Original question by @POTOOOOOOOO@reddthat.com
The distro I am using is the best because it’s currently running on my server and it hasn’t given me reason to hate it yet.
Doesn’t matter which one it is, if it suits my purposes, it’s great.
(Currently using Debian because early on I was tinkering with Ubuntu, and I can’t let go of apt.)
Hannah Montana Linux
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The one, the only, the legend…
What made Hannah Montana Linux so good (as a joke, and as a distro), was that it was actually good. XD Good fun. Good stuff. :D
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.
As it should.
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 do not consider Arch the best. Artix is better because is is systemd-free. I have not switched yet.
Edit: I switched in July. I use Artix now, and prefer it.
(And there’s obarun, joborun, nemesis, shebang… er, and others out in the wild too that I forget… )
(I use an Artix stratum btw.)
Yeah. Considering Devuan over Debian for the same reason.
@bold_omi why are you looking for a distro that is systemD-free?
SystemD is bloated. Also, the age verification BS and acceptance of genAI commits are disqualifying.
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It would be awesome if it came with a KDE desktop environment.
If ZorinOS shipped without the Snaps, it might become my go-to, even though it’s Gnome. They did a wonderful job of customizing it with extensions to make it more like a classic desktop experience.
Do things not work out of the box on debian?
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All the good parts of Ubuntu have long since been integrated upstream. And Debian’s release cycle has increased a lot so you’re not stuck with old versions anymore.
CachyOS with NiriWM. Cachy is Arch with none of the install drama. The performance tuning makes it blazing fast on older hardware. Installs with no bloat.
Niri is superior to Hyprland in my opinion because it’s a scrolling tiling WM that is super intuitive and fast.
For server workloads, however, not much beats pure Debian. It’s stable, well supported, and has a huge package library.
I run CachyOS on my PC and Debian (12/13) on my servers. Everything you say is dead on.
Perfect set up for me.
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This is my linux. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
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My linux is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
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My linux, without me, is useless. Without my linux, I am useless. I must boot my linux true. I must boot faster than windows who is trying to be buggy. I must boot him before it boots. I will …
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My linux and myself know that what counts in this world is not the times we boot, the noise of our bootsounds, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the linux computer that count. We will install….
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My linux is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its repos and its flatpaks. I will ever guard it against the ravages of non updating as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my linux clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will ….
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Before God(s)(?), I swear this creed. My linux and myself are the defenders of my convictions. We are the masters of our computers. We are the saviors of my digital life.
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So be it, until linux is the world’s most used OS and there is no walled gardens, but only peace!!
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You mean my distros?
Different distros are the best for different purposes.
My Fedora is the best for my laptop because it just works and all the hardware is supported.
My Arch is the best because it’s a super fine tuned setup that prevents distractions and doesn’t waste memory or CPU doing things I don’t care about.
My mint is the best because it’s simple, stable, beautiful out of the box.
My debian is the best because servers are no nonsense.
My puppy Linux was the best when I was a developer for the distro because it was the smallest lightest and fastest distro I’ve ever used.
Etc.
Because it was my first distro that got me away from Windows. And yes, it’s Mint.
Me linux distro is not the best. “The best” varies from person to person and also in accord to different positions in time.
Yup. To me, IRIX was the best, until I found GNU+Linux in late 2003 and becoming a windows refugee, not to IRIX, but to, not just GNU+Linux, but all freedom respecting operating systems and their distributions, and the potential of what they could become, as I and many others attempt to learn them, and help contribute to them. Many more itches to scratch yet. The best is yet to come, for each and all. :) Or so the philosophy inspires and aspires.
[PS… Oh I so would love a FOSS IRIX… a free software [“open source”] multi-arch IRIX revival though… beyond just NekoWare and whatever else is scattered around.]
[PPS, oh, and varies computer to computer too… I don’t use the same distro everywhere. Sometimes even several distros on the same computer. Quite right to point out the folly of the notion of there being a one-true-way “best”.]
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).
I’ve installed it on my Pi 5 with KDE Plasma Bigscreen. I have RetroArch, FEX, Jellyfin, and VaccumTube on it.
Yes, there are easier ways to do what I wanted to, but I wanted to see if I can push it to this extent and now it’s so stable that I don’t have to bother.
Yeah, as an Arch-based distro it’s pretty nice. Probably the best Arch-based distro imo. Even though I’m not a big Arch fan.
Using Linux is not a dick measuring contest (and man I hate these threads asking “why is your distro the best?” - it feels like trolling and sowing division and grief to me. A bit like asking a mother “What is your favorite child?”.)
Ah, so you think your distro’s not the best. (jk).
As a recovering/relapsing distroholic, I feel like these threads are great for discovery. (And whimsical fun. Because you’re right, that it’s not a contest. So knowing this, can engage with the question playfully.)
I’ve been running Ubuntu Studio for almost a decade, but I’m pretty fed up with it. Maybe I’ll switch to Arch. I dunno. Having a turnkey media production distribution was handy. It did audio well. But with pipewire, that seems redundant now.
For your curiosity,
There’s also decibellinux. (Formerly known as Gentoo Studio) [Edit: aw. https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/decibellinux.org?proto=https is currently down. … It’ll be back again.]
It’s not a full studio, just audio production focused (… so install GIMP, MyPaint, Blender, Inkscape, KDENLive, freecad, etc etc etc as needed).
Install as a stage4 gentoo install, following its instructions. It’s a little more fiddly and involved than Ubuntu Studio, offering all the gentoo advantages, like useflags, better availing more fine grain choice, and a little more opportunity to learn more about the system.
… As well as being great for [audio] creative tool discovery, and convenience of having [nearly] all the tools out of the box, just like Ubuntu Studio.
