Credits:

In this article let us have a look at 2 very popular distros Elementary OS and Solus and see where each distro shines so that you can pick one that best suit your needs!

For those of you in a hurry, here is the short version of the answer.

The Short Version Of The Answer

What are the differences between Elementary OS and Solus? The main differences between Elementary OS and Solus is Elementary OS is meant for users who need an aesthetically pleasing distro while Solus is meant for users who need an original distro built from the scratch using latest software engineering principles

The table below highlights the important differences between the 2 distros

	Elementary OS	Solus
Organization Name	Founded by a small group of UX specialists with a strong focus on User experience. Organization Type: Company	Solus is a community made this operating system which aims to provide the best operating system for personal computers Organization Type: Community
Expertise Level Needed	Beginner	Intermediate
Based On	Ubuntu	This is an original distro.
Target Use-cases	General-purpose Distro. Best Use-case: Media Consumption Beginner Linux Distro Other Use-cases: Since this distro is based on Ubuntu, this distro can be used as a workstation too.	General-purpose Distro. Best Use-case: For use on Personal Computers Other use cases: can be used for content creation, content consumption, Gaming and if you need more latest packages without waiting for the next release
Software Support	6/10 Out of the box software: 3/5 Software Repository: 3/5	7.5/10 Out of the box software: 4/5 Software Repository: 3.5/5
Hardware Support	7/10 Official driver support: 4/5 Support for older hardware: 3/5	6/10 Official driver support: 3/5 Support for older hardware: 3/5
Hardware Resource Needs	middleweight	middleweight
Support	5/10 Paid support: Not available Community 3/5: Since this is based on Ubuntu’s LTS release, most problems can be solved through Ubuntu’s forums. Documentation 2/5: Very basic documentation available	6.5/10 Paid support: not available Community: 3.5/5 Documentation: 3/5
Ease of use	8/10: Easy But need to do a lot of post-install activities to get the best apps	8/10: Easy
Stability	8/10: Stable The Elementary apps are still in their early days and hence are not performing at their best all the time. But since this OS is based on Ubuntu LTS the distro is stable in the other aspects	8/10: stable as long as you use the official repos
Release Cycles	Releases are based on Ubuntu’s LTS release Release schedule: Not fixed, Based on when the features are ready	Rolling Release. Packages are released once they are stable.

The graph below summarizes the table and compares the 2 distros and shows us how they compare with each other on various factors (Higher the points the better that particular feature is in a given distro)

That is just the short version of the answer, let’s go ahead and look at the longer and more informative version and learn more about the similarities and differences between 2 distros.

The Linux Distributions World

The word Distro is short for “Distribution”. Since the Linux source code is open for everyone to see, large communities started evolving to bring together Operating Systems suited towards specific needs/goals.

These “specific needs/goals” include, but not limited to the following.

* producing documents

* writing programs and creating software

* editing pictures, videos, audio and multimedia-production related works

* store sensitive information by securing the operating system so that no one can hack into it orjust browse the internet and consume media.

Say a community of people just wanted to browse the internet with their computers, then there is no point giving them the software to write programs in. Thus since every community’s needs and goals were different these communities started distributing built images of this operating system with all the essential tools installed. These prebuilt images are called distros!

If you wish to know more about the reason behind the presence of so many choices in the Linux World, I suggest reading the article given below.

Reasons Behind The Existence of SO MANY Linux Distros: An Analysis!

The Main Factors of Comparison

The factors mentioned above are just a small list of 100s of factors that differentiate distros. If you are either switching from some other OS to Linux or you are in the process of choosing your next Linux distro and you are confused which one to choose, you need to have a look at these top 5 decision-making factors

* Factor#1: Good Match with your Particular use-case

* Factor#2: Support for your favourite software

* Factor#3: Hardware Support and Proprietary Driver Support

* Factor#4: Your level of expertise in Linux

* Factor#5: Hardware Resource Needs

I have written a separate article explaining these factors which you can find in the link below

Top 5 Factors To Choose Between Linux Distros!

Let’s have a look at each of these important factors and see how Elementary OS and Solus compare against each other.

