For me it’s PeppermintOS.
I started my Linux adventure a few years ago, and haven’t owned a Windows PC since.
I currently use Arch on my main rig, and I wanted to install Linux on two old laptops that I found laying around in my house
I then remembered the first distro I ever used, which is PeppermintOS, and I was amazed at the latest updates they released.
They even have a mini ISO now to do a net-install with no bloat, with a Debian or Devuan base.
Sadly, I believe the founder passed away a few years ago, which is why I was really happy to see the continuation of this amazing project.
I don’t think Arch needs more recognition; it seems to be doing just fine. It’s been my daily driver on desktop and laptop for years, and on my cloud servers for a little longer than that.
Chimera Linux is doing some novel stuff, rather than the same old reflavoring of other distros; it’s one I’m keeping my eye on.
I’m running Artix on a laptop; that’s a good one for people wanting to escape the Poettering hive-mind. I’m running EndeavourOS on my desktop, and love it. TBH I should have done it three other way round; Artix is too fussy for a dynamic environment like a laptop.
Chimera is the bees-knees. I’ve got my son’s computer configured with it and have had zero complaints, it just plays games and makes working roms/emulation so easy.
You might be talking about ChimeraOS, while the other person is talking about Chimera Linux, a different project.
Ah! Unfortunately, there are two Chimera Linuxes: ChimeraOS, which I think is what you’re referring to and which is game-oriented; and Chimera Linux, which is a sort of No-GNU distribution. The former came first, IIRC. Very confusing.