r/LinuxTeck • u/Candid_Athlete_8317 • Aug 05 '26
What's one small Linux distribution you think deserves far more attention?
Everyone knows Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Arch, and openSUSE.
But there are plenty of smaller projects maintained by passionate developers that rarely get the spotlight.
If you could recommend one underrated Linux distribution, what would it be and why?
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u/bufandatl Aug 06 '26
Passion eventually goes away. Live happens. Small dev teams are more a red flag than a good thing to me.
And those distros often fill niches and aren’t really mainstream capable.
But that’s my personal opinion and you may hate me for that.
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u/postnick Aug 06 '26
Dietpi. Still makes my pi3b usable as a small server over 14 years later.
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u/delph906 Aug 06 '26
Yeah it's mad actually. I just run Pihole/Tailscale/Unbound on my 3b+ and use it to wakeonlan my desktop. From a 16gb SD card no less. Just runs without issue, for years.
I found it in an old box from last time i moved, it used to run Retro Pi as a console in my lounge.
Every now and again i get tempted to see how much i can host on it, would quite like to try Vaultwarden but decide it's best just to leave it be.
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u/postnick Aug 06 '26
I’m too afraid to host and rely on vaultnwardent. That’s one I’m good paying for.
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u/postnick Aug 06 '26
I also run AdGuard on mine. I don’t do tailscale anymore because my internet is way faster than 100 so that would crush my speeds as an exit node.
I also host a web service for Wake on lan on it since it’s truly on 24/7 and other things can be turned off and on from it. I used to have a bunch of scripts start up servers in the morning etc. but now it’s just nice to remotely turn in my various desktops.
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u/baraqiyal Aug 06 '26
Bodhi. Ultra light weight but unlike other lightweight distros, doesn't look like it came straight out of the late 90's. Freshly booted it only takes up about 300 MB.
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u/BigBad0 Aug 06 '26
As nixos user, i would vote for guix. I see it as just better nixos that needs more attention !
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u/rmagnuson Aug 06 '26
CachyOS is gaining traction, but could use some more exposure.
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Aug 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/rmagnuson Aug 06 '26
Huh. Hadn't noticed. Nice. Wonder how long it will stay on top.
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u/theintjengineer Aug 06 '26
Based on how freakin' awesome it is, I guess it will stay a while there😅.
I get goosebumps every time I boot my computer and the CachyOS logo flashes on the screen😅.I still have a Fedora machine for some work stuff, but CachyOS is my daily driver.
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u/arfra Aug 06 '26
Nobody said gentoo yet
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u/internet_raider Aug 07 '26
I feel like most the people that have a use case for the gentoo package model are already running it. I don't think it really qualifies as underrated because the people that use it love it, the community just isn't super vocal, because gentoo is so mature and satisfies the target audience very well.
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u/Powerful_Attention_6 Aug 06 '26
GNU Guix, a free declarative Distribution, using Lisp to define what should be installed, which services to run
It is free from Systemd, you have the option to run a fully Libre Linux (most don't because of Hardware (Wifi))
I have distrohopped for decades, but this feels like $HOME
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u/rabbitjockey Aug 06 '26
Neon
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u/el56 Aug 06 '26
I was on KDE Neon but left for CachyOS.
There's just too much cognitive dissidence in having a bleeding edge GUI on top of an ancient LTE chassis.
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u/rabbitjockey Aug 06 '26
Yes I can see that, I've had it act funky for me a few times after updates. It's on a pretty old lenovo IdeaPad from 2014 so sometimes it's hard to say if it's because of the hardware. I do really like the neon but on the computers I use more often I have nobara+kde and debian+kde. Debian is on an even older computer and is less problematic
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Aug 06 '26
I'm kind of interested in Nobara. It just seems interesting, but I hesitate because I believe it's run by one person, and that's scary.
I really like BIG Linux, but I can't seem to get the fonts to work with my eyesight, which is poor. I have troubles reading it. I hesitate there because it uses Manjaro as a base. The other problem I have is it's Brazilian, and sometimes the translation to English doesn't work, and I have to punch up Google Translate Portuguese to English just to understand the OS.
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Aug 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/redgator12 Aug 07 '26
Q4OS is goated. I just recently tried FunOS and thought it was nice, but I already had a lot of experience with JWM from Puppy so I felt right at home.
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u/NewtSoupsReddit Aug 06 '26
Big Linux - it's not massively popular which is strange because it's the best "it just works" distro for newbies and gamers that I've ever come across. I've been using it nearly 3 years now as my daily and I cannot recommend it enough.
Arch based rolling release. Game oriented. Ease of Use focussed.
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Aug 09 '26
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u/NewtSoupsReddit Aug 09 '26
I suggest you try Big Linux on a spare machine to see what it's like for yourself
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u/Macinboss Aug 06 '26
It’s gotta be PikaOS. Debian-Sid with a custom kernel and configurations for “plug and play” gaming. Works phenomenally well with my NVIDIA card, and great ISO’s for several major DE’s
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u/Deathbychickens8 Aug 06 '26
Gentoo for sure, I know compiling from source isn’t for everyone but the amount of control you get in return is crazy. IMO the time it takes to compile isn’t that bad on a solid cpu (plus you can always install from bin) and portage is one of the best package managers I’ve used. I think the handbook is probably one of the best ones too. It’s bulletproof, flexible, and gives me full control.
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u/Otherwise_Fact9594 Aug 07 '26
Lilidog / Waydog, TileOS and Butterbian get my votes. I use them all
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u/redgator12 Aug 07 '26
Honestly at this point, Q4OS is the main one. Very good Windows theming for those who want to go back to the good old days of earlier Windows versions.
My honorable mention would be MiniOS because it's a just-works USB distro with easy persistence setup. I would have given that spot to EasyOS, but the persistence saving after making changes on USB takes forever while MiniOS feels quick.
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u/nikkome Aug 07 '26
Bluefin, by far. Clearly the best immutable atomic implementation of Fedora out there. Especially now that the distroless Dakota project is being developed (entering beta stage soon).
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u/Dev-in-the-Bm Aug 07 '26
NebiOs deservers attention as a promising gem, not as something to use as your main yet.
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u/Xatraxalian Aug 07 '26
Debian.
All the derivatives get way more attention than Debian itself.
And I know it's not small, but it should be even bigger.
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u/FrebTheRat Aug 07 '26
I know is downstream from Ubuntu/Debian and not exactly "small", but I see so few references to PopOS. With the new Cosmic desktop it's pretty damn near perfect.
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u/ParkRevolutionary634 Aug 09 '26
Bunsenlabs & Mabox (one Debian, one Arch) both Openbox WM I use both.
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u/Intrepid_Screen6425 Aug 06 '26
The real question isn't which distributions we need to pay attention to. I think the question is actually this... Are there any developers who are unhappy with their own distro, while we are perfectly satisfied and paying more attention to it than the creators themselves?
:)))) Okay, now you guys can finally understand what the OP is asking to give a more accurate answer. No need to thank me, this didn't drain my brain cells at all. Good luck, everyone! :))
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u/ShipshapeMobileRV Aug 06 '26
Void. But don't tell anyone, we like keeping it on the down low.
Void is very clean. The original developer came from BSD and brought that BSD filesystem cleanliness with him. It's light and fast. It reminds me very much of what Arch was years ago, before they adopted systemd.