Definitive List Of Operating Systems
What is a definitive list of operating systems that work with the Raspberry Pi?
I know of the distributions listed on their sites of course, but it could be beneficial to have a complete list of everything known to work (broken down by OS, and then distribution).
Maybe we should split the list below into several, representing different stages of 'working'?
The OS distributions that are available as an SD card image are marked with
.Beware not everything on this list will work on all models of Pi; non pi-specific GNU/Linux distros are usually for ARMv7+ and therefore only viable on the Pi 2/3. Some pi-specific images are also model 2/3 only, but this should be clearly indicated on the homepage if not here.
There are also (non pi-specific) ARMv8 64-bit ("aarch64") GNU/Linux distros that should be viable on the Pi 3 but this is largely untested.
Non pi-specific images (not having a dedicated SD card image is a clue to this) will probably at a minimum require you install the Raspberry Pi kernel; a generic ARM kernel will not work. See here for an example methodology regarding this.
- Alpine Linux, no SD card image but only require to extract tarball in the FAT32 partition ; works using multiple disk modes, "disk less" by default on RPi
- Android (emteria.OS) An unofficial port of Android in an installer for the RPI 3. Originally RTandroid. Commercial use only.
- Android (LineageOS) An unofficial port of LineageOS(Android 8.0) for the RPI3
- Android (RTAndroid) actively updated, and here is a video tutorial
- Angstrom Linux
- Arch Linux ARM Images are no longer maintained for Raspberry. Installation is done from tarballs now with manual setup of partitions and file systems, see here.
- CentOS, Pi 2/3 only.
- Chromium OS
- Daylight Linux
- Debian ARM
- DietPi, a lightweight Debian based distribution
- Fedora ARM Pi 2/3 only.
- Fedora for the Raspberry Pi Pi 2/3 only.
- FreeBSD
- Gentoo
- IPFire
- Kali Linux
- LibreELEC
- Lubuntu Raspberry Pi 2 & 3 Version
- Meego MER + XBMC
- Minibian, a minimal Raspbian image
- Moebius, a minimal Linux distribution under development with a focus on speed and minimal memory footprint
- motionEyeOS, a Linux distribution that turns the Raspberry Pi 1/2/3 into a video surveillance system.
- Nard SDK (Embedded systems)
- NetBSD
- OpenELEC + XBMC
- OpenWrt
- OSMC , Open source media center
- piCorePlayer
- PwnPi , a Raspbian clone for penetration testing. Does not seem to be actively maintained. Last version from 2012 works on Pi 1. Replace the files on the /boot partition with those of latest Raspbian to make it work on Pi 2.
- QtonPi
- Pi-topOS, a distribution specifically for the pi-top modular laptop
- Plan 9
- Raspbian , a Debian derivative
- Raspbmc is now OSMC
- RaspBSD
- RetroPie
- Risc OS
- Slackware ARM also known as SARPi, a Slackware ARM Linux for the Raspberry Pi 1, 2, or 3.
- SliTaz
- Ubuntu Mate
- Void Linux
- Windows 10 IoT Core
- XBian, a small, fast and lightweight media center distribution based on a minimal Debian
References
This is a comprehensive list of OS available for the Raspberry Pi. The official site links to this eLinux wiki, so I presume this might be the most complete list at the moment.
The link should be kept though, so we can see the latest update (I'm sure more will be added). We can also investigate the more exotic ones.
Also, it would be good practice if people edited this answer when new distributions become available rather than adding new answers, that way everything is kept together and the list doesn't get effectively ordered by *popularity on Raspberry Pi Stack Exchange*.
Glad this has been marked as community wiki!
@LaceySnr-MattLacey Anyone got a reference for SliTaz working on the Raspberry Pi??
@LaceySnr If this question dies (like it already has), then it will become outdated quickly. I tried to revive it, but I almost think that we should close it.
Yeah I'd say that's fair enough, might be worth a major update though.
You forgot NetBSD and FreeBSD.
Looks like 9front and Devuan are missing.
. o O ( Devuan? )
Slackware also has an ARM version, with special Raspberry Pi instructions. Additional information is also available in Slackware ARM on the Raspberry Pi.
No list is complete without PiBang. Simple instructions can be found in PiBang (pi!) Linux first look.
PiBang is discontinued
we just release Linutop OS for Raspberry, a distribution dedicated to professionals that need to deploy public internet kiosks and digital signage solutions using raspberries
I’ve made a list of Raspberry distributions, there are 80 distro circa plus discontinued ones.
https://fabiololix.blogspot.it/2016/05/raspberry-pi-distribution-list.html
Inline it here. Think your answer should be useful even if printed out on paper.
I'm surprised Windows IoT isn't on this list at this time.
Also, there's Ubuntu Mate and Core.
OSMC and LibreElec also exist if you consider these as OSes.
You can edit to add new ones at any time! I'll put them on there now.
@LaceySnr Yeah, I'm aware. I was on my phone when I posted this. Editing on a phone is a hassle.
Daylight linux is available for Raspberry pi 3. You can test it here : Daylight Linux
There is an another OS: Parrot Sec similar to Linux TAILS OS with lots of internet security applications including tor browser
Download at https://www.parrotsec.org/download.fx• Slackware ARM also known as SARPi, a Slackware ARM Linux for the Raspberry Pi 1, 2, or 3.
Slackware ARM is NOT also known as SARPi!
SARPi is just the Slackware ARM installer for the Raspberry Pis, which incudes the kernel, kernel_modules, and boot-firmware (.txz) packages. SARPi is not an operating system. Nor a clone, or a modification, or a hack, of Slackware ARM.
You do not install 'SARPi'. You do not run 'SARPi'. You install and run Slackware ARM!
There is also Kano [at http://developers.kano.me/downloads/]. Very user friendly especially to get children coding(although I still prefer Raspian stretch for its programming ability)
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Content dated before 6/26/2020 9:53 AM
Zoot 8 years ago
We might want to define what "work" means. I'm taking "work" to mean "it boots". It may eventually be useful to differentiate operating systems that have full hardware support from those that boot, but remain rough around the edges.