UBUNTU DERIVATIVES ARE A DIME A DOZEN. Some you could probably recreate yourself by installing a desktop and changing some default applications. But some are simply outstanding, taking the rock-solid Ubuntu base and adding unique and powerful features on top.
It would be remiss of us not to mention, in a spread about beautiful distros, Pop!_OS. We were thoroughly impressed by the 20.04 release back in April. Pop!_OS (we like most everything about it, bar the awkward punctuation) is made by Colorado-based Linux system manufacturer System76. Being an OEM, the team wanted to be able to ship an OS that was guaranteed to work with their hardware. But also, just like the other distros named in these pages, an OS that makes it easy for users to do whatever they want to do. Pop’s desktop is much closer to Gnome 3 than what Mint, elementary OS and Solus offer, but don’t be afraid. Likewise, don’t be afraid that the latest release gives you the option to experience-in a very gentle way-the fun and joy of a tiling window manager.
One example is Elementary OS which, through its own Pantheon desktop, brings a sleekness and simplicity that rivals Mac OS. Instead of forcing users to read manuals (which in many cases just raises more questions), one of Elementary OS’s aims is to have minimal documentation. It aims to be sufficiently intuitive that users should be able to figure things out for themselves. Another of its design aims is “concision,” keeping things simple and avoiding bloat. Finally, it strives for “accessible configuration”-not bombarding the user with options, or asking for information that could be obtained automatically.