 What are the best distributions that are based on Ubuntu? That's what I'm gonna discuss today I'm gonna give you my top five Ubuntu based distributions and when I say Ubuntu based distributions I mean I'm going to discount Ubuntu mainline Ubuntu and all of the official flavors of Ubuntu because they're also part of the Ubuntu family The Ubuntu team works on you know Kubuntu, Zubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu, Monte I'm throwing all of those out and we're going with Ubuntu based distributions that are actually built by teams other than The Ubuntu team or than the folks that work for canonical and I'm gonna share with you these Distributions that I have a lot of experience with because I install Linux on a lot of machines And I'm talking about friends machines family members machines people bring me their Windows laptops And I give them Linux so these are brand new to Linux users, and I have probably installed Linux hundreds of times on various people's equipment and one of the cool things that I have found is I've experimented with a lot of different distributions depending on the person That's giving me their computer to put Linux on it You know and I found that some Linux distributions are better than others as far as for that kind of brand new to Linux user So today I'm gonna share with you my top five Ubuntu based Linux distributions, especially for the new to Linux user Coming in at number five on my list of top five Ubuntu based distributions is Zoran OS now Zoran OS is a very Attractive distribution. It's very reminiscent of the Windows desktop because it has a classic bottom panel with a start menu Yeah, the Zoran logo here clearly tells a new user exactly where the menu system is it has quick launchers It has a sys tray in the panel So any Windows user is going to feel right at home in Zoran OS now the desktop environment that they're using is this really Hybrid custom desktop environment that they've built on top of GNOME It's also got some XFCE components, but it's a very unique and a very polished desktop environment As a matter of fact, I would say it's one of the most unique desktops available on Linux And of course if you want to change the layout of the desktop environment if you don't like the bottom panel There are other layouts available if I get into the menu system I search for appearance go to Zoran appearance and that's going to open this layout menu here Where we can actually change the appearance of the desktop layout now depending on what version of Zoran OS you're running You're gonna have maybe two layouts maybe four layouts available to you I am using Zoran Lite here, which is a free version of Zoran OS But Zoran also has a pro version and the pro version costs $39 And with the $39 pro version you do get some more layouts. You also get more artwork It comes with some additional software pre-installed for you. It also includes installation support If you have problems installing Zoran OS So that's a really nice feature especially for the new to Linux user Maybe you've never installed a Linux distribution before, you know paying Zoran OS $39 well, of course It's a good thing to do because it helps fund the development of Zoran OS But it's also nice to have that support should you need it now one really interesting aspect to Zoran OS It's the fact that it really does cater to Windows users if I get into the menu system I search for Windows app support and let me hit enter and then it's going to open our Software center essentially our app store where we go and install new software and you can see it's going to install Windows app support What this is is this installs wine and play on Linux for those of you not familiar with what wine is It's kind of a Windows emulator is technically not an emulator But it allows you to run Windows software inside Linux now not everything runs inside of wine But a lot of windows programs actually run quite well inside this wine compatibility layer Overall, I found Zoran OS to be great installing on new Linux users machines because at the end of the day What is the most important thing the most important thing is that everything just works and that's kind of what Zoran OS Yes, it's a distribution where you install it and everything typically just works Number four on my list of top five Ubuntu based distributions is the Linux slide I've installed Linux light many times on friends and family computers And I've never had anyone that had an issue with this distribution Especially for the new to the Linux user. You're coming from Windows I mean you can tell that they really put a lot of thought and effort Especially for Windows users because look at this panel look at this start menu I mean you have instead of just a logo the feather logo for Linux slide You have the word menu written out to the side of it So there's no way a user is gonna be confused and where exactly is the menu system, right? It'll let you know up front and of course you've got your quick launchers your taskbar your workspace switcher your system tray all Built into the panel. It has a excellent welcome screen When you first install Linux light the welcome screen Automatically launches on startup every time you log in now You can disable it to where it doesn't automatically show up every time you log in but you can always find the welcome screen And the menu system just search for the word welcome one of the things I really have to give Linux light credit for is it probably is one of the best-looking if not the best-looking Xfce desktop environment I've ever seen and many of you guys are probably gonna be surprised that this is Xfce because it is such an Attractive desktop. I mean this menu system and the panel and everything if I didn't tell you that this was Xfce You might think this is a much more Modern forward-looking desktop environment such as Ganon or plasma some other things that really make Linux light stand out Is because it uses Xfce. It is very lightweight. It's very fast So it's really good on pretty much any modern piece of hardware and by modern I mean anything that was built within the last ten years for sure The Linux light is gonna run like a champ on it also has a really nice suite of applications and by nice suite of applications I mean it has a lot of stuff pre-installed So this