Too Many Linux Distributions?

If I need a Linux install for anything then I download Mint. I suspect most folks will act similarly unless they’re have a specialist function in mind such as security pentesting or privacy. The many smaller distros are fun and often provide alternative GUIs or ways of working however no one is forcing anyone to download them! Someone moving from Windows to Linux will do a quick Google and end up on Mint or Ubuntu or perhaps PopOS, and that’s no bad thing.
 
Bluecube said:
If I need a Linux install for anything then I download Mint. I suspect most folks will act similarly unless they’re have a specialist function in mind such as security pentesting or privacy. The many smaller distros are fun and often provide alternative GUIs or ways of working however no one is forcing anyone to download them! Someone moving from Windows to Linux will do a quick Google and end up on Mint or Ubuntu or perhaps PopOS, and that’s no bad thing.
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The only bad thing about Mint is it is not rolling, no need for bleeding edge, but updates to the latest tested & bug free software wouldn't hurt.
 
I am afraid I disagree, to me that's like saying there's too much choice when buying a car. I like the choice, the freedom to have what I want and see which suits my needs etc best. Anyone coming from Windows, even just typing into Google, is likely to work out fairly quickly that they will be well served by Ubuntu, Pop OS or Linux Mint.

In the past I have used Ubuntu, SUSE Linux, Debian and Pop OS. Recently installed Arch on a spare machine to see what it was like, but ended up settling on Manjaro KDE, which I dual boot with Windows 10 for compatability. Quite liking Manjaro and definitely liking KDE over Gnome right now.
 
You'll probably find 90-95% of users will use the top 5 distros, and then the rest will have tiny user bases.

All our Dev environments are either centos, rhel, Ubuntu, or fedora. no one bothers with anything else.
 
Sure there might be 300+ but how many are quality and have good support and don't ask much of the users technical competence.

The ones which tick all those boxes deserve to be popular with the masses.
 
I pretty much stick to Debian and Ubuntu personally - a lot of these distros are like all these crypto alt coins - launched with a lot of fanfare and largely go nowhere.
 
Edward78 said:
I am thinking of Manjaro, just the bleeding edge packages are a bit scary. Not wanting to get a buggy package..
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Manjaro dont do bleeding edge, They are generally a little later than plain arch. Roughly a fortnight or so. If there is a problem with say plasma they skip it until the next revision/build.
 
Edward78 said:
I am thinking of Manjaro, just the bleeding edge packages are a bit scary. Not wanting to get a buggy package..
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I've swapped to Manjaro after mainly being a Ubuntu and derivatives user; generally I'm finding it very, very stable. I guess you might be unlucky if you install loads of packages from the AUR, but I've yet to have anything buggy.
 
My biggest grip with Linux. Most of them are buggy as hell and not user friendly.

They keep releasing new version to beat other distro without ironing out the bugs first.
 
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