Recommended Linux distros

2025-08-15T03:26:55Z

198.41.227.192: /* Android */ Grammar

A '''[[wikipedia:Linux distribution|Linux distribution]]''' (commonly called a '''distro''') is a complete operating system built around the Linux kernel. It typically includes system software, libraries, a package manager, and various applications. Distributions vary in purpose, design, and target users, offering different default desktop environments, package formats, and system tools.

Linux distributions have existed since the early days of Linux, with early examples including '''[[wikipedia:MCC Interim Linux|MCC Interim Linux]]''' and '''[[wikipedia:H.J Lu|H.J. Lu's]]''' bootable "Boot/Root" floppy disks. Most modern Linux distros are derived from one of four major families: '''[[wikipedia:Debian|Debian]]''', '''[[wikipedia:Ubuntu|Ubuntu]]''' (which is based on Debian), '''[[wikipedia:Red Hat Enterprise Linux|Red Hat Enterprise Linux]]''', and '''[[wikipedia:Arch Linux|Arch Linux]]'''.

If you're experiencing compatibility issues with a particular distro on your hardware, visit [https://linux-hardware.org Linux-Hardware.org] for detailed compatibility reports. Use the [https://linux-hardware.org/?view=computers Computers] page to check support for specific systems, or try the [https://linux-hardware.org/?view=search search tool] to look up individual components.

This is a list of the current recommended Linux distributions, organized by category.

==General use-focused==
These Linux distributions offer a complete Desktop experience with a large user base.
See [[Linux_guide_for_emulators|guide to setup/download emulators]] for instructions for these distros.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Latest version
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Based on
! scope="col"|Desktop Environment
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu] and its flavors
|[https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop 24.04 LTS] (Desktop) [https://ubuntu.com/desktop/flavours Other flavors]
|x86, ARM
|Debian
|GNOME, Others (depending on flavor)
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://www.linuxmint.com/ Linux Mint]
|[https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php 22]
|x86
|Ubuntu
|Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://cachyos.org/ CachyOS] 
|[https://cachyos.org/download/ 25.x.x.] (Desktop) 
|x86
|Arch Linux
|KDE Plasma, GNOME, Others (depending on flavor)
|{{✓}} ||{{{~}}
|-
|[https://manjaro.org/ Manjaro]
|[https://manjaro.org/download/ 24.x.x]
|x86, ARM
|Arch Linux
|KDE Plasma, Xfce, GNOME
|{{✓}} ||{{{~}}
|-
|[https://www.raspberrypi.com/ Raspberry Pi OS]
|[https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ 2024-03-15]
|ARM, x86
|Debian
|PIXEL
|{{✓}} ||{{~}}
|-
|[https://pop.system76.com/ Pop!_OS]
|[https://pop.system76.com/ 22.04 LTS]
|x86 ARM (preview)
|Ubuntu
|GNOME (COSMIC)
|{{~}} ||{{{✗}}
|}

===Experienced users===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Latest version
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Based on
! scope="col"|Desktop Environment
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://archlinux.org/ Arch Linux]
|[https://archlinux.org/download/ Latest]
|x86 ARM and others unofficially
|Independent
|Any
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://www.debian.org/ Debian]
|[https://www.debian.org/ 12.5]
|x86, ARM and many others
|Independent
|GNOME (and others)
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://fedoraproject.org/ Fedora] Fedora Atomic
|41 [https://fedoraproject.org/workstation/ Fedora Workstation] [https://fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/ Fedora Atomic]
|x86, ARM and many others
|Independent
|GNOME (and others)
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|}

==Gaming-focused==
These Linux distributions target to be a complete gaming package. Emulators are either pre-installed or easily installed. You can use [https://www.emudeck.com/ EmuDeck] which is an installation script that helps you get started with emulation. For a comparison check out: https://github.com/ChimeraOS/chimeraos/wiki/OS-Comparison
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Latest version
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Based on
! scope="col"|Desktop Environment
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://bazzite.gg/ Bazzite]
|[https://bazzite.gg/#image-picker 2.3.0]
|x86
|Fedora Atomic
|KDE Plasma, GNOME
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}<ref group=G>Currently only recommended for x86 PC handhelds, like ROG Ally, Legion Go and HTPC setups.</ref>
|-
|[https://nobaraproject.org/ Nobara Project]
|[https://nobaraproject.org/download-nobara/ 40]
|x86
|Fedora Linux
|KDE Plasma
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}<ref group=G>Currently only recommended for desktops PCs.</ref>
|-
|[https://garudalinux.org/ Garuda Linux] (KDE Dragonized Gaming edition)
|[https://iso.builds.garudalinux.org/iso/latest/garuda/dr460nized-gaming/latest.iso?r2=1 25.x.x]
|x86
|Arch Linux
|KDE Plasma
|{{✓}} ||{{~}}
|-
|[https://chimeraos.org/ ChimeraOS]
|[https://chimeraos.org/download 45]
|x86
|Arch Linux
|GNOME
|{{✓}} ||{{~}}
|-
|[https://store.steampowered.com/steamos SteamOS] HoloISO
|[https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/1B71-EDF2-EB6D-2BB3 SteamOS 3.7] [https://github.com/holoiso-staging/releases HoloISO 1.5]
|x86
|Arch Linux
|KDE Plasma
|{{✓}} ||{{~}}
|-
|[https://github.com/LukeShortCloud/winesapOS winesapOS]
|[https://github.com/LukeShortCloud/winesapOS/releases 4.0.0]
|x86
|Arch Linux
|KDE Plasma
|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}
|-
|[https://draugeros.org/ Drauger OS]
|[https://draugeros.org/download 7.6]
|x86
|Ubuntu
|KDE Plasma
|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}
|-
|[https://get.regataos.com.br/ Regata OS]
|[https://get.regataos.com.br/p/download.html 23 "Honeycomb"]
|x86
|openSUSE
|KDE Plasma
|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}
|}

