10 Promising New Distributions... in 2020 (TECMint)

[Jason]

TECMint has an list of promising new distributions for 2020. They're not all new to 2020 but they might be "new to you". I know that Buster must be really bored of re-installing the same old distros so here you go!

Is anybody interested in checking out any of these? Let us know!

[buster]

Going thru the list reminded me of all the things I tend to avoid - OSs that are new, that use xfce, enlightenment, that have specialty uses. But thanks for posting the list.

[Jason]

You don't like OSes that are new? Or that use Xfce? I remember, probably less than a year ago, saying that Xfce had an outdated look and you disagreed with me at the time. Get out of your comfortable bubble and try new things, Buster. You'll be glad you did.

Sparky goes back a long way and of course, you've reviewed Robolinux before.

[buster]

"saying that Xfce had an outdated look"

I don't like xfce, or distros that use it exclusively. MXLinux now has a kde flavour, and it's quite good for me. Found the original with xfce not to my liking.

[fox]

A lot of these are built on Arch. They wouldn't interest me because they are rolling release distros, although I have tried one Arch-based distro not on this list. My comments on each:

• Condres - cloud computing Arch-based. No interest.
• ArcoLinux - Arch-based, XFCE minimalist. No interest.
• Sparky - light, Debian-based, LXDE or Enlightenment. I did try this once at Bob's recommendation, and I tried it again to see if it would boot quickly on my troublesome 2015 iMac. (It didn't.) No interest in trying it again.
• Flatcar Linux - Built for containers. No interest.
• NuTyX - A kind of Linux from scratch. Not aesthetically pleasing and probably more advanced than I can currently handle. Not interested at present.
• Robolinux - Windows-type desktop; built to facilitate Windows apps. No interest.
• Archman - Essentially Arch with a GUI installer. No interest; I already know how to install Arch without a GUI installer.
• Void - Independent distro with a hybrid binary/source package management system. Not interested at present.
• Modicia OS - Ubuntu-based with "fast" settings and Wine HQ pre-configuration. Runs XFCE desktop. Picture of desktop looks unattractive. Website not particularly informative. Doesn't interest me at the moment.
• Bliss OS - Android-based. Might look at this for fun when I get the chance. I'll at least look at its website.

I like seeing lists like this. Even if I have no interest in trying the listed distros, it's good to read about what enthusiasts are creating in Linux. (And BSD, Jason, even if I don't run it.)

[Jason]

I'd almost think you're not interested in Linux, Fox. ;-) I thought the list was interesting because it had distros in there I haven't seen before instead of the usual lists. Not sure I'd try any either.

I sometimes think we think too much about distributions in Linux when with most distros you can customize them exactly the way you like including the desktop environment (DE). Instead of bouncing from distro to distro, we should look at the apps and how we can "own" the desktop environment we like.

Start with Kubuntu and decide later you don't care for the DE, just install a different one. No need to install Ubuntu or Ubuntu MATE.

Don't like Linux Mint Cinnamon? Add Xfce and use that instead.

I remember that years ago, Linux Mandrake (later Mandriva) came with multiple DEs installed and you could switch between them at login. Some distros let you pick between some DEs on install but the choice is usually limited. Of course, if you're using entirely different packaging systems, you may need to install a different distro. But I think in the club we talk a lot about distros instead of talking about desktop environments with tips on how to customize them, install different DEs, compare different apps and so on. The concept of looking less at distros was something I've seen Chris Titus Tech talking about on his YouTube videos.

For example, I found out through him that VLC is actually crap compared to other media players available for Linux. You'd have to look at his video on it to find out why. You might disagree but I've been a big VLC player for years and I see a lot of points including some issues that I thought only happened with me.

But I digress, this is really a whole other topic.

[fox]

Jason, I agree that the list is interesting, for the same reason you found it interesting. It just so happens that none of the 10 listed excited me enough to try it. I wouldn't say that I distrohop much anymore, but I do at least try out live distros fairly frequently. Among the most recent I tried out: Peppermint, MX Linux, antiX, Lubuntu, Devuan, Haiku, PopOS!, Q4OS, Nitrux, PCLinuxOS, Mageia, ExTiX. Some of these were just to see if they would boot quickly on my troublesome 2015 iMac; some wouldn't boot on it at all on it (Haiku, PCLInuxOS, antiX). I was interested in LxQt in LUbuntu. I still have PopOS! on my Mac mini, though I don't play with it much. I was interested in revisiting Trinity in Q4OS. ExTiX just seemed quirky and worth a look. Peppermint was the first distro specifically designed for web apps, and I wanted to see if it would have any advantage in using with Microsoft and Google web apps (not really); I still have it installed in a VM. I'm always looking for new ones to try out - just for fun and just to see something different.

[Jason]

I hadn't heard of Haiku and didn't know you had tried out Nitrux. It has pretty stiff requirements if I remember correctly.

[fox]

Haiku stemmed from BeOS, so its interface is quite different from other Linux distros. I can't remember what happened when I tried Nitrux; it may not have booted on my iMac.

[fox]

I just added another distro to my tryouts: EndeavourOS. This distro came out of the former Antergos, which I never did try. Endeavour is Arch-based, and more Arch-like than Manjaro. Using the latest 5.8 kernel, I was curious whether it would boot, and boot quickly, on my 2015 iMac. It did boot; took 2 1/2 minutes. It also didn't recognize my wifi card, which was surprising. What it did do was to identify my exact video card, which I hadn't seen any distro do on this computer. The desktop is nicely set up, with an attractive wallpaper. The live disk boots into a help window with lots of options. I think it's worth a look to anyone who is interested in trying Arch-based distros.

[Jason]

It's one I've been thinking about, too. From what I understand, it uses the Arch packages directly, not like Manjaro, which vets them first.

[fox]

That is my understanding as well. Before you try it, you might want to look at the May DistroWatch review.

[Jason]

Thanks for the link. One of the points I would have brought up was some of the cutesy style button headings judging by the screenshots. For what appears to be a serious distribution, it's an odd choice to make. I don't know if they've changed that oddity since May when this review went up. Did you notice the cutesy button text? The text detailing the Budgie desktop environment in the installer was cute but funny but it's an installer so you wouldn't be looking at it all that time.