The Cuts: Excluded Distros I Left Out (And Why)

My main guide, “How to Choose a Linux Distro: The Complete Guide”, is intentionally tight.
Every distribution that made the final cut earned its place by filling a distinct niche, being actively maintained, and providing a reliable experience—especially for newcomers.

That means some genuinely good projects were left on the cutting‑room floor.
This post explains which distributions I excluded and, more importantly, why.

If you’re wondering “What about Ubuntu? openSUSE? Zorin?” — this is for you.

TL;DR: My Selection Criteria

I excluded distros that:

• Compromise security (e.g., pre-enabled AUR, one-click WINE)
• Have uncertain longevity (uncertain direction, stalled development)
• Overlap with better alternatives (e.g., Ubuntu vs. Linux Mint)
• Require newer hardware (contrary to Linux’s strengths)
• Are niche without clear value (e.g., KDE neon or KaOS)

Excluded Distributions

Arch Variants (Endeavour, Manjaro, Garuda, CachyOS, etc.)

Distros that market themselves as “Arch made easy” or “easy to install Arch” are popular, but I avoid them in my guide.

A false sense of security: The AUR—and especially the Chaotic‑AUR—demands caution. Giving beginners the power of Arch without the knowledge to read PKGBUILDs and understand what they’re running sets them up for failure. There are real security concerns with using the AUR without the proper knowledge.

Vanilla Arch for those who are ready: I enthusiastically recommend vanilla Arch to anyone with the experience to use it safely. The installation process itself is an education, and the ArchWiki remains the best documentation in the Linux world. “Easy Arch” shortcuts skip the lesson.

Bazzite

Bazzite is a gaming‑tuned, Fedora Atomic desktop that ships with NVIDIA drivers, Steam, Lutris, and handheld gaming optimizations right out of the box.

A strong concept, but not yet essential: I seriously considered adding Bazzite, but my guide already offers excellent gaming experiences through Pop!_OS (NVIDIA‑friendly), Fedora (latest kernel and Mesa), Arch (bleeding‑edge), and MX Linux AHS (modern kernel on a stable base).

Waiting for SteamOS: Valve’s SteamOS for general hardware may eventually fill the dedicated gaming slot in a more definitive way.

For now, Bazzite is a great project to watch, but including it felt unnecessary.

Bodhi Linux

Bodhi Linux was a standout for ultra‑lightweight computing, using the Enlightenment‑based Moksha desktop to deliver a full‑featured experience on hardware that would choke on anything else.

Development has stalled: Unfortunately, the project’s pace has slowed dramatically, and active, reliable maintenance is essential for any distro I recommend.

The spirit lives on: If you love the idea of a gorgeous desktop on ancient hardware, MX Linux’s Fluxbox edition or a carefully configured Debian or Arch Linux with Enlightenment can still deliver that experience.

Bodhi’s philosophy isn’t forgotten, but the distro itself isn’t in a place where I can confidently point readers toward it. I hope it finds its way back.

elementary OS

elementary OS pioneered the idea that Linux could be both beautiful and welcoming to newcomers, with opinionated defaults and a polished, Mac‑like experience. Its Pantheon desktop once set the gold standard for cohesive design.

GNOME now delivers the same cohesive vision: The minimal, clutter‑free, get‑out‑of‑your‑way design that was elementary’s bread and butter is now done—arguably better—by vanilla GNOME, which ships with Fedora and many other distros. GNOME offers superior touchpad gesture support, a larger developer ecosystem, and more frequent innovation. The gap elementary once filled has largely closed.

Smaller ecosystem and slower updates: Built on Ubuntu LTS, elementary OS receives updates at a leisurely pace. Its core apps, while well designed, are few in number compared to the vast GNOME and KDE ecosystems. For users who want a polished experience backed by a large, active community, other distros now cover that ground more effectively.

As a result, elementary OS no longer earns a spot in the main guide. Its legacy is real, and it remains a beautiful, approachable Linux distribution—but it’s no longer the definitive choice for a modern, polished desktop experience.

FreeBSD/OpenBSD

These are entire operating systems outside the Linux ecosystem, however close their Unix kinship.

Not Linux: My guide is explicitly about choosing a Linux distribution. While FreeBSD and OpenBSD are brilliant in their own right—especially for servers—introducing them would blur the scope and confuse beginners.

A nod elsewhere: I considered a small mention in the Server Edition, but ultimately chose to keep a clean boundary. There’s a whole other guide waiting to be written about BSD.

