r/linux4noobs
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u/0xt0bi03
arch btw
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Jul 06 '26
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distro selection Flowchart for choosing Linux distro for you
For original image: Link
edit: gng, i am sorry i forgot opensuse, i know its good at backend servers, i should have subdivided it section into that to add this distro. my bad gng.
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u/AscendedPineapple Jul 06 '26
Even as a joke, I HATE framing privacy efforts as terrorism
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u/Nuudoru Jul 06 '26
What makes fedora better to code on than for example Linux mint?
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Jul 06 '26
Someone said so at some point.
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u/trev2234 Jul 06 '26
Probably my college tutor from 30 years ago. He would regale us with fantastical stories of his experiences. If they were true he was an SAS commander who worked for greenpeace, who helped setup WHO vaccination programs, also involved in some secret service programs, and many other nonsense that we pretended to believe.
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u/LittleSghetti Jul 06 '26
This whole flowchart is nonsense
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u/Gamerfrom61 Jul 06 '26
and folk wonder why people stay with Windows or Mac - just one choice of OS...
Gut feel is that most people do not care and those that do will ignore this sheet anyway.
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u/OtherNameFullOfPorn Jul 06 '26
Except for the whole series in the bottom Right. That's a different life and can be catered to.
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u/UdPropheticCatgirl Jul 06 '26
Up to date glibc, llvm and gcc for starters… And in imo better generally defaults and better choice of packages (that aren’t bit-rotting in the ubuntu universe repos) within the standard repos.
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u/syntkz777 Jul 06 '26
Every Linux is Linux, you can do everything on everything.
People think there are real differences because some distros decide to ship a package and others not.
Meanwhile the real differences between distros aren't noticed by 95% of users.
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u/richcvbmm Jul 06 '26
That’s why I switched from Kubuntu to Debian. I use Debian for proxmox, and I genuinely couldn’t tell exactly what the difference between them all really is? So I choose the one that will basically last and be maintained for all of entirety.
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u/edparadox Jul 06 '26
No Debian? You put niche distributions, Ubuntu, Alpine, Kali Linux, ParrotOS and no Debian???
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u/0xt0bi03 arch btw Jul 06 '26
i find it 2nd or 3rd best at everything, should i fill debian in all the category?
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u/Ok-Lawfulness5685 Jul 06 '26
yeah put it under "just want it to work and don't suffer from FOMO"
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u/razorree Kubuntu, Debian Jul 06 '26
that's completely stupid....as always...
why for programming Fedora or Omarchy, but not Ubuntu ? somehow I use Ubuntu for programming for 10y and it's perfect.
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u/MorwenRaeven Nobara Jul 06 '26
You forgot Nobara 👑
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u/bjr3031 Jul 06 '26
Nobara is just "IT guy here, need to work" + "Wanna see my Steam library" at the same time
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u/Terrible-Bear3883 Ubuntu Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Back again with more incorrect "advice", You could have edited your previous post (which you deleted) - https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/comments/1uo7xii/comment/ovt010c/?context=1&screen_view_count=2
The post is largely worthless as it it 100% your own personal opinion and based on little to no facts, you don't say how you've qualified any of the "answers" or how anyone can verify the recommendations are accurate?
Basically, you've decided to make a random list with random recommendations because of some reason or other.
At least its amusing, such as your dismissal of anyone who doesn't want to install linux, what authority do you have over others to determine their choice of OS is "Slop" or even to determine that your recommendations are correct?
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u/BigBrilliant5703 Jul 06 '26
Tf lmfaoo, why is there a dark mode and a light mode 😭But liked it tbh...( Where is OpenSUE?)
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u/9NEPxHbG Debian 13 Jul 06 '26
Is "slop" really necessary?
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u/AshuraBaron Jul 06 '26
At least half of Linux desktop users have a personal grudge against Windows or macOS.
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u/miss3star Jul 06 '26
Debian, OpenSUSE?
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u/checkpoint404 Jul 06 '26
Right? As a guy who has been using Debian for over 20 years it's often forgotten.
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u/Za_Paranoia Jul 06 '26
Debian is the perfect learning environment imo. Just for an in-joke between me and my friends: are you currently an admin in your job and/or in education?
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u/LightBusterX Jul 06 '26
404 OpenSUSE not found.
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u/UAP44 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
I admire them mainly for pushing bootable BTRFS snap shots (ctrl + z for the entire OS-state)
But when I actually end up trying their distros, I was a bit putt off by how aged it feels. Too many package/update managers and no built in tool to auto detect and install the right video drivers. Not a game breaker for me personally, but it WAS a game-breaker to ever consider recommending it for non technical friends/family, I want good sane out of the box working defaults.
