Best Linux Distributions for 2024

Isn’t openSUSE/SLES Redhat-based?

Thanks, it came on time as I'm planning for a switch from Windows, by the way, I liked the background of your slides, where can I download it as a background image

I would vote for Solus (they had a tough time, but they are back), very good distro, modern, stable, not bloated, low ram usage, very fast, even good for beginners (just eopkg instead of apt). On the bad side, community is small. Very underrated ditro in my opinion.

For beginners, imho, the list is:
1. Mint
2. Ubuntu
3. Debian
For expert
1. Ubuntu
2. Debian
3. Arch
4. Alpine
5. Mint
List of distros to avoid:
1. Manjaro
2. Pop os

hoh boy here I go distro hobbing again

The best linux distro it's OpenSuse Aeon, or previous call (MicroOS Desktop [Gnome]). It's the best immutable, auto update, rolling release distros.

Kubuntu helped me absorb the shock of moving from Windows 11 to Linux... i much prefer the KDE look, which is relatively similar to Windows 10. Don't think i will be moving back to Windows any time soon, but i have a dual boot setup with Windows on a second drive, just in case. ZorinOS looks interesting and may give it a shot in the near future.

I would suggest Ubuntu it Linux mint or Fedora for development. Linux mint Debian edition for home and office usage.

Maybe, can make a follow up .... To explain the beginners that some of Linux Distros can NOT boot on a PC/Laptop which has SECURE BOOT activated in UEFI(BIOS) 🙂

I died a little inside when Gary said "open Susie"

But also openSUSE (tumbleweed or slow roll) are really worth a look, SUSE is really making some progress in becoming an actually user friendly replacement for red hat, and the user experience is very clean coming from windows with YaST being a good analog of control panel, and default KDE being familiar to windows UI.

Oh, you know you're a Linux pro when your favorite distribution is Busybox! It's so minimalist, even your coffee breaks have fewer dependencies. Who needs a fancy desktop environment when you've got the command line and a cup of coffee?

hmm

Ubuntu is not the best distro, there is many other distros than ubuntu, for example Mint Linux, very easy to understand how to operate it

The problem with most distros is ugliness. MSFT and Apple spend millions on graphic designers and most of their users will be appalled at the dated and frumpy look of Linux out of the box. One of the few exceptions is Zorin. The brothers either have design talent or have a designer on the team.

Fedora kicks ass now. Been using it for a year now, feels like the new Ubuntu

Yeah I always tell this to Linux fans: de enormous diversity is holding Linux' growth back. I tried several distro back in the days but never was satisfied. It mostly boiled down to hardware problems and problems using certain software.

So Debian, Arch and OpenSuse still the king, decades later.

arch was my first a decade ago and is probably my last distro unless I end up liking nixos

Zorin OS is the best looking linux distro.

Hi Gary, I'm running elementary os that I installed on the 31st of decemeber and it has been nothing but amazing. All of hardware and apps work and I've also switched to foss apps since they play along nicely with the theming of the system.

i'm a linux user since 2019. i don't believe i'll ever go back to windows. i started with linux mint cinnamon but since 2020 i use manjaro gnome as my daily driver. i'm not a computer nerd to the full extent but i have some clue how to run my systems. i believe if presenting linux for people who are intending to try it for the first time, it's better to emphasize the abundance of desktop environments. for me for example, it's significant. when i installed my first mint i choose cinnamon without really knowing what doe's it mean. once i realized there are other desktop environments, i decided to check gnome. at least for me it made a huge difference. i switched to the arch based manjaro cause i wanted to have new versions to my favorite apps without the need to wait half a year. even though i activated the AUR i had very little problems with manjaro so far. i must admit i expected much more. linux is not at all that complicated. in fact it's real fun!

At the very end of last year + this start of the year, I FINALLY took the plunge and installed Linux on a new SSD I bought a couple of months back, specifically for this purpose. In my defense, I got this long overdue because my Windows 10 worked (still works) flawlessly and I have a lot of stuff installed there.

When I say I took the plunge, I meant it. My first (and only so far) bare-metal Linux install is ... Gentoo. Can't recommend it to anyone though. I didn't had any problems with it, it's just that it's really NOT for begginers. But when I found about it, it was love at first sight, and I am quite technical too, and did documented myself here and there for a couple of years already about it. And I'm familiar with many CLI tools already from checking things on various servers I worked on + using WSL for work (I program in PHP). So I knew what I was getting myself into.