KaOS

KaOS is a meticulously crafted, independent, rolling KDE Plasma distribution with a curated, Qt‑only repository.

Ideological narrowness: Its strict policy of excluding GTK applications from the official repos makes it an ideological choice rather than a broadly practical one. Many excellent Linux applications rely on GTK, and cutting yourself off from them entirely feels unnecessarily limiting—especially for newcomers.

Better KDE options: For readers who want KDE, PCLinuxOS offers a similar independent spirit and rolling updates but with far greater software flexibility. MX Linux provides a polished KDE experience on a Debian Stable base. KaOS is beautiful, but its ideological rigidity makes it a poor fit for a general‑purpose guide. For those who love KDE and Qt, Fedora, PCLinuxOS, and MX Linux all deliver a more flexible KDE experience.

KDE neon

KDE neon delivers the absolute latest KDE Plasma desktop on a stable Ubuntu LTS base—and for KDE enthusiasts, it’s great.

Not a full‑fledged distribution: The problem is that KDE neon isn’t really a general‑purpose distro; it’s a showcase for the desktop environment and other KDE software. The underlying system is just Ubuntu LTS, and the focus is almost entirely on the Plasma experience.

Already covered: My guide already recommends KDE Plasma through distros like PCLinuxOS, MX Linux, and Fedora which offer the same desktop environment with broader software ecosystems and community support.

KDE neon is excellent for what it is, but it’s a specialist tool, not a daily driver for most people.

Linux Lite

Linux Lite is a beautifully presented Xfce distribution aimed squarely at Windows switchers. It’s friendly, simple, and thoughtfully designed.

Redundant with Linux Mint: The problem is that Linux Mint already owns this slot—and does so with a much larger community, deeper documentation, and a wider range of supported desktop environments. Mint’s Cinnamon desktop offers a similarly familiar experience, and its Xfce edition matches Linux Lite’s lightweight footprint. There just wasn’t a gap for Linux Lite to fill.

Mageia

Mageia is a polished, independent, community‑driven KDE distribution with proud Mandriva roots. It’s a very capable system, but it didn’t make the final list.

Too close to PCLinuxOS: The main issue is overlap. PCLinuxOS already occupies the “independent, beginner‑friendly, control‑panel‑focused” niche, and it does so with the extra distinction of being a conservative rolling release. Mageia’s fixed‑release model is fine, but it doesn’t carve out a unique identity in a guide that already has strong fixed‑release options.

Momentum: While Mageia has a loyal following and a solid product, its development pace is quite slow.

I wanted every entry in the guide to have a clear purpose, and Mageia’s just didn’t differentiate itself enough.

Niche Gaming Distros (Nobara, PikaOS, etc.)

Gaming‑focused distributions like Nobara and PikaOS have passionate communities, but they didn’t make the cut.

Small teams, uncertain longevity: Many of these projects are maintained by one or two people, which makes their long‑term future questionable.

New hardware requirement: Many of these distros require newer hardware to get all of the benefits or even just to install. My gaming PC has a decade old processor and 5 year old GPU but can play most Steam games fine; I feel limiting older hardware takes away a key benefit of Linux.

Unnecessary specialisation: Linux gaming doesn’t require a special distro. I game comfortably on a desktop with a ten‑year‑old CPU and a five‑year‑old GPU using the distributions already in the guide—Pop!_OS, Fedora, Arch, MX Linux AHS, and Linux Mint Edge all deliver a great gaming experience without the downsides of niche forks.

NixOS

NixOS is a radically different, declarative, and reproducible Linux distribution. It’s one of the most intellectually fascinating projects in the open‑source world.

A paradigm shift, not a distro: NixOS doesn’t fit neatly into the framework of my guide. It’s not really a “distribution” in the traditional sense—it’s a whole new way of managing a system, and the learning curve is steep. A common criticism is that the time you invest learning NixOS goes more toward learning Nix itself than toward building broadly transferable Linux skills.

Untested personally: I haven’t yet used NixOS myself, so I can’t offer the kind of hands‑on, experience‑backed recommendation that defines the rest of the guide.

NixOS is brilliant—but it’s not a distro in the traditional sense, and I can’t recommend it without hands-on experience. It’s on my radar for a future deep-dive, though.

openSUSE

A powerful and historically significant independent distribution with the unique YaST configuration tool. However, several factors keep it out of the guide.

