Categorizing Linux Distros DistroTube
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Date: 2022-03-30
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Comments and reviews: 10
Thomas
Derek, I disagree with your categorisation of what you call -User Friendly Distros-, and your negative outlook on them. I think they are more aptly described as --Generally Accessible Distros-,- in that they try to be more -accessible- to people who are not power-users, hacking or programming enthousiasts, or people who are simply new to the world of Linux. You are talking from the perspective of someone who is -very well versed in Linux- and who has no problem in and even enjoys getting into the nitty-gritty of it, so you regard all the features of these distros as bloat and unnecessary. But -as someone who is quite recent to Linux- I can tell you that -Manjaro is a lot more usable and accessible to me than Arch,- you know that, you say yourself that Arch is not a good idea for someone's first distro.
These distros try and demand -less knowlege, expertise, or familiarity with Linux or computing- in general from their users, and -I think we need that.- Whether they come with features that you deem bloat or unnecessary, or that limit customizability in order to achieve that is -beside the point in my opinion,- because -their primary aim is to be accessible,- not necessarily the most lighweight, utilitarian, or customisable. These features are bloat and unnecessary -to you,- but users with your level of knowhow and familiarity are -not the target audience- for these distros I think.
I also really disagree with your claim that these distros --dumb down- the UI.- I think it's -pretty derogatory- and jugemental towards users who are -not familiar with the paradigms of Linux,- and for having used some of these distros -I don't see what there is in their UI that is designed for -dumb- users.- Getting into Linux for the first time is a -learning curve- and you can't expect someone who has used floating windows all their life to start using a tiling window manager right away when they probably have never seen something like that before, for one thing, and secondly if people who are not necessarily new to Linux just prefer the UIs or the feel of these distros that's just a -matter of preference,- not skill or intelligence, I feel like it's -gatekeeping- to say that if you prefer some sort of UI or distribution or what-have-you means you are or are -not a -real- or -serious- Linux user.- Live and let live, man.
-PS:- However I do have to agree that these distros come with software that you don't particularily need, or that doesn't really do anything for accessibility. Gimicky things like emoji viewers and whatnot, or text editors / document viewers / word processors installed by default (because if there were none it would be a bit pants if the distro intends to be usable out of the box) that you'll probably end up quickly replacing with your programs of choice.
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Derek, I disagree with your categorisation of what you call -User Friendly Distros-, and your negative outlook on them. I think they are more aptly described as --Generally Accessible Distros-,- in that they try to be more -accessible- to people who are not power-users, hacking or programming enthousiasts, or people who are simply new to the world of Linux. You are talking from the perspective of someone who is -very well versed in Linux- and who has no problem in and even enjoys getting into the nitty-gritty of it, so you regard all the features of these distros as bloat and unnecessary. But -as someone who is quite recent to Linux- I can tell you that -Manjaro is a lot more usable and accessible to me than Arch,- you know that, you say yourself that Arch is not a good idea for someone's first distro.
These distros try and demand -less knowlege, expertise, or familiarity with Linux or computing- in general from their users, and -I think we need that.- Whether they come with features that you deem bloat or unnecessary, or that limit customizability in order to achieve that is -beside the point in my opinion,- because -their primary aim is to be accessible,- not necessarily the most lighweight, utilitarian, or customisable. These features are bloat and unnecessary -to you,- but users with your level of knowhow and familiarity are -not the target audience- for these distros I think.
I also really disagree with your claim that these distros --dumb down- the UI.- I think it's -pretty derogatory- and jugemental towards users who are -not familiar with the paradigms of Linux,- and for having used some of these distros -I don't see what there is in their UI that is designed for -dumb- users.- Getting into Linux for the first time is a -learning curve- and you can't expect someone who has used floating windows all their life to start using a tiling window manager right away when they probably have never seen something like that before, for one thing, and secondly if people who are not necessarily new to Linux just prefer the UIs or the feel of these distros that's just a -matter of preference,- not skill or intelligence, I feel like it's -gatekeeping- to say that if you prefer some sort of UI or distribution or what-have-you means you are or are -not a -real- or -serious- Linux user.- Live and let live, man.