I'm a bit surprised that Gentoo isn't more popular. It's like the best distro for tinkerers, it really gives you the best access to customizing and tuning your system, except LFS. And it makes it pretty streamlined too. Very easy to make minimal, purpose-built installs. But is indeed something that you can't really recommend to other people, other than saying that it works and that it's decently stable. Having this much control is really only for people who are actually looking for that, and they'll know it when they see it, they don't need (or usually take) a recommandation, only to find out that it exists. Also, on lower end hardware, the compiling can be a hassle, but I feel like nowadays people are exagerating that, it doesn't take that much time.

Funnily enough, even though the compiling part makes Gentoo appeal more to those who have powerful hardware, Gentoo itself is one of the best suited distros for extremely low hardware (like, say, a 486) simply because it gives you that much freedom. You just need to do the compiling on another machine.

One day I hope I'll be able to like have a couple of Raspberry Pis with the main task of being a repository for my main laptop(s). The Pis will do the compiling, while on the laptop I'll only do the installing. I just need to see how to make the Pis only use the RAM, because I don't want SSD wear for the compiling part. But 2 Pi with 8 GB each might not be enough for something like Chromium. On the other hand, if only Firefox and Chromium will do some writes, it's not that bad. The idea with this is to have the compiling part be "in the background" and to be low power. While on the main computer(s) I can be fully productive and have the updates just as fast (the download + install part) as on Arch or Debian.

I disagree with Endeavor being good for beginners. It's very terminal centric and someone coming from Windows may not want to deal with that.

Without having watched much of the video, i have a bit of a gripe with your choice: Manjaro is very much not a good idea for anyone right now.
"Repeat mistakes often enough and they become a pattern.": Manjaro's Maintainers have had a consistent record of acting just DUMB over the last few years, making recommending it - ESPECIALLY TO BEGINNERS - a VERY bad idea in my opinion.
For example their "we hold Packages back for a week" has me bewildered at best. There is no obvious advantage. Iirc they say it is for testing. But, evident by the "recent" Grub-Issue, they do not properly deliver on that "promise" - What is the point to hold back a package for "testing", if you are then gonna proceed to ship THE KNOWN TO BE BROKEN version anyways. On top of that, this "holding back" has other drawbacks such as more or less necessarily provoking dependency-issues when downloading from the AUR. If you are gonna hold back Packages for a week compared to upstream, at least make sure that stuff depending on the newer versions LIKE PACKAGES FROM THE AUR also get held back for a week - which, afaik, they dont.

ubuntu forever the rest can be left to rot

Any comments on compatibility issues installing Linux on laptops these days? Any major hardware compatibility pitfalls to deal with or is it mostly fine these days?

Security updates are also managed by the package manager

Rpm is not just for red hat, and the different rpm types are not interoperable

I hope you define criteria for 'best'

I've had a long journey with Linux. Started with Redhat in 1999, Mandrake, Mandriva, Mageia, Manjaro and now Blackarch. Tried lots of others in between. I love the flexibility of being able to set things up the way I work rather than being shoehorned into a 'one size fits all'.

I finally got rid of windows in 2008 when XP I was using got hacked while I watched, even with 3 separate pieces of software designed to protect me.

I feel called out as a long time Fedora user, can't fault your stance though. I've been eyeing Arch from a distance for a while. So far only tried on non-critical systems or RPis. I really like the reliability of Fedora despite being somewhat on the bleeding edge. Would Pop_OS offer a similar experience?

Win 11 on the horizontal gave me the excuse to jump to Ubuntu as my daily driver at home - work is still Windows based - I also have Mint, Kali, RPiOS running on other PCs/Raspberry Pis or as VMs.Investigating MXLinux, Ubuntu, Mint, Mte, RPiOS, and Debian at work using VMs. Have Ubuntu Server as well as FreeNAS/TrueNAS and pFsense running everything at home. Having a ball. Only 1 machine on Windows to play one game that doesn't work under Steam/Linux combo - there are many games working well that I play off and on.

I’ve become a huge fan of ZorinOS. It’s still Ubuntu behind the scenes, but just a lot more polished and consistent.

For Windows users making the switch I'm going to say Linux Mint should be at the top of that list and not just an honourable mention. It brings all the positives of Ubuntu and the Cinnamon Desktop is hands down the most comfortable during that transition. I remember when I first made the switch, I tried Ubuntu and couldn't stand the Gnome interface, and while KDE is more Windows like, even that felt off to me. For years I played with but never fully switched until finding Linux Mint. I'm now 4 years deep into my full-time Linux switch. I owe that to the Linux Mint team. I couldn't ask for a better stepping stone on this awesome journey.

