Zorin is boring. uses ubuntu stable, out of the box distro so you can do anything you want to do right after installation (including installing a windows program with play on linux but also like burning a disk), emulates windows. Add kde if you want to spice it up (distro really needs to change to kde out of box.). If someone is from windows and does not want to learn all that linux stuff they can pretty much go for most things right away and they can use the software store, choose the debian download for anything they find online if its available and if not they can download the windows right click and say install with play on linux. Its the lazy mans linux and im plenty lazy.
this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
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I use Arch since approximately 2006 or so. I like its stability (yes!), performance, rapid updates and technical simplicity. It never stands in my way and it's fairly simple to understand, administer and modify. It's probably the most convenient OS I've ever used - sure it takes time/effort to set it up but once you're past that it's smooth sailing. It also doesn't change dramatically over the years (it doesn't need to) so it's easy to keep up with its development. Plus, I have a custom setup script for it that installs and sets up all of the basics, so if I ever need to reinstall, I'm not starting from zero.
I am eyeing NixOS as "the next step" but didn't yet experiment with it too much. Arch is just too comfy to use and the advantages that NixOS brings aren't yet significant enough for me to make any kind of switch to it, but I consider NIxOS (as well as its related technologies like the Nix package manager) to be the most interesting and most advanced things in the Linux world currently.
If you're reading this as a newbie Linux user: probably don't use any of the two mentioned above (yet). They're not considered entry-level stuff, unless you're interested in learning low-level (as in: highly technical) Linux stuff from the start already. NixOS/Nix in particular is fairly complex and can be a challenge even for veteran Linux admins/users to fully understand and utilize well. Start your journey with more common desktop distros like Mint, Fedora, Kubuntu.
I've been using a debian based system for a dozen years. Then I decided to buy a NAS and turn it into a NixOS driven media server.
JFC I thought I knew linux and I was so wrong.
I use Arch, btw, but I don't consider it the best (yes I do.) I could easily transition to Fedora, for example (I would never do that,) and be completely happy (I would rather continually hit my head with the metal stapler gun on my desk.)
Does what I want and gets out of my way.
Bazzite just works, it runs every game I have with zero fuss, it's easy to run Windows programs / emulators / local LLMs, AND it's basically unbreakable.
I can't claim it's the best, but it's the best for me right now.
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Debian. It works so well that I never even looked at different distros during the last 20 years or so...
To each its own in accordance to their needs. Debian is great unless you want to add proprietary stuff like GPUs. That's the whole reason so many distros (e.g. Ubuntu) raised to fame and gained popularity while being based on Debian... That, and the fact that until recently Debian installation guide was not updated and called to download an ISO to be burned in 1-2 CDs... that was so f*ing unclear. Of course you can use a pendrive, but if the guide talks about CDs... that's just confusing to newbies. None pointed that out, but to me is like being even less friendly than Arch :P Just my opinion. That said, I have been using Debian based distros for most of my time, even today (desktop PC with MX 'ahs'.)
Debian's documentation can be pretty awful. The Nvidia Driver install guide in particular could use a revamp.
Hannah Montana Linux
No further arguments needed.
It isn't, it is the least bad
Which technically makes it the best, doesn't it?
No because best implies it's good. Least bad doesn't transmit the same message as best.
Yeah that's fair.
Mint is Ubuntu minus everything that makes Ubuntu annoying. That's why I like it.
I considered to go back to Debian but... eh, I'm too old and impatient for that. Nowadays I mostly want things that work out of the box.
Do things not work out of the box on debian?
From what I remember*, there was always some rough corner. Such as the wi-fi, or the graphics card. Sure, Stable was rock solid, but you always needed something from Testing; and Testing in general was overall less stable than Ubuntu or Mint.
*This was years ago, so it might be inaccurate as of 2025.
Linux Mint has a Debian Edition (LMDE) if you ever wanted a Debian that Just Works.
I did use the first LMDE for some time, and I loved it, it's a great distro. I don't recall why I went for the Ubuntu-based Mint later on, I think it was the PPAs?
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I don't know that it is objectively the best - but its the best fit for me right now (LMDE).
I've been enjoying EndeavourOS over the past three years. It works wonderfully out of the box at default settings, and was really easy for me to use and set up to my liking with minimal know-how needed.
