Mastodawn

Remember that massive Debian family tree thread? It officially has a home on my Codeberg now.

I have cleaned it up, fixed the links, and organized it so it is easier to navigate. If you are looking for a non-Ubuntu Debian based distro, this is a decent place to start.

View the list here: https://codeberg.org/resplendent606/terminal-tilt/src/branch/main/docs/debian-distros.md

Pull Requests are welcome, or you can just tell me here.

RE: https://climatejustice.social/@resplendent606/115788867728385803

#Debian #GNULinux #GNU #Linux #Privacy #SysAdmin #Tech #OpenSource #LMDE #LinuxMint #Mint #MXLinux #Deepin #PeppermintOS #antiX #SparkyLinux #BunsenLabs #Elive #AVLinux #NeptuneOS #KaliLinux #Kali #Tails #Whonix #Proxmox #OpenMediaVault #GRML #FINNIX #Knoppix #RaspberryPi #Pi #VyOS #Devuan #PureOS #Nitrux #EndlessOS #Emmabuntüs #Siduction #Bashcore #VanillaOS #TrueNAS #TrueNASScale #WindowMakerLive #Neptune #blendOS #crunchbang #Mobian #Droidian #FuriOS #LuneOS #Slax

Cookie monster!

sur5r Dec 27

Interested in running #vyos on non-x86 hardware?

Let's meet at #39c3

https://events.ccc.de/congress/2025/hub/en/event/detail/vyos-on-non-x86-meetup

[39c3] VyOS on non-x86 meetup

We'd like to coordinate efforts to run/maintain VyOS on non-x86 hardware

39c3

Bryan (he/him) 🇺🇸 🏳️‍🌈Dec 27

I love using Debian. I think it is so interesting that so many distros have been or currently are based on Debian. While I prefer vanillia Debian, I wanted to list all of the Debian based distros (non-Ubuntu) I know of and categorize them based on what makes them unique.

Daily Drivers (Ease of use):

LMDE - Linux Mint + Debian, no Ubuntu, Mint polish
MX Linux - MXTools is helpful
Deepin - Beautiful, preconfigured desktop, from China.
Peppermint_OS – Lightweight, cloud integrated, snappy
Neptune - Polished KDE Plasma on stable Debian w/newer kernels.
SpiralLinux – Pure Debian with modern defaults (Btrfs, ZRAM).
SolydXK – Simplified XFCE/KDE desktops for stability.
Lingmo OS / Mauna Linux / Br OS - Recent, beautiful desktops (China/Brazil)

Modern/Atomic (Immutable):

Vanilla OS - Atomic updates, can run Fedora/Arch apps via Apx.
blendOS - Atomic, lets you choose DE (KDE, XFCE, etc), can install applications from other Linux distros.
Nitrux - Immutable, no systemd (OpenRC), Maui shell, immutable, heavy reliance on AppImage

High Performance and Gaming:

Siduction - Rolling release based on Debian Sid.
SparkyLinux - Great for gaming, newer drivers.
PikaOS - Gaming with high-performance kernel opimizations.

Multimedia/Creative:

AV Linux (MX Edition) – Preconfigured w/low-latency kernel for audio production.

Minimalist:

BashCore - Ultra minimalist, branding free CLI environment.
Slax - Modular, tiny, runs from a USB stick.

Performance and Old Hardware (Lightweight):

antiX - No systemd, runs on a toaster (256MB RAM)
CrunchBang++ (#!++)- Minimalist, Debian + Openbox, continuation of original Crunchbang.
BunsenLabs - minimalist OpenBox, keyboard centric.
Window Maker Live - 90s NeXTSTEP look, fast, retro.
Puppy Linux (DPup) - Runes entirely on RAM, fast.
Elive - Enlightenment desktop, high-end looks for 20 year old hardware.
Damn Small Linux - Stays under 700MB.
wattOS - Low power consumption and simplicity.
Q4OS – Trinity desktop, can mimic Windows XP/7.
Commodore OS Vision - Retro computing aesthetic.

Security, Privacy, and Stealth:

Qubes OS - Isolates everything inside Xen VMs, has Debian and Fedora as default templates.
Tails - Amnesic "Snowden" OS, leaves no trace on hardware.
Whonix - Extreme privacy via dual-VM gateway/workstation.
Kodachi - Hardened, pre-routed live OS alternative to Tails.
Septor – Surf the web anonymously.
Kicksecure - Hardened Debian layer (the base for Whonix).

