Changes

;This is a list of the current recommended Linux distros in their respective categories.

==General use-focused==

*;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"|Architecture

! scope="col"|Based on

! scope="col"|Active

! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]

|-

|x86, ARM

|Debian

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[https://www.linuxmint.com/ Linux Mint]

|x86

|Ubuntu

|Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[https://manjaro.org/ Manjaro]

|x86, ARM

|Arch Linux

|{{✓}} ||{{{~}}

|-

|[https://www.raspberrypi.com/ Raspberry Pi OS]

|ARM, x86

|Debian

|PIXEL

|{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|-

|[https://pop.system76.com/ Pop!_OS]

|x86<br/><small>ARM (preview)</small>

|Ubuntu

|{{~}} ||{{{✗}}

|}

|-

! scope="col"|Name

! scope="col"|Architecture

! scope="col"|Based on

! scope="col"|Active

! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]

|-

|[https://archlinux.org/ Arch Linux]

|x86<br/><small>ARM and others unofficially</small>

|Independent

|Any

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[https://www.debian.org/ Debian]

|x86, ARM<br/><small>and many others</small>

|Independent

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[https://fedoraproject.org/ Fedora]<br/><small>Fedora Atomic</small>

|x86, ARM<br/><small>and many others</small>

|Independent

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|}

==Gaming-focused==

;:You can use [https://www.emudeck.com/ EmuDeck] which is an installation script that helps you get started with emulation.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! scope="col"|Name

! scope="col"|Architecture

! scope="col"|Based on

! scope="col"|Active

! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]

|-

|[https://bazzite.gg/ Bazzite]

|x86

|Fedora Atomic

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[https://chimeraos.org/ ChimeraOS]

|x86

|Arch Linux

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|SteamOS 3<br/><small>HoloISO</small>

|x86

|Arch Linux

|KDE Plasma

|{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|-

|[https://nobaraproject.org/ Nobara Project]

|x86

|Fedora Linux

|KDE Plasma

|{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|-

|[https://github.com/LukeShortCloud/winesapOS winesapOS]

|x86

|Arch Linux

|KDE Plasma

|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}

|-

|[https://garudalinux.org/ Garuda Linux]<br><small>(KDE Dragonized Gaming edition)</small>

|x86

|Arch Linux

|KDE Plasma

|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}

|-

|[https://draugeros.org/ Drauger OS]

|x86

|Ubuntu

|KDE Plasma

|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}

|-

|[https://get.regataos.com.br/ Regata OS]

|x86

|openSUSE

|KDE Plasma

|{{✓}} ||{{TBD}}

|}

==[[Emulators on Linux|Emulation-focused]]==

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! scope="col"|Name

! scope="col"|Architecture

! scope="col"|Frontend

! scope="col"|Active

! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]

|-

|[https://batocera.org/ Batocera.linux]

|ARM, x86

|[[EmulationStation]] fork

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[[Lakka]]

|ARM, x86

|[[RetroArch]]

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[https://www.recalbox.com/ Recalbox]

|ARM, x86

|[[EmulationStation]]

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[[RetroPie]]

|ARM

|[[EmulationStation]] fork

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[https://www.elemenity.com/products/elemenity_os/ Elemenity OS]

|ARM64

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|-

|[https://wimpysworld.com/projects/retro-home/ Retro Home]

|ARM, x86

|Ludo

|{{✗}} ||{{TBD}}

|}

|-

! scope="col"|Name

! scope="col"|Architecture

! scope="col"|Frontend

! scope="col"|Active

! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]

|-

|LineageOS

|ARM

|Trebuchet

|{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|}

|-

! scope="col"|Name

! scope="col"|Architecture

! scope="col"|Frontend

! scope="col"|Active

! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]

|-

|BlissOS

|x86

|Android-x86 fork<br/><small>includes 3 launchers: Taskbar, Quickstep and Smart Dock.</small>

|{{✓}}<abbr title="BlissOS is the currently maintained + supported + newer kernel + hardware support + up-to-date + featured + open source Android x86 distro.">*</abbr>||{{✓}}

|-

|Berry OS

|x86

|Based on Android-x86 and Bliss OS<br/><small>Mini Desktop launcher is pre-installed.</small>

|{{✓}}||{{✓}}

|-

|Android-x86

|x86

|Trebuchet (KitKat version)

|{{~}}<abbr title="Development activity on Android-x86 has significantly slowed down.">*</abbr> ||{{~}}

|}

|-

! scope="col"|Name

! scope="col"|Architecture

! scope="col"|Active

! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]

|-

|[https://t2sde.org/ T2 SDE]

|[[POS_(Pong_Consoles)_CPUs_and_Other_Chips|Alpha<br/>Arc<br/>ARM (incl. ARM64)<br/>Avr32<br/>HPPA (incl. HPPA64)<br/>IA64<br/>M68k<br/>MIPS (incl. MIPS64)<br/>Nios2<br/>PowerPC (incl. PowerPC-64 and le)<br/>RISCV (incl. RISCV64)<br/>s390x<br/>SPARC (incl. SPARC64)<br/>SuperH<br/>x86 (incl. x86-64)]]<br/>and theoretically any GCC/Linux supported one.

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|}

==External links==

* [https://distrowatch.com/ DistroWatch]

[[Category:Operating systems|*]]