Project: MX Linux
Version: 23.6
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-28
Votes: 0
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Perfect for my old Apple iMac 20" (late 2006). MX Linux installs and boots perfectly and after little adjustments to make the iSight working correctly the PC works fine. I choose KDE as my DE and everything is smooth and very usable. Many modern linux system dropped support for Hardware that have 64bit processors but 32bit EFI, like this beautiful iMac and due to newer graphic cards that needs a lot of memory and energy, it is not easy to find a good distro that fits older iMacs. I think MX Linux is a great chance without compromise between usability and modern apps...
Lets give a chance and don't forget to recycle, reuse and reduce.
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Project: EndeavourOS
Version: 2025.03.19
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-28
Votes: 0
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The most reliable rolling-release linux distro with the best out of the box experience.
I used eos for years, without any issues. It provides many custom tools to easen the daily task, and the operating system will just stand out of your way as soon as you install and set it up to your likings.
I'm mainly a gamer, and games run fantastical thanks to the latest kernel 6.14 Ntsync, plus I'm an Nvidia user aswell, and endeavouros provides Nvidia drivers with the live iso install, so if you boot into it, its gonna install nvidia automatically to your rig, or nvidia-inst afterwards. I also like to watch 4k movies stutterfree, and only EndeavourOS is capable for doing it so - on wayland + nvidia + kdeplasma, it's just a breeze of how splendid it runs, with the latest kernel and drivers. It certainly performs better than cachyos, or base arch. Plus since endeavouros is backed by professional devs, its also a big plus. They have the friendliest community of all, and their forum is known to be the best forum in linux history. They also have matrix and telegram and it's very active.
I use plasma, and I love the default theming they provide, no idea why many people have problems with it, especially with this new mercury wallpaper, people call it "ugly rock", well that's how mercury looks like lol..
So I rate this 10/10, it's a perfect pick to anyone. And please do take note, that endeavouros is based on arch, and as on eos' website says: its a terminal centric distro, but endeavouros provides so many cool toolkits, that you can technically do almost everything through the GUI.
My suggestion is to using Plasma DE, it's their flagship DE - it is very customizable, and Plasma is the best Desktop Environment anyways, backed with another professional team. Also if you're Nvidia, KDE Plasma is the best one to pair with.
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Project: Fedora
Version: 42
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-04-28
Votes: 0
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With Fedora, you get all the latest linux innovations and it's stable. You're on the edge, not the bleeding edge. My favorite distribution.
However, it's annoying you have to add the rpm fusion repo and make sure you manually install the codecs.
Also Fedora workstation provides the vanilla version of Gnome.
Gnome is my favorite desktop environment, but I install gnome-tweaks to add those minimize maximize buttons (in the Window titlebars section).
And you need to add extension manager, in order to add dash to panel.
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Project: CachyOS
Version: 250422
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-28
Votes: 1
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This is, in my opinion, the best distribution for gamers. Cachy os has many graphical tools that help you configure the system according to your own preferences. I personally recommend the BORELto kernel. In my opinion, games run best on it. The default environment of this distribution is KDE and I recommend it for running games. In CachyOS Hello, we can install all the packages needed to run games with 1 click. (I recommend removing Wine after installing them and installing Wine-cachyos). You should also remember that even on such a distribution, not every game will want to run without a problem. I would like to point out right away that unfortunately, Efootball 2025 caused me major problems with operation. This is not yet a distribution that allows you to play this title without any problems. You can forget about online games on Linux. They usually do not work at all due to anti-cheat. But it is still worth getting to know this distribution. If you play offline, especially older games, why do you need Windows? It is worth installing OS caches. I recommend this distribution, which in my opinion has huge potential to become the new "Windows" for gamers.
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Project: CachyOS
Version: 250422
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-28
Votes: 0
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For an Asus TUF user. CachyOS have been a blessing.
Since kernel 6.14 they have baked in the needed Armory Crate Drivers.
This helps a lot when I don't have to run a lot of different kernels and instead run the stable kernel from CachyOS.
Also their wiki and community is really helpful. I had a odd issue that I thought was something to do with my KDE, but it was actually the AMD driver in the kernel having issues because of the frame rate. I added one row in to GRUB and it been rocksolid since.
They listen to feedback as well! The Discord is very active and the "top dog" is even in there chatting away. (Especially about cats!) Who don't love cats I mean?
From the latest version, they included now snapshots out of the box with Luminie. How can it not be easier? What do I talk about here? Well Snapshots is something breaks, you can rewind back to when it was working. You got to remember that CachyOS is a rolling distro, sometimes stuff breaks. I haven't had a break so far with CachyOS running it now for several months, but breaks will happen eventually. Then a rewind is fantastic!
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Project: Linux Mint
Version: 22.1
Rating: 7
Date: 2025-04-28
Votes: 0
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I have used Mint for a number of years and many versions. Yeserday was the first time I ever had a problem with something as simple as wireless mouse function. No right click action (no context menu on files or folders), no drag and drop function, repeated clicks to do one task (such as closing or minimizing a window). Tried a different mouse with same results. Booted to live drives of several other distros: no mouse problems. Seems to me a release shouldn't make it out of the shop with an issue like that. I know it's not the first time Mnt has had this problem, because there are reports of the same behaviors from previous years. Other than that, Mint is okay, although I am really not fond of Cinnamon.
