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Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu Blogger Chooses the 5 Best Linux Distros of 2022 (omgubuntu.co.uk) 74

Posted by EditorDavid from the year-of-the-Linux-desktop dept.
Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland shares an article listing "the five best Linux distros of 2022" — as chosen by the editor of the blog omg! ubuntu!

"Spoiler: they're not all Ubuntu-based!" the article begins, also noting that it's not a ranking of superiority of importance, but rather "giving a shoutout to some of the year's best Linux releases."

Its top-listed non-Ubuntu distro? Fedora Workstation 37
Fedora Workstation is a flagship desktop Linux distro for good reason: it's robust, it's reliable, it's impeccably produced — it distills what a lot of folks seek most: a "pure" GNOME experience, delivered as devs intend, atop a strong and stable base.

Autumn's offer of Fedora 37 Workstation features GNOME 43 — an update that majorly improves the GNOME Shell user experience with Quick Settings. There's also a more-featured Files rebuilt in GTK4/libadwaita; a revamped Calendar app; a Device Security panel; Raspberry Pi 4 support; GRUB instead of syslinux on BIOS; and more.

Folk often overlook Fedora Workstation because, as Linux distros go, it's rather understated, unassuming, and drama-free. Yet, it is a finessed and functional distro that forgoes fancy flourishes to focus entirely on its performance, its integration, and its cohesion.

If you've never tried Fedora you're missing out, so sort it!
There were two other non-Ubuntu distros on the list:
  • Manjaro 22.0 'Sikaris'. "As Arch-based Linux distros go Manjaro is one of the best.... Everything from the shell to the package manager to bespoke touches and apps are cohesive, considered, and choreographed. Manjaro 22.0 isn't just a distro, it's an experience."
  • Linux Mint 21. "As well as being easy to use, Linux Mint ships with an interesting selection of pre-installed software that aims to cover most users' needs, including some homegrown apps that are rather special."

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Ubuntu Blogger Chooses the 5 Best Linux Distros of 2022 More

Ubuntu Blogger Chooses the 5 Best Linux Distros of 2022

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  • Top 3 of 5? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    There's only 3 distributions on this top 5. And since when Linux Mint isn't ubuntu based?

  • Manjaro over EndeavourOS?! (Score:3)

    by ozmartian ( 5754788 ) on Sunday January 01, 2023 @04:56AM (#63171882) Homepage
    C'mon now with Manjaro. I started on it many years ago and always had package pain every 6 or so months. Switched to pure Arch and never looked back, zero issues for 6 years and counting. EndeavourOS, the evolution of Antergos, is a much better distro if you're not willing to go full Arch.
    • Why go through all this package pain with arch distros and constant updates when I can go easy and smooth with debian/ubuntu based distros?
      • Does Ubuntu offer continuous updates now? I switched to Arch myself because I got tired of having to do a complete reinstall/rebuild. i have been just updating Arch for around six years now.
        • nice to hear ... but big question is ... did you need to make a change from init.d to system.d in those 6 years?
          • I haven't even thought about it. It has systemd now, don't know if it already did when I started. I would imagine it would have been handled with package dependencies no?
            • the problem is the startup configuration for processes is more than just a package, if anything goes wrong in the conversion from init.d to system.d your linux might not be running anymore, at least that's my guess ... I had to reinstall MX Linux in order to go to the new release because they changed from init.d to system.d. Also I don't think it's easy to just change from one to the other, I once wrote a configuration for a system.d service, and you can customize that file via different commands ... and I
              • systemd automatically generates units for all sysv init scripts at boot, every boot.
                The generated unit files do nothing but what sysv init would do: run the scripts and react correctly to their exit codes.

                So from that perspective, at least, there's no real conversion to systemd. You install it, and it continues to run your sysv init scripts as sysv init would have.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by lsllll ( 830002 )
          Pretty much. Not the same as what Arch offers, but there's seamless upgrades between versions. I don't remember the last time an upgrade broke anything. So you get updated for your version until a new version comes (updates continue for a while on the old one) and then you upgrade.

        • You have not needed to reinstall a Debian based distribution to upgrade to the next version anytime this century.

          • Was it a normal update or was there a big long document full of special commands you needed to run?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by lsllll ( 830002 )
              In the past 10 years it's completely automated. It asks you if you want to replace your modified config files, like sshd_config, and you have the option of keeping it, renaming it, etc. Besides that, there's nothing earthshattering.

  • Spoiler, don't read if you want to be surprised (Score:4, Funny)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday January 01, 2023 @04:59AM (#63171886)

    #1 was Ubuntu 22.04.