Factor#1: Good Match with your Particular use-case

By use-case, I mean the type of work you are going to be doing on your computer. Linux distro world originated because of the difference in use cases.

Elementary OS’s goal is wildly different from that of Solus’s.

Let’s have a brief comparison between Elementary OS and Solus in terms of goals, target users and best use cases to employ these distros.

	Elementary OS	Solus
Goal	To make an aesthetically good looking and stable distro	To be the best OS for Personal Computers
Target users	Users of Mac OS that are trying to move to Linux	Home users, Content creators, Gamers
Best Use-Cases to Employ the Distro	Best Use-case: Media Consumption Beginner Linux Distro Other Use-cases: Since this distro is based on Ubuntu, this distro can be used as a workstation too.	Best Use-case: For use on Personal Computers Other use cases: can be used for content creation, content consumption, Gaming and if you need more latest packages without waiting for the next release

Factor#2: Support for your favourite software

If your main work involves some specific software or latest versions of a given software then that becomes a decision-making factor for choosing a Linux Distribution. So before fixing on a given distro, be sure to google if that distro has official support for your main software needs.

The factors you need to be considering include the following

* Out of the Box support: The software that the distro ships with.

* Repository Support: The curated software that is available on the official repos

* Type of release cycle: This decides the trade-off between up-to-date software and stable tested software.

* Availability of Graphical Software managers

* Package manager used: This can decide the ease of which you can install and uninstall software

Let’s see how Elementary OS and Solus fair up against each other in the category of Software support

	Elementary OS	Solus
Out of the Box Software	3/5: The elementary OS comes with very basic apps, and even those apps are not perfect which means if you don’t like the apps, you need to search for replacements	4/5: Comes preloaded with LibreOffice suite and other necessary apps
Repository Support	3/5: The official repo is still in early days but you can install all the Debian packages through the command line.	3.5/5: You will not find everything available in the Linux world on the repos, this distro is still in its growing phase
Type of release cycle	Releases are based on Ubuntu’s LTS release Release schedule: Not fixed, Based on when the features are ready	Rolling Release. Packages are released once they are stable
GUI Software Management Tools	Available App centre	Available Solus software centre
Package manager used	APT and Snap	eopkg package manager (Solus’s own package manager)

The bar chart below summarizes the table above. As you can see, Solus is better than Elementary OS in terms of Out of the box software support. Solus is better than Elementary OS in terms of Repository support.

Hence, Solus wins the round of Software support!

Refer to the article below if you wish to learn more about package managers.

A Beginners Introduction To Linux Package managers: apt, yum, dpkg & rpm

Factor#3: Hardware Support and Proprietary Driver Support

Not all Linux distros support proprietary drivers officially. Depending on your computer’s hardware, you may or may not have open-source driver support from the manufacturers. This is especially true for hardware such as graphics cards and network cards. Hence it is a good idea to take “driver support” into consideration while choosing your next distro.

The factors you need to be considering include the following

* Distro’s Policy of use of opensource vs proprietary 3rd party software

* Official driver support by Major Companies

* 3rd party driver support from official repos

* Support for older hardware

	Elementary OS	Solus
Distro’s Policy	Open-source drivers are chosen by default, but you can choose to use Proprietary during the installation process as they are officially supported	Defaults to open source but proprietary drivers are also officially supported
Official driver support by Major Companies	4/5: Being Ubuntu’s derivative Elementary OS enjoys the drivers released for Ubuntu	3/5: Solus is still in its early stages with a small community and hence major hardware companies don’t support Solus officially
3^rd party driver support	3^rd party repos available	3^rd party repos available
Support for older hardware	3/5: Has good driver availability from Debian and Ubuntu, but there is no 32-bit processor support	3/5: does not support 32bit processors

The bar chart below summarizes the table above. As you can see, Elementary OS is better than Solus when it comes to official driver support. Both Solus and Elementary OS got the same points in terms of support for Older Hardware.

Hence, Elementary OS wins the round of Hardware support!

Refer to the article below if you wish to have a look at some of the top distros in terms of hardware support.

Best Distro For Software And Hardware Support: A Comparison!!

