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 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 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 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.

Kubuntu is a free, user-friendly Linux distribution based on KDE's desktop software and on the Ubuntu operating system. It has a biannual release cycle. Besides providing an up-to-date version of the KDE desktop at the time of the release, the project also releases updated KDE packages throughout the lifetime of each release.

Edubuntu is a partner project of Ubuntu, a distribution suitable for classroom use. The aim is that an educator with limited technical knowledge and skill will be able to set up a computer lab, or establish an on-line learning environment, in an hour or less, and then administer that environment without having to become a fully-fledged Linux geek.

Ubuntu is a complete desktop Linux operating system, freely available with both community and professional support. The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Manifesto: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customise and alter their software in whatever way they see fit. "Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others". The Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.

Asmi Linux is desktop-oriented Linux distribution with editions based on either Ubuntu or Debian. It uses a highly-customised Xfce desktop with some user-friendly touches. Some of its other features include the Calamares system installer, out-of-the-box support for several popular virtual machine managers, a load-to-RAM boot option, the latest Firefox browser, Cloudflare DNS for faster DNS lookup, and SSH multiplexing for faster SSH connections. The project also offers a commercial "Ultimate" edition with additional software and tools.

AerynOS is an independently-developed, rolling-release Linux distribution designed for general desktop use. Its main features include the GNOME desktop, a custom package manager called "moss", atomic updates with rollback options, a package build system called "boulder", and smart boot management with complex EFI configuration through a utility called "blsforme".

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.

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The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a Debian-based live DVD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user. The product ships with several Internet applications, including web browser, IRC client, mail client and instant messenger, all pre-configured with security in mind and with all traffic anonymised. To achieve this, Incognito uses the Tor network to make Internet traffic very hard to trace.

Tiny Core Linux is a 16 MB graphical Linux desktop. It is based on a recent Linux kernel, BusyBox, Tiny X, Fltk, and Flwm. The core runs entirely in memory and boots very quickly. The user has complete control over which applications and/or additional hardware to have supported, be it for a desktop, a nettop, an appliance or server; selectable from the project's online repository.

Obarun is an Arch-based Linux distribution featuring the S6 init software in place of systemd. It 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).

Volumio (formerly RaspyFi) is a Debian-based Linux distribution designed and fine-tuned exclusively for music playback. It runs on a variety of devices, typically small and cheap computers like the Raspberry Pi, but also on low-power personal computers, notebooks or thin clients. 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.

Bluestar Linux is a GNU/Linux distribution that is based on Arch Linux. The Bluestar distribution features up to date packages, a full range of desktop and multimedia software in the default installation and a live desktop DVD.

DESERT OS Linux is a Ukrainian desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu and featuring the Xfce desktop. It supports Pacstall, a package manager inspired by Arch's AUR and capable of creating native Ubuntu DEB packages from source and binary packages, git repositories, AppImage apps, release artifacts and non-Ubuntu DEB packages. The distribution also offers out-of-the box support for Flatpak packages.

Oreon is a desktop-oriented live Linux distribution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, attempting to combine the stability and security of an enterprise Linux distribution with user-friendly features for desktop and laptop users. Its main features include GNOME desktop with a custom Oreon theme, ten years of support, and access to thousands of packages from Red Hat and Oreon-specific repositories.

Calculate Linux is a Gentoo-based family of three distinguished distributions. Calculate Directory Server (CDS) is a solution that supports Windows and Linux clients via LDAP + SAMBA, providing proxy, mail and Jabbers servers with streamlined user management. Calculate Linux Desktop (CLD) is a workstation and client distribution (with a choice of Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE or Xfce desktops) that includes a wizard to configure a connection to Calculate Directory Server. Calculate Linux Scratch (CLS) is a live CD with a build framework for creating a custom distribution.

PrismLinux is a minimalist distribution based on Arch Linux. The live image boots into a KDE Plasma desktop and a custom system installer which provides several popular desktop options available for installation, including KDE Plasma, GNOME, COSMIC and Cinnamon, as well as a customized Niri Wayland compositor. The distribution uses the long-term supported (LTS) Linux kernel compiled with kernel parameters optimised for speed and it also includes a pre-configured TLP utility for extending battery life.

StratOS Linux is an Arch-based Linux distribution which uses scripts from Bedrock Linux to include various packages and repositories from other Linux distributions. It provides several desktop variants featuring the GNOME desktop as well as the Hyprland and the Niri Wayland compositors. The project also develops several custom tools, such as StratVIM (a fork of the Neovim text editor), Rockers (a custom package manager wrapper able to fetch and install binary and source packages from other Linux distributions and from Flatpaks), Stratmacs (a custom Emacs configuration), grab (a fetch script), and Maneki-Neko (a Welcome application).

EasyOS is an experimental Linux distribution which uses many of the technologies and package formats pioneered by Puppy Linux. The distribution features custom container technology called Easy Containers which can run applications or the entire desktop environment in a container. Packages, desktop settings, networking and sharing resources over the network can all be controlled through graphical utilities.