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Project: CachyOS
Version: 250422
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-28
Votes: 4
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The only distribution that could bring back to life my 10 years old laptop with KDE without sacrificing the looks by installing a lightweight DE. It's actually impressive how much of a difference it is in terms of performance and optimization compared to other distributions. I also installed it in my main device and have been using it since almost 3 months, I was a little scared that since it was based on Arch it would be kinda unstable, but so far I've been loving it and all the features that are avaible from the CachyOS Hello program make it way more appealing than installing Arch and then manually configuring those features.
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Project: Feren OS
Version: 2025.03
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-27
Votes: 1
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Ive been waiting for this release for quite sometime and it was worth the wait.
Its the first of two releases that will move Feren to Ubuntu 24.04 most recent version and clean up/add to what is a really great design. Feren with its unique blend of Mint and Ubuntu features and customizations is an amazing distro to use. It offers you the ability to change its appearance and function very easily, with many options included.
For now its based on 22.04 and uses the 6.8 kernel and KDE 5.27 but eventually it will be based on 24.04 and KDE 6. Be aware as some who use newer hardware may have some issues and need to adjust. I didnt find any issues that caused problems for me and it runs very well on both my newer and older hardware.
If youre using the 2023/4 version still based on Ubuntu 20.04 you need to upgrade immediately by May, as support will stop for the older version. Feren provides an updater that works really well and will inform you right after you finish doing the standard updating, to upgrade to the 2025/3 new version. Ive done two already and had no issues at all.
Its nice to see this excellent distro back and finally catching up with its unique design. Definitely worth trying and I think most users will really enjoy this distro.
If you go to their website the news section has a detailed post on the new version, including features, changes and any issues. Given its based on Ubuntu youll know that any minor issues will be well documented and handled pretty quickly.
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Project: OpenMandriva Lx
Version: 24.12
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-27
Votes: 3
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At last! I've finally found a true user-friendly Linux distribution that ticks all the right boxes. This distro doesn't come with a stupid self-made Flatpak repository—instead, it leverages the widely-used Flathub, ensuring a broader range of applications are readily available. There's no outdated software here; it's a (solidly reliable) rolling release, so you always get the latest updates and features as soon as they're available.
Best of all, there's no Snap application format forced upon you, and you're not locked into a single desktop environment. You have the freedom to choose from several desktop environments, tailoring the experience to your preferences. The user interface is incredibly friendly—everything is explained clearly, translated into multiple languages, and designed to be intuitive and logical. It's such a relief to use a system that prioritizes user experience and convenience. This distribution truly understands what users need and delivers it flawlessly.
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Project: Zorin OS
Version: 17.3
Rating: 7
Date: 2025-04-27
Votes: 0
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I've been using Zorin 17.3 for 1 month, and even though it's a nice OS, I was using the Gnome version, and I've found it sluggish. I know I'm using a mechanical HDD, but I'm using the same type of HDD with MX Linux without losing the speed. Not only that, I do have a very fast computer with AMD Ryzen 5800 and 32 gigs of ram. It's fast loading, but that's all. It's a pain to configure the desktop to my liking. I like XFCE far better than Gnome. They'll do away with XFCE in a couple of years. So today I ditched it and went back to MX Linux.
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Project: CachyOS
Version: 250422
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-04-26
Votes: 3
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Installation failed
I wanted to change my Manjaro / Windows 11 dualboot to CachyOS / Windows 11 and also try CachyOS. The KDE Plasma installation failed three times on my Acer V5. I did not have these problems with Arch-Installl or EndeavourOS.
1st attempt with refind and btrfs
2nd attempt with refind and ext4
3rd attempt with grub and ext4
The 3rd attempt only had 2 errors (language selection and grub). In detail, not everything has been tested as perfectly as with the other systems, as the focus is on innovation.
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Project: Commodore OS Vision
Version: 3.0
Rating: 3
Date: 2025-04-26
Votes: 1
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I was intrigued by the "new Commodore" but quickly discovered it’s just a standard motherboard capable of running Windows. Hoping the OS might be innovative, I downloaded versions 2 and 3—only to be disappointed. As a longtime IT architect with 27 years in the industry and deep nostalgia for retro computing, I live for vintage systems and pushing their limits.
From the perspective of both new and old tech lovers, the Commodore OS misses the mark. It’s just a Linux distro cluttered with visual add-ons that hinder usability. The graphics are gaudy and lack true nostalgia. Underneath, it's just Linux running emulators—something you could do on any PC. Version 2.0 at least launched D64 files into VICE fullscreen, creating a fleeting illusion of magic. But version 3.0 lost even that—every D64 file opened in a standard window without executing the software.
This OS doesn’t bring back the old days. I get why Linux was used, but let’s talk about what a modern Commodore OS should embody. Actually, I scrapped that thought—because that era is over. An OS once provided access to hardware capabilities within strict limitations. Now, with modern hardware and software enhancements, those limitations fade away. I launch software from my modern PC onto my old systems. This OS forces users to confront that reality. If it ran on an actual Commodore, it wouldn’t have so much unnecessary flash.
A true Commodore legacy should continue the spirit of creativity—making visually and audibly compelling experiences accessible to everyone. The original community thrived on experimentation, pushing the limits of hardware with shared knowledge. A worthy successor should allow users to easily build games in that same spirit. Instead, Commodore OS 3.0 is just another cluttered UI with a BASIC implementation tossed in.
If this were a simple hobby project, I wouldn’t be tearing it apart. But since it's packaged with a paid product—essentially just a custom-designed PC case—it deserves scrutiny. Slapping on some nostalgic fonts and a blue theme isn’t enough. I’d rather stick with my preferred OS on my PC, where I can disable all the unnecessary effects if I want to (or enable them, if I choose). I don't need eSpeak barking at me or amateurish 3D backgrounds disrupting the interface.
