The Ultimate Guide to the Best Linux Distros

Before we jump into the actual distro list, first lets take a look at 32bit vs 64bit versions and the different desktop environments.

32bit vs 64bit:

Each & every release of Linux distro are released in 2 variants namely 32bit & 64bit. So which variant to download, install & use?

You should use,

• 32bit – If your PC has a 32bit processor
• 64bit – If your PC has a 64bit processor

In addition to that, 32bit variants can support only upto 4GB of RAM. So again,

• 32bit – If your PC has 4GB or less than 4GB of RAM
• 64bit – If your PC has more than 4GB of RAM

Codenames:

32bit variants usually have the name pattern similar to,

• DISTRONAME-x86.iso
• DISTRONAME-i386.iso
• DISTRONAME-i586.iso
• DISTRONAME-i686.iso

64bit variants usually have the name pattern similar to,

• DISTRONAME-x86_64.iso
• DISTRONAME-amd64.iso

In simple terms, if the file name has the number 64 then its probably the 64-bit variant.