How to choose your linux distro

You want to dip your toe into Linux, but you don’t know where to start, what kind of Linux you want to install. I’m here to help, these are my recommendations.

Distros

If you want stability and all the new shiny software and improvements available, but still value reliability, take a look at Fedora Workstation.

Ubuntu if you don’t mind snaps (a way of packaging application) and slightly older packages.

Arch if you want to go hardcore and bleeding-edge packages + AUR.

Endeavour, like Arch, but simpler and more user-friendly (packages installed from the beginning).

If you want extreme stability, but “old” packages, Debian.

If you want something more “exotic”, OpenSuse (Tumbleweed for rolling release, Leap for stable) or Void.

I use Endeavour.

Distribution	Updates	Stability	Package Manager	Notes
Ubuntu	Major versions	Very stable	Apt	Snap packages are default
OpenSUSE	Rolling (Tumbleweed)/Major versions (Leap)	Very stable	Zypper	Made in Germany, YAST to manage the system is a godsend
EndeavourOS	Latest and greatest	Fairly stable	pacman	Arch derivative
Fedora	the most updated non-rolling release	Very stable	Dnf	Community distro of RedHat (controversial company)

Big disclaimer before going forward

Do not pick your distro based on the looks you see in screenshot, pretty much everything can be achieve in any distro you choose. What matters are desktop environment, window manager, and possibly the kind of applications you use. Just keep in mind that some themes will work on both Qt and GTK apps, some won’t. So choose your apps accordingly if you care a lot about uniformity in your desktop.

Desktop Environments

For Desktop Environment: KDE is king of personalization, but has some bugs. Gnome, I hate it, but is good and has very few bugs. Both DEs support wayland.

XFCE is lightweight, not much personalization, stable, looks like Windows, as Cinnnamon (another DE) does.

Desktop environment	Description	Customizability	Weight	Screenshots
Gnome	MacOS-like UI	Not much, but third parties plugin allow for some	Heaviest	https://www.gnome.org
Plasma/KDE	Mixed by default	Extremely customizable from first party	Somewhat heavy	https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/
XFCE	Windwos-like UI	Not much	Lightweight	https://www.xfce.org/about/screenshots
LXQT	Windows-like UI	Pretty customizable	Very lightweight	https://lxqt-project.org/screenshots/

Tiling Window Managers

For Tiling Window Managers: Really depends on how much configuring you are willing to do. Sway and I3, pretty basic, config language is very easy. DWM is a bit more challenging. IDK about others.

Window manager	Description	Display server
i3	Content Cell	Xorg
Sway	Content Cell	Wayland
DWM	Content Cell	Xorg
Openbox	Content Cell	Xorg

Summary table

| Distro |