Os reviews from Reddit

Summary

We analyzed 326 Reddit reviews across 26 subreddits and 38 posts to rank the best Os brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/linux_gaming, r/PleX, r/linuxquestions, r/homelab, r/OpenCoreLegacyPatcher. Top-rated brands include Linux Mint (4.2/5), Ubuntu (4.1/5), Unraid (4.3/5).

Stats

Reviews326

Subreddits26

Posts38

Brands76

Products30

Top communities

r/linux_gaming116 r/PleX61 r/linuxquestions34 r/homelab16 r/OpenCoreLegacyPatcher15

326 reviews from

and

By Brand

By Product

Linux Mint

4.2

(31)

"Linux Mint is a good option as this system just works."

"BEST OVERALL OPTION: LINUX MINT XFCE."

"A new newcomer should be on mint imo"

"Yeah even as an arch user personally, i recomend linux mint."

"Im a strong recomender of Linux Mint. great user friendly distro functions and works a like like what you would expect win10 without the spyware part and has an appstore to install your applications from."

"Mint is an excellent and user friendly distro."

"If they choose Mint, no need to install KDE to get a Windows like experience as that's the primary experience on the Cinnamon Desktop."

"Definitely Linux mint. At least it's more complete distro than ChromeOS."

"Linux Mint would be my suggestion."

"Linux mint LMDE 6"

Ubuntu

4.1

(31)

"I’ve had a great time gaming on Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS, snapd can be removed if you desire, as mint removes it."

"I have mini pc with an N97, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB M.2 running Ubuntu and it has been the best decision I made."

"Ubuntu is best."

"I run Ubuntu Desktop because I, much like you, am coming from running jellyfin on windows."

"Linux > Windows all day long. I've run Plex on both, and Linux has always been much smoother than Windows in all cases."

"I'm running Ubuntu because I need more experience with it, I don't like the windows bloat, we use it at work, it's stupidly reliable."

"Linux Ubuntu on a headless NUC"

"I went with Windows Server from 2012 to 2022, I then tried Linux for the first time and I would never go back. Ubuntu first, then Proxmox and have finally landed on TrueNAS SCALE"

"On Ubuntu it's one command to install a please server. Super simple. No fucking around with unraid or docker. Plus Linux VMs on proxmox are pretty responsive."

"I run mine on a docker container on Ubuntu server and have had no issues at all so far"

Unraid

4.3

(28)

"Unraid is just really really good at this."

"Been running it on unraid since 2009 or so and other then me taking it down it’s ran pretty flawless."

"Unraid is great."

"Unraid is the gateway to home servers and worth whatever the price is."

"UnRAID. It's a paid product but it's extremely easy to use."

"Unraid is the easiest home nas OS, started with it and was able to set up whatever I wanted very easily."

"If you're building a custom NAS, I would go for Unraid."

"Agree on Unraid. It can use drives of different capacity."

"Unraid is great for people without the plan on disks."

"If I could start over easily enough Unraid. If I were starting up fresh, Unraid."

Bazzite

4.2

(18)

"Turns out i actually prefer an immutable system and flatpaks fill all my needs for software. Update cadence is fast enough and drivers are up to date."

"Bazzite comes with all the thingamajigs for gaming out of the box, up to date Nvidia drivers if you have an NGreedia card and and steam big picture at startup option, it's meant to mimic steamos."

"I’m going to assume gaming is a priority and recommend Bazzite."

"I'm on bazzite with the gnome DE. I'm loving it so far."

"Bazzite if you want your computer to behave like a Steam Deck."

"Bazzite has had no issues so far."

"Bazzite"

"If this is primarily gaming Bazzite"

"I, personally, recommend Bazzite. I really like it."

"As for Steam OS, I just gave it as an option, and along side Bazzite."

Fedora

4.1

(15)

"Fedora is IMHO the best distro because it provides up to date packages and impressive reliability."

"Fedora most definitely is not a hassle, I've had it on my laptop for years and never had an issue."

"Fedora KDE more than year. I think it's a best experience"

"Fedora KDE is what I landed on after taking about six distros for a spin and doing a fair amount of research."

"Fedora KDE is a good option."

"Fedora has a huge community behind it so in many cas"

"I've done well with Fedora, but it also hasn't been perfect."

"If you want to use it for Dev work Fedora."

"Fedora or popos"

"Fedora is what i would install, either with GNOME or KDE."

CachyOS

4.5

(12)

"CachyOS. Only distro i actually was able to stick to. Also the one with the most user friendly installation"

"Other Arch distros include CachyOS (my preference)"

"CachyOS and Nobara are good beginner friendly distros."

"I strongly recommend CachyOS, a newbie Arch based distro."

"CachyOS, has drivers figured out for you, has settings related to file limits etc already done. It’s tuned for performance."

"I would suggest an easy Arch linux based OS, such as Cachy OS(gaming focus)"

"I really like how everything just works, I've had Nobara, Ubuntu, mint and I've always run into some sort of issue."