When I think of Commodore’s legacy, I think of game engines like Unity and Unreal—tools that continue the tradition of accessible creativity. The "new Commodore" is a novelty item for people unsure how else to spend their money. The OS, at best, is an annoying installation process followed by a major letdown.
To the creator: I get that you enjoy this, and I hope you continue having fun. Maybe that is the legacy—living it, rather than preserving it authentically. But adding every open-source game to 3.0 was a misstep. These aren’t industry-crafted titles; they feel like amateur attempts. Commodore was about games, but its games were better.
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Project: Slackel
Version: 7.7
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-26
Votes: 0
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I have a asus eee pc 901 and after trying many of the only handful of 32-bit distros slackel seemed to fit the bill the most for what i wanted out of a 32-bit distro. It offers a livecd boots up well detects my wifi and connects to router via nmtui. I opted for the openbox wm which is nice and lite. The look and feel of it out of the box is distinctive but i think it looks good nonetheless. it has many good tools out of the box including an installer and being a slackware variant it has potentially a large package database particularly in slackbuilds.org to keep you happy. its nice to find a i686 distro thats this solid and with a nice style and polish to boot. The best and most interesting 32-bit distro that i have tried and most closely suits my needs.
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Project: openSUSE
Version: tumbleweed
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-26
Votes: 1
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My first choice and after years I go back to opensuse for my workstation. I'm using Manjaro, Void, Calculate for alternative purposes, but for work I choose opensuse. I prefer wm over de and because of this I go to void with hyprland, calculate with qtile and openbox with opensuse. Package managers: emerge is great but very slow, pacman is fast but very unstable, xbps is stable and fast but need some emprovements, zypper is stable and fast and simple for use - one of the best. SystemD vs OpenRC vs Runit: from my point of view openrc is loser, runit is very fast and simple, systemd gives perfomance and great oppotunities - it's not only init system it's powerfull tools for managing system and user defined servicies. With opensuse you never need to find alternativies for software, you take them from tonns of official repositories or rpm-packages.
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Project: EndeavourOS
Version: 2025.03.19
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-26
Votes: 7
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The best 'out of the box' arch based distro experience one could ever get. Endeavour is just perfect even for those people who are not tech savvy people. You just install it and start using it, the distro gets out of your way. Simple as that.
Their wiki is another top on the cake, if you have a question it's answered there, also the helpful forum is there. Their matrix and telegram channels are also very active. I myself helped and also learned alot while helping others. This is what makes this distribution so special. Their community is truly helping, and never acts toxic.
My best expierience so far, and I'm never going to leave this distro family. Not to mention that it is on bleeding edge, so all my hardware always gets the latest and greatest, yet very stable software.
If one would ask, of how would I describe this distro in one single word, I'd answer: passion. Everyone here has a passion towards linux, learning and evolution.
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Project: Linux Mint
Version: 20.3
Rating: 2
Date: 2025-04-25
Votes: 1
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Mint used to be a very slim distro suitable for old computers.
It is not so much anymore. Instead it got a lot of new design and features mostly well built for Cinnamon.
I like the Xfce desktop a lot better but it has a lower priority and can sometimes even seem to be a little suppressed in Mint.
The install procedure is easy and very tempting also for putting Mint on the same disk as Windows.
However in my experience the technical foundation is not always reliable enough, and that can sometimes make an install too risky. A distro with inadequate technical support is in my opinion not worth much.
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Project: Linux Mint
Version: 22.1
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-25
Votes: 2
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Linux mint wokrs on my performance notebook and my son's old notebook. My performance notebook series: Lenovo LOQ i7 and 64RAM NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 and and Lenovo Legion i7 32RAM NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060.
I am an AI Engineer and everything works. Also I used PopOS same notebook thats great.
Linux Mint some importants notes:
* Multiple or triple monitor(27 and 32 inch ) works great
* bluetooth (airpods, samsung galaxy buds, keyboards and mouse) works great
* GPU(nividia) works great
* development tools(jetbrains and vs-code)
Thanks Linux Mint Team
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Project: openSUSE
Version: tumbleweed
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-04-25
Votes: 0
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Holy Crap - what the ever living hell have I been doing without this OS! I remember using Suse way back when - before they went all commercial, and then I fell in love with Debian based OS's and I really did not check back with what Suse was doing since it was RPM based, and used that weird yast stuff - but WOWzers. I found a distro called Rhino Linux - very pretty and I liked trying the rolling, but it seems every time it rolls, something gets mucked up or rolled back to setting I have to change AGAIN! Given that and there is not a lot of info about the developers - it just feels kinda sketch no matter how pretty. Somewhere along the way, as I was browsing and reading about rolling distros - I read someone state "the best rolling version of linux is Tumbleweed - hands down" - hummm I wondered - what the heck, i'll take a look - haven't really looked at Suse or used it since floppies were popular literally - what the hell. Talk about a clean very nice OS - I started playing with it 48 hours ago and have literally replaced every Rhino install I had going. Used chatGPT to convert my needed scripts from Deb/YAD [why Suse woudlnt you have YAD?] based to RPM/Zenity pretty easy, again needed to use chatGPT to help me figure out why DWService refused to work out the gate - [xhost +SI:localuser:$(whoami) was the trick there] and I cannot stop using it. It is absolutely brilliant and the guys building should all commended for such a great looking OS. I've not totally abandoned my Debian love, Made it look a bit more MacOSish like Rhino pretty easily - and it is currently my nonMac desktop of chocie for the time being. Now this could all blow up in my face in a day or two, who knows - but my first impressions are really blown away for my needs (setting up a desktop replacement to use on all those windows 10 computers that MS no longer wants to work on after Oct 2025 - this right here is it! If your looking. Spend a day trying it and tell me different). Ill be giving it a go and see if its upgrades or something else kicks me back to Debian based and if that happens ill come back and date this review (if I can or start a new one). Give it a spin.