IT and SysAdmin Toolbox:

Kali Linux/Parrot OS - "Hackerman" suites for penetration testing.
GParted Live/Dr. Parted - Disk partitioning
Grml/Finnix/Knoppix - "Oh Shit Buttons", emergency ktis for broken PCs.
SysLinuxOS/Kaisen - Built for network admins and system integrators.

Servers, Cloud, and Self Hosting:

Proxmox VE - Server, machine host for VMs
TrueNAS Scale - NAS, built for ZFS storage and applications.
OpenMediaVault - Turns old hardwrae into NAS
umbrelOS/StartOS/YunoHost - self-host your own cloud.
Univention (UCS) - Professional Debian for corporate identity mangement.

Network & Radio Engineering:

Live Raizo – Specialized lab environment for network admins to simulate and experiment with complex network topologies (integrated with GNS3).
Skywave Linux – Built for Software Defined Radio (SDR) and shortwave enthusiasts. Preconfigured with specific drivers and software needed to communicate on the airwaves.
VyOS – Network OS for routers and firewalls.

Embedded, IoT, and Media:

Raspberry Pi OS - OS specifically for Raspberry Pi
DietPi - lightweight, optimized base for hobbyist boards.
OSMC - Turn hardware into dedicated Kodi media center.
LinuxCNC - Controls heavy machinery and 3D printers.

Mobile Distros:

Mobian - Debian for phones and tablets.
PureOS - FSF endorsed, famous for Librem 5 convergence.
Droidian - Allows Debian to run on standard Android hardware.
LuneOS - Spiritual successor to Palm webOS.
FuriOS – OS for the FuriLabs FLX1, includes Waydroid.

Philosopy and Geopolitics:

Devuan - Protest against systemd
Endless OS/Emmabuntüs - Built for schools and developing world.
Astra/BOSS/Pardus/UOS - State sponsored distros (RU,IN,TR,CN).
openKylin - Community version of China's Kylin OS.

You could also consider Debian Pureblends, like Debian Med and Debian Edu.

Did I miss any? Please let me know, I will edit the list. Thank you!

MarcinGondek Nov 20

#VyOS Stream 2025.11 is available for download 👉 https://blog.vyos.io/vyos-stream-2025.11

VyOS Stream 2025.11 is available for download

VPP, firewall group support for WAN load balancing, much faster NetFlow implementation, and more #vyos #vyos-stream #release

Show thread

Scott Laird Nov 11

Okay, a bit of progress on #vyos on the SN2010 -- I wrote up the first part of the experience here: https://scottstuff.net/posts/2025/11/11/vyos-on-mellanox-sn2010-switch-part1/

Also, it looks like an idle switch will keep its ASIC around 42C with the fans set to the minimum value that keeps them spinning (PWM 32). The CPU is only slightly over ambient at that level. It's still *slightly* louder than I'd like with the fans at that level, but it's probably acceptable.

Odds are actually it'll start overheating if I add more than one or two optics to it, but `fancontrol` will speed the fan up in that case. Also, Mellanox gives the same crazy thermal margins for SN2xxx switches that they do for their NICs. Basically, anything under 105C is fine, and "critical" doesn't kick in until 120C. So 45C shouldn't worry me.

Running VyOS on a Mellanox SN2010 Switch, pt 1

This month’s fun side project: installing VyOS onto a Mellanox/nVidia SN2010 Ethernet switch and using it instead of Mellanox’s own switch OS. A Mellanox SN2010 switch, with 18 SFP28 ports and 4 QSFP28 ports. I need a relatively quiet, low-power 25/100 GbE switch for my desk, ideally one that can do a mix of L2 and L3 plus VxLAN support. There aren’t many low-power devices that fit that bill, and the SN2010 and a few of its siblings are right at the top of the list. Unfortunately, I really don’t like Mellanox’s switch OS,Switch and router OSes’ CLIs mostly divide into 3 camps: (A) Cisco and clones (B) Juniper and clones and (C) weird stuff. Mellanox is half in camp A and half in camp C. The only real alternative to the SN2xxx family that I’ve seen for this use case are some of Mikrotik’s switches, and they’re way too far into camp C for me. Everything else is either just an L2 switch or draws 100W+ and runs at 55+ dB. and it mostly relies on paid support to get upgrades. Fortunately, this switch is almost unique in that it’s possible to use it as a full hardware L2/L3 switch using nothing but a stock Linux distribution. So I’m trying to see if I can run VyOS on it and get a reasonable router/switch user experience out of it. To skip ahead a bit, I have it working with a couple minor workarounds. There are a few features missing that I’d really like to have, but nothing that’s particularly difficult to implement. It hopefully won’t be too hard to upstream this into future VyOS releases.

scottstuff.net

Scott Laird Nov 9

Ok, it's time: trying to install #VyOS on a Mellanox SN2010 Ethernet switch.