Factor#4: Your level of expertise in Linux

Depending on your level of expertise in Linux, the choice of the distro you need will vary. This is because of the following factors

* Ease of use: beginner, intermediate, expert

* Paid customer support: available, not available

* Online community support: great, good, okay, not good, no support

* Available Documentation: Great documentation, Good documentation, Okay documentation, no documentation

Let’s see the level of support available for Elementary OS and Solus and see how they compare against each other

	Elementary OS	Solus
Ease of Use	beginner	Intermediate
Paid Customer Support	Not available, hence might not be the best choice for organizations	Not available, hence might not be the best choice for organizations
Online Community Support	3/5: Since this is based on Ubuntu’s LTS release, most problems can be solved through Ubuntu’s forums.	3.5/5: good responsive community
Documentation	2/5: Very basic documentation available	3/5: Has plenty of tutorials to do basic tasks, but lacks technical documentation.

The bar chart below summarizes the table above. As you can see, Solus is better than Elementary OS in terms of online community support. Solus is better than Elementary OS in terms of Documentation.

Hence, Solus wins the round of User support!

Factor#5: Hardware Resource Needs

This is an important factor if you are planning to employ Linux on a computer with limited hardware resources. This may be an old machine or a new one with less than stellar specs.

The factors you need to be considering include the following

* Category: Lightweight or Middleweight or Heavyweight

* RAM Requirements to have a snappy system &

* Minimum processor requirements

Let’s see how Elementary OS and Solus fair up against each other in terms of Hardware resource needs

	Elementary OS	Solus
Category	Middleweight	Middleweight
Minimum RAM requirements	4GB recommended (no minimum requirements given out officially)	2GB recommended
Minimum Processor Requirements	dual-core 64bit recommended (no minimum requirements given out officially)	64bit processor

Refer to the article below if you wish to have a look at a step by step guide for choosing a Linux distro for your computer’s specifications.

A Complete Guide For Choosing A Distro For Your Computer’s Specs..!!

The Results!

Let us know go ahead and see the results of our comparison! Have a look at the Bar chart below.

As you can see Elementary OS wins in Hardware support.

Solus wins in Software support, Hardware Resource needs, and User support.

There is a tie between the 2 distros in Ease of use, and Stability.

I suggest you pick the distro that best suits you based on this graph. For example, if hardware support is more important to you, then pick the distro that has better support for your hardware!

Summary

To summarise the article here is the comparison table from the beginning of the blog again.

	Elementary OS	Solus
Organization Name	Founded by a small group of UX specialists with a strong focus on User experience. Organization Type: Company	Solus is a community made this operating system which aims to provide the best operating system for personal computers Organization Type: Community
Expertise Level Needed	Beginner	Intermediate
Based On	Ubuntu	This is an original distro.
Target Use-cases	General-purpose Distro. Best Use-case: Media Consumption Beginner Linux Distro Other Use-cases: Since this distro is based on Ubuntu, this distro can be used as a workstation too.	General-purpose Distro. Best Use-case: For use on Personal Computers Other use cases: can be used for content creation, content consumption, Gaming and if you need more latest packages without waiting for the next release
Software Support	6/10 Out of the box software: 3/5 Software Repository: 3/5	7.5/10 Out of the box software: 4/5 Software Repository: 3.5/5
Hardware Support	7/10 Official driver support: 4/5 Support for older hardware: 3/5	6/10 Official driver support: 3/5 Support for older hardware: 3/5
Hardware Resource Needs	middleweight	middleweight
Support	5/10 Paid support: Not available Community 3/5: Since this is based on Ubuntu’s LTS release, most problems can be solved through Ubuntu’s forums. Documentation 2/5: Very basic documentation available	6.5/10 Paid support: not available Community: 3.5/5 Documentation: 3/5
Ease of use	8/10: Easy But need to do a lot of post-install activities to get the best apps	8/10: Easy
Stability	8/10: Stable The Elementary apps are still in their early days and hence are not performing at their best all the time. But since this OS is based on Ubuntu LTS the distro is stable in the other aspects	8/10: stable as long as you use the official repos
Release Cycles	Releases are based on Ubuntu’s LTS release Release schedule: Not fixed, Based on when the features are ready	Rolling Release. Packages are released once they are stable.