Ranking Linux Distributions for 2023: not your average tier list!

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#linux #linuxdistro #tierlist

00:00 Intro
00:35 Sponsor: Take control of your network traffic with Portmaster
01:33 Ubuntu
02:44 Linux Mint
04:08 elementary OS
06:08 Arch Linux
08:12 Solus
09:30 Fedora
10:54 Deepin
12:19 Manjaro
13:51 Debian
15:20 PopOS
16:46 Gentoo
17:45 ZorinOS
19:01 KDE Neon
20:11 Sponsor: Get a PC that runs Linux perfectly
21:02 Support the channel

I’ve had a love / hate relationship with Ubuntu over the years, when I started with Linux, it was basically the best. But nowadays, I would put Ubuntu in Decent.

Mint, nowadays, I feel it’s really one of the best options for a lot of people. So, I’m going to put it in Great.

elementaryOS is polished like nothing else, and I love what they’re doing, but if we look at where it is today, it’s lagging behind GNOME in most areas. So, as it stands today, elementary OS is only Decent.

Arch is a distro I’ve used for a while. It’s a wonderful learning experience. But Arch requires more manual intervention than most distros to keep running smoothly. So, Arch is going in Good, but only if you know what you’re doing. If you’re a Linux beginner, it’s going into the No Way category.

Another distro I used for a while is Solus, and I liked it for the Budgie desktop, and for its approach of building a Linux distro from scratch, without using Ubuntu as a base for example. But Solus is going in No Way, because it pretty much feels like a dying distro these days.

Fedora is the distro I use everywhere these days. And yet, I’m still only placing it in Good, not Great. Because while I feel this is the distro that is pushing the Linux desktop forward these days, I also feel they miss the mark in some ways. The terrible installer, no Nvidia drivers at install, and no Flathub one click install (for now) are things that prevent it from reaching “great” status.

Ok, let’s talk Deepin. It’s a basic desktop environment, but it’s also a distro. And it’s a distro I’m putting in No, Thanks. The Desktop environment looks beautiful, but the default apps are way too basic and can’t handle half of the tasks I need from them. Installing anything else results in that nice unified look being completely broken, and as such, isn’t a good experience.

Now, let’s talk about Manjaro, and this one is going into No, Thanks. It’s a distro I used a lot on my desktop, but I just can’t recommend it anymore. The distro itself isn’t necessarily bad, but the way it’s being run absolutely is.

Debian Stable is rock solid, tested to perfection and the repos are huge and well maintained. So I’m putting it in GOOD, but personally, I would never run Debian Stable on anything other than a server, because it’s way too outdated.

Now let’s move on to PopOS. For now, I’ll only put PopOS in Decent, because it’s in a limbo while they develop their new Cosmic desktop shell. No updates for a year, and no word on a version this year either, it’s just not good enough for a desktop distro.

Gentoo isn’t for me. I tried it, I understand why it exists, but I also don’t really feel the need to have almost everything I install be compiled for my hardware. I don’t need this level of control over what I install. Still, Gentoo is going in Good. Not for me, but I’m not going to criticize it just because I’m not the target audience.

Zorin OS looks cool, it has tons of layouts, it includes a bunch of tools, but Zorin OS will go into No, Thanks, though. Because it also suffers from the “not updated often enough” problem.

Now, KDE Neon, that’s a good one. It also uses an older Ubuntu LTS base, which can be a problem, but it has all the latest software from KDE, from the desktop to the apps, and that’s a very good mix, so it’s going in Good.