Definitive List Of Operating Systems

Question

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).

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. — Zoot, Jul 11 '12 at 13:23
Maybe we should split the list below into several, representing different stages of 'working'? — Matt Lacey, Jul 11 '12 at 23:12
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 — Lolix, Jul 23 '16 at 15:10

score 92 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 30 '21 at 06:53

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Arch Linux ARM Images are no longer maintained for Raspberry.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] 11
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
Manjaro ARM for Raspberry Pi
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 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. — winwaed, Jun 20 '12 at 13:11
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*. — Mark Booth, Jun 20 '12 at 16:46
@LaceySnr-MattLacey Anyone got a reference for SliTaz working on the Raspberry Pi?? — Alex Chamberlain, Jul 11 '12 at 11:18
@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. — Andrew Larsson, Apr 10 '13 at 19:38
Yeah I'd say that's fair enough, might be worth a major update though. — Matt Lacey, Apr 11 '13 at 00:19

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited May 29 '14 at 16:34

5

Slackware also has an ARM version, with special Raspberry Pi instructions. Additional information is also available in Slackware ARM on the Raspberry Pi.

edited May 29 '14 at 16:34

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 20 '13 at 01:26

higuita

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 01 '15 at 14:32

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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

answered Oct 01 '15 at 14:32

Linutop

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score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 27 '16 at 12:09

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Kali Linux also has an ARM version of itself.

https://www.offensive-security.com/kali-linux-arm-images/

edited Jul 27 '16 at 12:09

Community

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answered Jan 21 '15 at 06:17

CTOAGN

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Additional details and links would improve your answer. See some of the above answers for examples. – Steve Robillard Jan 21 '15 at 07:44
https://learn.adafruit.com/kali-linux-on-the-raspberry-pi-with-the-pitft/installing-kali – Rush Frisby Dec 23 '15 at 21:55
Man, another Kali that no one will be able to use... Stack Overflow, brace for the off-topic questions... – Mar 22 '19 at 10:28

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 17 '16 at 01:41

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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.

Refer to https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/

answered Jul 17 '16 at 01:41

Aloha

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You can edit to add new ones at any time! I'll put them on there now. – Matt Lacey Jul 18 '16 at 02:21
@LaceySnr Yeah, I'm aware. I was on my phone when I posted this. Editing on a phone is a hassle. – Aloha Jul 19 '16 at 05:12

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 16 '17 at 20:24

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Daylight linux is available for Raspberry pi 3. You can test it here : Daylight Linux

edited Jul 16 '17 at 20:24

ob1

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answered May 09 '17 at 04:18

Daylight linux

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 16 '17 at 13:07

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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

answered Jul 16 '17 at 13:07

Githin

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 15 '18 at 10:52

• 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!

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 07 '18 at 05:39

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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)

answered Feb 07 '18 at 05:39

raspgraph

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Definitive List Of Operating Systems

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