The 9 Smallest Linux Distros That Are Super Lightweight

NinjaZ@infosec.pub to Linux@lemmy.ml – 85 points –
makeuseof.com

Do you have an old PC lying around gathering dust? How about a small-capacity USB flash drive sitting, unloved in a drawer? You can reuse your old computer and a USB flash drive by installing a tiny Linux distribution.

Mini Linux distros are great as they require fewer system resources than other options yet still deliver a whole operating system experience, and we have nine of the smallest Linux distros for you to choose from.

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tl;dr:

ArchBang
Tiny Core Linux
Absolute Linux
Porteus
Puppy Linux
SliTaz
antiX Linux
Bodhi Linux
Linux Lite

I didn't care for PuppyLinux as it didn't run well with even just Firefox open. I also didn't care for the updating structure that seemed to be the idea that you just don't update packages between releases. I could be wrong on that, but that was what I got from reading on how to keep things up to date. I did like how small it is and how it loads into memory on boot.

AntiX wouldn't let me install any packages or update. It would keep telling me I needed to wait a few hours to access the repos. I did like how you could swap between several desktop environments easily.

AntiX wouldn’t let me install any packages or update. It would keep telling me I needed to wait a few hours to access the repos. I did like how you could swap between several desktop environments easily.

Just manual change the repo and problem solved..

And I need to clarify this because AntiX IMO, under category Permacomputing for low power consumption without too much sacrificing the function than others [in my experiment].

Change the repo to what?

Mirror repo

Gotcha! I've never done that before so it didn't occur to me to do it.

Luckily Xubuntu did the trick on that old laptop

Luckily Xubuntu did the trick on that old laptop

yeah, because ubuntu have more stable repo server than antix. but if i comparison two of them in power consumption, antix used less power 3x in ram than xubun.

The lack of systemd was something I couldn't get over. I mean the alternative service managers are good but a few apps I really need have a strong dependency on systemd and the adapter packages just weren't working. Otherwise I highly recommend AntiX. It made my old netbook feel useful again.

I was impressed with antiX as a light-weight system. If you are ok with a tiling window manager, ArchBang is good too.

They are essentially stripped-down Debian and Arch respectively.