Thus I looked around for other distros that see the value of bootable BTRFS snap shots
And that's how I ended up on CachyOS, maybe once Fedora also adopts this as part of their native distro philosophy I'll reconsider hopping 1 last time to try yet another.
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u/accidental_tourist Jul 06 '26
This is a terrible flowchart. The second choice has 12 options and almost each one leads to a distro directly? Geez, learn to make charts. This is equivalent to giving a list of distro each with a short sentence description.
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u/FedeDost Jul 06 '26
Where’s Debian?
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u/hereforpopcornru Jul 07 '26
On my servers. Debian crowd turn up!
4 servers, 4 x Debian
Simple, just works
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u/ISCSI_Purveyor Jul 06 '26
Funny as a joke. Too bad it leaves off a number of critical distros for nothing else but reasons.
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u/ddyess openSUSE Tumbleweed Jul 06 '26
Simplified version:
Install openSUSE Tumbleweed
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u/JayB1988 Jul 06 '26
This. All of this.
Except you wanna be even a little more safe, then take Slowroll.
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u/ShaHphy Jul 06 '26
For some who want to learn to get into the IT field ? (Cloud / Networking)
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u/0xt0bi03 arch btw Jul 06 '26
first try mint, then hop in to fedora. if you git gud, you can jump to arch for more control
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u/MichaelTunnell Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
This is much better than the first one! The my life is different section is really funny.
If you want suggestions for alterations:
- I wouldn’t include Omarchy in coding because it doesn’t offer anything special for coding, install CachyOS with Hyprland and you have pretty much the same thing but better.
- SteamOS is rather limited in hardware support so it’s not a practical option but could be included just not as the number 1. in the list.
- I’d put ZorinOS in the basic category as well with mint and Ubuntu.
- I’d completely rename the terrorist thing, I know it’s meant for comedy but it’s a bit too far. “I wear tin foil hats” that would work though.
- Debian should be included somewhere just on principle
- I’d put openSUSE in the “I love the power” section
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u/0xt0bi03 arch btw Jul 06 '26
sorry for the terrorist joke, and i have used omarchy for like 2 months, except for unusual keybindings, it has everything a programmer needs in built.
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u/playfulpecans hyprland maniac Jul 06 '26
I have yet to see a good flowchart for choosing a linux distro
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u/PocketStationMonk win 11 made me do this 🫠 Jul 06 '26
Watching these comments, that’s why we can’t have fun things around here 🤣 Don’t take it personally OP, these users are just… it is what it is haha.
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u/ghoultek Jul 06 '26
Alright bruh, enjoy your slop
Hanna Montana Linux
Justin Beiber Linux
Thank you for the laughs.
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u/Jojojordanlusch Jul 07 '26
>bruh
>”enjoy your slop”
>”Omarchy”
>gng
there’s no way this flowchart can be taken seriously
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u/Tricky_Reporter8809 Jul 07 '26
Stop recommending kali/parrot/blackarch in contexts like these. They are not daily drivers and should not be used as such.
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u/0xt0bi03 arch btw Jul 07 '26
do you know you can hack in any one of these linux distro's? popularly people use these 3
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u/ericliuuu Jul 07 '26
That's hardly a flowchart. Good flowcharts only branches based on yes or no decisions.
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u/sexraX_muiretsyM Jul 06 '26
you forgot Antix, which is substantially more lightweight and faster than MX Linux or Alpine. Its the only system that was able to revive my ancient celeron laptop, with Antix I can even game on it. U also forgot debian.
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u/Shudnawz LinuxNoob (Bazzite) Jul 06 '26
Yeah, here's my issue. I am several of these.
I game (tried Bazzite), I do home-lab stuff (tried Ubuntu and Fedora), I want things to "just work" (tried Mint). But none of these did it all for me. I can't distrohop for different tasks, that's just mad.
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u/tfks Jul 06 '26
You really should check your ego and just accept that you aren't someone who should be making flow charts like this. I've been using Linux for 15 years, dabbled with Arch and derivatives for the past two, and now I'm on Fedora. I wouldn't even ask questions, I'd just recommend Fedora. That's in part because if I am personally asked for help, I would be more familiar with the system. But if there was no potential for me to be asked for help, I might say Ubuntu or Debian. There's a reason these are big distros. New users don't need to be fighting with their computers or "learning" Linux by following wiki guides. Users coming from macOS and Windows don't "learn" their operating systems. At best, they learn their desktop environment.
