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DistroWatch.com: Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Linux

Last Update: 2026-02-22 19:59 UTC

OS Type: Linux
Based on: Independent (forked from Damn Small)
Origin: USA
Architecture: i486, x86_64
Desktop: dwm, Fluxbox, flwm, GNOME, Hackedbox, i3, IceWM, JWM, Openbox, WMFS
Category: Desktop, From RAM, Live Medium, Old Computers, Raspberry Pi
Status: Active
Popularity: 67 (212 hits per day)

Tiny Core Linux is a 16 MB graphical Linux desktop. It is based on a recent Linux kernel, BusyBox, Tiny X, Fltk, and Flwm. The core runs entirely in memory and boots very quickly. The user has complete control over which applications and/or additional hardware to have supported, be it for a desktop, a nettop, an appliance or server; selectable from the project's online repository.

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 77 (196), 6 months: 67 (212), 3 months: 88 (190), 4 weeks: 105 (166), 1 week: 100 (177)

Average visitor rating: 7.4/10 from 14 review(s).

Tiny Core Summary
Distribution	Tiny Core Linux
Home Page	http://www.tinycorelinux.net/
Mailing Lists	--
User Forums	http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/
Alternative User Forums
Documentation	--
Screenshots	http://www.tinycorelinux.net/screenshots.html • DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors	http://www.tinycorelinux.net/downloads.html • DistroWatch Torrent Archive
Bug Tracker	--
Related Websites	Wikipedia
Reviews	17.x: DistroWatch 7.x: FOSS Force • LWN 5.x: DistroWatch 4.x: DistroWatch 3.x: Blogspot 1.x: DistroWatch
Where To Donate, Buy or Try	The Linux Shop

Recent Related News and Releases

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)

To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.

Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.

Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.

TUXEDO
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Feature	17.0	16.2	15.0	14.0	13.1	12.0	11.1	10.1	9.0	8.2	7.2	6.4.1	5.4	4.7.7	3.8.4	2.11	1.4.3	Feature
Release Date	2026-02-11	2025-09-30	2024-02-22	2023-04-12	2022-05-08	2021-02-17	2020-04-01	2019-06-19	2018-02-26	2017-09-23	2016-07-05	2015-11-04	2014-09-10	2013-05-10	2011-09-01	2010-05-02	2009-05-25	Release Date
End Of Life																		End Of Life
Price (US$)	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Price (US$)
Image Size (MB)	18-280	18-280	17-250	17-250	16-160	15-160	14-210	13-230	12-180	11-140	10-110	9-90	8-80					Image Size (MB)
Free Download	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	Free Download
Installation	Graphical	Graphical	Graphical	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Text mode	Installation
Default Desktop	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	flwm	JWM	Default Desktop
Default Browser																		Default Browser
Package Format	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	tar.xz	Package Format
Package Management	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	tce	Package Management
Release Model	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Release Model
Office Suite	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	Office Suite
Processor Architecture	i686, x86_64	aarch64, armhf, i486, x86_64	aarch64, armv6, armv7, armv7l, i486, x86_64	aarch64, armv6, armv7, armv7l, i486, x86_64	aarch64, armv6, armv7, armv7l, i486, x86_64	armv6, armv7, armv7l, i486, x86_64	armv6, armv7, i486, x86_64	armv6, armv7, i486, x86_64	armv6, armv7, i486, x86_64	armv6, armv7, mips, i486, x86_64	armv6, armv7, mips, i486, x86_64	armv6, armv7, i486, x86_64	i486	armhf, i486	i486	i486	i386	Processor Architecture
Init Software	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	BusyBox	Init Software
Journaled File Systems																		Journaled File Systems
Multilingual	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	en	Multilingual
Full Package List	17.0	16.2	15.0	14.0	13.1	12.0	11.1		9.0	8.2	7.2	6.4.1	5.4					Full Package List