is nice especially for the new user who doesn't know all of the software that's available out there in the Linux space So, you know, you're gonna get a full suite of applications installed here in Linux light Ultimately the reason Linux light makes my list here of the best Ubuntu based distributions is because Linux light I think is maybe the best distribution out there that dispels the myth that Linux has to be hard Linux doesn't have to be hard. Linux can be made to be easy made to be simple And I think this is a shining example of that Number three on my list of top five Ubuntu based distributions is elementary OS Elementary OS is really unique because it has a modern fresh look. It's very simple to use It has a somewhat Mac OS look and feel to it Which is a little different than things like Zoran and Linux light which really tried to cater to Windows users Elementary OS, I won't say it's necessarily trying to cater to Mac users But it certainly has that Mac look and feel with the top panel the top menu system the bottom centered dock I know the elementary OS devs don't like it when people say that their desktop looks like the Mac OS desktop But I think that's a positive. I don't think that's a negative I think it's good that we have so many Linux distributions so many desktop environments available that catered to different users and What really makes elementary kind of Mac like isn't necessarily just the look and feel of the desktop environment But elementary has its own custom suite of applications So you can think of it kind of almost like the the Mac OS experience and that everything is its own Apple ecosystem, right everything is tightly integrated and to be honest that tight integration is rather nice because everything Really looks good as far as the theming and really it's one of the most clean and polished Linux distributions out there What we're taking a look at here is the elementary OS file manager here And when I say they have their own custom suite of applications I mean their custom suite of applications many of these applications are actually quite impressive. These are not just Half-assed thrown together kind of programs that somebody erode in a few days or a few weeks, right? A lot of effort has gone into these applications and to make everything work as a cohesive environment again This is really an impressive project some of the standout applications include the app center So the app center's gonna check for update, but I'm not gonna take an update if I click the home tab You can see the home page of the app center as your apps are broken down by category Can I make it full-screen there so you can see all the categories and of course you can click on the categories? Or you can do a search here in the search box Ultimately the reason elementary OS is so high on my list here at number three It's because elementary OS created their own desktop environment from the ground up their own suite of applications It's basically so much work went into this. It really is truly impressive What elementary OS has accomplished here? And number two on my list of top five Ubuntu based distributions is pop OS Pop OS is built by the good folks over at system 76 system 76 They sell computers desktop computers and laptops with Linux pre-installed and Many years ago what they were doing is they were shipping computers pre-installed with Ubuntu Eventually they built their own Ubuntu based distribution called pop OS And they have this really unique and customized desktop environment that's built around Genome Some of the standout features with pop OS is you have some exceptional Driver support hardware support being that pop OS built by a hardware manufacturer system 76 Mainly to support their products their laptops for example But really you know if for those of you that maybe have problems with Graphics drivers such as Nvidia drivers or maybe you're want some good support for a hybrid graphics system Pop OS is excellent in that regard now this desktop environment that they're using here again It's built on Genome, but they're actually working on their own Custom built desktop environment that they're writing in rust, but right now they're basing off Genome This run launcher is really nice, right? We have a menu system here. That's rather unique So they have some custom Extensions and tweaks to Genome that I find actually really nice I think the brand new to Linux user is going to find this desktop environment very easy to use because you have the bottom Dock everything is in the dock for those that want more advanced features You do have the ability to turn on tiling windows So what this does is it turns on the ability to auto tile windows for is it makes your Cosmic desktop here essentially almost into a tiling window manager It's not quite a tiling window manager, but it does some tiling stuff. Now. What about software? Well being based on a boon to all of these distributions are gonna have a really good choice of software available for you in their software Centers one of the cool things about pop o s their software center here called the pop shop is Anything that's available as in a boon to package you'll find in the pop shop also anything that's available as a flat pack It's also available in the pop shop So flat pack already enabled by default and I think that is a really nice touch that most desktop linux users are gonna appreciate One last thing I want to mention is security and privacy one of the cool things about the pop o s installation process is that By default it encrypts your drive. You don't have to choose it by default It's going to encrypt your installation and I think that is a really nice touch and to be honest I think probably most linux distributions probably need to start pushing encryption as the default setting Ultimately the reason pop o s makes number two on my list is because of just how well put together how polished you can tell that This is a professionally made product by a real team of developers and partly because there's a company behind it system 76 you can tell this is not Joe Bob's linux distribution, right? Oh a lot of effort a lot of time a lot of money went into building this and it shows and Number one on my list of top a boon to base distributions is probably not a shop to most people Linux Mint Linux