GXDE OS is a desktop-oriented Linux distribution that combines Debian with Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE), developed by the deepin project. It is based on Debian's "Testing" branch. It ships with up-to-date Linux kernel, base system and applications, and it includes a "Spark Store", a software application marketplace with support for Android applications. The distribution is available for the aarch64 and x86_64 processor architectures.

DragonOS is a Lubuntu-based desktop distribution which is focused on software defined radio (SDR). The distribution provides a pre-installed suite of the most powerful and accessible open source SDR software. DragonOS has verified support for a range of inexpensive and powerful SDR hardware, including RTL-SDR, HackRF One, LimeSDR, BladeRF, and others.

Lingmo OS is a Debian-based Linux distribution featuring a custom-built LingmoUI desktop environment. The project's main goal is to provide users with a unified and practical desktop, software that is compatible with the desktop environment, and a smooth experience, even on low-performance hardware.

Kali Linux (formerly known as BackTrack) is a Debian-based distribution with a collection of security and forensics tools. It features timely security updates, support for the ARM architecture, a choice of four popular desktop environments, and seamless upgrades to newer versions.

Obarun is an Arch Linux based distribution featuring the S6 init software in place of systemd. Obarun provides a live disc featuring the JWM graphical interface. Utilities, such as pacopts, are included for working with Arch's repositories, including the Arch User Repository (AUR).

Securonis Linux is a privacy- and security-focused Linux distribution based on Debian's "Testing" branch. It includes a preconfigured tool that forces all incoming and outgoing connections through the Tor network. The system comes preloaded with various privacy and security tools, along with some custom-developed utilities. Securonis Linux uses the MATE and GNOME desktop environments. It can be run in live mode or installed permanently using the Calamares installer. The goal of Securonis is to provide a secure system suitable for everyday use.

Volumio (formerly RaspyFi) is a Debian-based distribution originally made for the Raspberry Pi single-board computer, but later expanded to other embedded devices, including CuBox, BeagleBone Black and UDOO. It aims to fully integrate Music Player Daemon, an open-source music player server, into the current Debian releases and to optimise it for Audiophile-quality music playback. Volumio also makes it simple to play music library directly from a USB storage device or from any network-attached storage and it also enables users to listen to web-based radio stations from Spotify, Last.fm and SoundCloud. Starting in October 2014 the project no longer provided a complete Linux distribution; instead it develops Volumio as a music player application only which it makes available for various platforms. The Volumio distribution resumed development in 2016 and is available for x86 computers as well as several ARM devices.

deepin (formerly, Deepin, Linux Deepin, Hiweed GNU/Linux) is a Debian-based distribution (it was Ubuntu-based until version 15 released in late 2015) that aims to provide an elegant, user-friendly and reliable operating system. It does not only include the best the open source world has to offer, but it has also created its own desktop environment called DDE or Deepin Desktop Environment which is based on the Qt 5 toolkit. Deepin focuses much of its attention on intuitive design. Its home-grown applications, like Deepin Software Centre, DMusic and DPlayer are tailored to the average user. Being easy to install and use, deepin can be a good Windows alternative for office and home use.

ArchBang Linux is a lightweight distribution based on Arch Linux. Using the Openbox window manager, it is fast, up-to-date and suitable for both desktop and portable systems.

Endless OS is a Linux-based operating system which provides a simplified and streamlined user experience using a customized desktop environment forked from GNOME 3. Rather than using a traditional Linux package management system, Endless OS uses a read-only root filesystem managed by OSTree with application bundles overlaid on top.

Berry Linux is a bootable CD Linux with automatic hardware detection and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. Berry Linux can be used as a Linux demo, educational CD or as a rescue system. It is not necessary to install anything on a hard disk, although this option is also available (it needs 1.2GB of hard disk space). Berry Linux is based on Fedora (previously it was based on Red Hat Linux and KNOPPIX).

Emmabuntüs is a desktop Linux distribution with editions based on Debian's Stable branch with both the Xfce and LXQt desktop environments available. It strives to be beginner-friendly and reasonably light on resources so that it can be used on older computers. It also includes many modern features, such as large number of pre-configured programs for everyday use, dockbar for launching applications, easy installation of non-free software and media codecs, and quick setup through automated scripts. In addition, this distribution addresses accessibility issues, for both installation and day to day usage, and includes a large set of applications supporting visually impaired people. The distribution supports English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish languages.

PikaOS Linux is a Linux distribution based on Debian's cutting-edge "Unstable" branch, optimised for gaming. It is designed to provide out-of-the-box gaming experience, excellent performance with up-to-date drivers and custom-tweaked Linux kernel, and a choice of GNOME or KDE Plasma desktops, with separate editions that use the Hyprland Wayland compositor.