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Project: Pisi Linux
Version: 2.4
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-25
Votes: 0
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I tried Pisi Linux hoping it will be great as a daily driver. Here was my experience. Install was easy and had a very beautiful design, Kaptan is also useful if you want to setup your desktop much easier. But, when I started doing my first update on the system, it was completely bricked. You couldn't open any app and it would go straight to sleep, upon opening, sddm was gone, I couldn't install or update anything anymore with the Pisi package manager as it needed urlgrabber(it was installed). I have tried this like 5 times, with different methods, none worked. On reboot, sddm appeared again but it was in a login loop. If it works on your computer, that's great! Pisi Linux is really good for people that want to take a break from Debian/Ubuntu based distros and would like to go with something easy, not to get on the curve of Gentoo or Arch.
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Project: EndeavourOS
Version: 2025.03.19
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-04-25
Votes: 1
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So far I am enjoying this distro. Unbloated, bare minimum, everything else you need you can almost always get through pacman and yay. A few others software like spotify can be added by installing flatpak.
It's clean and lean distro, fast and reliable, I haven't faced any problem for the past two weeks I've been using it.
I opted for GNOME DE since that's my favourite linux flavor.
I wanted to do an Arch distro to replace my ubuntu desktop, and read that this distro is basically Arch with a gui installer. You can add recommended cli tools during installation like duf, hwinfo, inxi etc. and after complete what's missing easily, in my case I added lsd and yazi.
The only tool I removed was tldr and replaced it with the fastest tealdeer app.
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Project: EndeavourOS
Version: 2025.03.19
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-04-25
Votes: 0
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Chose the xfce version since I have an nvidia card and only xfce plays nice all the time. Well choice is a thing I was tricked into, I chose xfce and got an installer with a kde DE and it wouldn't install since kde was likely using xwayland and it really doesn't work and it also uses Qt which is "quite terrible" to use with nvidia so in the log windows it was debugging more than installing endeavour. They might think kde is nice but it's like a bully when it's on a system with nvidia so debugging is all it did then it couldn't pacstrap so instead of keeping all the files it spent 45 minuted downloading it just dumped the install with an upload to the web with the error pacstrap failed. That is a fail since the failure was to not have an xfce live DE to install the xfce version I chose on their website but that was online install and kde was the only offline so they should have saved me hours downloading and a failed install twice. Just make an xfce installer for xfce who are mostly nvidia users since beside a few WM's it's the only DE that works well with nvidia, gnome kind of works and kde is hot trash and buggy on it's own but with nvidia it's like a drunk that is blindfolded, worst choice possible and the one the decided to use that because it's pretty should not be making that choice again since they did not use logic just preference for their system. I like endeavour before and now it's the one that I deleted from my list of good smart distro's for this massive blunder in installer choice. I'd give it a -200 if I could for my wasted day and evening but that is impossible.
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Project: Ubuntu Cinnamon
Version: 25.04
Rating: 7
Date: 2025-04-24
Votes: 0
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I tried it. But while it did run well for the most part, I ripped it out anyway.
I have been running Mint for a long time. And Mint just runs flawlessly. I use Mint to run my TOR relay. Mint just runs and runs and runs. No so, UC.
First and right after the initial install I ran into a blueman error or blue tooth. That was a input/output error which was constant. Worse in the two days I ran UC I saw a bunch of those I/O errors for different things. Those errors were here and there, just smail, annoying things. I had to install Timeshift too. Why? That shouild have been included with the install.
On the second day I let UC, which I had UC completely setup, run quietly over lunch. An hour and a half later I came back and it was locked put tight. Everything I tried gave that input/output error. I tried to open a terminal, nope. Another I/O error. Yup, I had to boot it...again.
One thing I didn't like was that warm, medium brown color scheme that Ubuntu seems to love. Not me. Ick!
Nemo gave me trouble too. I wanted to set it 'my way' to which Nemo said no way. That was a reboot to fix when it shouldn't have been.
Lastly, I gave it a 7. UC is one of those you slip back in the oven because it is not quite done. I score it half baked.
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Project: Linux Mint
Version: 22.1
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-24
Votes: 1
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I have a couple PC's I just installed Linux Mint on. A Samsung Galaxy Book 4 and a Lenovo Ideacentre Mini.
All positives with both installations, everything works and it is so nice to see RAM use come way down from what Windows 11 was using. I was beyond being done with Microsoft and its incompetent Windows team.
Been using Windows since the 3.11 edition but I cannot look past the mess that is Windows 11. Windows 10 really was not so bad but its near the end so I had to find a alternative. I tried Ubuntu and had no issues other then I am not a fan of Gnome flavored Linux distro's. Cinnamon in Mint compares far more to what I grew up with in Windows UI. It just feels more familiar to me and navigating Mint reminds me so much of Windows 7 days. I have dabbled in Linux desktops for years but never decided to fully switch until Windows 11. No OS is perfect but I kept finding less and less reasons to stick with Windows. Most of what I do is within browsers and applications available on both Windows and Linux. Making the switch these days is easier then maybe even 5 years ago. Can't recommend Mint enough and its simple enough to make a USB bootable of Mint and try it out before ever installing it.