Mellanox/nVidia's SN-series switches are fairly unique because they've upstreamed a driver for the switch ASIC into the Linux kernel. So, in theory you can run *any* Linux distribution on the switch and still have hardware L2/L3 switching working. The switch chip looks like a bunch of extra Ethernet interfaces to the system, and you can configure them like normal (`ip`, `brctl`, etc). The kernel's config gets pushed into the ASIC transparently, and metrics from the ASIC get pulled back into the kernel as well.

I've been watching eBay for a cheap SN2010 for a while. It's a half-width 1U switch with 4x 100G and 18x 25G ports, and finally found one. It draws around 35W on idle without anything plugged in, and is *almost* quiet enough for desk use with the fans spun almost all the way down (`fae mlci2c set_fan /MGMT/FAN1 1 14` in their wonky stock NOS). I've seen a couple fan mods for it that will *probably* get it to be nearly silent.

From what I've seen, this is the lowest-power L3 switch with >2 QSFP28 and >12 SFP28 ports on the market.

The goal is to make this my new desktop switch for less-critical things. I'm currently using 8 or 9 fiber pairs between my desk and my wiring closet, and I *really* don't want to pull more fiber.

The biggest issue right now is that the "MXNX-OS" that came with it is just different enough from every other switch OS that I've used that I really don't want to bother with it. I've seen people run stock Debian on them (example: https://ipng.ch/s/articles/2023/11/11/debian-on-mellanox-sn2700-32x100g/), but I don't see how you can say "this switch OS is clunky, I'd really rather write a bunch of scripts to run 'ip addr add' myself" with a straight face.

So, let's see if I can get VyOS on it, and how close it comes to being usable.

IPng Networks - Debian on Mellanox SN2700 (32x100G)

Scott Laird Oct 31

It's shaping up to be a Add Features to #VyOS sort of fall, apparently.

In addition to playing with some ARM things, I'd like to add a few missing NTP options (around polling speed, mostly), get PTP (time) support working, and do whatever tweaks are needed to get support for Mellanox's switchdev-backed switches, like the SN2010.

For the most part, it looks like just loading the (included) mlxsw module *should* be enough to get hardware offloaded L2, L3, and at least some VxLAN working if you install VyOS (or any Linux) on a Mellanox SNxxxx switch. Just configure Linux networking like normal, and the kernel pushes a matching offload config to the hardware on its own. Counter/statistic support may be somewhat lacking, and I don't think VyOS has any support for configuring port splitting (1x100G -> 4x25G). All in all, though, it's *probably* fairly minimal.

Scott Laird Oct 27

It's apparently time for my semi-annual "I wish I had a #Linux #ARM build system" post. But, as usual, I can't actually find a good solution to my problem.

I'm ~12h into compiling #VyOS for ARM right now, running on a system with 4x A73 cores. That's way, way too slow.

Moving it to a Pi 5 would help slightly (~2x, maybe?). There are a few 6-8 core SBCs or similar with faster CPUs for under $250. After that, I *think* I could piece together a 80 or 96-core Ampere Altra system for $1500 or so.

Surely there's *some* ARM system that will run Linux and fits between (say) a RK3588 and an Ampere server, righjt?

Presumably it'd be possible to run Linux on a M1 or M2 Mac mini, but driver support seems dodgy.

Or maybe ARM Linux in a VM on a new er Mac mini? That'd probably sidestep a lot of the driver issues with M3/M4 CPUs and Linux.

I could probably try qemu running on my x86 desktop; it's almost certainly slower than running natively, but it'd probably still outperform a 4-core power-constrained system.

Or I could farm this out to AWS/GCP/etc. That'd certainly be cheaper up front, but I'd end up paying to sling multi-GB images back and forth all day.

Anyone have any other suggestions?