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by LeFantome 196 days ago
DSL uses the latest Debian kernel. It is not any smaller than Ubuntu.
2 comments
lproven 195 days ago
Yeah it is.

It fits into under 700 MB and runs in well under 100 MB of RAM. The default Ubuntu image is about 6 GB now and takes a gig of RAM.

Have you not tried it? I have:

https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/14/damn_small_linux_retu...

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compounding_it 195 days ago
The GUI is usually the problem. I have booted Xubuntu and it's still slow. Slow systems with older GPUs simply can't keep up with newer desktops. Most of the times I need a terminal but a lightweight desktop can help if I quickly want to open a browser and search something so that I can copy past more complicated commands.
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lproven 195 days ago
It is still slow.

Try Alpine. It's amazing.

Xubuntu 22.04 took nearly 10 GB of disk and half a gig of RAM. I measured it:

https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/18/ubuntu_remixes/

Alpine takes 1.1 GB of disk and under 200 MB of RAM.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/05/new_lts_kernel_and_al...

Both running a full Xfce $CURRENT desktop, in a Virtualbox VM.

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