[ShadowAce]

I also highly recommend Pop!_OS for those interested in Ubuntu-based distros.

It is very easy to install and very quick.

[ShadowAce]

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[martin_fierro]

[PAR35]

I use Distrowatch for guidance.

https://distrowatch.com/

Looks like Mint is still near the top of the list over there.

I liked the old Puppy as an internet client; I haven’t tried the newer versions yet.

[buridan]

Rocky Linux, a free RHEL clone, is available as a release candidate and, soon, as a regular release. The founder of the CentOS project is behind it. Available at rockylinux.org.

[Pollard]

Kubuntu — comes with the Plasma desktop. Very slick and very fast. I did an update this morning and it was a rare one where I had to restart. I clicked restart and started counting. I was booted back up fully in 29 seconds on a dual boot system with Win7 Pro on the flip side. Windoze 10 would have been 29 minutes.

My Win 7 Pro is not allowed to connect to a network or get on the internet. I have updates completely turned off. Runs like the day I installed it, which still isn’t as fast as Kubuntu.

I wouldn’t recommend Ubuntu because it now uses the Gnome desktop which allows for very little customization. You can get Gnome Tweak tools which helps a little but it’s still limited.

Lubuntu/Xubuntu are good lightweight versions.

If you want answers, anything Ubuntu based is your best bet because it’s so widely used. With a lot of the other ones, ask a question and be prepared to be told how stupid you are by super genius nerds.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Home PC has been on Fedora for 10 years - have hardware raid and everytime a HDD dies just slide a new one in and rebuild the raid array. Have done in place upgrade between 10 and 20 times of fedora version.

Work laptop is Ubuntu 18.04.

Virtual work desktop is effectively RHEL.

They all “just work”.

I don’t get too worked up about distros. Main thing is that there are enterprise, server distros and then there are client centric distros but for an individual user use case - they all just work.

[asinclair]

I recently learned that Ubuntu 20.04 has TWO separate editions: the desktop one, and a server edition. So if one is building stand-alone servers (like Web servers) and don't want the bloat of Gnome and NetworkManager, server edition is the way to go.

[CodeJockey]

Not sure about all the others but RHEL will run on IBM Power Systems (Power 9 Processor) alongside IBM i, and AIX.

IBM Power systems are probably one the most scalable, from a hardware perspective, systems out there.

[Paal Gulli]

It's pretty idiotic to proclaim to be picking the "best" of anything and then avoid all mention how "best" was determined, and more to the point, best at what?

[Varmint Al]

Linux Mint Cinnamon all the way for me since Windows XP's EOL. After reading how to install Arch Linux, I see why they say it is difficult to install. Installation of Linux Mint Cinnamon is a snap. Download the Linux Mint Cinnamon iso file. Make a bookable USB with it. When It boots from the USB iso, it is running Linux Mint. Follow the instructions on the screen and fill in the blanks and Voila! it is installed. No command line instructions involved.

Good Hunting... from Varmint Al

[Glad2bnuts]

I am about to build a new PC, as the old one is sitting in a 10 year old tower, MB and chipset.

Instead of going with a Windows project, how to build one based on Linux, and how hard it will be to migrate files, browser links etc to the new one.

Am I crazy? I am simply tired of of throwing money at Gates, as I will have to pay for Windows 10 Pro, which will go away someday, or I will have to pay again if my hard drive takes a dump.

Any tips? Links to helpful instruction? I have built PC’s before, but never without using a Windows system to run the processor.