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In this article let us have a look at 2 very popular distros Manjaro 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 Manjaro and Solu? The main difference between Manjaro and Solus is Manjaro is meant for users who are looking for the best gaming 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

	Manjaro	Solus
Organization Name	Manjaro GmbH & Co. KG 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	Intermediate
Based On	Arch	This is an original distro.
Target Use-cases	General-purpose Distro. Best Use-case: best suited for running Windows apps and Games through WINE and proton Other use cases: Arch lovers can get a “prebuilt, easy to install” distro	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	8/10 Out of the box software: 4/5 Software Repository: 4/5 Since this distro is based on Arch, there is support for all the latest software and kernels.	7.5/10 Out of the box software: 4/5 Software Repository: 3.5/5
Hardware Support	8/10 Official driver support: 3/5 Support for older hardware: 5/5 The user can select whether to use opensource drivers or proprietary drivers at boot-time	6/10 Official driver support: 3/5 Support for older hardware: 3/5
Hardware Resource Needs	middleweight	middleweight
Support	7/10 Paid support: Available in certain areas Community: 3/5 The community will expect you to have a DIY attitude and make an attempt to solve your problems using documentation, before posting in their forums. Documentation: 4/5 Arch documentation is considered to be one of the best in the Linux distro world!	6.5/10 Paid support: not available Community: 3.5/5 Documentation: 3/5
Ease of use	7/10 Medium	8/10: Easy
Stability	7/10 As long as the best practices are followed the Distro is stable. A tinkering user can break the system if he doesn’t know what he is doing!	8/10: stable as long as you use the official repos
Release Cycles	Rolling Release cycles: The software packages are constantly upgraded with features and bugs fixes as they become available, so no need to wait for major releases for getting the benefits of new software packages.	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 or just 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 Manjaro 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.

Manjaro’s goal is wildly different from that of Solus’s.

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

	Manjaro	Solus
Goal	To be an “easy to install, configure and use” version of Arch Linux	To be the best OS for Personal Computers
Target users	Linux enthusiasts who want an “easy to customize” system.	Home users, Content creators, Gamers
Best Use Cases to Employ the Distro	Best Use-case: having a prebuilt Arch-based distro Other Use-cases: Running Windows apps, Gaming	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 Manjaro and Solus fair up against each other in the category of Software support

	Manjaro	Solus
Out of the Box Software	4/5: The regular version comes with all the basic tools needed.	4/5: Comes preloaded with LibreOffice suite and other necessary apps
Repository Support	4/5: Very good. Has its own official repo, also has support for Arch repos.	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	Rolling release The software packages are constantly upgraded with features and bugs fixes as they become available, so no need to wait for major releases for getting the benefits of new software packages.	Rolling Release. Packages are released once they are stable
GUI Tools	Pamac GUI tool available	Available Solus software centre
Package manager used	Pacman	eopkg package manager (Solus’s own package manager)

The bar chart below summarizes the table above. As you can see, both Solus and Manjaro got the same points in terms of Out of the box software support. Manjaro is better than Solus in terms of Repository support.

Hence, Manjaro 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

	Manjaro	Solus
Distro’s Policy	The choice is given to the end-user, either free or proprietary software can be chosen for use.	Defaults to open source but proprietary drivers are also officially supported
Official driver support by Major Companies	3/5: Hardware and Software Companies don’t officially release Drivers for Manjaro and Arch Linux as the user base is not as big as Ubuntu and Fedora.	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	Available	3^rd party repos available
Support for older hardware	5/5: Supports both 32 and 64-bit processors and has good driver support for older hardware like network cards and graphics cards. Also supports automatic hardware detection!	3/5: does not support 32bit processors

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

Hence, Manjaro 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 Manjaro and Solus and see how they compare against each other

	Manjaro	Solus
Ease of Use	Intermediate to advanced	Intermediate
Paid Customer Support	Available in certain areas	Not available, hence might not be the best choice for organizations
Online Community Support	3/5: okay The community will expect you to have a DIY attitude and make an attempt to solve your problems using documentation, before posting in their forums.	3.5/5: good responsive community
Documentation	5/5: Great documentation Arch documentation is considered to be one of the best in the Linux distro world!	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 Manjaro in terms of online community support. Manjaro is better than Solus in terms of Documentation.

Hence, Manjaro 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 Manjaro and Solus fair up against each other in terms of Hardware resource needs

	Manjaro	Solus
Category	Lightweight to Middleweight	Middleweight
Minimum RAM requirements	1GB	2GB recommended
Minimum Processor Requirements	1GHz processor	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 Manjaro wins in Software support, Hardware support, and User support.

Solus wins in Ease of use, and Stability.

There is a tie between the 2 distros in Hardware Resource needs.

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.

	Manjaro	Solus
Organization Name	Manjaro GmbH & Co. KG 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	Intermediate
Based On	Arch	This is an original distro.
Target Use-cases	General-purpose Distro. Best Use-case: best suited for running Windows apps and Games through WINE and proton Other use cases: Arch lovers can get a “prebuilt, easy to install” distro	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	8/10 Out of the box software: 4/5 Software Repository: 4/5 Since this distro is based on Arch, there is support for all the latest software and kernels.	7.5/10 Out of the box software: 4/5 Software Repository: 3.5/5
Hardware Support	8/10 Official driver support: 3/5 Support for older hardware: 5/5 The user can select whether to use opensource drivers or proprietary drivers at boot-time	6/10 Official driver support: 3/5 Support for older hardware: 3/5
Hardware Resource Needs	middleweight	middleweight
Support	7/10 Paid support: Available in certain areas Community: 3/5 The community will expect you to have a DIY attitude and make an attempt to solve your problems using documentation, before posting in their forums. Documentation: 4/5 Arch documentation is considered to be one of the best in the Linux distro world!	6.5/10 Paid support: not available Community: 3.5/5 Documentation: 3/5
Ease of use	7/10 Medium	8/10: Easy
Stability	7/10 As long as the best practices are followed the Distro is stable. A tinkering user can break the system if he doesn’t know what he is doing!	8/10: stable as long as you use the official repos
Release Cycles	Rolling Release cycles: The software packages are constantly upgraded with features and bugs fixes as they become available, so no need to wait for major releases for getting the benefits of new software packages.	Rolling Release. Packages are released once they are stable.