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Project: EndeavourOS
Version: 2025.03.19
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-24
Votes: 1
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After using Arch for YEARS, EndeavourOS is a fantastic, and easier to use Arch based distro.
I have done the unthinkable and decided against Arch itself for my own sanity. EndeavourOS is currently the leading, user friendly, AUR ready distro, so I decided to give it a try. Now this is likely going to be my main system for a LONG time. The install process (bare-metal) was by far one of the cleanest I've seen, albeit not baby-proof.
My only complaint about my installer was that I use a hidden network at home, and the WiFi detection (unless in terminal) didn't offer a connection method for hidden networks, this is very minimal and can easily be fixed with a non-hidden WiFi or a wired connection.
Post install, the EOS welcome package was very informative and showed that I already had 'yay' available for use. The AUR itself is a huge bonus to any Arch based distro, and I've never seen it so quickly available to use.
My only complaint about post installation, I had to manually add flatpak support. I don't know if this was something I missed in the installer or if EOS does not offer this "out of the box".
If you're an intermediate to advanced user, this is a very solid choice. If you're scared of a terminal (however minimal), then stay away from Arch-based.
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Project: EndeavourOS
Version: 2025.03.19
Rating: 1
Date: 2025-04-24
Votes: 0
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I cannot rate this negative. Only reason I would is someone dropped the ball, I tried with Nvidia drivers, default install efi, and the safe one. I'm upset now since I tried like 5 times to install it, boots fast and they must have used a vm to test this iso since it boot into a blank screen with the cursor that moves fine and nothing else, waited around a 1/2 hr and nothing else loaded. Someone needs to add quality control back to endeavour since it's acting like the shuttle did and is failing hard and they made a good installer before but now it's really bad.
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Project: Commodore OS Vision
Version: 3.0
Rating: 4
Date: 2025-04-24
Votes: 4
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Took the time to test it on a real i3 10105 16GB NVME 250GB PC. Strangest distro I tested by far. Music not only is annoying, it autostarts even if you stop it with the icon manually. Also, there is some sort of accessibility option that reads stuff and couldnt turn it of. So those 2 things run ON TOP of any game or app you run, making it an unbearable experience.
Also there is a stupid somewhat fun joke if you dont agree terms and conditions that will ask you several times stupid stuff as a joke.
Selection of games is really nice, has a LOT of games to test, and has a LOT of emulators already preloaded (RPCS3 for example).
Its a nice experiment which I think it sould be tuned so it isnt annoying as hell and make it usable.
Reminds me of a joke OS, but weights 30GB.
Will try future releases.
Also font is ugly and difficult to read.
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Project: Ubuntu Cinnamon
Version: 25.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-24
Votes: 3
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I’ve tried 9-10 Linux distributions over the past 10 years and I seem to always come back to Ubuntu. This new Ubuntu Cinnamon installed easily and is working as-advertised with no glitches. If MS Windows 11 does go ahead and includes their evil Recall “feature” in the next release I suspect there will be a stampede to Ubuntu and Linux Mint— as there should be. Unless they have to for work, I can't understand why anyone is still using any Windows OS bloatware/spyware/adware. My main OS is Mac OS, but I love the Linux OS, too.
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Project: Void
Version: 20250202
Rating: 6
Date: 2025-04-24
Votes: 2
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I wouldn't recommend this distro to newbies, nor even to intermediate users. I personally found it harder to set up than Slackware or Arch.
Installing the base system from a rootfs tarball via an already running system was dead simple. I'm using the glibc version with no boot loader (I'm already using refind as boot manager).
I'm running multiple distros on this laptop; they each have a dedicated 200MB boot partition. Void is the only one that cannot host 2 kernels by default because its initramfs is huge (100MB). Debian and Arch use 23MB and 28MB resp. and that includes a 4MB plymouth theme. Manually removing unused firmwares (amd/nvidia) dropped the image to 84MB which is still way too big to start up a system.
Many packages are missing: you have lightdm but you miss lightdm-sick-greeter; you have cinnamon and xapps but you miss xviewer, etc. Compiling the missing software is a real pain because you have to handle all the dependencies yourself. There has been some pull request to add them (for example slick-greeter) but they received no attention, no comment, and got automatically closed with no reason given.
All in all, once set, the system is running perfectly fine (it has been for a month now). It requires some efforts in the beginning but it's then a very good alternative to the major distros.
Pros :
- It's an independant distro (not based on something else).
- No systemd
- Its packages are relatively up-to-date.
- Apart from firmwares, Void is very light with as little bloat as possible.
Cons:
- You're not getting any help from the OS when you want something done. For example, if you install a package that has a service (sshd, lightdm, dbus…), you are responsible for both configuring it and enabling it. This contrasts with distros like Debian or even Arch where the package manager does it for you.
- Setting up a working DE from scratch reminds me of all the dirty tinkering we used to do in the late 90s.
- The documentation is very succinct, lack a lot of crucial information, and is almost useless if you don't already have a very solid linux background.
- Setting up the sound system was quite difficult.
- Lack of software support.
