Choosing the Right Linux Distro

Choosing a Linux distribution can be difficult, especially if you don’t know much about Linux. However, over the past several years I’ve tried almost every Distribution that you can choose. There are some that I have not installed, because it was just more of the same.

Timestamps:
00:00 What makes a Linux Distribution different
01:40 What is INSIDE a Linux Distribution
02:45 Graphic Display Options
03:35 Login Managers
04:54 The Different Linux Desktops
06:36 The THREE Distros you will use .

[almosthelpless]

I'd recommend Gentoo for people new to Linux. It has the coolest logo.

[TheRealJohnMadden]

As an IT professional who works primarily on Windows systems for work, I got tired of going home and almost felt like I was still at work with everything I was doing. I switched to Fedora and it quickly became my daily driver. I'm dual-booting and have both operating systems installed on their own M.2's so I can switch over to Windows if I want to game or use anything that's Windows-dependent. Your channel was a key factor in why I wanted to switch and I thank you every day!

[Rasspor]

Just wanted to chime in here. I have been following your videos since windows 10 came out. Because, I wanted to get away from windows. So, it is because of you and your videos on Linux that allowed me to finally feel confident to try out Linux again. Thanks to you I have been using Linux without fear. Keep up the great work your doing and many blessings to your family and you.

[lucasgillbergkling]

I jumped right into the deep end with Linux using fedora without any pre made DE. Took me 1-2 weeks to get a hold of everything but your videos have been a huge help!

[morganmc]

You make more sense than any book or article on the difference of Linux distros. You are straightforward, with a quick personal opinion. Becoming a fan!

[urawrkr]

I havent messed around with Unix based OSs since high school, and it was nice to come back to this practice that i remember brought be joy when i was younger. Im getting back into it, mostly to optimize my own machine, but your videos don't just blindly recommend a certain distro, they helped me understand what that even means and why the topic is so debated and descisive. Im still picking my distro, but your videos have been instrumental in that process. Thank you for breaking this sort of thing down in a way that can be digested, if it wasnt for people like you, we'd all still be at the mercy of Gates or the ghost of Jobs.

[AndrewMiller]

Something to remember is that Fedora can be troubleshot and configured using the RHEL guides provided by Red Hat. I've rarely run into an edge case unless I was trying to do something super fancy which is why I stopped doing fancy things outside of a VM.

[lekemp]

Great video Chris. Keep up the good work bro!
I started with Linux Mint then POP OS, and now really happy with Fedora, it has up to date packages while being stable and it just works

[VHSJayden]

As a new user of Linux, this video is extremely helpful. You explained everything so well.

[HopliteSecurity]

This was fantastic! Thank you so much for making this video as I was able to point several people towards this video. I think there is allot of confusion around Linux distros and this video does an amazing job of clearing any clouds of confusion.

[drlukewhite]

Whilst I really respect your experience, and can appreciate that what you suggest here is a really good way of thinking about a choice of distribution for an intermediate or experienced Linux user, I'm glad I didn't receive or follow this advice as a new user back when I was first getting started. What I needed then was a distribution where things just *worked* and I could get to to enjoy the OS, gathering confidence before setting out on deeper adventures. I needed a distro where hardware such as graphics cards, printers, scanners and DVD players were detected and functioned out of the box, where it was trivial to install CODECs and commonly used fonts, where the spell-checker for the supplied word-processor was pre-installed, where there was a simple way to get the widest variety of software (including non-free software), and where it was easy to access and provide network shares without recourse to the terminal or editing config files... Oh, and I needed a large and friendly community who were generous in helping me with the small problems I did face and understanding about my attempts to grope my way through the obscure etiquette of seeking help on forums. Getting these things, I realised Linux isn't that difficult, I didn't have to be some kind of hacker to use it, and I was soon hooked. Each of the three choices here would have thrown up some significant obstacles in some aspects of this, and may have made me give up before I got going. A new beginner would therefore still do better to just start with Mint, Ubuntu or PopOS, and only *then* take on the more philosophical questions raised here, deciding on the best distro, desktop, display manager (etc.) for them, and experimenting with the different options. I've since used each of Debian, Arch and Fedora (and a number of their derivatives), and they are all fine distributions. But I'm glad that I didn't start on any of them!

[BWGPEI]

Very interesting. I do look forward to the Debian install and setup you talked about, because that is the next level for me. Distributions have been "black box" items for me to test with live hardware, and any distribution that installs, updates successfully, and then reboots is worth further study. (The the number that have not is daunting.) Current daily drivers in our house are all Linux Mint / Cinnamon Desktop because that distribution passed the first tests, and was easy to use for old MS Windows users who need something better. Many Thanks for all of the help and advice you've posted over the years. May you live long and prosper!

[kcmperry]

I am looking forward to these upcoming installs. I have been using Linux Mint for three years and have not distro hopped to anything else because Mint just works for me. But because is works so well, I have not been pushed to learn these topics. I have been thinking of going through an Arch install to try it out but now will follow these upcoming videos. Great content as always Chris!

[albussd]

Yes! I'm very excited about your next Debian video, Chris! Please make more of these kind and as detailed as possible. Debian has my heart for its stability and lack of bloat. I'm OK with putting in the work and building a good Debian from the base, provided there are good, well-written, easy-to-follow tutorials for it. Please do take your time with the next video, we'd appreciate and prefer a good quality and detailed video over a hurried and rushed one.

[Andres]

Loved how easy was to understand the most relevant aspects of each distirbution. I've been using linux for years and still learned some things from here such as the systemd as bootloader.

[xrkTx]

Found Fedora after a year of using Linux. Most favorite so far.

[t-bonestake]

I'm super excited about these builds that you are talking about -- starting with a base distro and making your own system from there. I watched your arch build, but I was hoping for a more in-depth problem solving walk through. For example, when you have graphic driver issues, how do you go about researching what your issues are and how to solve them, rather than having done the research prior to the video. I recently migrated from ubuntu 18.04 to 20.04 and my desktop broke. The screen locker no longer worked and I was unable to find a resolution with a ton of web searches and reinstalling the desktop environment. I eventually installed the Cinnamon desktop which had a working screen locker and went from there. I have been using linux for several years, but the inner workings of the desktops and how to fix issues like that are still somewhat esoteric to me. Keep up the awesome videos!

[muddyexport]

Good vid. Thanks for coming back to Linux. Always interesting and learn something with each installment. The amout of that learning depends on how advanced and my research of those advanced topics to find out more of what you are talking about. Sometimes the terms and concepts are new to me.

[asdf]

Good video, and I’m looking forward to the next ones that go more in depth. 👍🏻

[untype]

I just switched after years of Zorin to Fedora 36 and love the vanilla gnome DE. Stable so far but strangely missing a default mail app. Otherwise, updates and software seem great so far with everything just working. Thanks for the awesome video, it’s going to help a ton of people conceptualize how this all works together.