    • Its not really a spoiler. Its always Ubuntu. Debian for those a little less worried about ideological purity (or stability. I like Ubuntu, but if I MUST spin up a server VM instead of a Docker [the "let some other chump sweat the details" solution], its gonna be trusty old reliable Debian)

    • He's not wrong, as apt remains superior to rpm, and otherwise they are generally built out of the same pieces. Consequently the only Linux distribution of interest to the average user is Ubuntu, and unless you want something really simple (like Slackware) the only other distributions really worth thinking about are Debian and Devuan unless you've got special needs and/or enjoy jumping through hoops.

    • Ubuntu has really gone downhill. Terminal ads, knowingly shipping filesystem corruption inducing zfs drivers, there's more and more user hostile decisions.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by lsllll ( 830002 )
        Firefox and Snap need to die a slow, agonizing death. There's nothing more painful than your AJAX calls failing all of a sudden because Firefox wants you to restart it to use the new version.

      • I had the same exact terrible experience with their Firefox snap. I removed snap from my system and installed the Mozilla PPA and a PPA for Chromium and haven't looked back. I've been so much happier without snap shitting up my system.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dohzer ( 867770 )

      And you won't believe #5!!!

  • Blogger does a microsoft (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "Ubuntu the best ubuntu evar!"

    This, along with the systemd flamebait, is the "editors" trolling the readership.

  • Its what you end up with, after you've tried all the derivatives and packagings of it.

    True, it uses systemd. Nothing is perfect!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Budenny ( 888916 )

      By the way, here is how to install Debian 11 using runit. Disclaimer, I have not tried this yet.

      https://medium.com/@KodingKidd... [medium.com]

    • Devuan is a fork of Debian precisely to avoid systemd.

      Being systemd averse myself, I've used it. Though currently I mostly use pclinuxos. Between pclinuxos and devuan I can't say which is better. It pretty much depends on the user. But they both seem to be well maintained.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by thsths ( 31372 )

        Most people have no strong feeling about their init process.

        And that's why Ubuntu is so successful: it comes without the ideological baggage.

    • Debian only ships systemd if you use the default installer. You can switch to something else immediately after install. Or just install Debian without systemd in the first place, which seems far cleaner to me:

      https://github.com/ChibaPet/in... [github.com]

      Devuan is a good option, and they let you choose your init on install, but you pay for the right default choice of packages by having a smaller, slower mirror network that falls behind when Amprolla dies. And you still end up with libsystemd

  • Why no MX Linux? Isn't it the top distro on distrowatch?

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday January 01, 2023 @07:25AM (#63172016)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by leafz ( 4572491 )
      Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is based on Fedora -- not the other way around. Fedora isn't based on anything. It's a tier 1, original, non-derivative distribution.

  • Alternative headline (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Sunday January 01, 2023 @07:58AM (#63172046)

    "Random guy lists 5 distros to start distro-fanboy war and create clicks for his blog"

  • Distros matter less these days (Score:3)

    by xack ( 5304745 ) on Sunday January 01, 2023 @08:34AM (#63172088)
    It's all a congealed blob of GNU/Gnome/systemd/flatpak/wayland for most distros. Even if you swap out a component it's still the same old penguin guts inside. Back when distros came as boxed cds there was more commitment to a distro, now it is all downloadable with only using a usb stick for the first boot.

  • No thanks (Score:3)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Sunday January 01, 2023 @09:23AM (#63172138)

    >"If you've never tried Fedora you're missing out"

    Not really. I left Fedora years many ago because of the focus on the newer/nasty Gnome 3 (and later) and because it was too unstable, it seemed they enjoyed breaking things and developing at lightning speed.

    Ubuntu has the same focus but worse in other ways- Unity, Mir, Gnome 3, Wayland, telemetry, and then their obsession with Snaping everything (frustrating, wasteful, messy, insecure, confusing). They are philosophically way off the mark for me.

    Seems most everyone I know has gravitated to Mint and Manjaro (those not still using Debian). At home I am using Mint now, and pretty happy with Cinnamon, although I am more comfortable with KDE (something that seems to be disappearing... used Mandrake/Mandriva/Mageia for many years and was very happy until the updates and support dried up).

    • Totally on spot. Ubuntu is way off the road, and Mageia has at this point infrequent major updates (Mageia 8 was released Feb 2021 and Mageia 9 is still in alpha-1). I consider openSuse but I'm not very familiar with the maintenance.

      • >"Totally on spot. Ubuntu is way off the road, and Mageia has at this point infrequent major updates"

        Mageia was the best KDE distro I had ever used. It is a shame it has just languished. Not just the updates- but the availability of needed packages got slimmer and slimmer, so I just coudn't deal with it anymore.