"I literally just switched mine off Windows. I use mine to also host dedicated servers for games so I went with cachyos. Your flavor doesn't matter, but Linux is way more stable for things like Plex."

"I'm in the same boat, and im looking at Cachy OS or Nobara."

"CachyOS (Maybe Garuda) and Fedora (Maybe Nobara, seems better now but it's start was kinda rocky.)"

Debian

4.0

(11)

"I'm absolutely biased here 😆 but Debian Linux is the answer."

"Docker on Debian has worked for me for years"

"Either debian or ubuntu as OS, and bare metal or through docker have been rock solid for me."

"I've successfully used bare Debian, 32 bit, on machines like that."

"I suggest Debian."

"If you can use 64bit, go with Debian XFCE"

"Debian Testing"

"Debian. It's pretty boring, but that is a good thing."

"For your use case I'd recommend Debian with Cockpit, Docker, and Portainer."

"Debian or Proxmox are my recommendations and goto."

Apple

3.8

(10)

"Monterey works very well"

"Best bet would be Monterey version."

"My late 2012 works better on monterey than ventura."

"I would say Big Sur but recent versions of OCLP have issues with it, so Monterey is your best bet."

"I’d recommend the latest OS be Big Sur, you could try something more later than that but I am not entirely sure on how that would perform."

"Will give sequoia a try, if have have trouble with it I'll roll down to sonoma."

"I'd choose Sonoma bc it already stable enough."

"Catalina via Dosdude1 installer instead."

"I’m running sequoia on that unit. It’s fine for browsing and small tasks."

"It can’t run sequoia without a usb hub and my MacBook Pro lags even on Monterrey so I would not recommend."

Proxmox

4.4

(8)

"Even if you are only running Plex, I would still recommend Proxmox with Ubuntu VM."

"Proxmox made your plans today."

"Once you go proxmox, you never look back."

"I use proxmox. You can literally install most of the Plex/Arr apps with simple command lines that you copy and paste from the helper script repo. It couldn't be easier."

"Also LXC via Proxmox works great. Gives you the additional benefit of being able to run other complementary Plex applications on the same host (e.g. arr stack)"

"Proxmox + https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=plex"

"I use proxmox, within there I run a mixture of LXC and VM’s."

"I would recommend Proxmox. It has some learning curve but easier than Ubuntu Server."

#10

Pop!_OS

4.1

(8)

"Overall Pop!_OS is the best choice for productivity and gaming tasks."

"I use Pop!_os and DaVinci resolve on the daily. it works perfectly."

"+1 for Pop OS, but as many pointed out here, Mint is a great and friendly distro as well."

"I'd recommend Popos Nobara or Mint."

"Pop OS is also a great alternative to Windows and is a middle ground between the KDE and Gnome experience and it's tailored towards gamers."

"Pop does a pretty easy job of handling nvidia."

"Linux Mint, Zorin OS or Pop OS."

"I left Pop_OS out, since it's being renovated... I'm actually running COSMIC right now, but I'm not ready to suggest it to newbies."

#11

MuOS

4.7

(6)

"I’m running MuOS on mine, works great including rumble!"

"I use MuOS and so far it works great."

"So far, it's the easiest to get going with Portmaster."

"MuOS is also great!"

"Each of the top 3 are not bad choices anymore. MuOS, Knulli and Stock/Modified Stock seems to be the top 3 right now."

"MuOS is working great for portmaster"

#12

ArkOS

4.5

(6)

"ArkOS and Portmaster were created by the same guy and ArkOS is available for the RGB30 and is still actively updated. I run ArkOS on my RG353M and have great Portmaster compatibility. That would be my recommendation."

"ArkOS is excellent!"

"Super happy."

"ArkOS is pretty solid from my experience with it."

"ArkOS and ROCKNIX are both great options."

"ArkOS is solid for it"

#13

GarlicOS

4.5

(6)

"Garlic is still the best..."

"I have garlic OS and love it"

"GarlicOS is still my go to"

"Garlic or Minui"

"Garlic OS is one of the best OS but I am sticking with default OS"

"I was running Garlic for months and happy with it."

#14

Arch Linux

4.5

(6)

"Arch’s rolling release updates and amazing documentation should be your first pick."

"Arch it will always have the latest gpu drivers and kernel."

"This is the one. Arch linux done nicely. Rolling release is the way to be if you want to game."

"Arch kde plasma. Not kidding I got that combo running on a pentium dual core mobile chip and 2 gb of ram."

"Arch, or perhaps a derivative like Manjaro"

"I have Arch with KDE on top and it's been pretty painless."

#15

Garuda Linux

4.2

(6)

"Garuda works great for me."

"Manjaro OS, Garuda Linux(gaming focus) with KDE Plasma desktop environment."

"CachyOS (Maybe Garuda) and Fedora (Maybe Nobara, seems better now but it's start was kinda rocky.)"

"Garuda if Nvidia."

"I've been using garuda, and after de-dragonizing it, it's been solid!"