AUSTRUMI (Austrum Latvijas Linukss) is a bootable live Linux distribution based on Slackware Linux. It requires limited system resources and can run on any Intel-compatible system with a CD-ROM installed. The entire operating system and all of the applications run from RAM, making AUSTRUMI a fast system and allowing the boot medium to be removed after the operating system starts.

Ultimate Edition, first released in December 2006, was a fork of Ubuntu and Linux Mint though recent versions (starting in 2024) have been based on Arch Linux. The goal of the project is to create a complete, seamlessly integrated, visually stimulating, and easy-to-install operating system. Single-button upgrade is one of several special characteristics of this distribution. Other main features include custom desktop and theme with 3D effects, support for a wide range of networking options, including WiFi and Bluetooth, and integration of many extra applications and package repositories.

Archman Linux is an Arch Linux-based distribution which features the Calamares system installer and a pre-configured desktop environment. Archman also features the Pamac package manager for easy installation of new software packages.

Neptune is a GNU/Linux distribution for desktops. It is based on Debian's Stable branch, except for a newer kernel, some drivers and newer versions of popular applications, such as LibreOffice. It also ships with the latest version of the KDE desktop. The distribution's main goals are to provide a good-looking general-purpose desktop with pre-configured multimedia playback and to offer an easy-to-use USB installer with a persistence option.

MODICIA O.S. is a Linux multimedia distribution designed primarily for musicians, graphic designers and video makers. It is based on Debian's "stable" branch, but uses the Cinnamon desktop and a recent Linux kernel. MODICIA O.S. comes with a set of carefully-selected, open-source multimedia software and tools, such as Audacity (audio editor), Brasero (disc-burning utility), Cheese (webcam application), Curlew (multimedia converter), GIMP (graphics editor), HandBrake (video transcoder), Kdenlive (video editor), MediaInfo (tool that provides technical data about media files), mpv (media player), Peek (animated GIF recorder), RawTherapee (photo processor), XnView (image viewer), and many others. The distribution also integrates the OnlyOffice software suite for general office tasks.

Rocky Linux is a community enterprise operating system designed to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It is available for the x86_64 and AArch64 processor architectures.

FuguIta is an OpenBSD live CD featuring portable workplace, low hardware requirements, additional software, and partial support for Japanese. This live CD is intended to be as close as possible to the default OpenBSD when installed on a hard disk.

blendOS is an Arch Linux-based, rolling-release distribution which automates installing software from supported distributions (Arch, Fedora, and Ubuntu) into containers. blendOS tries to make software management in across containers feel native and provides access to the user's home directory for each container.

Oracle Linux is an enterprise-class Linux distribution supported by Oracle and built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Some of the special features of Oracle Linux include a custom-build and rigorously-tested Linux kernel called "Oracle Unbreakable Kernel", tight integration with Oracle's hardware and software products including most database applications, and "zero downtime patching" - a feature that enables administrators to update the kernel without a reboot.

Network Security Toolkit (NST) is a bootable live disc based on the Fedora distribution. The toolkit was designed to provide easy access to best-of-breed open source network security applications and should run on most x86 platforms. The main intent of developing this toolkit was to provide the network security administrator with a comprehensive set of open source network security tools. What we find rather fascinating with NST is that we can transform most x86_64 systems into a system designed for network traffic analysis, intrusion detection, network packet generation, wireless network monitoring, a virtual system service server, or a sophisticated network/host scanner.

Arch Linux is an independently developed, x86_64-optimised Linux distribution targeted at competent Linux users. It uses 'pacman', its home-grown package manager, to provide updates to the latest software applications with full dependency tracking. Operating on a rolling release system, Arch can be installed from a CD image or via an FTP server. The default install provides a solid base that enables users to create a custom installation. In addition, the Arch Build System (ABS) provides a way to easily build new packages, modify the configuration of stock packages, and share these packages with other users via the Arch Linux user repository.

Dr.Parted Live is a bootable GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian Testing. It is a live CD/USB featuring a lightweight Openbox window manager and useful applications for data backup, restore and recovery.

PorteuX is a Linux distribution based on Slackware Linux, inspired by Slax and Porteus and available to the public for free. Its main goal is to be fast, small, portable (run from a thumb drive), modular and optionally immutable. It is pre-configured for basic usage, including lightweight applications for each one of the seven desktop environments (Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE Plasma, LXDE, LXQt, MATE and Xfce) available. No browser is included, but an app store is provided for downloading any of the most popular browsers, as well as other applications.

Mabox is a Manjaro-based rolling release distribution. Mabox Linux features the Openbox window manager as its default interface and provides a welcome screen with access to utilities which add additional software to the operating system.

CachyOS is a Linux distribution based on Arch Linux. It focuses on speed and security optimisations - the default Linux kernel is heavily optimised using the BORE (Burst-Oriented Response Enhancer) scheduler, while the desktop packages are compiled with LTO, x86-64-v3 and x86-64-v4, Zen 4 optimization, security flags and performance improvements. The available desktop environments and window managers include KDE, GNOME, Xfce, i3wm, Wayfire, LXQt, OpenBox, Cinnamon, COSMIC, UKUI, LXDE, MATE, Budgie, Qtile, Hyprland and Sway. CachyOS also ships with both graphical and command-line installers.

