So I saw political compass memes a while ago and started making one, but then I started taking it too seriously and eventually turned it into a tier list. Idk if it makes sense to share it here, but idk where else to share such a thing. I also made a browser tier list, but idk where to share that either.

This whole thing is a png export of a pure svg image. For some of the logos, I had to make them either from scratch or by using gimp and inkscape to convert a png into an svg (imperfect but good enough).

Hopefully this is all formatted properly.

OS Tier List

S-Tier (reasonably secure operating system):

  • Qubes OS

Advanced (complicated setup and configuration):

  • Gentoo Linux
  • Guix System
  • Slackware Linux
  • Linux From Scratch (LFS)
  • Mobile NixOS
  • NixOS
  • Whonix
  • Predator-OS
  • Linux Kodachi
  • Gentoo FreeBSD

Enhanced (optimized security and minimalism):

  • Alpine Linux
  • Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre
  • Chimera Linux
  • EasyOS
  • postmarketOS
  • Tails
  • Kicksecure
  • NetHydra
  • ParrotOS
  • OpenBSD
  • GrapheneOS
  • Secureblue

Minimal (maximally mini resource use):

  • Tiny Core Linux
  • LibreCMC
  • Void Linux
  • Puppy Linux
  • AsteroidOS
  • Slitaz
  • 4MLinux
  • OpenWrt
  • DragonFly BSD
  • FreeBSD
  • NetBSD

Indie & BSD (independent distros and BSD systems):

  • PCLinuxOS
  • Dynebolic
  • KaOS
  • Mageia
  • LuneOS
  • Solus
  • AerynOS
  • GNOME OS
  • KDE Linux
  • GhostBSD

Arch (reasonably fresh and arch-based):

  • SystemRescue
  • Parabola GNU/Linux-libre
  • pearOS
  • EndeavourOS
  • Nemo Mobile
  • Arch Linux Arm
  • BlackArch Linux
  • Archhurd
  • Archcraft
  • Nyarch
  • Ageless Arch
  • Arch Linux
  • CachyOS
  • Garuda Linux

Debian (reasonably stable and debian-based):

  • Flora Linux-libre
  • Genuen
  • Devuan GNU+Linux
  • Loc-OS
  • antiX
  • MX Linux
  • Maemo Leste
  • Mobian
  • Emmabuntüs
  • Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE)
  • Ageless Linux
  • Debian
  • KNOPPIX
  • PikaOS Linux
  • RetroPie
  • LibreElec
  • Vanilla OS

Corpo-ish (corporation-created and/or dependent):

  • Replicant
  • Uruk GNU/Linux-libre
  • Trisquel GNU/Linux
  • AnduinOS
  • Linux Lite
  • UBports
  • Xubuntu
  • Lubuntu
  • Kubuntu
  • Linux Mint
  • KDE neon
  • Fedora
  • Asahi Linux
  • Bazzite
  • Nobara Linux
  • Rocky Linux
  • AlmaLinux
  • openSUSE

Corporate (corporation-owned and/or controlled):

  • /e/OS
  • Sailfish OS
  • PureOS
  • Manjaro Linux
  • Raspberry Pi OS
  • OSMC
  • Kali Linux
  • Zorin OS
  • Tuxedo OS
  • Pop!_OS
  • elementary OS
  • Ubuntu
  • Proxmox
  • SteamOS
  • CentOS Stream
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
  • CloudLinux OS
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise
  • Unraid

Dubious (questionable and/or suspicious):

  • Waydroid
  • Artix Linux
  • Omarchy
  • OpenMandriva

Borderline (possibly dangerous and best to avoid):

  • LineageOS

MALWARE (actively dangerous and harmful to use):

  • android
  • chromeOS
  • Apple Operating Systems (macOS, iOS, etc.)
  • Windows
  • Red Star OS
    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      7 hours ago

      As I said in another comment:

      I did initially have CachyOS in the gaming group, but after looking a little closer, it appears to be a general-purpose distro optimized for performance, which happens to be useful for gaming. So it doesn’t seem to be specifically made for gaming, which is why I pulled it out of that group but kept it right next to it (and next to the “popular” group, since it’s one of the most popular distros).

  • Doom@discuss.online
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    8 hours ago

    What sicko has sat down and tried every one of these OS???

    That said what’s the spider one. I am an ignorant.

    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      8 hours ago

      I haven’t actually tried them all, not even most of them. The spider one is Slitaz. There’s a spoilered list in the main post btw.

  • khánh@lemmy.zip
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    13 hours ago

    what is wrong with LineageOS and eOS for it to be put in “borderline”? + why does LFS, Secure Fedora, Secure Android all have their own sections? you can just merge them (DIY Distros, Hardened, for one).

    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      7 hours ago

      LineageOS is not degoogled and will connect to google unless properly firewalled, which afaik cannot be done properly on-device. LineageOS is googled android, and google is a nefarious surveillance advertising corporation. So LineageOS is borderline malware in my eyes.

