Original question by @POTOOOOOOOO@reddthat.com

Omarchy because it installed in under ten minutes. Also it has a well riced Hyprland setup from the start. A complete install of LazyVim, OBS, and KDEnlive. I was able to start doing real work in the time it takes on other distros to read the installation instructions, let alone add nonfree packages or install lazyvim. It’s the most fun and productive Linux installation I’ve experienced since Ubuntu sent out CDs for free.

DHH is a bit of a douche. However the number of unsavory character and unpleasant people in the Linux community has always been non negligible. Starting with Stallman’s pedo chatter to Greg Kroah-Hartman banning Russians.

Gecko Linux because it's OpenSuSE Tumbleweed with all the useful nonfree stuff included.

Using Manjaro and Artix. Both are really great.

Artix is a healthy systemd-free distro, so I'm slowly migrating everything to it.

Manjaro just works, is stable, reliable, updates never break my system, their tools are very handy (Pamac GUI is the best software manager I've used in 21 years of Linux, with Synaptic).

I only installed Manjaro once 7 years ago, and ever since I've had that install copied on several partitions with success and reliability.
The day I move away from systemd entirely (it's a matter of when, not if), I'll regret Manjaro deeply.

Artix is pretty damn good though, so I'm also looking forward to it.

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.

i'm using Alpine, but I'm not considering it as the best. It's minimal, no bloat and doing all what I want.

LMDE - no idea if its the 'best' but its the best for me right now in that it does what I want, looks how I want and stays out of my way.

Mint baby, it just works.

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.

@bold_omi @cm0002 I am on Linux since mid 90th systemd is ok to me. It works

Ubuntu , i use Lubuntu

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 personally really love devuan! i liked void linux but now i needed a stable distro and devuan was exactly what i needed + it doens't has systemd so this is a plus for me :)

I slightly regret switching one of my development machines from Manjaro to EndeavourOS. At the time, I needed to test an app I was writing with ffmpeg v8.0 and Manjaro was not going to have that for quite some time. I tried the AUR package but it didn't work and I had to back it out.

EndeavourOS is absolutely great. I literally am not aware of a single flaw in it. My regret, infinitesimal as it is, is based on being so close to upstream projects. I would far, far rather have a stabilized distro.

My Manjaro machine, for example, has a perfect KDE right now. My EndeavourOS requires directory renaming 2 to 4 times to get it to stick. I know that's not EndeavourOS. It's KDE but I vastly prefer a distro with some quality control.

Meanwhile, Manjaro turned into a dumpster fire so there's no point going back. I do have one machine on Manjaro and it's running fine, taking the extremely occasional update. I may go to Fedora LXQt spin but EndeavourOS is great, except for the Dolphin issue. They may have fixed it by now but I'm too scared to take any updates in case it gets worse.

I get to say "I use arch btw" :P

Ubuntu because you literally need zero setup and customization to get going after a fresh install. Everything is silently built in and everything just works.

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.)

How's that working out for you? :)

(And there's obarun, joborun, nemesis, shebang... er, and others out in the wild too that I forget... )

(I use an Artix stratum btw.)

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.

Debian (stable)

Stable, secure, it just works, has one of the, if not THE largest software package repo of all Linux distros, has lots of third party support for proprietary software and drivers that are available as .deb files or through official PPAs. It also is not backed by any corporation, but is a community developed distro. You can install it on pretty much everything.

The only downside I would say is their shift into using Systemd. They shouldn't have done that. It was forced through undemocratically and I think that was a big mistake, even though they are trying to limit software dependencies to it. There's a fork called Devuan that I've been considering where you can pick your init system. (SysVinit/runit, etc) I honestly miss SysVinit. It was simple, easy to understand and easy to maintain.

Yeah. Considering Devuan over Debian for the same reason.

It works well enough for now. Some things were surprisingly simpler than I expected them to be (e.g. gaming thanks to Heroic Launcher and Steam).

Note for the Linux-curious potentially reading this: I had sufficient experience with Linux Mint and Ubuntu as well as test runs of Arch before committing to it. DO NOT SWITCH DIRECTLY TO ARCH LINUX FROM WINDOWS. Try Mint first (or Bazzite, I hear that one is great for gaming but have yet to try it myself), and preferably using VirtualBox before committing to a switch.

It works well enough for now. Some things were surprisingly simpler than I expected them to be (e.g. gaming thanks to Heroic Launcher and Steam).

