Things on this page are fragmentary and immature notes/thoughts of the author. Please read with your own judgement!

The Debian series Linux (including Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, antiX, etc) is a popular Linux distribution series. It is a good choice for personal (desktop) use. The following are some comparisons based on my PERSONAL experience.

1. Ease to install: Ubuntu = Mint >> Debian.

2. Usability: Ubuntu = Mint > Debian.

3. Stability: Debian > Mint >= Ubuntu.

4. Performance: Debian > Ubuntu, Mint

5. antiX is lightweighted Debian compatible Linux distribution.

6. Ubuntu has more commercial, graphics related packages, and these packages make Ubuntu more user friendly.

7. Xubuntu (Ubuntu + Xfce) (preferrable LTS) is sweet.

8. Linux distribution are based on the same kernel. Choosing a good desktop environment is more important than choose a Linux distribution.

9. Debian is not user friendly but it's very stable compared to Ubuntu. I think Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) with either Mate or Cinnamon is a very good choice for daily use. First, it's toally based on Debian (testing), so it's very stable. Second, it's very user friendly. And it's rolling release.

10. I recommend to choose one among LMDE, Xubuntu and Ubuntu.

Distributions:

1. ubuntu is much simpler than other Linux distributions, very fancy. I like it honest speaking. The only thing I'm worrying about is stablity. I might switch back to ubuntu in future.

2. Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora are easy to install and use.

3. Debian have more strict selection on "free" softwares.

4. ArchLinux is for geek.

5. Handy Linux is a Debian and Xfce-based Linux distribution, not good as advertised.

More Distirbutions

1. Zorin OS (based on Ubuntu)
2. Ubuntu Kylin (good for Chinese users)
3. Deepin (good for Chinese users, 可惜沾染了一些国内流氓软件的习气)
4. StartOS (good for Chinese users)

Choose a Desktop Environment

1. Stable or features?

Xfce is lightweight and very stable.

1. Depends on your Linux distribution

Xfce looks ugly in Debian but looks beautiful in Ubuntu.

1. How fast is your computer?

2. XFCE, Mate and Cinnamon are good ones

3. LXDE

4. RazorQT, Hawaii are potentially good ones lightweight but lacks functionalities

Lightweight Debian Comparable Linux Distribution

1. Damn Samll Linux (development is slowed down and almost paused, uncertain future)

2. AntiX (128M - 256M ram, good for old computers)

3. CrunchBang

Lightweight Ubuntu Comparable Linux Distribution

1. Lubuntu

Other Lightweight Linux Distributions

1. SliTaz (ISO image containing all packages available thus requires no internet connections)