More generally I think it's good advice to not install the fifth derivative of major distributions run by random people without the necessary backing or securit

More generally I think it's good advice to not install the fifth derivative of major distributions run by random people without the necessary backing or security personnel to take on the tremendous undertaking that is maintaining an operating system. For one, it's not necessary. Most of these offshoot distributions do is install a desktop environment and put some theming on it, the package management is largely identical. Just install that stuff yourself, 99% of it is customization. Secondly don't install an OS from an organization you can't be sure is going to be around in 5 years, it's just asking for maintenance issues.