Full Package List: Tiny Core Linux 8.2
Number of packages: 64 (download as TXT) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- • acl-2.2.52.src.tar.gz • attr-2.4.47.src.tar.gz • autoconf-2.69.tar.xz • automake-1.15.tar.xz • bash-4.4.tar.gz • bc-1.06.95-memory_leak-1.patch • bc-1.06.95.tar.bz2 • binutils-2.27.tar.bz2 • bison-3.0.4.tar.xz • busybox-1.27.1.tar.bz2 • bzip2-1.0.6.tar.gz • cloog-0.18.4.tar.gz • compile_tc8_x86 • compile_uclibc • config-4.8.17-tinycore • config-4.8.17-tinycore64 • coreutils-8.25-i18n-2.patch • coreutils-8.25.tar.xz • diffutils-3.5.tar.xz • e2fsprogs-1.43.3.tar.gz • expat-2.2.0.tar.bz2 • file-5.28.tar.gz • findutils-4.6.0.tar.gz • flex-2.6.1.tar.xz • gawk-4.1.4.tar.xz • gcc-6.2.0.tar.bz2 • gdbm-1.12.tar.gz • gettext-0.19.8.1.tar.xz • glibc-2.24-fhs-1.patch • glibc-2.24.tar.xz • gmp-6.1.1.tar.xz • gperf-3.0.4.tar.gz • grep-2.26.tar.xz • groff-1.22.3.tar.gz • gzip-1.8.tar.xz • intltool-0.51.0.tar.gz • isl-0.17.1.tar.xz • libcap-2.25.tar.xz • libtool-2.4.6.tar.xz • linux-4.8.17-patched.tar.xz • linux-4.8.17-patched.txz • linux-4.8.1.tar.xz • m4-1.4.17.tar.xz • make-4.2.1.tar.bz2 • Module.symvers-4.8.17-tinycore64.gz • Module.symvers-4.8.17-tinycore.gz • mpc-1.0.3.tar.gz • mpfr-3.1.5.tar.xz • ncurses-6.0.tar.gz • patch-2.7.5.tar.xz • perl-5.24.0.tar.bz2 • pkg-config-0.29.1.tar.gz • readline-7.0.tar.gz • sed-4.2.2.tar.bz2 • tar-1.29.tar.xz • texinfo-6.3.tar.xz • uClibc-0.9.33.2-ldconfig-x64-p-option.patch • uClibc-0.9.33.2.tar.xz • uclibc-ldconfig-glibc-compat.patch • uclibc_x86.config • util-linux-2.28.2.tar.xz • XML-Parser-2.44.tar.gz • xz-5.2.2.tar.xz • zlib-1.2.8.tar.xz

