The best Linux distro in 2018 (#1 in distrowatch.com)
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Everyone who uses Linux has heard of the big names like Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, and Mint. Few people know about smaller distros like Manjaro. Those people don’t know what they are missing. The article will explain ‘why I use Manjaro and you should too’.
Manjaro is one of the few Linux distributions that are not based on Ubuntu. Instead, it is built on the continually cutting edge Arch Linux.
1. Arch Without All the Hassle
Arch is a great distro, but unfortunately, if you want to install it you have to do a lot of work. Don't worry Manjaro takes all of the hassle out of installing Arch. Like most distros, all you have to do is download the ISO file, write it to a thumb drive, and install it. The Calamares installer gives you a smooth experience similar to Ubuntu’s Ubiquity installer.
2. Great Hardware Support
When installing Linux, it can be a pain to get all the hardware working. When you install Manjaro, it scans the system and installs the required drivers. On one of my computers, I have an old wireless card. Every time I install a new distro, I have to go through some extra steps to get that drivers working. When I install Manjaro, it works out of the box.
3. Don’t Have to Worry About PPAs
Before I switched to Manjaro, I used both Lubuntu and Linux Mint. The one thing that really bugged me was having to deal with PPAs (Personal Package Archive). Basically, a PPA is a repo for just a single application or a small group of applications. For those who never had to deal with this, allow me to explain.
Every time I wanted to install a piece of software that was not in the offIcial Ubuntu repos, I had to link a new PPA to my system via the terminal. Once it was linked and I had run sudo apt-get update, then the program was available for installation.
While adding the PPA doesn’t take a lot of time, it is a pain. When I upgraded from one version of Linux Mint to another I has a hell of a time getting the PPA I used switched over. If you use a lot of PPAs, it can quickly become a rat’s nest.
Then there’s the security aspect. There have been several times in the past when people have gotten a hold of old and unused PPAs and used them to push out malware.
Since Manjaro uses Arch as a base instead of Ubuntu, it doesn’t support PPAs. Instead, you have access to the Arch User Repository. for more info, read on.
4. Tons of Software
Just because Manjaro doesn’t have PPAs, don’t think that it lacks in software. The Manjaro team maintains a large software repository. Beyond that, Manjaro users also have access to the Arch User Repository. The AUR is made up of user created scripts to install applications not packaged for Arch (or in this case Manjaro).
Quite a few of the applications in the AUR were either originally packaged for Ubuntu or are pulled directly from Github. The scripts in the AUR then modify the .deb files, so that they can be installed on Manjaro.
5. Latest and Greatest without Killing Your System
One of the problems that Arch users often have, because it is a rolling release, a new package will be released and it will break their system. The Manjaro team works to avoid that by testing new packages before making them available to users. While this might make Manjaro slightly less than bleeding edge, it also ensures that you’ll get new packages a lot sooner than distros with scheduled releases like Ubuntu and Fedora. I think that makes Manjaro a good choice to be a production machine because you have a reduced risk of downtime.
6. Switching Kernels is Easy
In order to switch kernels on most distros, you have to use some terminal wizardry. Manjaro has a nice little application that allows you to install as many kernels as you want. This is handy if you have an older laptop and it doesn’t like a new kernel. In my case, I have an HP laptop that slows way down when you use a kernel newer than 4.4. and switching kernels was just a couple of clicks away.
7. Switching Kernels is Easy
There are a number of distro communities (including Arch) that are known for not being very noob friendly. The same is not true for Manjaro. The official Manjaro forum is a great place for new people to find help. They also have forums available in over 29 languages for non-English speakers
Source
https://manjaro.org/
https://distrowatch.com/
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I just switched from Manjaro to KDE neon. So far so good.
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@sudo
how about KDE neon ? . is that based on ubuntu ? . whats is the difference between ubuntu and kde neon ? -
@root kde neon ships with latest kde software & repos managed by kde project. Basically, you get access to all kde software as soon as they are released just like in rolling release distros. Since it's ubuntu based, you have access to default ubuntu repos as well.
