Remember Linux? Once touted as a serious challenger to Windows on the desktop, the open-source operating system remains hugely popular among a small minority of desktop users. And, of course, its use in data centres is undiminished, powering millions of servers around the world — and literally underpinning the Internet.

Unlike Windows or Apple’s macOS, there are a plethora of distributions — “distros”, or versions — of Linux, each designed with specific uses, and users, in mind.

Linux.com, a website that writes about open-source software and the Linux community, has published its annual list of what it considers the best Linux distros available today, broken down into a number of categories.

For desktop users, the website has selected Elementary OS Loki as “best desktop distribution” for 2017. It said Loki is “one of the more beautiful Linux distributions” and is also “rock solid and offers an unmatched user-friendliness and consistency across the desktop”.

Winners in other categories are:

Best distro for system administrators: Parrot Linux

Best lightweight distro: LXLE

Best distro for those with something to prove: Gentoo

Best Linux distro for the Internet of things: Snappy Ubuntu Core

Best non-enterprise server distro: CentOS