Mint has been around forever. I want to say Linux Mint got started Oh, just a couple of years after a boon to got started like three or four years after a boon to got started Linux Mint burst on the scenes and a lot of people moved from a boon to the Linux Mint back then because Linux Mint really made a boon to Easier and by easier. I mean back in those early days a boon to didn't ship Multimedia codecs out of the box and you know, there were some hoops to jump through getting certain drivers installed and Linux Mint made a Lot of this stuff much easier that they installed a lot of this stuff mainly that Canonical the makers behind a boon to couldn't because of legal issues being a corporate back distribution They didn't want to take any chances by installing for example those multimedia codecs. Well, Linux Mint being a community and distribution They just didn't care right they installed the multimedia codecs and a lot of people installed Linux Mint mainly just for that Yeah, and that was what Linux Mint began in the early days now as the years progressed Linux Mint Their mission became much much more because now they have their own desktop environment that they create Called the Cinnamon desktop environment. Linux Mint has three different desktop editions They have a cinnamon edition a mate edition and an XFCE edition and one of the great things about those three desktop environments is They look very very similar all of them doesn't matter which one you use you're gonna have the bottom panel and the start menu They're gonna have the same look and feel essentially the same suite of applications mostly GTK based applications, right? So you're gonna have a really consistent UI experience regardless of whether you use cinnamon XFCE or Mate here in Linux Mint. So why has Linux Mint been such a popular desktop distribution? Well, I think one of the big claims to fame with it is the fact that you have this Windows-like experience, right? It's one of those things especially and with some of our Linux desktop environments such as the early versions of GNOME 3 or KDE 4 that they were buggy. They were kind of weird They they looked a little different than the old-school Windows desktop Which most people are used to most Linux users came from Windows. So I want a bottom panel with a start menu I want traditional looking programs with you know, the Maximize button the minimize button and all that stuff being on the right-hand side of my windows Not the left-hand side like the whole back, you know People that use Windows are comfortable in Linux Mint and I think that's why this is such a popular distribution I've already mentioned driver support multimedia support. All of that stuff is going to get installed during the installation process If for some reason you need to install some of this stuff after the installation process I mean I could go search for drivers and there is the driver manager if I I'd have to give it my Sudo password But it's gonna look for our proprietary drivers if we need it for our graphics or for Wi-Fi if I was on a laptop Now I'm in a virtual machine here So I'm gonna close that because it's not going to find any drivers for this VM another real plus to Linux Mint is their Community when you talk to people about Friendly Linux communities because every Linux distribution has a community built around it It seems like most people agree that the Linux Mint community is one of the friendliest and most welcoming Communities out there in Linux and again, I think that really makes it perfect for the brand new to Linux user So there you have it my top five Ubuntu based distributions here in 2022 now most people when they give you a top five list They're usually gonna throw out at least one extra one bonus, you know an honorable mention I think I should do that too because honestly there isn't a boom to base distribution I think is woefully Underestimated undervalued you don't hear many people talk about it at all And I want to give an honorable mention to Bodie Linux Bodie Linux has its own Customized desktop environment called the Moksha desktop environment, which is based on the old Enlightenment Desktop environment just very briefly the reason I want to give an honorable mention to Bodie is because it's elegant It's lightweight. It's very minimal. It's perfect for the minimalist If you're a window manager only kind of user You're gonna love this Moksha desktop environment because it's a full desktop environment So, you know, you get everything Prebuilt that you're going to need to have a proper desktop experience But again, it's very small fast lightweight and honestly, it's very customizable. It's very modular But even out of the box the default desktop experience that we're looking at right now I think is quite gorgeous. It's got a little bit of a retro kind of look and feel to it You got a left-click menu. So click on the desktop and you get your menu system here, and I really love it I just think this is one of the best Linux distributions out there that nobody really talks about So there you have it my top five Ubuntu based distributions plus an honorable mention Do you agree with these six Ubuntu based distributions that I shared on camera today? Are these in fact the best or do you disagree if you do disagree? Share in the comments down below now before I go I need to thank a few special people I need to thank the producers of this episode and of course I'm talking about Gabe James Matt Maxim mimit Mitchell Paul West while you bought on me Alex armor dragon Chuck commander angry Diochai George Lee Mars from Nate Erion Alexander Paul peace archer of the door polytech realities for less Red Prophet Roland Steven tools Devler and Willie these guys they're my house tiered patrons over on patreon without these guys This episode you just watched it wouldn't have been possible the show is also brought to you by each and every one of these fine ladies And gentlemen all these names you're seeing on the screen right now These are all my supporters over on patreon because I don't have any corporate sponsors I'm sponsored by you guys the community. Do you like my work? I want to see more videos about Linux and free and open source software subscribe to distro tube over on patreon Peace a second honorable mention goes to Hannah Montana Linux