Hi, I've noticed that Manjaro is now n°1 on Distrowatch, with a somewhat large margin over Mint and Ubuntu. I've I missed something? Haven't been using Linux as my everyday OS for some years now.
Well, that just means that many are checking out Manjaro on Distrowatch, it doesnt actually say that it is the most downloaded or used distro, although I guess many downloads it to check it out. There is alot of hype for Manjaro right now, it is said to be for beginners (not just for Arch beginners but also for like people from Windows ) I guess many checks out why. I have installed it. First in a VM and then on a SSD. Installing is very user friendly. I just love how it did the partitioning and formatting automatically for me. Now THAT is very user friendly! It found all of my hardware (not that I was expecting anything else being spoiled by Linux Mint as I am ) I've just been using it for a couple of days, but I dont agree that it is very user friendly when it comes to install software that are not in the official repository but in AUR, the user repository. Like Vivaldi or Chrome for example If you want to be safe, I mean it is a user repository so I guess bad guys can put stuff there as well as anybody else, you have to know what it says in the installation process which I doubt a beginner does. The AUR repo is one argument for people to praise Manjaro. Installing from the official repository though is as easy as in Ubuntu for example. But that said, I like it so far. It is fast and beautiful (KDE) but I have a lot of learning to do.
Any Arch based distro is not beginner friendly; the constant, and large, updates will eventually break something that'll need fixing. This is Distrowatch take on Manjaro being number one (scroll down for Questions and Answers) https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20180702
There is no easy way to install Manjaro on a computer with UEFI and secure boot turned on. So basically it's a joke for me at this day and age.
It's a very good distro, but an overrated one too in my opinion. I think the most impressive new ish distro is Solus OS it's built from scratch. I do like Manjaro and driver support is great, but I wouldn't say it's as polished as Mint or Ubuntu really. It is impressive what the Manjaro team have accomplished in a short period of time.
You can get a trusted repo from herecura.be /.eu to install things like vivaldi, chrome etc. to avoid using AUR and the hassle.
Just in the sense of what happened to make Manjaro became nº 1 on Distrowatch and with a relatively big margin. I know that the classification is only a measure of how many visits a page about the respective distro have had on Distrowatch, but even so Ubuntu and Mint always used to be in the top. I just got very surprised.
Ubuntu hasn't been on top for over 5 years now, Mint has. Debian has moved up over the years too I guess.
