Everyday use.

HankP

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I have Kali for pentesting/work, but I am curious what other people use as a day to day OS? I have heard cases made for Mint, Ubuntu, and Arch. Any particular input on why one is better than the other? Curious.
Hank
 


Mint and Ubuntu are beginner friendly.
Arch is not beginner friendly and requires more of your intervention.

Other than this, Kali and Arch are similar in that both are rolling-release distros, meaning packages get updated as soon as there is upstream release, so expect more frequent updates using these two.

Depending on how much you'll be using Kali tools it might be worth to have permanent install, but since you're asking this question it tells you're not ready to use Kali as daily OS.

It also depends on you, if you tell more about how you plan to use Linux and what are your existing skills and knowledge about Linux then somebody could give more relevant response.

e.g. do you plan to play games and browse the internet most of the time?
What about your hardware? you could run Kali in VM if your hardware is capable.
 
No one distribution is any better than another, some are a little bloated [Ubuntu/mint 22 etc] some are lightweight and will run on minimal resources [Bunsen labs, tiny core, Linux Lite etc] but most fall into the medium weight builds, some are designed for pen-testing only [although some people do try to turn them into everyday desktops, most will fail] and the fine few are built to run soly from pen-drive and ram [all the puppies and tails for example]
so we come to which is best this is my answer
 
As Brickwizard stated, there is no "better" distro. They will all do the same thing. Its about convenience through availability based on the rigs intended use case.

On my personal machines I use Arch Linux. For my servers I use Debian/Fedora. Generally starting with minimalist installations and building for purpose.

I use Arch Linux on my machines simply because I've used it the longest; and for no other reason other than that. I lied, one more reason. They've got the coolest logo ;). (Can be changed manually in software like neofetch/fastfetch).

There's little I require of my personal Arch Machines that I couldn't do on Debian of Fedora. They'll all deploy the same desktop environments, they'll all install the same software, ect. ect. ect.

The only thing that differentiates the distros for the average user is what desktop environment and utilities come pre-installed onto the system that enables them to do the least amount of work and configuration possible on the system. That's the reailty of the "distro" war.

Do you want to have someone else do 100% of the work for you, or do you want to DIY. The only question that really matters ;)
 
Mint and Ubuntu are beginner friendly.
Arch is not beginner friendly and requires more of your intervention.

Other than this, Kali and Arch are similar in that both are rolling-release distros, meaning packages get updated as soon as there is upstream release, so expect more frequent updates using these two.

Depending on how much you'll be using Kali tools it might be worth to have permanent install, but since you're asking this question it tells you're not ready to use Kali as daily OS.

It also depends on you, if you tell more about how you plan to use Linux and what are your existing skills and knowledge about Linux then somebody could give more relevant response.

e.g. do you plan to play games and browse the internet most of the time?
What about your hardware? you could run Kali in VM if your hardware is capable.
Kali is currently run in a VM, yes. It is not my primary OS. (I don't use it frequently enough) However, I am new to Linux in general, which is why I ask. I am interested in what others find usable/non-usable in the various distributions. I am interested in Linux primarily for its performance over Windows/Mac OS. I like that there is a specific command for literally everything. Thank you for your input.
 
No one distribution is any better than another, some are a little bloated [Ubuntu/mint 22 etc] some are lightweight and will run on minimal resources [Bunsen labs, tiny core, Linux Lite etc] but most fall into the medium weight builds, some are designed for pen-testing only [although some people do try to turn them into everyday desktops, most will fail] and the fine few are built to run soly from pen-drive and ram [all the puppies and tails for example]
so we come to which is best this is my answer
I am merely curious of others' experience with Linux...
Thank you for your reply.
 
As Brickwizard stated, there is no "better" distro. They will all do the same thing. Its about convenience through availability based on the rigs intended use case.

On my personal machines I use Arch Linux. For my servers I use Debian/Fedora. Generally starting with minimalist installations and building for purpose.

I use Arch Linux on my machines simply because I've used it the longest; and for no other reason other than that. I lied, one more reason. They've got the coolest logo ;). (Can be changed manually in software like neofetch/fastfetch).

There's little I require of my personal Arch Machines that I couldn't do on Debian of Fedora. They'll all deploy the same desktop environments, they'll all install the same software, ect. ect. ect.

The only thing that differentiates the distros for the average user is what desktop environment and utilities come pre-installed onto the system that enables them to do the least amount of work and configuration possible on the system. That's the reailty of the "distro" war.

Do you want to have someone else do 100% of the work for you, or do you want to DIY. The only question that really matters ;)
Coolest logo? sign me up.
 
@HankP
This site is useful to narrow down which Linux distros are good candidates for you:

It asks you a series of questions, and at the end offers you few candidates based on your needs and expertise.
 
G'day Hank. If you are using kali then you are far from being a beginner.

To put it simply, the most straight forward distro with the least number of dramas would be Linux Mint

it just works.
 
I am merely curious of others' experience with Linux...
I have been using [and playing with] Linux for over 20 years, so when I say no one is better than the other ,I mean it,
I have reduced the number of build I run to 2 main builds, Mint LMDE [I used to use Mint Ubuntu based but found it getting bloated] on my desktop and Parrot Home edition on my laptop,
the thing to think about is the age of your machine, if under 3 yrs old you may find it will run better on MX-Linux with AHS, if its over 10 yrs old then you may find Bunsen labs or Linux Lite a better bet. just download a few and take them on a test drive to see if they work with your kit.
 
I prioritize listing the machine and the distribution installed on said machine in order of daily driver or needed onmy traveling Th 6th generation ThinkPad X1 cabon or My HP Z420 work station.

Z420 workstation =SlackWare 15.0
ThinkPad X1 Carbon = Linux Mint Xfce addition
 
@HankP
This site is useful to narrow down which Linux distros are good candidates for you:

It asks you a series of questions, and at the end offers you few candidates based on your needs and expertise.
Thanks!
 
G'day Hank. If you are using kali then you are far from being a beginner.

To put it simply, the most straight forward distro with the least number of dramas would be Linux Mint

it just works.
I am hearing that a lot! I will check it out
 
I have been using [and playing with] Linux for over 20 years, so when I say no one is better than the other ,I mean it,
I have reduced the number of build I run to 2 main builds, Mint LMDE [I used to use Mint Ubuntu based but found it getting bloated] on my desktop and Parrot Home edition on my laptop,
the thing to think about is the age of your machine, if under 3 yrs old you may find it will run better on MX-Linux with AHS, if its over 10 yrs old then you may find Bunsen labs or Linux Lite a better bet. just download a few and take them on a test drive to see if they work with your kit.
That's good advice. Thanks!
 

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