I genuinely don't understand why anyone would use anything other than Debian (or Ubuntu), Fedora or Arch. Every other distro is a) based on one of those and b) is essentially just a package set + some wallpapers.
While I get your point, you are missing a big player: NixOS. It is not based on any of those distros, it is not similar to any of those distros, and it offers significantly more than just a package set and wallpapers.<p>My NixOS install is immutable, so I can trivially roll back any changes to my system/software/configs.<p>It has a lockfile so the versions of all of my software do not change _at all_ unless I tell it to. That lockfile doesn't just extend to the software I have installed but all the software that is used to build the software on my machine, so I can perfectly reproduce the same system with the same version of software compiled by the same exact versions of the compilers.<p>On NixOS you can trivially have many versions of any software or library installed on your system and use them all (for example, foo can depend on python 3.7.2, bar can depend on python 2.7.1, and baz can depend on python 3.14. They can all happily live on my machine. You can even have multiple copies of the same version of python but compiled with different flags if you want. On arch linux your only option for python right now is 3.14.2.)<p>On NixOS I can trivially run 1 command and generate a bootable ISO that has exactly the same software and configs that I have installed on my computer. This has been rather nice for repair/debugging USBs and for running virtual machines off the ISOs.<p>You're also missing:<p><pre><code> - Gentoo (not based on any of the distros you listed)
- Chimera Linux which brings in the FreeBSD userland, musl libc, and Dinit
- Suse Linux (a pop music video cover band that also made some Linux distros. They were pretty big in the live kernel patching ("Don't reboot it just patch!"). Not based on any of the distros you listed)</code></pre>
Defaults matter way more than many think. More often than not, defaults are what inspire distro hopping.<p>Why? Because the path to the desired result from a big-name distro is frequently non-intuitive, often to the point that the user may not even realize it's possible. When something doesn't work as expected, the response isn't "I need to figure out which packages to install and what config files to change," it's "oh I guess this distro isn't what I'm looking for".<p>I think it would do an immense amount of good if the big distros did more to address this. If they made it such that a fresh install could be made to fit any remotely common use case and hardware combination with no more than 1-3 clicks that would make tiny distros much less appealing.<p>A handful of distros have the right idea by offering an install ISO with preconfigured proprietary Nvidia drivers for example, but even that could be improved upon by just rolling some heuristics into the stock install ISO to figure out if the user needs Nvidia drivers or not.
Add the gaming distros to the list too.<p>People generally want something that works, without tinkering - particularly on an entertainement device. I'll happily let Valve etc. pick the kernel and driver versions, set up the compositors, make the controllers work, etc.
> Every other distro is a) based on one of those<p>Apart from NixOS, Guix, Alpine , Void, SuSE, Gentoo, Slackware, PCLinuxOS, GoboLinux.....<p>> essentially just a package set + some wallpapers.<p>Not Ubuntu with a different support cycle, Mint and PopOS with their own DEs, Arch derivatives that are easier to install, Elemantary with a DE and apps, Devuan with multiple init systems, ......
NixOS would like a word<p>Beyond that, Gentoo, SuSE and a few others.<p>But generally, yes, be careful with what you install :)
I agree with the sentiment you're trying to express.<p>But as a Gentoo / SuSE user, I'm also a little offended!
Debian is out-of-date with packages although for good reasons and Ubuntu is a corporate lobotomized version Debian.<p>Fedora is the bleeding edge not recommended for anything other than testing and is of corporate RedHat Enterprise Linux and RedHat are now owned by IBM and Arch is Gentoo's jealous cousin.<p>It's why I use FreeBSD and keeping close tabs on Haiku.