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Project: antiX
Version: 23.2
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-24
Votes: 5
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I just started using Antix after having run Lubuntu for a period of time but also having tried others. Antix thus far has demonstrated superior performance compared to Lubuntu and some others when it comes to running mulitple programs simultaneously. It does not page excessively or become unresponsive leaving me sitting unable to work. I am using an older Dell dual core 64 bit machine with 4G ram and a physical hdd. Antix is not thrashing it too pieces or overloading the hdd with too much work. I am impressed. This is how I experienced Linux years ago; runs like a tractor and is as reliable as one. This machine still has life left and with Antix I will probably get it and I can acually get some work done on it. It has proven itself to be a great distro in my situation.
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Project: Commodore OS Vision
Version: 3.0
Rating: 7
Date: 2025-04-23
Votes: 1
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An interesting project aimed at retro gaming enthusiasts with a LOT of inbuilt games, both native Linux (200+) and obviously Commodore 64 and Amiga games too. But so it should have with a massive 35 GB ISO to download (use the torrent option, it's well seeded and downloads quickly)
It has an annoying sound demo that autoplays and get's quite irritating till you learn how to shut it up. But then it just comes back anyway! I couldn't find a way to permanently stop it because the settings manager(s) didn't work running it live from USB.
Based on MX Linux but with a heavily customised MATE DE, it's certainly different and it's clear a lot of effort has been put into the gaming side, but perhaps not enough on getting other OS features working properly.
I think 7 is a fairly generous rating for what seems like a work in progress, but worth checking out.
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Project: CachyOS
Version: 250422
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-04-23
Votes: 1
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This brought my older laptop back to life. I initially had Mint on it. It was having troubles with Wifi for whatever reason. Honestly, I prefer kde plasma over gnome. It seems more polished and overall decent looking. Everything worked right out of the installation of CachyOS. The best part of this is it based off of Arch. The way it compiles and sets up the kernel to work right with your hardware is truly amazing. I noticed a performance boost because of it. This is not going to provide a "miracle" to certain types of hardware. You shouldn't expect it to. The way it handles updates provides robust stability and security. Some may find themselves having to still use commands to get some things to work. This doesn't bother me. I had to use a few commands to get my printer working. It was super easy to do. Linux distros have come a long way. CachyOS is a major step in the right direction. You can easily try it out for yourself either in a virtual machine or booting from a USB/CD.
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Project: CachyOS
Version: 250422
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-23
Votes: 3
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Flawless configuration and gaming experience, OOTB. I have a Intel desktop with a Geforce 4070 card.
It is really awesome that CachyOS builds and provides additional software (that is not part of the regular Arch repos), like Heroic Launcher.
Been using for regular browsing, studying, coding, gaming (Steam, Heroic Launcher with Epic and GOG games) native games and also Windows games using Proton. No headaches, no hiccups, everything is fast, even software updates. The wiki is a great complement to the Arch Wiki. Ah, of course, the community is really supportive.
Props to ptr1337 & team!
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Project: Commodore OS Vision
Version: 3.0
Rating: 4
Date: 2025-04-23
Votes: 2
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Almost nothing to do with Commodore other than being plastered with logos. Full of animations and sound effects that get old quickly.
Its loaded with prepackaged emulators and roms. Does it work? Yes, but not something I would ever want to daily drive. For a retro gaming station? I would prefer a UI that is more geared towards just that.
Its their "vision" of a future Commodore operating system if you ignore Amiga and its OS which still gets updates, or Aros and Morph OS which are actual descendants.
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Project: MX Linux
Version: 23.6
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-04-23
Votes: 12
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MX Linux is a beautiful balance between control and user friendliness that I've never seen in a linux distro before, I'm not a great programmer or linux user by any means but many distros always feel like they are focused on one of those two traits entirely and so they either end up missing features or packing in way too many needless features, but MX Linux seems to be running pretty fast and stable while having lots of decently accessible customization, builtin utilities, and easily interpreted documentation. Its not as simple as something like ubuntu but I think if you're on this website reading this your probably more than capable of handling it because its certainly easier than something like a base debian install even with a preinstalled Desktop Environment.
One of the cool features is the mx package manager because it allows you to install packages from a few different repositories like debian-testing and once its done installing it'll automatically disable the repo so if you install with a different method you don't have to manually update the sources list. I tried both the kde and xfce version and personally i prefer the kde version because it looks a little nicer but the fact they support/maintain the xfce version is awsome aswell for older hardware where ever bit of resource usage.
I think these people deserve all the support and and encouragement they can get and hope they stick to their curent philosophy unlike some other big linux distros because its been very relieving to finally find that balance between function and form :)
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Project: Commodore OS Vision
Version: 3.0
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-04-23
Votes: 3
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If you are looking for an Linux OS with that classic Commodore OS feel this is the best option. It a highly customized version of MX Linux which is already really good. my only concern is in making Commodore OS Vision is that some of the drivers were cut out. For example MX Linux runs just fine on an older Macintosh hardware but Commodore OS Vision has issues, I think C=OSV would do better if it more of these hicups are cleared up since its foundation is already solid with MX Linux & Debian as the base. Hopefully version 3.0 is better at working with a larger range of hardware our of the box.
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Project: OpenMandriva Lx
Version: 24.12
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-23
Votes: 7
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After a few months running ROME 25.04, I feel I can give a good idea of what OpenMandriva is like.
Linux distros are a dime a dozen. OM is a unique distro, unlike any other and must be approached as such. Do not go into it thinking, "I already know how to do this." They do things a bit differently. A quick is a sure way to kill your system. Read the errata and ask some questions. Do it right and this is a solid performer. I have Steam running and gaming is painless.
