I used Ubuntu for a decade and I agree that it is pretty safe for a first distro. Personally, I wouldn’t pick it for either server or laptop anymore and would recommend Debian as a starter which is from where Ubuntu is derived.

We can categorize distributions in the following way:

• release model

  • point releases - likely a 6-month or yearly release. Ubuntu has a new LTS release every 2 years (with updates for 5 years) and I believe a release every 6 months with a shorter EOL. Ubuntu is based on Debian which is also very stable.
  • rolling releases - we have Arch, Void, Suse Tumbleweed(though I think they changed the rolling portion of it). Some distros like Alpine have both rolling and point releases.

• package manager

  • Anecdotally, apk(alpine) is the fastest package manager, followed by xpbs (void), and pacman(arch). Guix is by far the slowest package manager and Nix is pretty slow also as they both have to do a lot of calculations.

• desktop environment vs window manager. There are a variety of desktops - GNOME, KDE, LXDE, Xfce, Cinnamon, MATE, etc. Some distributions have a full-fledged desktop experience, others you’ll have to put everything together.

• size of repositories and maintainers

  • ubuntu / debian / fedora / redhat - main centralized repos separated by main / world / universe / etc.
  • arch - lots of small repos maintained decentralized. Bleeding edge.
  • void - centralized monorepo of all packages. Stable, but edge (vanilla upstream releases).
  • flatpak - the escape hatch if something is not packaged in your distribution

• Security patches. There are some distros that I heard do security patching well. Apparently, Manjaro which makes a desktop on top of Arch had some issues a while ago. No idea whether they have improved. Most distros will be fine.

• FOSS stance

  • Debian has more FOSS, while Ubuntu has much more accessible by default.
  • Guix/Nix are a class of distribution that allows immutable installs. Guix has a “nonguix” channel that needs to be included for non-free packages, while Nix is more lenient.

• Third party support - is the distribution supported on AWS, etc. Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Alpine (docker) are generally the best supported.

• Ease of use - This includes special tools, config, installer, livecd, etc. Ubuntu, Manjaro(arch-derivative), Pop_OS, etc. There are many distros that promote ease of use.

• Lack of magic - This is not the opposite of ease of use. For instance, if you’re learning how Linux works, Slackware might be the best distribution. Alpine, Arch, and Void linux fall into this category. Alpine uses musl libc as a default and is designed for servers, so probably not the best choice for a newer laptop.

• Community size and documentation - The arch linux wiki is perhaps the best resource for all the distros. As long as there is a minimal community size, there usually aren’t any issues. The smaller distros usually have irc/discord channels with pretty friendly people.

• Drivers - Nvidia really sucks in general.

• Community vs company owned - Sometimes company owned distros really do strange things. I have a preference for community-owned distros for this reason.

• Reliability/Stability - how often does it break and why? For instance, Ubuntu LTS has broken less frequently than Arch for me. However, every major two-year release introduces some changes that would need to be re-learnt, break somehow, or just made a headache to upgrade for no particular reason. The last one was introduction of snap in 2020 and I just gave up at that point. People’s experience with Arch vary, some say it is stable, some say that have to fix it every few months.

Phew, with all that in mind, there is a distribution for everyone. So depending what you want:

• Support / works on laptop, server, raspberry pi / x86_64, arm

  1. Ubuntu - it is everywhere.
  2. Debian ← current recommendation.
  3. Fedora

• Works on laptop and provides desktop environment

  1. Ubuntu
  2. Debian ← current recommendation
  3. No idea of all these user-friendly distros tbh. Mint? Pop_OS?

• Learning / well-documented / no-magic

  1. Slackware
  2. Void
  3. Arch
  4. LFS / Gentoo (linux from scratch)

• Immutable and declarative installs. Both Nix/Guix can be used as package management on another distribution. Probably best to be used like that.

  1. Nix - used for 6 months, couldn’t handle the config language and docs.
  2. Guix (FOSS) - used for a year, better docs and config, but really slow.

• Rolling release

  1. Void - upstream releases only and very stable since it is a monorepo
  2. Suse Tumbleweed - I think they made some changes recently, but this apparently was an extremely good rolling distribution.
  3. Arch - sometimes can include release candidates, less stable.

• Power user

  1. Void - stable rolling provides XFCE as a desktop environment by default. Supports glibc, musl, and extremely portable.
  2. Arch - cutting edge rolling. Have to install own DE, but there are derivatives like Manjaro.
  3. Alpine - musl and older laptops.

• Reliability/stable interfaces

  1. Debian
  2. Void

I rank stability/non-changing interfaces very highly, so that’s why I rank Debian over Ubuntu. For rolling distros, I rank Void over Arch+derivatives. I want to be able to use whatever I’m using for a decade without “breaking”, which may be ranking stability a little too high for most people.

In 25 years, on my personal machines I’ve used Slackware, Openbsd, LFS/Gentoo, Debian+derivative, Ubuntu, Arch, Nix, Guix, and Void (and on servers, I’ve used Freebsd, Openbsd, Debian, Ubuntu, Suse, Centos/RH, Alpine).

I’ve switched to Void Linux and it is very impressive. It is a fast, stable, rolling-release that is easy to configure and doesn’t do any magic. Everything also worked out of the box on my laptop (sound, wifi, etc). As a first distro though, it’s tough to go wrong with Ubuntu (or otherwise Debian).

If you have no Linux experience then IMHO Ubuntu is good first choice.

People think of it as intimidating to install, but I have found Arch to be rock steady and easy to keep seamlessly up to date. The only issues I’ve ever really had on Arch were due to Nvidia driver issues with kernel updates and with getting stuck in a partial upgrade situation due to my own silly error. The Arch WIKI is, IMO, the best resource for Linux on the web. I mean that as a general statement, not just for Arch-specific issues.