"I’d recommend Garuda much more"

#16

AntiX

4.0

(6)

"I had it running very nicely on a 1999/2000 desktop with 4 gig ram"

"I have install it on my kid's laptop IBM ThinkPad T40 Pentium M 1.5 and 512Mb of RAM. Offline or online, works pretty great."

"Antix, MX Linux or Q4OS"

"AntiX probably would work."

"I have AntiX on my old potato and it works about as well as any full-fledged OS could."

"That is a potato if i’ve ever seen one. I think AntiX? Cuz its 32bit."

#17

Linux

3.8

(6)

"Linux. Any form of Linux is the best OS. If you’re so keen on virtualizing, using proxmox, just LXC it. Plex needs very little in terms of resources."

"Running plex in docker on a Linux based server to be the easiest for me. Especially because I can run all of the supporting programs like Tautulli, Jellyseerr, Maintainerr, and my *arr stack in docker as well."

"It’s the way to go. The learning curve can be steep for some like myself, but once you get a hang of it, can’t go back to using Windows"

"Docker on linux and it's not even close."

"Works great on linux. docker also a solid option. GPU HW transcoding works fine in both."

"Linux. Windows sucks for servers."

#18

EndeavourOS

4.2

(5)

"I would suggest an easy Arch linux based OS, such as ... Endeavour OS"

"EndeavorOS is basically next-next-next until you met some problems or wanna change some behavior, then you have amazing wiki."

"Endeavor os. It is arch based just like the steam deck."

"I went with EndeavourOS (Arch) when I made the switch"

"I would say anything with xfce desktop will be fine for your needs."

#19

Alpine Linux

4.0

(5)

"I think Alpine Linux can help u."

"Alpine"

"I would suggest Alpine. I'm sure this machine is capable of running Alpine well."

"Good old Alpine Linux"

"Alpine Linux because it’s small, very easy to use."

#20

Monterey

5.0

(4)

"I recommend Monterey, running great in my 2012, fast, stable and light."

"Monterrey the best."

"In my experience, Monterey is the best OS for this laptop."

"I am so happy with Monterey it's so smooth."

#21

Nobara Linux

4.8

(4)

"I would recommend Nobara. It has the essentials pre installed"

"CachyOS and Nobara are good beginner friendly distros."

"If you want the everything is set up for you OS you want Nobara."

"I'd recommend Popos Nobara or Mint."

#22

Lubuntu

4.3

(4)

"I would go for Lubuntu."

"I would start with Lubuntu. Light weight and long term support still in place for 32."

"You could consider installing a light Linux distribution such as Lubuntu, Linux Mint XFCE or Zorin OS Lite."

"Lubuntu and any other os with xfce."

#23

Windows

2.7

(6)

"I would at least do windows 11 or server os if you want to stay on windows."

"I would just get install windows on a separate drive. Thats what I did and its working great!"

"Had it on windows for years and just moved to unraid to consolidate things. Both are fine."

"I run Windows for a few reasons, I know it better, Backblaze Personal and DrivePool."

"Windows is horrific."

"I'd honestly reccomend windows over linux 100% of the time because even tho Proton has come a long way, compatibility can still be spotty."

#24

CasaOS

4.0

(4)

"Been running CasaOS in my homelab using ProxMox."

"You can try to use the ubuntu server with casaos, its web based, and will allow you to easy manage files, install plex, pi hole, and other useful things."

"Theres always casa os you can easily run on top of ubunto server, and theres also zima os that is more of a server os per say, both appeal to simplicity"

"Possibly try CasaOS on top of Ubuntu?"

#25

Puppy Linux

4.0

(4)

"Puppy Linux is very light."

"The go-to would be Puppy, but I ran a 32 bit Ubuntu and Debian stable on something that archaic."

"I’ve generally used Puppy Linux or LXLE."

"Puppy Linux, AntiX, Bodhi Linux, Tiny Core Linux, Slax, Peppermint OS or Q4OS."

#26

TrueNAS Scale

4.7

(3)

"TrueNAS Scale has been excellent for me."

"I would recommend TrueNAS Scale for 92% of the cases as it's really stable."

"I run Plex on my TrueNAS Scale server.. plus UniFi Controller and some SMB shares"

#27

Zorin OS

4.3

(3)

"This OS runs very similar to Windows; it's the best Linux version I've ever used."

"Linux Mint, Zorin OS or Pop OS."

"If you want a simplified desktop with a top panel like MacOS and maybe a dock, choose GNOME (Ubuntu, Zorin, CachyOS also has GNOME)"

#28

DietPi

4.3

(3)

"Im running dietpi in a 521MB sbc and it's running great."

"Dietpi is a slim version of debian with nice checkbox menus."

"Dietpi, then run pihole in a docker container."

#29

Nobara

3.0

(4)

"I'm on nobara (kde version) and happy with it."

"Besides that then nobara if amd"

"If you want a desktop similar to Windows choose a KDE distro (CachyOS, Nobara, Bazzite)"

"Pop!_os? (will break easily, not recomended.)"

#30

Manjaro

3.7

3.5

3.0

(1)

"Check out damn small Linux."

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