Best Lightweight Debian-based Distros?

Other Distributions
1

Hello Friends

For Development purposes through VirtualBox I use Linux PeppermintOS because it is lightweight and solid. It is based on xfce. I liked this DE. Normally I use gnome

I need use other distro based on Debian and being lightweight to have both running together (or at the same time). It in the same host through VirtualBox. At a first glance I am assuming xfce must be involved

Question

  • What is your best recommendation for a distro based on Debian being lightweight?

And according with your own experience

Extra Question

  • Should assume xfce is the best lightweight DE?
2

antiX is Debian based and minimal.

Not necessarily. IceWM is nearly as good as Xfce..
I did make an Xfce spin of antiX26.

Debian has a small CD image called netinst.

If you install that and dont add any packages , you will get a really minimal Debian.

3

MX Linux with Fluxbox. Itā€™s lighter than XFCE and a very useful, Debian-based distro.

4

This! Why go anywhere else if you need Debian use Debian :smiley:

5

As usual Big thanks to all for your replies

Neville

antiX is Debian based and minimal.

Thanks for that point!

BTW for your consideration: Have you read?:

Not necessarily. IceWM is nearly as good as Xfce..
I did make an Xfce spin of antiX26.

Carambas! your skills are impressiveā€¦ I remember now that post! :beer_mug:

Debian has a small CD image called netinst.
If you install that and dont add any packages , you will get a really minimal Debian.

Thanks for that and for the link ā€¦ I saw quickly that link and is not indicated explicitly what DE is used. Does ā€œnetinstā€ use a DE? Right?

William

MX Linux with Fluxbox. Itā€™s lighter than XFCE and a very useful, Debian-based distro

Thanks for that. Do you use it?

BTW in its homepage https://mxlinux.org/ is indicated

MX Linux is a cooperative venture between the antiX and MX Linux communities

ihasama

This! Why go anywhere else if you need Debian use Debian

I am agree but I have always the spark to play with other Distrosā€¦ and as I wrote just above what DE is used for that Debian ā€œapproachā€

BTW prior to write this comment I remember:

https://ubuntu.com/desktop/flavors

And there is one with xfce

and Fedora (Yes I know it comes from Red Hat) has the same too:

And again there is one with xfce

What about Linux MInt? In its https://linuxmint.com/ page is indicated

Free and Open Source
It is completely free of cost and almost all of its components are Open Source. Linux Mint stands on the shoulder of giants, it is based on Debian and Ubuntu.

Just wondered why it is based in both.

BTW it has many flavors too at

Including xfce ā€¦

Are Cinnamon and Mate lightweight?

Best to all!!!

7

Linux mint is based on ubuntu which in turn is based on debian hence the based on debian and ubuntu . As for the debian net install iso it allows you to choose your desktop environement during the installation . If what you want is a lightweight debian based distro i highly recomend sparky linux it has several lightweight deā€™s like xfce, lxqt or even a minimal gui iso with a window manager . I hope this helps !!

8

Linux mint also has a version directly based on debian which uses the cinnamon desktop

9

Thanks for the information Tarik. Soon as I can I am going to reply your posts

Best!

10

Netinst is without a DE. I think it is even without X11. You have to install what you want. It is like BSDā€¦ all you get is kernel + utilities, plus the apt package system.

You said you wanted ā€˜lightā€™

11

Have you heard of Damn Small Linux (DSL)?

From their web site;

 The New DSL 2024 has been reborn as a compact Linux distribution tailored for 
low-spec x86 computers. It packs a lot of applications into a small package. All 
the applications are chosen for their functionality, small size, and low 
dependencies. DSL 2024 also has many text-based applications that make it handy 
to use in a term window or TTY.

DSL 2024 currently only ships with two window managers: Fluxbox and JWM. Both 
are lightweight, fairly intuitive, and easy to use.

From Gemini;

Rebuilt directly on antiX/Debian to fit onto a low-capacity drive or CD, 
using Fluxbox and low-footprint applications.
12

I did not realize DSL was antiX based. Interesting.

13

Simple answer is NO

XFCE RAM: 1 GB minimum, 2 GB recommended

MATE RAM: 1.5 GB minimum, 2 GB to 4 GB recommended

Cinnamon RAM: 2 GB minimum, 4 GB to 8 GB recommended

Althought the download size from the mint website to create the iso is almost the same in every version

XFCE boots the fastest, followed closely by MATE, while Cinnamon takes a bit longer due to initializing extra desktop services but you may not see much difference depending on the computer you install on.

I have had all of them running on a 15 year old computer with 2gb memory but to then use it only xfce was worth it