7 ms·

The most compact, minimalist general purpose OS out there by far. Tiny memory footprint and loaded with network services built-in. Linux has become so bloated

by fujigawa 11mo ago

The most compact, minimalist general purpose OS out there by far. Tiny memory footprint and loaded with network services built-in. Linux has become so bloated its users can't in good conscience make fun of Microsoft anymore, they are worse. Debian refuses to install with less than 512MB RAM, the text only installer will choke with less than that, it's pathetic. That's a console-only install, no GUI.

casparvitch 11mo ago
you're right, 60MB for alpine is really pushing hardware capabilities in 2025
j3th9n 11mo ago
I love it you can still install the latest OpenBSD on 32MB RAM systems.
- daneel_w 11mo ago
  But you can't effectively run it on that little memory, since over a decade.
  - j3th9n 11mo ago
    Ok pitty, I was about to install it on a 486DX4 with 32MB RAM for use as a webserver, maybe I will link a blog with my findings about it later here on HN.
mycall 11mo ago
Alpine Linux is similar in spirit to openbsd, slim and secure but perhaps with less features oobe.
- fujigawa 11mo ago
  They cheat and use busybox. Meanwhile OpenBSD running all the default network services like sshd and smtpd uses < 32 MB RAM and that's with full ksh and real tools. That doesn't happen by accident.
  - argsnd 11mo ago
    Is that fair? Busybox has fewer features than OpenBSD coreutils but those in turn have fewer features than GNU coreutils. All three implement the entire POSIX spec as far as I am aware.
winrid 11mo ago
lol Linux Mint with latest KDE is WAY snappier and quicker to start than Win10 on my laptops
f1shy 11mo ago
Is there a cheap SBC in which it runs without hassle? I would like to give it a try. I've used Freebsd from 2000 up to 2015 or so, but never used openbsd
- IcePic 11mo ago
  If you can get an Edgerouter Lite 3 it will run fine() on that, serial console, three gig ports, fanless and not-x86 and probably available for cheap if you look at used hw sites. ) as far as its hw goes, that is. Will not be competing in speed competitions, but cheap SBCs just never will, do they?
mna_ 11mo ago
No love for NetBSD?
- anthk 11mo ago
  I'd leave NetBSD for sub Pentium III machines, where OpenBSD's KALR and some security features would hurt the performance notability. If you have a Pentium Pro/II@300 MHZ machine with 64-128MB of RAM NetBSD would be a nice choice. You can always install cwm, oksh and some nice OpenBSD software from pkgin.
akimbostrawman 11mo ago
>Linux has become so bloated its users can't in good conscience make fun of Microsoft anymore, they are worse. Please show me where Linux comes pre installed with ads, ai and other 3rd party adware and uses a start menu written in react that makes your CPU fans spin up when you press it a couple time There is a enormous difference between bloat for the sake of feature or profit maximizing. If you think gnome and systemd are bloat then simply don't use them.
- anthk 11mo ago
  The parent commenter stated that even booting in text mode 512MB are not enough. 20 years ago you could run a whole KDE3 stack pretty happily among a live installer if you cared.
LargoLasskhyfv 11mo ago
Which systems are limited to 512MB RAM today? Seems more like a case for a museeum. As such, use them with OSes from that epoch. Or upgrade, even if it seems wasteful.

casparvitch 11mo ago

you're right, 60MB for alpine is really pushing hardware capabilities in 2025

j3th9n 11mo ago

I love it you can still install the latest OpenBSD on 32MB RAM systems.

daneel_w 11mo ago
But you can't effectively run it on that little memory, since over a decade.
- j3th9n 11mo ago
  Ok pitty, I was about to install it on a 486DX4 with 32MB RAM for use as a webserver, maybe I will link a blog with my findings about it later here on HN.

mycall 11mo ago

Alpine Linux is similar in spirit to openbsd, slim and secure but perhaps with less features oobe.

fujigawa 11mo ago
They cheat and use busybox. Meanwhile OpenBSD running all the default network services like sshd and smtpd uses < 32 MB RAM and that's with full ksh and real tools. That doesn't happen by accident.
- argsnd 11mo ago
  Is that fair? Busybox has fewer features than OpenBSD coreutils but those in turn have fewer features than GNU coreutils. All three implement the entire POSIX spec as far as I am aware.

winrid 11mo ago

lol Linux Mint with latest KDE is WAY snappier and quicker to start than Win10 on my laptops

f1shy 11mo ago

Is there a cheap SBC in which it runs without hassle? I would like to give it a try. I've used Freebsd from 2000 up to 2015 or so, but never used openbsd

IcePic 11mo ago
If you can get an Edgerouter Lite 3 it will run fine() on that, serial console, three gig ports, fanless and not-x86 and probably available for cheap if you look at used hw sites. ) as far as its hw goes, that is. Will not be competing in speed competitions, but cheap SBCs just never will, do they?

mna_ 11mo ago

No love for NetBSD?

anthk 11mo ago
I'd leave NetBSD for sub Pentium III machines, where OpenBSD's KALR and some security features would hurt the performance notability. If you have a Pentium Pro/II@300 MHZ machine with 64-128MB of RAM NetBSD would be a nice choice. You can always install cwm, oksh and some nice OpenBSD software from pkgin.

akimbostrawman 11mo ago

>Linux has become so bloated its users can't in good conscience make fun of Microsoft anymore, they are worse. Please show me where Linux comes pre installed with ads, ai and other 3rd party adware and uses a start menu written in react that makes your CPU fans spin up when you press it a couple time There is a enormous difference between bloat for the sake of feature or profit maximizing. If you think gnome and systemd are bloat then simply don't use them.

anthk 11mo ago
The parent commenter stated that even booting in text mode 512MB are not enough. 20 years ago you could run a whole KDE3 stack pretty happily among a live installer if you cared.

LargoLasskhyfv 11mo ago

Which systems are limited to 512MB RAM today? Seems more like a case for a museeum. As such, use them with OSes from that epoch. Or upgrade, even if it seems wasteful.