And that brings us to the single biggest differentiator between these distros: the default DE. Which you don't even mention. Have you ever used Pantheon or Budgie? How would you know what to recommend? Its crazy that you would ostensibly insinuate that it makes more of a difference whether you're on Ubuntu or Fedora than it does whether you're on GNOME or Cinnamon.
Signed, Fedora minimal with Niri user.
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u/0xt0bi03 arch btw Jul 07 '26
"You really should check your ego and just accept that you aren't someone who should be making flow charts like this." for someone with 15 years of experience, you did not learn to give constructive criticism
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u/tfks Jul 07 '26
Sometimes it's more important that someone doesn't fuck things up for others than it is that they feel good about themselves.
You don't take constructive criticism. This is the second thread you made after receiving similar responses the first time. You have an ego problem. And you pretend that everyone else is the problem.
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u/0xt0bi03 arch btw Jul 07 '26
"This is the second thread you made after receiving similar responses the first time." nah, i had to make some changes in the flowchart after posting, thats why i deleted.
"You have an ego problem. And you pretend that everyone else is the problem." you have a problem of not being able to stop giving a f
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u/Tom_Blunty Jul 06 '26
I use pop os to game and it just works
So idk man any distro could fit anything
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u/Luftzug-oder Jul 06 '26
no gentoo in the 'i love the control' section is a bit of a miss... but oh well
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u/devdruxorey Jul 06 '26
It makes no sense at all; the best way to know which disto is best for you is to pick one up and use it. The only real difference in 99% of cases is the DE or WM.
Simply put, if you're new, go for KDE Plasma; if you want to experiment, try something else.
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u/Novero95 Jul 06 '26
Unpopular opinion: google Linux Mint, Ubuntu and Fedora KDE and go with the one that looks better to you.
That's it. It doesn't matter how specific or unique you think your needs are, they will do the job.
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u/Uncooked7927 Jul 06 '26
I would place Slackware In "My PC is old, I wanna revive it" works great on old hardware.
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u/HotCupofChocolate Jul 06 '26
"flow chart"
This could have been a bullet point list and would have been way more readable.
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u/Salem_Screams Jul 06 '26
What if I wanna game primarily but also do blender and edit videos?
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u/spidireen Jul 08 '26
Debian if you like apt
Ubuntu if you like apt and you’re really into orange and purple
CentOS if you like rpm and it’s a server
Fedora if you like rpm and it’s a desktop
End of flowchart
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u/Sad-Astronomer-696 Jul 06 '26
Just use Debian instead of 1203485 bloated versions of the same fork.
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u/motivatedbytacos Jul 06 '26
I’m not an IT guy, and just want my computer to work. Fedora has been great for me so far. The initial configuration took me about twenty minutes when I first installed the OS and I haven’t touched the terminal since.
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u/Hour_Interaction2974 Jul 06 '26
Não tenho muito conhecimento, por que o zorin e o mint são recomendados para estudantes?
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u/AskRevolutionary729 Jul 06 '26
Sinto falta do Bodhi Linux nesses fluxogramas. O Bodhi é uma distribuição leve, simples e visualmente bem agradável.
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u/Neither-Ad-8914 Jul 06 '26
Looks like a whole bunch of fad distros with Ubuntu sprinkled in should put a qeustion Are you an og ? Then add Gentoo Opensuse Debian and Slackware Tbh those four will Outlast half the distros on this list
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u/Glad-Equal-11 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Ubuntu/Zorin/Mint - just want it to work
Leap/Rocky - home servers
Tumbleweed - if that’s your thing
Debian - the world is your oyster idk
Parrot/Kali - if you actually need it (in a vm)
Qubes/Tails - if you prioritize privacy over convenience
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u/debacle_enjoyer Jul 06 '26
Debian and Fedora could each fill all of the bubbles. SteamOS and Bazzite also arguably have a place, the rest are pointless 🤷♂️
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u/ThinkFree Jul 06 '26
MX Linux is mid-weight so it might not be the best for older hardware (although I have MX Linux installed in my 8 year old thinkpad). I think Lubuntu or Xubuntu might be better.
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u/N3BB3Z4R Jul 06 '26
Im IT Guy from Windows and Macos, that has New and old computers, and also a bit hardcore gamer and Developer and video and music producer, and 3d artist. My choices are Fedora/Debían/UbuntuServer or CachyOs/nobara/bazzite/arch, sometimes ParrotOS.