YaST being phased out: openSUSE is moving away from YaST and it’s splitting the job three ways. Leap 16 introduced Agama as the installer, Cockpit for system management, and Myrlyn as the new package manager, and SUSE has stepped back from developing YaST any further. Tumbleweed hasn’t made that switch yet and still runs legacy YaST, though its future now depends on the community. For me, the loss that matters most is YaST’s TUI — invaluable for beginners SSH’ing into a headless Leap server. None of the three replacements fill that gap: Cockpit’s a web console, not a terminal tool, so that workflow doesn’t really have a home anymore.

Tumbleweed’s update complexity: Rolling Tumbleweed has a confusing update mechanism. It’s unclear whether PackageKit (GNOME Software, Discover) updates the system properly. On the command line, zypper dup (distribution upgrade) is required instead of the more intuitive zypper up, and the YaST updater only patches existing software rather than performing complete system updates. This feels like a tacked‑on procedure rather than an integrated, coherent mechanism like Pacman (Arch), XBPS (Void), or DNF (PCLinuxOS).

Superior options already in the guide: For rolling releases, Arch and PCLinuxOS provide cleaner, more integrated update experiences. For server‑focused stability with accessible tools, AlmaLinux and Ubuntu Server are better fits. As a result, openSUSE doesn’t make the cut. It’s a powerful system with a rich history, but its current direction feels fragmented—and other distros now offer a more cohesive alternative.

Peppermint OS

Peppermint OS was genuinely innovative—a hybrid LXDE/Xfce desktop with a cloud‑first, webapp‑centric workflow long before anyone else was doing it.

A tragic loss: The passing of lead developer Mark Greaves was a profound blow to the project and to the Linux community. Peppermint lost direction for a time, and while a new team is working hard to revive it, the distro hasn’t yet regained the stability and clarity of vision I’d need to include it.

Remembered with respect: Peppermint was a favourite of mine, and I hope it finds its footing again. For now, though, it remains a project I can’t quite recommend—but one I remember with gratitude.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

RHEL is the backbone of enterprise Linux—it powers banks, governments, and entire cloud platforms. So why isn’t it in the main guide?

It’s a paid product: RHEL requires a subscription, which immediately rules it out for a guide aimed at home users, beginners, and hobbyists looking for free solutions.

Recent source‑code restrictions: Red Hat’s decision to restrict access to RHEL source code (limiting it to paying customers) caused a significant rift in the open‑source community. While the company still contributes heavily to upstream projects, this move felt like a departure from the spirit of freely available, rebuildable Linux.

Excellent free alternatives already in the guide: AlmaLinux provides a 1:1 binary‑compatible rebuild of RHEL with full ten‑year support, at no cost. Fedora Server gives you the upstream innovation that eventually flows into RHEL. Both are recommended in the Server Edition.

If you work in an enterprise that requires a RHEL subscription, you don’t need this guide to tell you that. For everyone else, AlmaLinux and Fedora offer the same DNA without the paywall.

Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux is AlmaLinux’s direct sibling—both were born in 2021 out of the same CentOS shutdown, and both set out to be a free, enterprise-grade RHEL rebuild. It’s a genuinely excellent, actively maintained distribution. So why AlmaLinux and not Rocky?

Foundation governance: AlmaLinux is steered by the nonprofit AlmaLinux OS Foundation, structured specifically so no single company can redirect the project. Rocky Linux is governed by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, which sits closer to CIQ, its founding sponsor. Both are legitimate models—Rocky’s supporters would fairly argue that having no major corporate backer at all is its own kind of independence—but the foundation structure is the one I trust more to hold up if one company’s priorities ever shift.

Dropping 1:1 turned into an advantage: When Red Hat locked down RHEL’s source in 2023, AlmaLinux gave up strict 1:1 binary compatibility in favor of ABI compatibility instead. Rocky stayed committed to being a bug-for-bug clone. That trade-off has actually paid off for AlmaLinux: freed from matching RHEL byte-for-byte, AlmaLinux 10 ships a separate build for older x86-64-v2 hardware (2008-era Nehalem CPUs and up), while RHEL 10 and Rocky Linux 10 both require the newer x86-64-v3 baseline. AlmaLinux has used that same flexibility to reintroduce hardware support and drivers RHEL dropped on other releases too.

Both projects are solid, free, and well maintained—if strict clone parity or a no-corporate-backer model matters more to you than it does to me, Rocky Linux is every bit as legitimate a pick as AlmaLinux.

