 So, if you're a new Linux user or someone who's contemplating using Linux, I'll go ahead and say the distribution I recommend you to use is Manjaro, and it's actually always been Manjaro. Obviously, on my channel, if you know my channel, I don't really put up that many videos targeted to new users, because usually I'm doing things in the scary black box, I'm typing things in the terminal, stuff like that, we're customizing things. It looks very scary. But just in case, I want it on the record, that Manjaro, I think by far, is probably the best Linux distribution for a new user. Now if that's all you want, if you're just looking for a professional recommendation, Manjaro's it, go to the website, download it, download Manjaro XFCE, I think that's actually the one at the top, the one that, you know, their primary desktop environment. But that is what I recommend. Now in this video, for those who don't just want that recommendation, who want an explanation, let me give it to you. Why do I recommend Manjaro? Now I actually originally started out Linux on Ubuntu, and there was a period where I moved from Ubuntu to a couple different distributions in Manjaro, and of course now, well not now, I don't use Arch Linux now, but for the longest time I used Arch Linux, and right now I'm using Artex, which basically is Arch Linux, it's just without system D, basically the same thing. So why do I recommend Manjaro? There are a couple different reasons. Now the first reason, and I will admit, if you know me, if you know my principles, if you know my channel, there's going to be some of this I'm saying with a little consternation, I guess. So first off, one reason I recommend Manjaro is that it's rolling release. Now why would I recommend a rolling release distribution for a new user? If you don't know what that means by the way, that means that Manjaro gets updates pretty much as quickly as they come out. There's a little bit of delay on Manjaro. I think there's a little bit of extra oversight, but you pretty much get updates to programs as soon as they come out. Now why is that important? Now first off, contrary to popular belief, it doesn't mean that things just break all the time. I probably had one or two things break on rolling release distributions, and it's usually stuff they tell you, oh you got to do some manual intervention to fix this. It's not a problem, things don't break. The nice thing that rolling releases get you is they get you in a domain where software is actively being developed. You actually get to keep up with that pretty close. And again, this might violate my principles in some sense, but I know that there are a lot of people who want to switch to Linux, but feel like they can't do it because they got to play some game, or they have to do something on Steam, or they have to do something like that. And the fact of the matter is that Manjaro is the best distribution for that, specifically comparing it to things like Ubuntu or Linux Mint, because Manjaro gets things faster if it's something where there's active development going on, Manjaro is going to be able to deal with it quicker than Ubuntu and Linux Mint. You might have to wait a little longer on Debian based distributions or other distributions for that. Manjaro gets things really quickly. And again, I'm a full proponent. Maybe I should do a video on this, but I'm a full proponent of the fact that I think a lot of new Linux users will use things that they shouldn't really be using. I mean, part of the reason of using Linux is, of course, for your privacy and security, but I know it's just a fact of life that a lot of these guys will not use Linux unless they just perfectly replicate their Windows 10 setup for some reason. And Manjaro, you have the ability to do that a lot easier. And of course, you can gradually move them over to free software, Libra software, and stuff like that. But that's one fact of life. And of course, that's not just I'm not just talking about Steam or something like that. Really, everything, you have a little edge in Manjaro just because it's a rolling release distribution. Now, in addition to that, probably the biggest advantage of Manjaro over Ubuntu or Linux Mint is that you have compatibility with the arch user repository and anything with a package build, basically. And this is a huge benefit. And now, if you're a Manjaro user and you don't know about the arch user repository, you should look up how to use it on Manjaro. But basically, the idea behind it is, I mean, it's like on Ubuntu, they have these stupid things like PPAs and canonical release this odious thing. I forget what it's called. It's either SnapPak or FlatPaks or Snaps. I forget which one it is. But I'll just say, if you're a new Linux user, there are a bunch of people out there trying to sell you these SnapPaks or whatever they are. Just don't buy them. Don't trust them. They will give you nothing but headaches. Because the real way you should be in selling programs is with your package manager. And on Manjaro, you can use the arch user repository, which of course, technically, is a derivative of your. I mean, you'll be using a derivative of your package manager or something like that, but using system default install tools. And that will save you so many headaches that you will have to deal with. I know a lot of people here, oh, there's all these great stuff on Snaps or something like that. Don't do that. It will be nothing but pain. Use the arch user repository. The only reason the Snaps exist is because Ubuntu does not have the arch user repository. You can just use it to install anything. And in fact, if anything, the danger is there are too many things you can install. You can install just random scripts on some guy's GitHub. That's the power you have with Manjaro. Now, I've never run into any kind of security problems running things from the AUR. It's just been a great experience. It's been pretty good. There is good enough oversight on all of that kind of stuff. But it is much easier than doing something like a. No, seriously, don't use Snaps. They're literally just for Ubuntu users that have a deficient operating system. And it's just canonical trying to compensate with it for it. That's all it is. Don't do that stuff. Seriously. So the arch user repository is probably the biggest single thing because you have just, I mean, it's like an order of magnitude