Now, lets talk about what sets OpenMandriva apart. The community is great! Everyone just seems to get along. The dev team has grown a bit in the past few months and I am impressed by what they accomplish. File a bug report and it will be worked on. File a bug report on something that should be upstream, and it gets fixed and taken upstream. File a package request and it gets worked on. It's not an overnight thing, but they address them, first come, first served, for the most part. I have never seen a group of people work so hard to make everyone happy.
Cons? They could use more team members and some funding would be nice. I wish I could afford to donate some big money.
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Project: Commodore OS Vision
Version: 2.0
Rating: 5
Date: 2025-04-22
Votes: 0
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As the old advert used to go…
Are you keeping up with the commodore?
the commodore is keeping up with you. ..
except the real commodore didn't.
for all its fans, it was a failure, losing market share to Amstrad, Apple IBM and MS-DOS PCs.
as for this tribute skin
it has far too much many bells and whistles / unwarranted attack surface for my liking.
If you are interested in nostalgic computing
check out the AWB (Amiga Work Bench ) demonstrated by the Arcan project.
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Project: Lubuntu
Version: 24.04
Rating: 2
Date: 2025-04-22
Votes: 0
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Wanted to give a friend an old netbook. Thought Lubuntu would be ideal.
No such luck. Software updater missing from base install. Required command line install.
Mouse pad requires file configuration for tapping instead of button use.
System is slow and unresponsive.
It's neither intuitive nor simple for older folks with aged hardware.
System is slow and unresponsive.
Altogether a disappointing experience.
I don't see my friend being up to the task of updating every 2 years.
He's not a fool, just not tech savvy.
All I wanted to do was save him some money.
Would not recommend.
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Project: Kubuntu
Version: 25.04
Rating: 6
Date: 2025-04-22
Votes: 0
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Very good distro, but a recent bug caused all upgrades from 24.10 to brick the computer and force to go into the tty. It's not a big issue if you know what you're doing, but kubuntu is suppose to be an easy disrto where non-linux fans can start. I use to recommend it to everyone, because it's ubuntu with a windows-ish desktop tat looks familiar. I can't recommend it when smaller distro don't release with a major, system breaking bug when doing things as simple as updates. I hope they'll take care of it soon and that the next update will be stable at least.
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Project: Murena
Version: 2.9
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-22
Votes: 3
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We're not allow to connect our phones to the network at work unless they are running an approved OS. Apple and Google are not (European parent company rules), but /e/OS is.
Installation was not nearly as onerous as I expected. I have bricked phones, so I'm always nervous.
I've seen some poorly executed custom ROMs, so I was bracing for something terrible but it's really quite awesome, particularly for my primary purpose as a PDA but with call/text capability.
Right now, I run it on an old Pixel, but I will make it my daily driver on my next phone. Very pleasantly surprised. 🙂
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Project: CachyOS
Version: 250330
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-22
Votes: 2
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Great distro, all hardware within the PC works right out of the box. Configuring my HP Color Laserjet, and my HP Inkjet were easy as well. It's fast, very fast in fact, and because of how well it runs I haven't used my dual boot configuration to even bother with Windows anymore.
I am able to do all of my normal work with Web and Graphic design. Documents like spreadsheets and word processing are handled by Libreoffice, Thunderbird easily replaces Outlook, etc.
Gaming is another great point with this distro, Both with Steam and with games installed via Lutris. World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, and Marvel Rivals all play absolutely flawlessly!
I couldn't be more pleased with how well it all runs and "feels" in CachyOS!
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Project: Ubuntu Unity
Version: 24.04
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-22
Votes: 3
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If you like streamlining, this could be a great distro for you. I wasn't in the Linux community back when Unity was the "official" Ubuntu desktop, but I wish I was after seeing this.
Even though the website warns that Ubuntu Unity is not technically considered stable, I have experienced few issues with this high quality distro, and after using this, I think that the Unity desktop should not have been completely discarded by Canonical.
The user experience is smooth, the system is stable, and Unity has features like the HUD, which allows you to search through the main menu of an app, helpfully located in the same location (the top bar) no matter what app you use, assuming of course that they support integration. Plus, all the apps, surprisingly including snaps, like Firefox, are well integrated and preform very well.
I was surprised, but pleased that the default file manager is now Nemo, instead of Nautilus. I don't know if Nemo was originally unique to Cinnamon, but it fits right in with Unity. The themes are getting more consistent with every release, and I appreciate the work going into it.
Overall, this Distro is not the lightest, though not the heaviest, but certainly the most beautiful distro I have used with the exception of Kubuntu or Debian with KDE, and I have used Elementary OS, so that's saying a lot. While it is less customizable than many Distros, I have found that this is because the desktop is already so efficient, anyone would be hard pressed to improve it. However, if you want to customize it more (read obsessively) then since it runs with Compiz, there's more potential than anything else I've seen, possibly tying with KDE, and easily surpassing Cinnamon. (Just be careful- as ccsm warns, configuring Compiz is best left to those who know what they're doing. This is not legal advice.) It is an absolutely wonderful daily driver that I depend on for stability and usefulness on two PCs already- and I rarely install the same Distro twice.
I highly recommend this. However, if you've already decided that you don't like Unity... then why are you reading this review?
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Project: Kali Linux
Version: 2025.1a
Rating: 3
Date: 2025-04-21
Votes: 1
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I really like kali when it works.
With the update problems, not so much.
