Raspbian

What hackers pick instead

• WindowsRecommended for running the software and games people depend on, day-to-day stability and solid underlying engineering, but critics widely object to Windows 11's ads, telemetry, forced accounts and UI regressions.1287recommend
• macOSRecommended for consistent keyboard shortcuts, strong security, tight Apple ecosystem integration and getting work done without fiddling, though critics cite recent bugs, CPU spikes, clunky window management and UI regressions.1041recommend
• LinuxA free, open-source OS praised for total control, stability and wide hardware and software support, especially on servers; desktop use can still take extra effort and debugging.745recommend
• HaikuA free BeOS-inspired desktop OS praised for being extremely fast and responsive with a clean, consistent UI, though many say it's not yet practical as a daily driver.115recommend
• NetBSDRecommended for running on almost any hardware, including old machines, with a clean, well-documented design, though support for modern hardware and drivers is weak.100recommend

Every quote

The 5 most detailed of 6 comments. Each links to the original.

1. I just installed standard Raspbian on a bunch of Raspi5s, and it feels snappier and more advanced than Windows already.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux”

2. It was my go-to OS for reviving very old PCs.

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “"When I Created Raspbian for the Raspberry Pi..."”

3. use a regular raspbian os or something

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Show HN: CineCLI – Browse and torrent movies directly from your terminal”

4. Raspbian and a commitment to openness

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Raspberry Pi's New AI Hat Adds 8GB of RAM for Local LLMs”

5. Early on Raspbian didn't specify noatime or even relatime; every time something was read off disk, a write happened.

   Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “The death and rebirth of my home server”