about issues, alternatives and more hints about each small topic, every other wiki has some structure where important details are missing or not taken seriously.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Manjaro. It just worked on any device I installed it on. And wifi just worked with no fiddling.

Then I installed it on surface tablet. What didn't work, I found kernel fixes I could implement.

Of all the distros, for me, it was the easiest to use, install and manipulate!!

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Nixos. For all its complexity and dilemmas and issues it has given me, it's the comfiest for me and gives me really cool features

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (10 children)
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Mint. Easy to setup, fast to run, and very reliable.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Slackware

  • the most rock stable distro imo. No systemd or snap stuff. Packages are almost (if not fully) vanilla version from upstream. Simple yet efficient unix-style approach to everything like package management, slackbuilds are really good too.
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Debian

-Simple distro free of too much bloat without being too bare-bones

-Stable, but can also be changed to be a bit more updated if you want that instead-

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (6 children)
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Fedora

I want to preface this by saying that Red Hat absolutely deserve your ire in light of the recent news.

I appreciate that Fedora has relatively recent packages for a fixed release distribution. I really appreciate how they've pioneered in desktop-oriented technologies to help make Linux a more palatable experience for regular users, and I'm glad to see these gradually be adopted by others over time.

I'm happy to hear that the Fedora project still mostly operates Independently under redhat / IBM, but I'd be lying if I said the IBM acquisition didn't worry me to the point of looking into alternatives.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

I've been trying to convert to linux since the mid-2000's. Ubuntu and derivatives, fedora, and SUSE. Gaming and my lack on knowledge always brought me back to Windows.

In 2018 I tried Manjaro and loved it. But I broke it without the knowledge to fix it multiple times. The Arch BTW memes were strong at the time so I took the plunge and studied the wiki, and documented my own installation process and really learned a lot in the process. Proton was released and suddenly gaming got WAY better. I didn't remove my windows install completely until 2022 but Arch has been my home on my main machine.

I have since put together a proxmox cluster and run many distros for various things but that's a whole other rabbit hole!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (10 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Arch

  • Minimal and I install whatever the hell I want on it
  • AUR
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (9 children)
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

NixOS, I have a fetish for configuration files

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

LMDE

  • Because it's Mint & Debian
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