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@sudo ok bro. i'll check kde, currently im using manjaro with kde desktop.
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The title should mention "DESKTOP". Am I wrong? Manjaro is not the best linux distro. It just a good alternative for a desktop OS.
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@varuna
you can see on distrowatch.com . manjaro is a linux distribution for desktop environment.
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@root
මම කිව්වෙත් ඒක තමයි. Best linux distro නෙවෙයි, good desktop distro එකක් කියලා. Best linux distro කියන title එකට desktop කියල එන්න ඕනෙ නේද කියල ඇහුවෙ 🙁 -
@varuna
මේක linux distribution එකක් category එකක් අදාල නැ distribution එකකට category නෙමේ ඔයා කියන්නේ editions ගැනද ? (ex : Server edition)
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@ciaompe
ආ ඔව් 😆 මයි බැඩ් -
@varuna
check this out
https://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Desktop
https://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Servercategory වලිනුත් හොදම distro එක ගන්න පුළුවන්. overall distrowatch එක හිට්ස් වලින් තමා ගන්නේ හොදම එක , servers වලට වඩා linux desktop වල use වෙනවනේ
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@ciaompe
Thank you. Noted 🔥 -
distrowatch walin actual percentage eka ganna ba userslage, me dawas wala wadipurama search karanne mona distro ekada kiyala witharai eken track wenne,
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@sudo
ow ekanam aththa, eth gdk durata rank eka accurate 80% wage. -
Manjaro KDE user here,
My desktop :)
Definitely would not recommend Arch Linux for a beginner though. Starting off with Ubuntu based distros is what I'd personally recommend though I myself jumped into Arch since the beginning.
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Debian forever
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@crxssrazr93 cool man.
but manjaro isn't arch. whole point of arch is to build the OS as you see fit from bottoms up right?. Manjaro tend to cater new users. They even advertise it as a beginner OS. I think arch basted distro like Manjaro is far more easier because of the AUR. New users hate to use PPAs and random sites to get their software.
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@sudo I tend to disagree. Here's why.
Arch Linux is considered to be a derivative work of Linux, similar to Debian which is used as a base for many distros.
Manjaro is a distro that builds upon Arch Linux, similar to how Ubuntu is based on Debian.
I would agrue that, despite Manjaro being a good beginner distro to kick start with, and all the added benefits of AUR repos, I would state that it is definitely not as beginner friendly and approachable for "absolute beginners" who wants to, or has transitioned fully from Windows/Mac OS platforms, compared to the Ubuntu-Based support and ease of use it provides when it comes to the common user.
Due to the nature of ArchLinux, there are moments you have to dig dirty and go Technical, and if you're not enthusiastic about that, the community won't help either. Not all problems have solutions always or it may work for someone and the exact same thing may not work for you.
I don't approve of Ubuntu based distros at all and would highly recommend you'd rather go for Arch Based distros, as the learning curve absolutely makes you a better person but one should be aware that you can easily run into so many issues that need manually fixing and it may break your config altogether.
For someone who can afford to spend such time and patience (if need be) to get up to speed with how they want things to be, go for it.
Also, same as with PPAs, you can't always trust everything AUR, but generally speaking, yes I agree they're less suspectable to injections.
Apart from AUR, Flatpak, Snaps, AppImages are other ways of packaging scheme we can use, which is nice xD
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@crxssrazr93 i don't know man. I know few people who switched directly from windows to manjaro. But i agree a normie might not be able to do that.
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@sudo said in The best Linux distro in 2018 (#1 in distrowatch.com):
@crxssrazr93 i don't know man. I know few people who switched directly from windows to manjaro. But i agree a normie might not be able to do that.
Exactly. I switched from Windows to Arch Linux back in the day too but the linux community kept pushing me back because I didn't know how to troubleshoot and fix or approach most problems that may arise if you use Arch. I use Manjaro extensively. Everyone was like "Arch is not for you, get a more user friendly os instead blah blah." Thank god I didn't give up but I did learn alot though it was a real sh*tstorm at the beginning. 10/10 would do it again.