Oh no something has gone wrong screen, changes everything.
As soon as I load the updates the system is unusable, and can't be logged into.
I wrestled around with the fixes a little bit, to no resolution on my end.
I had kali gnome on three different computers, the updates killed them all.
So on one laptop I reinstalled the march 19 iso.
It worked grreat until I installed the updates again.
Same issue,
Another thing that is weird about kali.
One iso for live testing, and one iso to install the system.
All the other big linux names have live, and install on same usb iso.
I can see having an update issue now and then?
But, to not be able to login at all is too big of an issue for me.
So I am abandoning a system I had great promise for.
Terry
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Project: Fedora
Version: 42
Rating: 4
Date: 2025-04-21
Votes: 0
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I have installed Fedora on a Testingsystem with two SSDs and a 2TB harddisk. Installing was a little difficult compared to Mint, MXLinux or SuSE and some other systems I have tested.
But, I don´t wanna use Wayland and there wasn´t an alternativ choice. A no-go for me.
And the KDE-Desktop is not the first choice using with Fedora, I think.
But what kills me is, after installation and downloading over 2GB Update-Files, the system want to restart and I get an restart-screen looking like Windows!
I want a Linux and NOT something looking like Windows!!!
Never!
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Project: FunOS
Version: 24.04.2
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-04-21
Votes: 2
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I’m running FunOS on two PCs: a brand new $99 Amazon mini PC and a 13-year-old i7-2600. It runs great on both. FunOS lets me run the latest Ubuntu LTS, and up-to-date apps, but with the feel of a stripped down Openbox distro circa 2012. Joe’s Window Manager is similar to Openbox except FunOS has broken down the JWM configuration into 8 easy-to-edit files. (This compares with the 1,000 line XML nightmare that configures Openbox.) Major changes I made to the install I use as my daily driver: I replaced the JWM panel with a Tint2 panel and substituted the Cinnamon Nemo file manager. The rest of the apps are the ones I always install. If you want an extremely bare bones Ubuntu, FunOS is a good starting point.
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Project: EndeavourOS
Version: 2025.03.19
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-21
Votes: 8
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Some time ago I used EndeavourOS in Dualboot, but now I installed it as the only OS, before that I used Nobara OS (which is very good) but chose EndeavourOS because of the rolling release of updates. The system is flexible and customizable, and it behaves stably. Getting the latest kernel versions, I don't experience any problems with the operation of the entire system. Having installed everything I need for everyday use, it has only 1250 installed packages. A big plus for me is that there is no need to use flatpack, as the AUR repository has many different programs.
Endeavour OS runs incredibly fast and stably, the flexibility and deep customization options are truly noteworthy, grants you complete control over your system.
In conclusion, Endeavour OS is an excellent operating system that combines the power of Arch Linux with ease of use. It's a superb option for those seeking a reliable, fast, flexible, and pleasant OS to work with. Highly recommended!
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Project: Linux Mint
Version: 22.1
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-21
Votes: 0
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I’ve been using Linux Mint 22.1, nicknamed "Wilma," for a bit now, and wow, it’s fantastic! This version runs on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, which means it’s super stable and supported for years. It’s perfect for anyone, whether you’re new to Linux or a total pro.
The Cinnamon desktop looks great and feels so easy to use. It’s like a mix of modern and familiar, so you won’t feel lost. Everything runs smoothly, even on my older laptop. Apps like Firefox, LibreOffice, and GIMP come ready to go, so you’re set from day one.
Mint 22.1 has some cool updates. The Software Manager is quicker now, and finding new apps is a snap. The icons and themes got a nice refresh, making everything look fresh and clean. It also feels faster, and my battery lasts longer. The new audio system, PipeWire, makes music and videos sound crisp and clear.
I love how safe Mint feels. It gets regular updates, and there’s a simple tool to set up a firewall. Plus, Timeshift is a lifesaver—it backs up your system, so you can fix things if something goes wrong.
Honestly, Linux Mint 22.1 is a joy to use. It’s simple, reliable, and makes switching from Windows or Mac a breeze. If you want a free, powerful system that just works, give Mint 22.1 a try. You won’t be disappointed!
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Project: Linux Mint
Version: 22.1
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-21
Votes: 0
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The easiest Linux to install and use in my opinion. On my old PC (i5 4440, GTX 960, 8GB DDR3) just works. Tried to experiment with Ubuntu and Fedora but there is always something wrong. Mint Rules! .
.
.
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Project: Arch Linux
Version: current
Rating: 8
Date: 2025-04-21
Votes: 19
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I used Arch for over 10 years and eventually switched to Void Linux. I was tired of being a test pilot of untested software and I was tired of endless system maintenance. The system should work and not create an endless monotonous meaningless task. Arch is not as light and not as customizable as it is usually believed. Most other distros also allow individual installation of packages, so you can build a light DE without extra dependencies on any Linux with a standard installer. Maybe have to tinker a little with the list of packages.
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Project: EndeavourOS
Version: 2025.03.19
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-04-20
Votes: 5
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After getting frustrated with various issues across several Linux distributions—excluding Fedora, Ubuntu, and openSUSE—I finally landed on something that just works. I wanted a distro that provides the latest packages out of the box, with minimal need for tinkering. Enter EndeavourOS (Arch-based), and it’s been flawless. Everything—from the system setup to development tools—is running on the latest versions and working smoothly. Hats off to the Arch and EndeavourOS teams for putting together such a solid and up-to-date platform. You've absolutely nailed it.
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