The first distro I am looking at for the new year is Kahel OS, a distro based on Arch and hailing from the Philipines, it makes some bold statements and made it impossible for me to ignore!

To start off, Kahel OS is based on Arch Linux. Therefore, Kahel OS embodies most of the ideals that Arch Linux has. On top of that, Kahel OS does simplify the installation process that may stumble new Linux users.

Kahel OS is a remastered version of Arch Linux. Arch Linux has a bit of a reputation as not being particularly friendly to average desktop users. Kahel OS is an effort to change that perception and make it easier for people to use Arch Linux.

We see blog posts and articles everywhere. They proclaim that Distro X has the most users. Distro B has the most hits on a site that lists distros. Distro C is the top because Linus or some other "Geek God" prefers it.

So, what do you do if there's no distro which meets your specific needs? Or, what if you want a distro that doesn't bother you with any pesky prompting but just sets itself up exactly how you like it? In these cases - or even just for the fun of it - you can always make your own distro. And here's how.

You want proof there's a Linux distribution for absolutely every possible application? Here's one for you: Hikarunix, a distro dedicated to Go players and based on the ever-versatile Damn Small Linux (DSL).

In the middle of comments from my last review of gOS, I had one person recommend I check out a new distro called Geubuntu. Well, as I was in the middle of playing with this Enlightenment package, named from its parent distro of Ubuntu, I saw a release stating that the name now was OpenGEU.

Measuring the popularity of Linux has always been a difficult thing. A well used method is the Distrowatch rankings. This simply measures the visits on each distro page on the site every day.

Distro-hopping is easy and fun. Linux users distro-hop to solve problems and to try new software. But is it necessary? Haven't most Linux distributions reached a state of polish that makes distro-hopping unnecessary?