<references group=G/>

===[[Emulators on Linux|Emulation-focused]]===
These Linux distributions offer complete emulation packages for PCs, single board computers, consoles and other systems.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Latest version
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Frontend
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://batocera.org/ Batocera.linux]
|[https://batocera.org/download {{BatoceraLinuxVer}}]
|ARM, x86
|[[EmulationStation]] fork
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[Lakka]]
|[http://www.lakka.tv/get/ {{LakkaVer}}]
|ARM, x86
|[[RetroArch]]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://www.recalbox.com/ Recalbox]
|[https://www.recalbox.com/download/stable/ {{RecalboxVer}}]
|ARM, x86
|[[EmulationStation]]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[RetroPie]]
|[https://retropie.org.uk/download/ {{RetroPieVer}}]
|ARM
|[[EmulationStation]] fork
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://www.elemenity.com/products/elemenity-os/ Elemenity OS]
|[https://www.elemenity.com/products/elemenity-os/ 1.1]
|ARM64
|Custom (supports [[RetroArch]])
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[https://wimpysworld.com/projects/retro-home/ Retro Home]
|[https://github.com/wimpysworld/retro-home/releases 22.189-alpha1]
|ARM, x86
|Ludo
|{{✗}} ||{{TBD}}
|}

==Android==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!colspan="6"|AOSP [https://www.esper.io/blog/aosp-missing-features-google-gms What does “AOSP Android” really mean?]
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Latest version
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Frontend
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|LineageOS
|[https://switchroot.org/ 15.1] (<abbr title="based on the Nvidia Shield TV build of LineageOS">[https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#nvidia Switch]</abbr>) [https://konstakang.com/devices/rpi3/ Raspberry Pi 3 builds] [https://konstakang.com/devices/rpi4/ Raspberry Pi 4 builds] [https://konstakang.com/devices/rpi5/ Raspberry Pi 5 builds]
|ARM
|Trebuchet
|{{✓}} ||{{~}}
|}
See the [[Android emulators#Hardware features|Hardware features]] and [[Android emulators#Enhancements|Enhancements]] of sections of [[Android emulators]] for Android-x86 and its forks.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!colspan="6"|Android on x86
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Latest version
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Frontend
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|BlissOS
|[https://blissos.org/index.html#download 16.9.x]
|x86
|Android-x86 fork includes 3 launchers: Taskbar, Quickstep and Smart Dock.
|{{✓}}<abbr title="BlissOS is the currently maintained + supported + newer kernel + hardware support + up-to-date + featured + open source Android x86 distro.">*</abbr>||{{✓}}
|-
|Berry OS
|[https://github.com/yui0/berry-os/releases 2023-02-22]
|x86
|Based on Android-x86 and Bliss OS Mini Desktop launcher is pre-installed.
|{{✓}}||{{✓}}
|-
|Android-x86
|[https://www.android-x86.org 2022-03-25]
|x86
|Trebuchet (KitKat version)
|{{~}}<abbr title="Development activity on Android-x86 has significantly slowed down.">*</abbr> ||{{~}}
|}

==Multiplatform-focused==
These Linux distributions provide system development environment experiences on a wide range of platforms, including different hardware architectures.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"|Name
! scope="col"|Latest version
! scope="col"|Architecture
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
|[https://t2sde.org/ T2 SDE]
|[https://t2sde.org/download/ 25.4]
|[[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips|Alpha Arc ARM (incl. ARM64) Avr32 HPPA (incl. HPPA64) IA64 M68k MIPS (incl. MIPS64) Nios2 PowerPC (incl. PowerPC-64 and le) RISCV (incl. RISCV64) s390x SPARC (incl. SPARC64) SuperH x86 (incl. x86-64)]] and theoretically any GCC/Linux supported one.
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|}

==See also==
{{For|Ports of the Linux kernel on consoles|Homebrew and hack Roms#Operating_systems}}
{{For|Running Linux on PlayStation 2 (using the PS2 Linux kit)|PlayStation 2 emulators#Linux for PlayStation 2}}
{{For|Running Linux on PlayStation 3 (using OtherOS)|PlayStation 3 emulators#OtherOS}}

==External links==
* [https://distrowatch.com/ DistroWatch]
* [[wikipedia:List of Linux distributions|List of Linux distributions]] (Wikipedia)
* [[wikipedia:Comparison of Linux distributions|Comparison of Linux distributions]] (Wikipedia)
* [[wikipedia:Comparison of instruction set architectures#Instruction sets|Comparison of instruction set architectures]] (Wikipedia)

[[Category:Linux|*]]

Emulation General Wiki - User contributions [en]

Recommended Linux distros