Results: What was the best Linux distribution of 2012?

In 2012, we had Linux of all tastes and flavors. We have the new versions of the usual distributions and some new distributions appeared that left more than one very happy. In this article, we analyze in detail the result of the vote we started a week ago. Thanks to the 2115 people that they left their vote!

Result

• Ubuntu 28.98% (613 votes)
• Linux Mint 27.75% (587 votes)
• Debian 11.16% (236 votes)
• Arch Linux 10.45% (221 votes)
• Other: 9.17% (194 votes)
• Fedora 7.94% (168 votes)
• OpenSUSE 3.45% (73 votes)
• Mageia 1.09% (23 votes)

Meta

Ubuntu and Linux Mint swept, taking first and second place, in what was a head-to-head fight. Between the two they took more than 50% of the votes. In a distant third place is Debian, closely followed by Arch Linux.

Interestingly, all Debian-based distributions add up to around 68%. For its part, the clear decline of once more popular distributions such as Fedora or OpenSUSE is still striking.

At the request of the public, the most mentioned distros within the Other category, which took no more and no less than 194 votes, are: Ubuntu variants (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu), Manjaro, Crunchbang, Trisquel, SolusOS, Chakra Linux, Bodhi Linux, Gentoo, Sabayon, Elementary OS, among others.

Finally, I was surprised by Mageia, as it is a very complete and good quality "beginner" distro. Maybe a lot of people still associate her with Mandriva and its financial problems, or maybe she doesn't have so much marketing behind her. Anyway, I don't know, but it's funny.

My selection

The truth is that the survey question is a bit tricky. I believe that there is no "best" Linux distribution. Thanks to the "freedom" of free software, it is possible to create adaptations that are better suited to the needs and capabilities of each.

In this sense, if anything, there are "best distros" for:

• novices or advanced users
• a specific activity (desktop, servers, education, multimedia, security, etc.)

Best rookie distro and best desktop distro: Linux Mint 13

Based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (the most "stable" version of Ubuntu in 2012), Linux Mint 13 offers everything a novice user could want:

• good hardware support, 
• proprietary video codecs and drivers included by default, 
• a very Windows-like user interface (as opposed to Unity or Gnome Shell based distros), etc.
• a lot of programs available (because it is based on Ubuntu and Debian)

Best distro for power users: Arch Linux

Of course there are others, also very good, like Gentoo. However, Arch Linux has been growing slowly but steadily. It has a truly enviable community and a Wiki that looks like an Aleph: everything is there, concentrated, nothing escapes it.

Arch has what for me is the best package manager by far: neither more nor less than Pacman. In addition to having some very extensive official repositories, it allows the installation of additional programs through AUR (something like Ubuntu's PPA repositories but MUCH better). Creating a package for Arch, paradoxically, is much easier than creating one for Debian or Ubuntu. For this reason, there are MANY more packages available in AUR than in PPAs. On the other hand, once AUR is added, the search and installation of programs is a sweetness (unlike Ubuntu in which you cannot search the base of available PPAs and that for the installation of a PPA requires several commands ).

All of this makes Arch a breeze. Its philosophy is based on the Keep it Simple, Stupid (KISS) concept. The truth is that once you get to grips with certain basic concepts, Arch ends up being much more simple, comfortable and adaptable than Ubuntu and the like.

Revelation Award: Manjaro Linux

Based on Arch Linux, it comes with everything that makes Arch a GREAT distro. But it has an addition that many of us greatly appreciate: its installation is MUCH faster, since it comes, like the rest of the distros, in the typical flavors GNOME, KDE, LXDE, etc. In Arch, however, you have to install everything by hand, which makes the initial installation quite Engo… slow.

In a word, Manjaro is the combination of the best of both worlds.

Best distro for laptops: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Ubuntu 12.04 has excellent power performance management, is very stable, and has a graphical interface that is better suited to these types of devices.

In this area, we can add Lubuntu and almost any other LXDE-based distribution. This is especially true if they are somewhat old or not so "powerful" devices that need to be "resurrected."

Best Desktop Distribution for Business: RHELD 6

In recent years, the laurels have gone to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED). However, this year Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 (RHELD) did its homework right.

Why the change? It turns out that Red Hat is making great strides in the field of virtualization and new technologies associated with the "cloud."

Best distribution for enterprise servers: RHEL & SLES

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 are the clear winners. Both have incredible hardware support to which we are already accustomed, which results in an important stability of the system. In addition, in both cases the oiled assistance service is his trademark.

Red Hat's case is illuminating: this year the company passed the $ XNUMX billion mark on the stock market. It seems that free software can be good business.

Best LiveCD: KNOPPIX & Puppy Linux

Today almost all distributions can be used as a live-cd. In that sense, this category loses some validity. However, there are some distributions that are specifically designed to be used as such and that include various general-purpose tools in the “Swiss Army knife” style and that also allow data recovery or other facilities, backups, etc.

Both Knoppix, which uses LXDE, and Puppy Linux, which uses the ultra-lightweight JWM, include all these tools. Both distributions are highly recommended for the lady's cd and the gentleman's pendrive.

Best Distribution for Security Analysis: BackTrack Linux 5

No question, BackTrack continues to offer the best suite of white hat security tools for examining any system or detecting network problems.

It includes a long list of out-of-the-box security tools, including numerous port and vulnerability scanners, exploit files, sniffers, forensic analysis tools, and wireless auditing tools.

Best distribution for multimedia editing: Ubuntu Studio 12.04

Ubuntu Studio 12.04, based on the corresponding Ubuntu version, is the winner for audio, video and graphics production, as it contains a very complete set of tools, as well as significant support for formats and codecs of a wide range of formats multimedia.

Regarding audio editing, Musix deserves a special mention, a distribution of Argentine origin, which has surprised me with its incredible quality. It comes with the corresponding low-latency kernel to prevent "skipping" in recordings and includes all the most advanced audio authoring and editing tools. Another noteworthy point is that it is one of the few distros considered 100% free by the FSF.

Best educational distribution: Edubuntu 12.04

Edubuntu has been developed in collaboration with educators and technologists from multiple countries. Edubuntu was built on top of Ubuntu and incorporates an LTSP client architecture, as well as specific educational uses, targeting the population between the ages of 6 and 18.

On the other hand, I like that it is not associated with a particular educational project. I am referring specifically to the distributions developed by a State or NGO to carry out a specific educational plan (Plan Conectar Igualdad or the One Laptop Per Child, for example).

Last but not least, it is the educational distribution that has the largest community.

Best mini-distribution: DSL 4.4.10 & Slitaz 4

Damn Small Linux is a functional and complete Linux LiveCD distribution, based on Knoppix, designed to work on computers with very few or old resources, such as Intel 80486 processors. Its reduced size (50MB) manages to keep the essence of Knoppix in a complete environment of desk. Thanks to its small size, it can be put inside a USB Memory and booted with it on any computer.

SliTaz GNU / Linux is a minidistribution and LiveCD of the LinuxGNU / Linux operating system designed to run on hardware with 128 Mb of RAM memory, and thus be the smallest of all the GNU / Linux minidistribution, having 30 Mb of CD and 80 Mb on the hard drive once installed. From 16 Mb of RAM it has the JWM window manager (in the cooking version it is LXDE).

See full list of Linux mini-distributions.