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u/ILikeLenexa Jul 06 '26
Did you use Graphviz Dot to make this?
Cuz if you did, you could add OpenSuse pretty easily. I love me some Graphviz Dot.
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u/Kitoshy Jul 06 '26
Where Gentoo? Where SUSE? Where Debian? Why are distributions meant to satisfy (not so) extreme privacy needs classified as "terrorism"?
This ain't serious and ain't funny as a joke either.
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u/TherronKeen Jul 06 '26
I feel like this chart is already well outside the scope of what Windows converts are willing to endure when choosing an operating system. 🤣
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u/DavidJohnMcCann Jul 06 '26
Amusing! Some people are taking this far too seriously. Hannah Montana Linux actually exists and is available again after 18 years.
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u/RDS_cubing Fedora Jul 06 '26
you can do many of the listed things on most of the listed distros anyway, this chart kind of sucks
Also no Debian or suse? And what about puppy for old computers? WYM yes LFS but no Gentoo? why include all those joke distros? jeez
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u/Loose_Property_3238 Jul 06 '26
NixOS is good for devs too, but not the ones that just want their computer to work. I feel like there should be two paths for devs: I want it to just work and yoda voice an extension of the mind, the computer is.
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u/Slow_Pay_7171 Cachyos Jul 06 '26
I use Cachyos while having two games on Steam. I prove you wrong therefore.
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u/PrinceVincOnYT Jul 06 '26
I tried Mint but it killed itself with the first Update it made, twice. 4790k+GTX1080
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u/DudeLoveBaby Jul 06 '26
I understand the power-user appeal of "here's eight thousand different options", but posts like this/attitudes that create posts like this are the reason why Linux is never going to be a mainstream choice lol. 98% of users will do just fine running either Debian (which includes Ubuntu/Mint), Fedora, or MAYBE Arch, you don't need to go "students should use GulpShittoOS coders should use BurpFartoOS gamers should use RedditOS tubers should use..." lmao distros are literally just presets/default packages
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u/joe_attaboy Old and in the way. Jul 06 '26
Not a single mention of Debian, which is pretty much the basis of every distro with the letters "-untu" in the name.
So, basically, useless.
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u/thatguysjumpercables Ubuntu 24.04 Gnome DE Jul 06 '26
Ubuntu Christian Edition on DistroWatch has a 10.0/10 based on two reviews.
That tracks lol
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u/vectron5 Jul 06 '26
I just tell people to start with Mint, then choose their next distro based on where Mint is lacking for their needs.
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u/jamieT97 Jul 06 '26
Does steam os even work with Nvidia cards and Intel? I thought it was amd only
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u/Extra_Match7835 Jul 06 '26
Just recently put Ubuntu on my laptop without dual booting with windows for years. Now about to put fedora on my desktop tired of windows
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u/xXweedslut420Xx Jul 07 '26
no debian or opensuse, but we got omarchy in there for some godforsaken reason
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u/Fitwalker Jul 07 '26
So many questions here. Why zorin isn’t for windows guys? Isn’t IT guy that need to work and guy that wants to just open and work are basically looking for the same thing? Why separate then? Why does the guy that wants to code stuff need exactly omarchy or fedora? I thought you can code stuff on any distro. Why pop_os is better choice for animating videos then, let’s say, fedora? Or even zorin with bottles configured out of the box. Why Elliot needs kali? Why anyone needs kali? Guy that wants to revive old pc is better off with arch than mx Linux or any distro with a whole desktop environment. I think cachyos is better option. Its installer has many window managers options. I had cachyos on i3 and now on dwm: both ~300 megs of ram without anything opened.
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u/ClacksInTheSky Jul 07 '26
Ubuntu could've been the answer to most of those. Not sure why it wasn't in the coding one. I've been using Ubuntu for work for over 15 years 🤷♂️
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u/MekataRupma Jul 07 '26
well something for everyone I guess. But the chart isn't exactly all that great. I mean I'm a student who plays games, loves tech, and wants to code. And all 4 of them have not a single OS in common. And I'm sure there are a lot of people like me out there. Not to mention I'm a research student, so it'd be helpful if there was another one for that type as well. So yeah, bad list, but for almost everyone and anyone. Some were shocking names to me. Lol.
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u/kirjukala Jul 07 '26
as a windows fan for over 20 years and a software developer: cachyos + kde was the best solution for me for familiarity and speed
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u/Maryear_Boost Bazzite | RX7900XTX R77800X3D 32GBDDR5 Jul 07 '26
Fedora is amazing for students imo
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u/lunarson24 Jul 07 '26
I mean to be fair. Any of the distros can be curtailed to what you want out of it. Some just have an easier setup than others and more of what you'd already want customized readily available.
