Choosing a Linux Distribution

Introduction

This should function as a general guide to what distribution you should either begin with or switch to. This guide also considers other factors, such as what you want or need, into account. This is in no way a comprehensive list, for a larger list of distributions see the Linux Distributions page.

Initial Troubles and Hurdles

As a beginner or even regular user of Linux, many people may and inevitably will look at your distribution as being "inferior."

Unless there is a justifiable and grounded reason that breaches your security, productivity, or the project is severely unmaintained, this should always be ignored - you probably haven't gotten used to Linux user etiquette enough at this moment, and for the best you shouldn't if you are merely a beginner. As for more advanced users, you should know what you need by now.

If you find your distribution to be less ideal than you had originally perceived, it is best practice to try something new until you find a distribution that suits your needs best. Alternatively, taking time to research and understand your distribution may help overcome initial false preconceptions. Linux takes time to grasp, committing to settling to a single distribution for a given period can help avoid the addictive loop of distrohopping.

What do you want in a distribution?

With so many Linux distributions, there are inherent differences and features that do not necessarily always exist in the other. One may be created to prioritize speed for gaming or productivity, another created "to break free from the norms of modern Linux distributions," another created for security and privacy concerns in oppressive governments...

"Needs" encompass these factors as they play into your workflow. Due to the nature of distributions (or, at least, with the exception of distributions like Red Hat Enterprise Linux) being fully libre, these changes are often easy to replicate for the layman. However, it is often very time consuming to compare and contrast different distributions' features - especially package managers - and what you want from them, so if you have high demands, consider virtualization!

Rolling Release Distributions

• Arch Linux is a DIY, rolling release distribution known for its simplicity and flexibility, with Pacman serving as its package manager. It offers users full control over their system setup, along with the latest software updates. While not necessarily beginner-friendly, its extensive documentation and active community provide strong support for users wanting to dive into Linux and fully customize their setup.
• EndeavourOS serves as an excellent introduction to rolling release distributions. Built on Arch Linux and featuring the user-friendly Calamares installer, it offers a variety of preinstalled applications that enhance the overall Quality of Life (QoL) for new users and experienced users alike.
• OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is an open-source, community-driven rolling release distribution that serves as the upstream for SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE). It includes a variety of custom tools such as Snapper, which manages system snapshots, and YaST, which handles general system administration.

Fixed Release Distributions

• Debian is a distribution with a focus on hardware support and stability, it will never fail on it's own, and it can run on older computer without as much setup as you would need on other distributions.
• Fedora, while primarily using GNOME, has many differing desktop environments or "spins", that could emulate the look of macOS or Windows, or something entirely unique. With Fedora, you are also getting the package testing seen in Debian, but the package releases close to what you would see in Arch Linux. It's a good in between that works if you just want to move to Linux for the first time. If you want other packages not seen on Fedora's, there's also Flatpak support out of the box.
• Linux Mint is also a good starter, with it being a very popular distribution with a massive community behind it. It is based off of Ubuntu, but removes some of the more controversial additions that Ubuntu has. Linux Mint also uses the Cinnamon desktop environment, which if you have used Windows for long enough, may feel familiar.
• Ubuntu is a distribution built upon Debian, it offers Canonical's Snap ecosystem along with Ubuntu's package repositories.

If you want to find a distribution beyond the list above, please make sure to check out sites such as https://distrowatch.com/, which has a near-exhaustive list of every Linux distribution in existence as well as the famous tree of Linux distributions. Some distributions are forks of their parent distributions, and each root is often an independent project.