I was thinking more with regards to the multiple recent AUR malware attacks. I hope you're staying safe, staying on top of the situation, not letting Arch bite you.

Note for the Linux-curious potentially reading this: I had sufficient experience with Linux Mint and Ubuntu as well as test runs of Arch before committing to it. DO NOT SWITCH DIRECTLY TO ARCH LINUX FROM WINDOWS. Try Mint first (or Bazzite, I hear that one is great for gaming but have yet to try it myself), and preferably using VirtualBox before committing to a switch.

Note for the linux-curious potentially reading this: You're Linux curious, that means you have what it takes to try any distribution of Linux. Curiosity. YOU CAN SWITCH DIRECTLY TO ARCH LINUX FROM WINDOWS. It's rare, but it does happen. Some now famous linux youtubers did just that. It will take a bit more reading to be able to get up and running, but you'll be running all the more fast and sure-footed from the education the experience gave you.

;)

Oh heck, Arch isn't even that hard and involved to install any more. Go for Gentoo. :) Come, windows refugees, all! Skip the Ubuntus, Mints, Suses, Fedoras, PopOSes, AntiXes, Zorins, elementaryOSes, LinuxLites, PCLinuxOSes, Soluses and whatever windows refugees flock to these days, and shoot for the moon! Heck, even try LFS! (Okay, don't. I've gone too far now. LOL).

I make a backup of my project on an external hard drive twice-ish a week and pacman-Syu twice-ish a month. If anything serious happens, I'll just reinstall and restore.

I could keep an up-to-date install USB ready, tho - but I have enough other options at the moment.

Thanks for the concern.

Me linux distro is not the best. "The best" varies from person to person and also in accord to different positions in time.

I run CachyOS on my PC and Debian (12/13) on my servers. Everything you say is dead on.

Perfect set up for me.

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".]

any distro without systemd

My distro is the best because I customized it to my needs. Also because I used it for so long that I know how to do almost anything on it.

It's very small on my disk. It doesn't have systemd. It uses musl, which is considerably easier to configure than GLibc. It has a fast and easy to use package manager. It has both stable and rolling releases for packages. Easy to write your own packages and build them from source. Easy to contribute to upstream.

its tasyt 👍

1. This is my linux. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

2. My linux is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

3. 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 …

4. 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….

5. 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 ….

6. 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.

7. So be it, until linux is the world’s most used OS and there is no walled gardens, but only peace!!

Assuming you want a distrowar, leftacenter said it best, whatever you use is best. Assuming you want a recommendation, Fedora or Mint.

I run OpenSuse Tumbleweed on my gaming desktop and Fedora (KDE spin) on everything else, including my 88 year old mother's mini computer plugged into her TV. My friend, who just jumped ship from Windows due to multiple install fails of Win11, runs Mint and loves it.

I've done enough to just want things to work. Not touching Arch, but love their wiki. No more kernel configs for me.

Bona fides (early on I distro hopped like crazy). I've used:
Slackware (my very first distro in 1998)
Red Hat (after I gave up fighting X on Slack)
SuSE, OpenSuSE
Fedora
Ubuntu and derivatives (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Hanna Montana Linux, Christian Linux, Satanic Linux (had to install it over Christian Linux))
MX Linux
Mepis Linux
Mint (both Ubuntu derived and Debian derived)
Debian
Gentoo
Sorceror and Lunar
AntiX
Damn Small Linux
Tiny Linux
Puppy Linux
Knoppix
Mandriva
Scientific Linux
Gecko
PCLinuxOS
CrunchBang
Source Mage
OpenWRT
Raspberry Pi OS
System Rescue
Kanotix
SLAX
SteamOS

Plus:
Android & Lineage
FreeBSD
OpenBSD
QNX
OpenSolaris

And:
Free DOS
DOS
Windows 3.11 - 10, NT, and 2000 (Win 2000 was the most reliable version of Windows, Win 7 was the best)
Apple DOS
Macintosh System Software 4 - 10.1
Atari DOS
Atari GEM Desktop (loved the ST)

Finally:
Haiku

I would never say any distro is best lol, but Kubuntu is very underrated. It's stable whether you choose LTS or the interim releases. The interim releases keep you up to date enough to not be annoyed, and be good for gaming or development, but slow enough to avoid most issues. It uses KDE Plasma. Discover makes it easy to add Flathub and avoid Snaps.