Adding software
Is it simple to install programs?
All of the distros that we’ve looked at are connected to a large repository of software, either of their own or a parent distribution. We’re only taking into account the default software channels, even though – in theory – you could either add additional ones in some cases or adapt packages from a foreign system.
Raspberry Pi OS is connected to the Debian ARM64 repositories. This means that you can use the standard apt commands to install software. On the GUI front, ‘Add / Remove Software’ is a searchable front end to the repository itself that mixes components such as libraries and themes with actual applications, making it not so beginner-friendly. There’s also a Recommended Software application, but there is no ‘store’-type application built in.
Twister OS offers similar facilities to Raspberry Pi OS, but because Steam and Lutris are ready-installed, it could be argued that these constitute software channels themselves.
Manjaro’s underlying distribution, Arch, uses its own packaging system, making it difficult to add the more common .deb and RPM format packages. However, typical installations are achievable using the Pamac package management front end to the Arch User Repository along with Snap and Flathub, which should cover most situations.
The Pop!_OS software centre, Pop!_Shop is hooked into the Ubuntu repositories and Flathub. The shop application ran well, and the only way we could fault it is that applications don’t have community reviews attached.
Ubuntu’s store is the most featureful because it is connected to the Ubuntu repositories along with Flathub and Snap. The store application features community reviews and scores for the application, and so Ubuntu came out top in this section.