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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[–] gravitywell@kbin.social 30 points 1 year ago (7 children)
[–] gravitywell@kbin.social 24 points 1 year ago
[–] gravitywell@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago
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[–] VirtualBriefcase@lemmy.fmhy.ml 26 points 1 year ago (8 children)
[–] VirtualBriefcase@lemmy.fmhy.ml 13 points 1 year ago
  • Community run distro
[–] VirtualBriefcase@lemmy.fmhy.ml 12 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
  • Compatible with more devices than many distros
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[–] LeafyBirch@kbin.social 19 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] 00@kbin.social 13 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.

[–] LeafyBirch@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] MyNameIsRichard@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 year ago (8 children)
[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 11 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] kurcatovium@lemm.ee 7 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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[–] Romdeau4@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] Romdeau4@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago
[–] Romdeau4@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

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

[–] Romdeau4@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

Only FOSS software and repositories unless otherwise enabled

[–] athlon@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

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[–] gortbrown@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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-

[–] ReakDuck@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)
[–] ReakDuck@lemmy.ml 7 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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[–] maiskanzler@feddit.de 14 points 1 year ago (10 children)
[–] maiskanzler@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago

A lot of proprietary software is easier to install here

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[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.ml 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.
[–] downhomechunk@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago

Slackware gets a lot of hate, especially from the btw bros. People are spooked about having to manage their own dependencies. But I couldn't agree with you more on simplicity and stability. I've been daily driving slackware since 99 or 00, and I don't think I've ever broken something I couldn't immediately roll back and fix.

I tried to install Ubuntu on a sbc recently. And within an hour of installing this and that with all the different dependencies, I had a completely unusable system. And I had no idea how to fix it. It was totally my fault but reminded me what I love about slackware.

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[–] funk@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] linuxduck@nerdly.dev 13 points 1 year ago (2 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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[–] TableCoffee@lemmy.ca 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!

[–] rankshank@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (23 children)
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[–] mrv0id@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] StantonVitales 6 points 1 year ago

I'm on it right now. Got a new Thinkpad a couple weeks ago and just wasn't in the mood to install Arch the normal way when I finally had alone time at 11pm, gave Endeavour a shot and was like oh, this is convenient 🤩

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[–] minorsecond@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago (10 children)
[–] minorsecond@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago
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[–] alfredb@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

LMDE

  • Because it's Mint & Debian
[–] zbb@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] nychtelios@rlyeh.icu 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

NixOS, I have a fetish for configuration files

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[–] jaykstah@waveform.social 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)
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[–] wxboss@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 1 year ago
[–] Pe4rl@lemmy.fmhy.ml 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago
  • Packages are kept up to date so it's often the first distro to support new hardware, APIs, etc.
  • AUR provides a huge library of software that isn't often in package manager repos.
  • Rolling release so you don't have to deal with repository upgrades every 6 months to 2 years.
  • btw
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[–] alternateved@lemmy.one 8 points 1 year ago (6 children)
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[–] InternetPirate@lemmy.fmhy.ml 8 points 1 year ago (5 children)
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[–] Cralex@lemmy.one 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] s4if@lemmy.my.id 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] s4if@lemmy.my.id 7 points 1 year ago

An installer of Archlinux with sane default but also has all of Arch Power

[–] xoggy@programming.dev 7 points 1 year ago
[–] MischievousTomato@lemdro.id 7 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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[–] lig@social.fossware.space 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] Kangie@lemmy.srcfiles.zip 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] Lotsen@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Nobara

  • easy to use
  • fast on my hardware
  • fedora based
  • KDE
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