Nyarch Linux is an Arch-based, rolling-release Linux distribution designed for "weebs", or non-Japanese persons interested in anime, manga, cosplay and other aspects of the Japanese culture. Some of the distribution's custom features include "Catgirl Downloader" which downloads random pictures of cute catgirls, "Nyarch Assistant", a digital companion which helps with a range of computing and real-life tasks, "Material UwU" which serves as a desktop wallpaper and theme chooser, and "Nyarch Customize", a tool to facilitate desktop layout customisations and animations. Besides the standard release, the project also provides a special variant with pre-configured proprietary NVIDIA display drivers; both come with the GNOME desktop.

Alpine Linux is a community developed operating system designed for routers, firewalls, VPNs, VoIP boxes, containers, and servers. It was designed with security in mind; it has proactive security features like PaX and SSP that prevent security holes in the software to be exploited. The C library used is musl and the base tools are all in BusyBox. Those are normally found in embedded systems and are smaller than the tools found in GNU/Linux systems.

Xubuntu is a community-developed operating system based on Ubuntu. It comes with Xfce, which is a stable, light and configurable desktop environment.

An official variant of Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio is a Linux-based operating system for creative individuals in the areas of audio production, video production, graphics design, photography and desktop publishing. It makes professional audio accessible on Linux; it uses the JACK sound server and a kernel built with a low-latency patch. Up until version 20.10 Ubuntu Studio shipped with the Xfce desktop environment, but this was replaced by KDE Plasma in October 2020.

Ubuntu Kylin is an official Ubuntu flavour whose primary goal is to create a variant of Ubuntu optimised for Chinese users (using the Simplified Chinese writing system), although it also supports other languages. The default desktop is called UKUI (Universal Kylin User Interface) which is based on MATE desktop and is developed with the Qt toolkit. UKUI strives to adhere to the friendly-and-simple design concept. The distribution also includes more than 20 applications developed in-house, including Kylin Assistant, Kylin Video, Kylin Screenshots and Software Center.

Ubuntu Cinnamon is an official flavour of the Ubuntu distribution featuring the Cinnamon desktop. The project strives to offer modern tools while providing a user-friendly desktop which will feel familiar for users coming from other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows.

Ubuntu Unity is a flavour of Ubuntu featuring the Unity desktop environment (the default desktop environment developed and used by Ubuntu from 2010 to 2017). Unity debuted in the netbook edition of Ubuntu 10.10; it was initially designed to make more efficient use of space given the limited screen size of netbooks, including a vertical application switcher called "the launcher" and a space-saving horizontal multipurpose top menu bar. Ubuntu switched from Unity to GNOME in 2017, but the desktop was resurrected again as an unofficial "Ubuntu Unity Remix" in 2020. It became an official flavour of Ubuntu during the development cycle of Ubuntu 22.10 in 2022.

Ubuntu MATE is a desktop Linux distribution which aims to bring the simplicity and elegance of the Ubuntu operating system through a classic, traditional desktop environment - the MATE desktop. MATE is the continuation of the GNOME 2 desktop environment which was used as Ubuntu's default desktop until 10.10 (when it was replaced by Unity). The project began its life as an Ubuntu "remix", but starting with version 15.04, it was formally accepted as an official member of the Ubuntu family of Linux distributions.

Ubuntu Budgie (previously budgie-remix) is an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the Budgie desktop, originally developed by the Solus project. Written from scratch and integrating tightly with the GNOME stack, Budgie focuses on simplicity and elegance, while also offering useful features, such as the Raven notification and customisation centre.

Lubuntu is a variant of Ubuntu that uses the LXQt desktop environment. (Versions prior to 18.10 shipped with the LXDE desktop.) It includes essential applications and services for daily use, including office suite, PDF reader, image editor and multimedia players. A distribution available for both 32-bit and 64-bit computers, Lubuntu is intended to be user-friendly, lightweight and energy efficient.

AxOS is an Arch-based Linux distribution for the desktop. It features a custom package manager called Epsilon and it strives to present a modern and elegant look while remaining powerful, lightweight and customisable. The project offers two desktop options - Calla (a custom desktop environment based on the Awesome window manager) and Sleex (a custom desktop environment based on the Hyprland compositor).

BigLinux is a Brazilian Linux distribution localised into Brazilian Portuguese (with support for English). It is was originally based on Kubuntu, but starting from 2017 the distribution was re-born based on deepin. It then offered two desktop environments - Cinnamon and Deepin. In 2021 the distribution switched bases and desktop environments again, migrating to Manjaro Linux running KDE Plasma.