more software that you can install on your machine and search through and get all these things that you want. So I mean, you have a lot to say. I mean, if you're a Manjaro user, you can easily just sit there and say, oh, I want a new music player or RSS reader and just use the arch user repository, whatever AUR helper you might happen to use, and just browse through that, searching for the things you want, install programs, and decide what's best for you. It's a lot easier to do than with the much more limited Ubuntu software repository or whatever like that. It's just much better. Now, in addition to that, I think this is the benefits, the short-term benefits for users, and I think there are incremental, I mean, well, there are longer term benefits that I'll talk about in a second, but I think there are also aesthetic things or just little things that make Manjaro better as well. I mean, I think these advantages are pretty big, but there are other things as well. For example, the package manager on arch-based distributions, including Manjaro, it's just better than, you know, apt-get or whatever it is on Ubuntu. There are a bunch of little very granulated commands that you can run on Pac-Man once you learn how to run that that apt-get doesn't have. You can't as easily search through and view your installed programs and stuff like that, and, you know, Pac-Man is just very powerful in the things that it can do, and every time I use, you know, apt or apt-get on my Debi and web server, I'm constantly reminded, oh, there's all these things that I think of as being basic to a package manager that doesn't exist on Debi and Ubuntu or Linux Mint. That's just something you have to deal with. So that's just a little benefit. Now, you can live with having apt-get. I mean, it's not gonna be the end of the world, but there are just little advantages to Pac-Man. And additionally, I mean, even things like the default, I mean, Manjaro actually looks pretty nice. Manjaro, XFCE, well, turn on dark theme, of course, but it looks pretty good out of the box. Now, the long-term benefit of Manjaro or the longer-term benefit of Manjaro is that here's a fact of the matter if you're a new Linux user. You, eventually, you're gonna have a fork in the road. You're gonna realize, okay, I know how to use this operating system now. I can either continue doing it the way that I've done it, you know, and I'm content with that and that's enough, or you realize that Linux actually has just massive potentials for the amount of customization that you can do on all these little things that might improve your workflow. They might make your computer look better. They might just give you more of a better choice of programs and stuff like that. That is, you might get into system customization. A lot of the stuff that I've talked about on my channel, you might wanna, oh, I'm gonna use terminal applications for this kind of stuff. I'm gonna use NPD for my music. Just have this music daemon in the background and have it manage all my stuff and there are a lot of tools that you might get into and you'll eventually, it'll hit you. Oh, you know what? I really like to install my system from the bottom up. I don't like the things that come with Manjaro by default so it'd be nice if I could install everything myself, do the process myself. And that makes Manjaro an especially good distribution because it basically is a derivative of Arch. So if you wanna install Arch Linux, which of course is designed as a distribution that really is supposed to be installed from the bottom up, that's a lot easier to do. You'll already know Pac-Man, you'll already know the basic principles of Arch-based distributions. Now they're not too different from Linux meant Rubuntu. It's not like you couldn't jump from one of those to Arch Linux but it's just a little bit easier coming from Manjaro. The things you learn on Manjaro are more easily generalizable. So that's a nice thing about it. And also the Arch and Manjaro package repositories, they actually have a very good representation of different window managers and desktop environments, which is not always the case on other distributions, even Debian or Ubuntu. I remember having a lot of trouble when I, this has probably changed now, but I remember having a lot of trouble compiling i3 gaps when I was on Debian or something like that. That was a couple of years ago. I'm sure it's better. I know i3 gaps is a lot more popular nowadays, but there are just a lot of things that there might be some, I mean Arch Linux I'll just say is really good at putting desktop environments and window managers in its repositories really quick. So you can easily, let's say you're just bored someday and you can say, you know what, maybe my life would be better if I use the different window manager desktop environment. So I'm just gonna play around with it. I'll look up on the Arch Wiki, all the different choices, I'll choose one of them, install it, see how it goes. If I don't like it, I can easily just switch to another one. Okay, so it's a really easy process. And so Manjaro makes that easier. So the thing is, I think on any one of these points, it would make, you know, using the AUR, having a rolling release, you know, having Pac-Man, being close to Arch Linux, having good packages in its repositories, any of these reasons by itself would be good enough to at least look at Manjaro as a good distribution, a good beginner's distribution. But I think the fact that it has all of these together, I really don't think there's another distribution that comes close to Manjaro in terms of usability and expansibility. You can do more with it. You can get more out of it even if you don't really know anything about Linux. So anyway, Manjaro is what I recommend. And in real life, when I have a friend who is interested in Linux, I always install Manjaro. I've been installing Manjaro for the past five years. The only exception is if I know that their computer can run free software, I'll install like Parabla or something like that. Only free software, including the Wi-Fi drivers. But in most cases, I'll just install Manjaro. And that always works great. I've never had complaints about it. So anyway, that's my recommendation. It's been a little longer than I expected. But yeah, just use Manjaro, go to their website, get Manjaro XFCE, and it'll work. All right, see you guys next time.