-PS:- However I do have to agree that these distros come with software that you don't particularily need, or that doesn't really do anything for accessibility. Gimicky things like emoji viewers and whatnot, or text editors / document viewers / word processors installed by default (because if there were none it would be a bit pants if the distro intends to be usable out of the box) that you'll probably end up quickly replacing with your programs of choice.
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Charlie
I think there should be a sixth category of distributions, since so many of these have sprung up in recent years and they don't really fit in any other category: crazy distros.
Crazy distros are distros like Guix System, NixOS, GoboLinux, Qubes OS, and Damn Small Linux, which are often worked on by a dedicated team which is sometimes international and aren't usually forks of things (like the core distros), but are much lesser known and market themselves based on one key innovation that you don't see in any other distribution. This can be a different hierarchy, a new system utility, a complete redesign of the system paradigm around a certain philosophy, et cetera. Usually these distributions acquire a cult following who can help maintain and extend the operating system, and the distribution is almost never user-friendly, as they aim to fix one problem and they devote all their time to that.
Some crazy distros can become meme distros which in turn become core distros, like Arch and NixOS, but usually these distros fade into obscurity aside from their forums, where they will be maintained probably forever, or at least until another distro adopts their technology.
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I think there should be a sixth category of distributions, since so many of these have sprung up in recent years and they don't really fit in any other category: crazy distros.
Crazy distros are distros like Guix System, NixOS, GoboLinux, Qubes OS, and Damn Small Linux, which are often worked on by a dedicated team which is sometimes international and aren't usually forks of things (like the core distros), but are much lesser known and market themselves based on one key innovation that you don't see in any other distribution. This can be a different hierarchy, a new system utility, a complete redesign of the system paradigm around a certain philosophy, et cetera. Usually these distributions acquire a cult following who can help maintain and extend the operating system, and the distribution is almost never user-friendly, as they aim to fix one problem and they devote all their time to that.
Some crazy distros can become meme distros which in turn become core distros, like Arch and NixOS, but usually these distros fade into obscurity aside from their forums, where they will be maintained probably forever, or at least until another distro adopts their technology.
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ippos_khloros
Here's a list of the -main branches- of Linux in bold, with corresponding release date, package manager, and package format shown in parentheses. Their beginner-friendly derivatives are listed as bullet points beneath, with release dates in parentheses. Unique desktop environments developed by the developers of a given distro are shown in curly brackets, when applicable. Note that most of the beginner-friendly distros are forks of Ubuntu.-
-Slackware- (1993, ???)-
-Debian- (1993, APT, .deb)-
- Ubuntu (2004) -Unity--
- Linux Mint (2006) -Cinnamon--
- Zorin OS (2009)-
- Peppermint OS (2010)-
- Bodhi Linux (2011) -Moksha--
- elemetary OS (2011) -Pantheon--
- Linux Lite (2012)-
- Pop!_OS (2017)-
- Deepin (2004) -DDE--
- MX Linux (2014)-
-Red Hat- (1995, DNF/yum, .rpm)-
- Fedora (2003)-
-SUSE- (1996, Zypper, .rpm)-
-Gentoo- (2000, Portage, ebuild)-
-Arch- (2002, Pacman, .pkg.tar.zst)-
- Manjaro (2011)-
-_independent_--
- Solus (2015, eopkg) -Budgie-
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Here's a list of the -main branches- of Linux in bold, with corresponding release date, package manager, and package format shown in parentheses. Their beginner-friendly derivatives are listed as bullet points beneath, with release dates in parentheses. Unique desktop environments developed by the developers of a given distro are shown in curly brackets, when applicable. Note that most of the beginner-friendly distros are forks of Ubuntu.-
-Slackware- (1993, ???)-
-Debian- (1993, APT, .deb)-
- Ubuntu (2004) -Unity--
- Linux Mint (2006) -Cinnamon--
- Zorin OS (2009)-
- Peppermint OS (2010)-
- Bodhi Linux (2011) -Moksha--
- elemetary OS (2011) -Pantheon--
- Linux Lite (2012)-
- Pop!_OS (2017)-
- Deepin (2004) -DDE--
- MX Linux (2014)-
-Red Hat- (1995, DNF/yum, .rpm)-
- Fedora (2003)-
-SUSE- (1996, Zypper, .rpm)-
-Gentoo- (2000, Portage, ebuild)-
-Arch- (2002, Pacman, .pkg.tar.zst)-
- Manjaro (2011)-
-_independent_--
- Solus (2015, eopkg) -Budgie-
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itech
Really could have just stopped your rant at 3:04. -User Friendly- distros are definitely there for people who aren't wanting to go digging around and change things. You figured it out! Sure hope a new user coming from a locked down OS that really just wants to hop in, change a wallpaper and use it, instead of modifying it to hell and back before using it, just listen to this drivel.