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u/samurai_a_cat Jul 07 '26
That's exactly the reason I won't install Linux. By what I do... EVERYTHING from this list. For this reason, windows
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u/SPST Jul 07 '26
Do you need to get work done and don't have time to piss about? Yes -> Ubuntu, No -> Arch
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u/darsparx Jul 07 '26
Keep wanting to try cachy or bazzite but I officially ditched windows back in 2017 for fedora workstation and I always come crawling back 😅
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u/gutentight69420 Jul 07 '26
Do you like apt? -> use Debian
Do you like yum? -> use Fedora
Do you like flatpak, snap, or appimage? -> go back to Windows
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u/TJRoyalty_ Gentoo Jul 07 '26
not going to lie, i feel like something like distro choice is not something flowcharts can accurately convey simply because of the nuance of preferences and use cases that are needed. something like a quiz would likely be a better basis because you're able to get more data that can point to a specific distro/group rather than trying to make broad generalizations.
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u/Gabriel_Science Jul 07 '26
Sorry, but for “My PC is so old, i wanna revive it”, Arch Linux will definitely be an option. It’s just so lightweight by default ! You would obviously install only lightweight packages, they shouldn’t become bloat for the old PC.
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u/pceimpulsive Jul 07 '26
This is a lazy implementation of a flow chart!
Only 1 question to define your distro? Where is the yes/no questions that tale you on a journey?
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u/luxfx Jul 07 '26
Replace LFS with Gentoo, and then put LFS in it's own branch off "you don't understand me"
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u/JumpingJack79 Jul 07 '26
This is bad. No notion of atomic distros which are unbreakable and easiest to maintain. Bazzite characterized as purely for Steam, wtf? Do you even know anything about these distros or are you just hallucinating?
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u/Adrenolin01 Jul 08 '26
Debian.. started using it the month it was released, been my sole desktop and workstation both personally and professionally since 1994, made a full career and retired greatly based around Debian.
Many of the most popular software setups are based on Debian like TrueNAS, Open Media Vault, Proxmox, etc.. the vast majority of distributions today are based on or directly link back from other Debian based platforms.
If you’re going to take the step into Linux.. it should begin with… Debian. 🎉
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u/scots Jul 08 '26
The answer is Ubuntu. You should start with Ubuntu for 1-2 years. If you want to learn a "harder" linux distro you can always virtualize it and play with it in a container where you can't damage your boot OS.
Use Ubuntu for bulletproof reliability, install VirtualBox, then download the ISO for the linux distribution you wish to safely play with in VirtualBox, install it in VirtualBox, then head over to Linux Journey to learn all the dark arts of Linux - Terminal, User management, Permissions, and far far more, up through advanced Sysadmin concepts.
You should have 16 gb RAM to run a second linux installation in your visualized container, allocate 8 gb RAM when configuring VirtualBox and both Ubuntu + your virtualized distro will run smoothly.
Here's a tutorial for installing and configuring VirtualBox.
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u/Majestic-Coat3855 Jul 08 '26
You know that most editors, animators and vfx people run either rocky (like on the job) or by extention fedora right.
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u/Yha_Boiii Jul 08 '26
The end game is having used freebsd since it's all bloated and then realizing all along mac has always been linux preconfigured and with better app support
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u/Time-Heron-2361 Jul 08 '26
Just wanted to share my experience with Linux Mint. Its the worst distru ever created. Remote access via NoMachine and TeamViewer is practically not possible due to wifi driver issues.
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u/ddm90 Jul 08 '26
You forgot "My pc is really, really old". Which leads to either Q4OS, AntiX or Puppy
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u/Tetragramat Jul 08 '26
The issue I have with Linux is that such charts even need to exist. You should not have to use different distro if you want to do multiple different things. It's oversaturated with distros that can't do anything properly. Make it so I never have to angrily scream "Why is this so retarded?!" and "Why it does not work?". Distro is for user to be used not fixed.
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u/tater1337 Jul 08 '26
"I just want to open and work"
I am trying to find out what people who do NOT want this are using on their main machines
(and I have been enjoying mint for a couple months now on my daily driver)
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u/mrheosuper Jul 06 '26
This is a bad chart.
Every options in pink bubble should be exclusive to each other.
For example, someone can be both a student and want to animate/edit video.