For most people I would suggest Linux Mint. It is an easy transition from Windows.

I’m surprised Linux Mint is so far down your list. It’s really good.

I adore Manjaro, but I’ve been running Linux for about 25 years. I think I’d pick Mint over Manjaro for a beginner.

Raspberry Pi OS 🙂

Why not have one decent distro i.e. an "official" distro that has all of the limitations and inconsistencies removed and has a decent UI? For instance, I hate the way Linux installs things. I prefer the Windows way. Perhaps I'm biased because I actually develop Windows software and Windows installers.

I also hate Qt. That's another non-starter for me. I had the misfortune of working with Qt in a Windows environment a few years ago. It sucks. Yeah, I know there are Qt fans out there. I'm not one of them. I just think the Linux ecosystem is a giant mess, as was hinted at in this video. I might consider switching to Linux if MS Visual Studio is ever ported. Until then, Linux C++ development software falls short in my opinion.

BTW, thanks for the screen shots. For me, the look and feel of the UI is the most important feature. I don't give a toss about under the hood stuff as long as it works. I don't ever want to touch it, or the terminal.

Mine in no particular order Open suse, mint, fedora, garuda, Debian,Novara, pop if cosmic comes out this year

Cool graphic. Do you mind sharing the link to the image if it is available please.

At the end of the day they are all just a variety of re themed distros. Just get a Mac and get over it.

I totally agree with your pick for second place for beginners, Manjaro. It doesn't get the attention it deserves. Very very easy to install, use, and maintain. Personally, I'd pick it over Ubuntu.

It bugs me the way Ubuntu is thought of as "good for beginners" and Arch is "for experts." I started using Linux in 1993, had a career as a UNIX systems guy,... I use Ubuntu. To me it's the other way around: Arch is good for learning Linux fundamentals. You're doing lots of things by hand, learning the file system, editing files by hand, etc. You're likely going to be doing this in ANY distro with a sufficiently complex set of applications and situations. As an expert, why do I want a "DIY distro" that takes a lot of time to tweak and fiddle with? I have actual stuff to get done with my PC. I've been there done that with micromanaging everything, Slackware/etc. A lot of the stuff Arch forces you to do is unnecessary, it just makes Linux newbies feel like they're "hacking the matrix"... again, good for learning, but why would anyone experienced use this? Doing extra busy work that can easily be handled by some automation isn't my idea of fun anymore. I did all that crap when you HAD to!

I think people start using Ubuntu cuz it's "good for beginners", then somehow cock up their systems (PPAs are a common complaint)... this is user error. So they think Ubuntu is just "fine for newbies but doesn't give you enough control." Which is hogwash... just because Arch FORCES you to micromanage stuff doesn't mean you can't be just as "in the weeds" with something like Ubuntu.

What's more important to me is release philosophy. Arch is constantly throwing upstream updates at you... there's much less release testing and auditing. It also gives a false sense of security by throwing everything and the kitchen sink in their repos.... sure, you avoid external repos, but if you know what you're doing, you know how to handle PPAs/conflicts anyway. I can't remember the last time I cocked up a PPA on Ubuntu, cuz I know what to add, when to add it, and how to go slow enough to test the environment before making changes that will mess me up further down the road. I don't want constant upstream updates.... again, I have stuff I wanna do, I got over endlessly tinkering decades ago.

Linux is cool but chrome OS is the best systeem based on it..... 😊

Timestamps man! Always put those! We're busy!

If you want to install Linux on an old laptop, I’ll recommend MX Linux. I tried several light distributions and MX Linux worked best.

In Debian, you can add “non-free” to your APT sources, so you can easily install software that’s outside of the strict Debian Free Software Guidelines.

Linux isn't meant for PC.
here's an advice: use windows, it lets you do your job and stays out of your way.
your hardware is old? use windows lite or tiney windows, both better than any Linux distro you throw on that hardware.
I'm watching this video using a windows 10 laptop with 2 gb ram, that each time I install a Linux distro on it crashes and slows down.
sure some distros use less ram than window, but windows manages ram far superior.
here's a joke: my android oneplus has 8gb of ram and boots apps out of memory constantly.
my old laptop has windows 10, 2 gb of ram and intel atome 4 cores and it's far better in compare.

Linux is great for server, good for desktop, terrible for laptop. I hope google extends android to laptops soon. Since i dislike Windows, i will buy a an oversized android tablet till then.

Actually there is no best distro. The best distro is the one that works for you.