Solus

Solus is an independent, rolling‑release distribution built from scratch, best known for creating the Budgie desktop. It’s fast, elegantly designed, and was once one of the most exciting projects in Linux. However, it didn’t make the guide.

Development uncertainty: Solus has weathered multiple periods of stalled development, leadership changes, and infrastructure outages. While the current team is working hard to stabilise the project, its long‑term future remains uncertain. For a guide that prioritises reliability, that’s a dealbreaker.

Budgie elsewhere: The Budgie desktop is available on other distributions (including Arch and Fedora via community builds), so readers who love the look and feel aren’t locked into Solus to get it.

Solus is a project I genuinely hope succeeds. For now, it stays off the list—but I’ll be watching closely.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

SLES is SUSE’s enterprise server offering, comparable to RHEL. It’s a paid, commercially supported operating system designed for corporate deployments—not home labs or personal servers. If you need SLES compatibility in a free package, openSUSE Leap shares its codebase and is covered in the openSUSE section above. For most home server needs, the distributions recommended in the Server Edition (Ubuntu Server, Debian, AlmaLinux, Fedora Server, Alpine) will serve you better without the cost.

Ubuntu

This is maybe the most prominent cut. Ubuntu is the most popular desktop Linux distribution and my own starting point back in 2005, but it didn’t make my curated list.

Release model: Ubuntu’s unique LTS‑plus‑interim release model is a genuine strength, but I feel it doesn’t add enough distinctiveness to justify a spot in an already tightly curated list. Fedora hits the same cadence as the interim releases and Debian matches the LTS philosophy pretty closely.

Strategic overlap: For desktop use, Ubuntu’s strengths are largely covered by other entries in this guide. Linux Mint offers the same Ubuntu LTS base with a more familiar workflow and community-driven philosophy.

The Snap trade-off: Ubuntu aggressively promotes Snap packages, which offer universal packaging and easy updates. However, the backend server is closed-source and Canonical-controlled—a model that works well for enterprise but feels restrictive to some open-source purists. For users who don’t mind this trade-off, Ubuntu remains excellent; for those who do, other alternatives provide a similar experience without it.

Ubuntu’s exclusion is more about strategic overlap than quality—it’s still a great choice, just not a necessary one for this guide. If you’re comfortable with Snaps and prefer Canonical’s vision, it remains an excellent daily driver. Ubuntu does receive, however, a respectful nod in the Server Edition, where its enterprise strengths really shine.

Vanilla OS

Vanilla OS is a genuinely interesting take on immutability and container‑based workflows, wrapped in a user‑friendly interface.

Still finding its feet: The project is relatively young, and while the ideas are exciting, the stability and community depth aren’t yet where I’d want them for a guide built around long‑term reliability.

Redundant with Fedora Atomic: Fedora Silverblue and Kinoite already cover the atomic model in my guide, and they do so with greater maturity, a larger community, and Red Hat’s backing. Adding Vanilla OS would duplicate that category without adding meaningful new value for most readers.

Vanilla OS is one to watch, but it’s not ready for prime time—not when Fedora Atomic already delivers a similar vision with far more maturity.

Zorin OS

Zorin OS is a polished beginner distribution with a killer feature: a desktop layout switcher that lets you choose a Windows‑like, macOS‑like, or GNOME‑like interface with a single click.

Freemium model: Zorin offers a free version, but several of its desktop layouts and some built-in applications require the paid “Pro” upgrade. This paywall means free users get a deliberately restricted experience, whereas distributions like Linux Mint offer a complete, polished workflow entirely for free.

One‑click WINE installs: Zorin makes it trivially easy to run Windows executables, which sounds convenient but is a real security risk for newcomers who don’t understand the implications.

Slow to update: Major releases based on new Ubuntu LTS versions often lag behind.

Honestly, Linux Mint provides a similarly polished, beginner‑friendly experience without the paywall, the security shortcuts, or the update delays. Zorin is a good project, but its free version is deliberately restricted—and that’s a dealbreaker for my guide.

Wrapping Up

I hope this post answers the “What about…?” questions that naturally arise from a curated list. Every distribution mentioned here has merit, and in another context might be a perfect fit—just not for my guide.

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This post is part of a series on Choosing a Linux Distro:

1. Which Desktop Environment?
2. Rolling or Fixed Release?
3. Community-Based or Corporate-Backed?
4. Which Distro?
5. Mobile Edition
6. Server Edition
7. The Cuts