Full Package List: Tiny Core Linux 8.2

Number of packages: 64 (download as TXT)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  •  acl-2.2.52.src.tar.gz
  •  attr-2.4.47.src.tar.gz
  •  autoconf-2.69.tar.xz
  •  automake-1.15.tar.xz
  •  bash-4.4.tar.gz
  •  bc-1.06.95-memory_leak-1.patch
  •  bc-1.06.95.tar.bz2
  •  binutils-2.27.tar.bz2
  •  bison-3.0.4.tar.xz
  •  busybox-1.27.1.tar.bz2
  •  bzip2-1.0.6.tar.gz
  •  cloog-0.18.4.tar.gz
  •  compile_tc8_x86
  •  compile_uclibc
  •  config-4.8.17-tinycore
  •  config-4.8.17-tinycore64
  •  coreutils-8.25-i18n-2.patch
  •  coreutils-8.25.tar.xz
  •  diffutils-3.5.tar.xz
  •  e2fsprogs-1.43.3.tar.gz
  •  expat-2.2.0.tar.bz2
  •  file-5.28.tar.gz
  •  findutils-4.6.0.tar.gz
  •  flex-2.6.1.tar.xz
  •  gawk-4.1.4.tar.xz
  •  gcc-6.2.0.tar.bz2
  •  gdbm-1.12.tar.gz
  •  gettext-0.19.8.1.tar.xz
  •  glibc-2.24-fhs-1.patch
  •  glibc-2.24.tar.xz
  •  gmp-6.1.1.tar.xz
  •  gperf-3.0.4.tar.gz
  •  grep-2.26.tar.xz
  •  groff-1.22.3.tar.gz
  •  gzip-1.8.tar.xz
  •  intltool-0.51.0.tar.gz
  •  isl-0.17.1.tar.xz
  •  libcap-2.25.tar.xz
  •  libtool-2.4.6.tar.xz
  •  linux-4.8.17-patched.tar.xz
  •  linux-4.8.17-patched.txz
  •  linux-4.8.1.tar.xz
  •  m4-1.4.17.tar.xz
  •  make-4.2.1.tar.bz2
  •  Module.symvers-4.8.17-tinycore64.gz
  •  Module.symvers-4.8.17-tinycore.gz
  •  mpc-1.0.3.tar.gz
  •  mpfr-3.1.5.tar.xz
  •  ncurses-6.0.tar.gz
  •  patch-2.7.5.tar.xz
  •  perl-5.24.0.tar.bz2
  •  pkg-config-0.29.1.tar.gz
  •  readline-7.0.tar.gz
  •  sed-4.2.2.tar.bz2
  •  tar-1.29.tar.xz
  •  texinfo-6.3.tar.xz
  •  uClibc-0.9.33.2-ldconfig-x64-p-option.patch
  •  uClibc-0.9.33.2.tar.xz
  •  uclibc-ldconfig-glibc-compat.patch
  •  uclibc_x86.config
  •  util-linux-2.28.2.tar.xz
  •  XML-Parser-2.44.tar.gz
  •  xz-5.2.2.tar.xz
  •  zlib-1.2.8.tar.xz

Reader Ratings

Reader supplied reviews for Tiny Core Linux

Average rating
7.4
from 14 review(s)
Please select a rating in the range of 1-10.
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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: 17.0
Rating: 8
Date: 2026-02-12
Country: Australia
Votes: 3

Very lightweight and fast. Of course the "lightweight" part of this comes with the trade off that there's a very minimal collection of apps.

I ran it in a KVM/QEMU virtual machine and its installer (which I only found present in the CorePlus ISO image) didn't recognize my virtual hard disk. ls /dev/sd* listed some partitions but it didn't list my unformatted virtual hard disk. So I couldn't install it to my virtual hard disk. Hence why I deducted two points.

If all you want is a lightweight live session, it provides this without issue. But due to the aforementioned issues with installing to a virtual machine, I cannot comment on its utility outside this context.

Was this review helpful? Yes No

Version: 15.0
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-02-04
Votes: 16

Really great OS, helped revived one of my old Toshiba laptops with a pentium 4 mobile and bring it back to be somewhat usable to browse the web. Truly is impressive how the entire OS can fit under 12 MB with the minimum installation. It's amazing how little disk space it takes up. In my opinion, Tiny Core looks a lot better as eye candy than compared to something like Windows 11, and of course is very lightweight. I recommend Tiny Core if you have a very old PC you want to repurpose or bring into the modern day.

Was this review helpful? Yes No

Version: 15.0
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-01-07
Votes: 21

Small (smaller than nearly EVERYTHING else), faster, live system. Even the install to hard drive does a FRUGAL install so you are loop loading the ISO. Compared to antiX: Core is a live-cd image and is not intended to run from hard drive (although there IS that provision for FRUGAL as mentioned), while antiX does nicely installed to hard drive.

TinyCore/CorePlus GUI is more likely to run correctly on very old (pentium/686) systems and laptops.

I recommend running TinyCore or CorePlus form a pen drive.

Was this review helpful? Yes No

See all 14 reader reviews of Tiny Core Linux...

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