Distrowatch stats for LM?

[That Random Guy]

I looked back on distrowatch after a bit of a hiatus and came to find LM was taken down from spot #1 on that homepage stat chart.

Astonished to find this, I recalled still seeing LM on top not that long ago. I went to the waybackmachine, got myself a looky and it seems that last year was somehow the year LM got shown up (by page hit only really... and on distrowatch).

Everything that goes up must come down as they say, but what really struck me was who was coming up in place of LM.

I don't like bashing on other projects or distros for something silly like an obscure statistic but it really comes at me odd when I find that MX Linux of all the distros is the distro of interest all of the sudden. This wasn't the case until some point late last year and the beginning of this year when it took spot #1.

I just watched the release video on their homepage and I still find myself questioning "why?". Honestly, what's so great about MX Linux?

I could understand why Manjaro is receiving all the attention because of the Arch hype people seem to dig themselves into now.

MX Linux, though? What is so astonishing about them that LM hasn't already committed to or covered?

I'm afraid I'm starting to doubt the legitimacy of this "page hit" being "calculated" on distrowatch.

Playing devil's advocate would put me in a spot where I'd also have to acknowledge that LM couldn't possibly have held the spotlight for as long as it did without said suspicious reporting from distrowatch—even though I personally felt it deserved to see its reign.

I'm not hesitant to accept MX Linux as the page hit king when it comes in a manner that at least clears it of suspicion. As it it, however, I can't help but feel really, really odd that MX Linux has seen this kind of rise in the past 6-months where other distros have clearly outshined and surpassed anything it could offer.

This is, at least, my perception of it all at this point. I can't go into supreme specifics because I haven't actually used MX Linux on my system.

That all being said—and conspiracy theories aside—can someone clue me in on why MX Linux is all of the sudden really interesting? How did it beat the Arch/Manjaro hype?

[kenetics]

MX Linux has gotten some very good reviews lately, including that from Dedoimedo, which seems to be his favorite at the moment. It is a fine distro.

However, Distrowatch rankings have very little meaning and can be easily skewed by fans clicking on their favorite.

[Portreve]

The only thing I've ever used Distrowatch for is to find current lists of distribution names, or to wit find their web site (in conjunction with the former). I've never used them to decide what distro to use or to try. Had anyone here?

[jp734]

I've never used them to decide what distro to use or to try. Had anyone here?

There are two distros I personally use, one of them happen to be on the top 10 but the one I use the most is not even on top 20.

[Pierre]

yeah - the Team@MX-Linux are really pleased about DW - ATM.

the Public Perception is an fickle beast - - and it will move on - again.

the LinuxMint Project is still going strong - regardless.

What is this "Page Hit Ranking"?

It is a light-hearted way of looking at popularity of distribution. Since each distribution has its own page, we thought it would be fun to track the number of visitors viewing individual distribution pages. The Page Hit Ranking (PHR) figure represents hits per day by unique visitors; as determined by the visitor's IP address. This prevents those readers, not disciplined enough, from rigging the results by re-loading the pages multiple times. The idea is to identify which distributions attract most attention and to rank them accordingly. Admittedly, the page clicks by themselves may not always reflect the popularity correctly, but they should, over time, provide an indication about what is hot among the readers frequenting this website.

[JosephM]

I'm not sure how anyone really has much belief in those distrowatch stats. Mint was on top for a very long but even as much as I'm a fan of Mint, I seriously doubt anything even comes close to Ubuntu as a desktop linux distro.

[Hoser Rob]

I don't think those stats mean very much ... Mint may have been getting more hits but it's still way behind Ubuntu in user base. It's just site hits they're reflecting, not the number of users.

[MrEen]

I would have originally thought MX was gaining lots of users due to the older hardware/newer kernel issues, but the latest MX has a newer kernel than Mint ships with. So much for that theory.

[bob466]

I've tried MX Linux...that's why I run Linux Mint Cinnamon.

[rickNS]

I'm not sure how anyone really has much belief in those distrowatch stats. Mint was on top for a very long but even as much as I'm a fan of Mint, I seriously doubt anything even comes close to Ubuntu as a desktop linux distro.

I agree completely. This topic came up some time ago, and I did a comparison based on forum membership, which would be a much better indicator of actual usage (IMO). I just now rechecked the numbers, here they are;

Distrowatch ranking...........total forum members.........ranking based on forum membership

1) MX Linux........................6,024..................................#4 at best (because I didn't check others)
2) Manjaro.......................No stats on the forum ?
3) Mint................................115,736...............................#2
4) Elementary..................No stats, or forum ?
5) Ubuntu..........................2,116,000..............................#1
6) Debian................................44,978.............................#3

Distrowatch rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, OK they may have "some" relevance in that the top 30-40 are probably the top 30-40.

[waldo]

The "best" distro does depend on what computer you're using. I've been running Mint on my Asus U47A laptop for several years. It was recently updated (fresh install actually) to 19.1. This last weekend I wanted to see what all the Manjaro hype was about, so I backed up Mint, and replaced it with a fresh install of Manjaro Cinnamon Edition. To my surprise, it runs much faster, and as a bonus, the little on/off light for wi-fi works! This light has only worked for Windows in the past, and required an Asus supplied driver for it. Apparently Arch built the driver for this light into their kernel. It's just a small thing, but it is nice to know if the wi-fi is turned on or off. Fedora, Suse, MX Linux, and other Ubuntu based distros have not seen fit to bother. I'm going to try it for a while to see if it's a good as it seems. All the niceness of Cinnamon on a rolling release distro!

My desktop runs great on Mint 19.1 so I'll leave it alone for now.

[kenetics]

If you add up all the Ubuntu flavors, the total would actually be above Manjaro. That's looking at a 6 month span.

[Hoser Rob]

The "best" distro does depend on what computer you're using....

Yes, and your skill level. There are only 2 distros I'd recommend to beginners, Mint and Ubuntu. They're designed with newbies in mind and have a decent user base so support is better.

Some distros are excellent but really aren't for newbies, like Debian, Arch, or (esp.) Gentoo. If you ask the typical sort of beginner questions on their support forums usually the first thing they'll do is suggest you install Ubuntu or Mint.

And frankly I've believed for some time that most small distros are created by people who want to be a big fish in a smalll pond.

[aes2011]

Distrowatch ranking...........total forum members.........ranking based on forum membership

5) Ubuntu..........................2,116,000..............................#1

But many of those are inactive. On the front page their stats indicate that 2,136 members are active (as of now). I don't know (or care) how "active" is defined.

[lsemmens]

We'll have to stop talking about other distros here or we might have to start a thread "What sends Mint users running to other distros"

[rickNS]

Distrowatch ranking...........total forum members.........ranking based on forum membership

5) Ubuntu..........................2,116,000..............................#1

But many of those are inactive. On the front page their stats indicate that 2,136 members are active (as of now). I don't know (or care) how "active" is defined.

I understand completely.
I never stated my stats were "scientific" Just possibly a better "metric" of actual usage than the standard distrowatch ranking.
BTW, don't you think there some inactive accounts on the mint forum ?

FWIW I don't much care about what is most popular, or I might be still be using windows, which I'm not

[HaveaMint]

There are other Distros?

[That Random Guy]

I've tried MX Linux...that's why I run Linux Mint Cinnamon.

[That Random Guy]

There are other Distros?

[Pepi]

Since retirement I've tried most all of the more popular Distros and I always go back to LM