DietPi

A highly optimized, minimal Debian-based distribution for single-board computers, offering a menu-driven tool to install and configure dozens of self-hosted services with minimal resource overhead.

Embedded & IoTembeddedsingle-board-computerself-hostedDebian-basedminimalDownload ↗Official site ↗Docs / Wiki ↗

Based on

Debian

First released

2014

Package manager

APT (.deb) + DietPi's own lightweight config/software installer

Desktop environments

None by default (optional lightweight desktops installable)

DietPi strips Debian down about as far as it can go while remaining fully compatible with Debian's package repositories, specifically for the resource-constrained single-board-computer market (Raspberry Pi and many others), then adds its own DietPi-Software tool -- a simple menu listing dozens of ready-to-install self-hosted applications and services (Pi-hole, Home Assistant, various media servers, and many more) that install pre-optimized and pre-configured with one selection. It tracks CPU, RAM, and storage overhead obsessively, aiming to leave as much of a small board's limited resources as possible for whatever the user actually wants to run rather than the base OS itself. It's a popular choice specifically for home-server and self-hosting enthusiasts running many small services on inexpensive SBC hardware.

MirrorNest doesn't mirror distro ISOs — installation media should always come straight from the project's own official download page (linked above), so you get the correct checksum/signature to verify against.