        >" I consider openSuse but I'm not very familiar with the maintenance."

        Yep, I considered openSuse, and like you, have had zero experience with it. It is probably nice, just not enough mindsh

    • The one thing I really don't like about Fedora is the assumption that everybody's using GNOME. Back when GNOME 3 was coming out, I took a good look at it, decided that I didn't want anything to do with that mass of bloatware and ended up with Xfce. I still use Fedora, but I have to keep telling translating GNOME-centric suggestions into something I can actually use.

    • Yeah, Fedora is garbage as a daily driver. Any update is a roll of the dice. There are plenty of RHEL clones he could have chosen.

    • Funny enough, Fedora offers one of the better KDE experiences though.

  • No RPM based distros (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Red Hat really hurt themselves with the CentOS Stream fiasco, the "modular" packages, and the mess of the already obsolete python updates. Since their purchase by IBM they're not even stable for industry use, because they lack recent enough components for the latest industry tools, especially the default Java and Python.

  • Linux Mint/Cinnamon Saved Linux Desktop (Score:3)

    by BrendaEM ( 871664 ) on Sunday January 01, 2023 @12:38PM (#63172312) Homepage
    When Ubuntu was floundering with Unity, and Gnome was building--whatever Activities they think they are doing, Mint/Cinnamon was Linux's last foothold on the desktop.

  • Autumn's offer of Fedora 37 Workstation features GNOME 43 â" an update that majorly improves the GNOME Shell user experience with Quick Settings.

    GNOME is what's wrong with Linux today, whether we're talking about GNOME itself, or about how Debian included systemd because GNOME came to depend on it.

  • Ubuntu? While it wants to move everything to snaps, resulting in issues with Firefox? Slow boot times?

    Manjaro? With its reputation of an endless stream of problems with the distribution itself and management?

    Why is this even news? I wonder what distrowatch has to say about the distributions of the year. I'd trust their judgment more then this joker.

  • Blah, blah, blah. I have been hearing this stuff since the late 90's in one form or another. The constant going back and forth, a veritable tower of babel, and people wonder why linux hasn't taken off on the desktop. It's like going to a party with a bunch of weirdos, yeah, it looks interesting at first but by the end of the night you just want to get the hell out. I gave up on the linux desktop, happily typing away on my mac mini m1. But I love my debian in containers and vm's. The linux desktop has so m

  • Is the first linux distro that I was unable to install on all my computer. And I had a Linux distro on my computer since 1993.

  • "Folk often overlook Fedora Workstation because, as Linux distros go, it's rather understated, unassuming, and drama-free. Yet, it is a finessed and functional distro that forgoes fancy flourishes to focus entirely on its performance, its integration, and its cohesion."

    Nah, bro. People "overlook" Fedora because their version changes are way more aggressive than is necessary. They update faster than is necessary and rarely get it right on the first try. If I wanted to be caught in a constant update loop t

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by leafz ( 4572491 )
      Sounds like the last time you tried Fedora was like 10 years ago. Times have changed.....bro.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by lsllll ( 830002 )
        I used Fedora exclusively from Fedora Core 4 until Fedora 22, but finally gave up because they never had a seamless upgrade path. I then moved to Ubuntu and then to Debian for two reasons: seamless upgrades was a plus, but I work on RHEL at work and figured it's be good to get used to the Debian environment as well. I may be willing to give Fedora another shot if the upgrades are seamless now.
      • They really haven't.
        For shits and giggles, I tried Fedora 36 when it came out, in a VM. Broke 3 times before Fedora 37 came out, the upgrade of which rendered the VM unbootable.

        Reverted to pre-upgrade snaptop, and left it on 36... Now oddly stable.
        It's like once they're not actively jamming through new package versions with little to no testing, the breaking stops.

        But I mean, that's always been what Fedora does. I wasn't upset by it. It was expected.

      • Sounds like the last time you tried Fedora was like 10 years ago. Times have changed.....bro.

        What's that old saying? "When someone tries to tell you who they are, let them."
        The last time I decided to kick my own ass and try it was about four years ago. Same old Fedora.

      • Additional proof that you're irredeemably full of shit:

        Fedora 37 was released on 2022-10-18. End of life is 2023-11-14.
        So just over a year after release you'll either have to upgrade or stay on a non-updated system.

        How exactly have times have changed.....bro?

  • I made the mistake of installing it when I was avoiding those horrible new desktops.

    It is the only linux distro I've ever had which has hard locked my computer. Regularly. No ssh. No console.

    And I've used them from back when slack and debian were the only real distros around.

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