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Really could have just stopped your rant at 3:04. -User Friendly- distros are definitely there for people who aren't wanting to go digging around and change things. You figured it out! Sure hope a new user coming from a locked down OS that really just wants to hop in, change a wallpaper and use it, instead of modifying it to hell and back before using it, just listen to this drivel.
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Decard
#iusearchbtw
I wouldn't call -user-friendly distros- a bad thing. My linux journey started with Manjaro and here I am rolling on self-installed Arch. I doubt I would have been able to install Arch back then without any knowledge about how things work. What I have a problem with is calling them -distros- on their own. IMO they're just customised installers for -core distros-.
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#iusearchbtw
I wouldn't call -user-friendly distros- a bad thing. My linux journey started with Manjaro and here I am rolling on self-installed Arch. I doubt I would have been able to install Arch back then without any knowledge about how things work. What I have a problem with is calling them -distros- on their own. IMO they're just customised installers for -core distros-.
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SuperPukebucket
Hey I'm a gentoo user and it's not for the meme. It's cuz I like fiddling. I have my debian laptop with KDE and it works for doing school work. But it took me 40 minutes to install debian and set up everything and then I was done and now it is boring, meanwhile with gentoo I still have stuff I want to do, ltoifying my system tweaking my kernel a bit more etc. etc
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Hey I'm a gentoo user and it's not for the meme. It's cuz I like fiddling. I have my debian laptop with KDE and it works for doing school work. But it took me 40 minutes to install debian and set up everything and then I was done and now it is boring, meanwhile with gentoo I still have stuff I want to do, ltoifying my system tweaking my kernel a bit more etc. etc
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William
I was fine with arch for a while it appealed for my taste, not the memes... the fact I could assemble it the way I wanted, but damn' that sytemd!!!! I don't want to use Artix so I went BSD... any recommendations for a linux distro that is not rolling release and still has that modularity factor I enjoyed with arch?
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I was fine with arch for a while it appealed for my taste, not the memes... the fact I could assemble it the way I wanted, but damn' that sytemd!!!! I don't want to use Artix so I went BSD... any recommendations for a linux distro that is not rolling release and still has that modularity factor I enjoyed with arch?
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Bobby
Linux is both amazing and weird. Everything is a freakin meme and yet out of all this whacky a-- meaningless fragmentation there's at least a distro for just about everybody out there lol. Unfortunately i think we tend to steer into the mysteriousness of all these distros a little too hard.
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Linux is both amazing and weird. Everything is a freakin meme and yet out of all this whacky a-- meaningless fragmentation there's at least a distro for just about everybody out there lol. Unfortunately i think we tend to steer into the mysteriousness of all these distros a little too hard.
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MaybeAnonymousDev
I used to use Arco but seems like Artix is faster on my machine, but I did go with the command line install, though it starts up faster, idk if it's because of openrc, or if it's just lighter, though Arco does have some nice tools, I think I'll stick with Artix
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I used to use Arco but seems like Artix is faster on my machine, but I did go with the command line install, though it starts up faster, idk if it's because of openrc, or if it's just lighter, though Arco does have some nice tools, I think I'll stick with Artix
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Rob
I feel attacked manjaro may be some what a user friendly but its more of a ussr friendly to arch distro. I started on ubuntu distro hopped several times. Stayed on neon for about a year then I discovered manjaro and love it I could never have started on manjaro though
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I feel attacked manjaro may be some what a user friendly but its more of a ussr friendly to arch distro. I started on ubuntu distro hopped several times. Stayed on neon for about a year then I discovered manjaro and love it I could never have started on manjaro though
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