It also works really well on the variety of machines I have in my home. My desktop, modded Chromebook, and my husband's laptop.
It's allowed me to get more familiar and confident with the command line, and enough so that I've switched to Sway from XFCE (and previously KDE).
NixOS. My entire config is source-controlled and I can easily roll back to a previous boot image if something breaks like cough Nvidia drivers. I also use it for my home router and all self-hosted services.
maniacally laughs while trying to avoid eye contact with 19k lines of nix config
Out of all the ways that I have tried in the past, to reproduce not just the initial state, but also the ongoing changes of a disto (ansible, saltstack, chef, bunch of Shell scripts) — nix is by far the shortest. With all of these technologies I would never have dreamed to do this for a single Maschine. But now it’s not only possible, but actually gasp enjoyable!
Mind you, if that is not the problem you want to solve, maybe install just the nix package manager in addition to your distribution, and learn to enjoy it without having to run your whole distribution this way.
You misunderstand! It has also turned into basically a hobby (and recently, a job, lol) to manage nix configs.
Those 19k lines are clean, well-structured and DRY, and do describe every little thing about ca. 30 machines.
I'm convinced it isn't.
This week alone I've used Arch, Ubuntu, OpenSuse, and Fedora. Its Arch. By a short way, and mostly thanks to the wiki. Tbh they are all converging, and I go with KDE variants when I use a GUI and no distro does too much to customise it
Mine's the best, because it fits with what I want. Might not be your best, but it's mine.
Because it was my first distro that got me away from Windows. And yes, it's Mint.
It works, has the packages I need and they are up-to-date
It's extremely stable, and countless other distros are derived from this.
Void made Linux fun again for me. It gets so much right with the rolling release model.
Nobara: It works well most of the time and has pretty much everything needed for gaming preinstalled. I had a bad update once that prevented booting past the command line though. Now that I'm more experienced I'd probably use a more mainline distro and install the gaming stuff myself.
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Because I like compiling everything from source for a 0.2% speed improvement
For a long time I considered Gentoo the best, because I know my things around there. A month ago I said goodbye to my last Gentoo installation in favour for Debian trixie (the next stable release). Gentoo was too time consuming despite the binary repo.
If it would be my job to maintain a Gentoo system I would gladly accept, but there should be a need for it by the users. Otherwise I would just recommend Debian stable or Fedora.
My favourite is Debian over Fedora, because I often don't need the latest versions of a software. And there is flatpak.
openSUSE Slowroll and Secureblue are my favorites ATM. Slowroll for gaming, Secureblue for mobile device. Both are hardened for security because that matters to me.
I use NixOS, btw (don't you see that glorious gif?). It's the only distro that is actually different compared to other distros. It's not just another package manager, another ubuntu skin, or a different desktop environment. If you learn how to configure it, you can easily redo breaking changes or install an exact copy of your system on a different device. You can configure all you want and you will never ever have to worry.
Also has better flex than Arch users.
cons
- burj khalifa learning curve
- arch documentation * -1 doc quality (dogshit documentation)
- doesnt work outta the box
It's super cool to be able to copy a single or maybe two configuration files from one box to another, sync thing your home folder and have an exact copy.
It's super cool to temporarily install things with nix-shell. I have little environments set up where I write python or rust or edit videos and if I'm not in that environment none of those commands even exist.
Updating in vanilla is pretty straightforward. Update your base channel, rebuild. But if you install say home manager as a flake that doesn't update the same way. And then if you do it as an environmental install it doesn't update the same way. And then it's totally possible to do an update get a new version of your web browser, But your auto starts or your PWA's point to the old version of the web browser. My personal favorite is when I update signal. It upgrades the database. Field binary is no longer capable of running but is still the default for some reason. I have to look up the command expunge it from the store, simply finding it in the store isn't trivial.
Most distros have gotten easy to the point of being boring. We don't suffer that fate in Nix.
Because I can hit "next" a couple of time and have a working install
Really? I guess everyone was 15 at some point and hadn't heard that distro wars are useless 🤣
There is no best. Period.
How about Qubes? if you have the specs, you get sandboxes (VMs) and all distros are available into 1. Heck, you can even have windows VMs...
And if you don't have the specs, just use any linux and install distrobox (docker) !
Isn't there issues with using the graphics on the vms?
iirc all graphics are processed by dom0 vm, so no..
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