      /e/OS is not in any of the gray rows that denote a failing grade. It is in the red “Corporate” row, because it is owned/controlled by a corporate entity, and it has a passing grade from me. I trust it for my parents and other “normal” people who need a phone that works without issues. MicroG is installed and enabled by default, but if it is disabled, then /e/OS becomes fully degoogled.

      However, as I said in another comment:

      android is under google’s control and doesn’t look like it will last indefinitely. I feel that android itself is a dead-end. Projects like GrapheneOS will have to do a hard fork away from android one day, or they will cease to exist as an option.

      Why does LFS have its own group? Honestly, it’s mainly just so that the logo stands out better in the dark-mode version of this tier list. I also felt it made sense to single it out as special.

      Why are there groups for Secure Fedora and Secure Android? Since there are already groups for Red Hat distros (which includes Fedora) and Android, I thought it made sense to make it obvious that the secure fedora/android distros were part of those other groups, similar to my reasoning for making a Secure Debian group. Those distros being optimally secured grants them higher rank than all the rest of the distros from those groups. All the other distros stay where they are because I don’t see them as different enough to rise in the list. The secured ones, I do see as having reason to rise, and so they are placed higher, but I want it to be obvious that they are in fact Debian/Fedora/Android at their core.

      • SpatchyIsOnline@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        So I’ve done a bit of research on this and I don’t think what you say here is the most accurate.

        LineageOS doesn’t include any Google apps or services by default, nor does it include MicroG. (It does give an optional step to flash a GApps package in the official install guides, but this can be skipped no problem)

        LineageOS does use proprietary Google BLOBs for AGPS services and wifi captive portal detection, both of which are anonymised by the nature of the protocols used. But more importantly, /e/ OS also uses these too, so /e/ shouldn’t be ranked any higher than LineageOS is

    • iopq@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      They are not as secure as grapheneos, and they don’t really care

      • Jiral@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        Nor are most of the desktop Linux distros, compared to GrapheneOS, yet they are not downgraded for it.

  • mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    QuebeOS is cool. I tried it once and havent tried again.

    I get that it is secure, but i feel like i need to rewire how my brain works. E.g. you dont open a Download folder, instead you spawn a File manager quebe and open Thunar

    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      8 hours ago

      It’s definitely not for everyone, but it’s very good at what it sets out to do and be, for those who want or need such a thing. It compliments my ocd nicely, especially the concept of disposable qubes. It’s just perfect for me. The optimal security also gives me peace of mind, a calm mind. It’s lovely. But yeah, I understand that it’s not for everyone. It’s cool that you tried it though. Most people don’t even know it exists.

  • Crozekiel@lemmy.zip
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    18 hours ago

    Why do people that make stuff like this not just label the logos?? Am I supposed to know the logo for every damn OS ever made? I appreciate you tried to solve this with a list that is just a big wall of text with no good way to connect back to the image, but it still sucks overall.

      • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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        8 hours ago

        Serious reply: That’s understandable. Fun reply: Imagine how useless the emoji version would be to you :p

    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      8 hours ago

      One problem is that some of the distro names are so long that I’d either have to shrink the text for all names or do it selectively, neither of which feels good to me, so I opted to just not list the names in the image itself (at least not yet). Another thing is that it took so long to align all the other text in the image, and it would devour my time to try adding all of the distro names. Yet another thing, I’m pretty sure I’d have to shrink all of the logos in order to properly fit the distro names, and even slightly altering the size of any logo would mean that I’d have to spend a lot of time realligning them. Did I mention that I made this in a text editor?

  • Einhornyordle@feddit.org
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    23 hours ago

    Greatest piece of ragebait I’ve ever seen on Lemmy so far, well done. I’ll take it personal, therefore, have my downvote.

  • DupaCycki@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    This might be the best looking and most comprehensive tier list of anything I’ve ever seen.

    Although I have some concerns, mainly with the 3 bottom tiers, it’s still more reasonable than most tier lists I’ve seen.

    As for my concerns, perhaps someone will be able to answer some questions:

    • Why are Artix Linux and Waydroid ‘dubious’? Especially Waydroid, as it’s not an operating system. The other two I’m unfamiliar with, or at least the logos.
    • Why is LineageOS ‘borderline’? I’m not aware of anything dangerous about it. It’s not far from Graphene, just for a lot more devices.
    • I’m not sure Android belongs in the bottom tier. Or at least not yet. As of right now, you can still use it as an open OS, and it’s great for devices such as handheld gaming consoles. I’ve also never seen age verification in Android yet.
    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      4 hours ago
      • I’m not sure Android belongs in the bottom tier. Or at least not yet. As of right now, you can still use it as an open OS, and it’s great for devices such as handheld gaming consoles. I’ve also never seen age verification in Android yet.

      Google’s Android is in the Malware row because google is a nefarious surveillance advertising corporation, and their android offering is known for having trackers/spyware built-in. From what I’ve read, Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is to Android as Chromium is to Chrome, in that it’s not as infested with google trackers/spyware while still being generally googled in the way that it phones home for ntp and dns connectivity checks.

      You are correct that android does not yet require age-verification, and I’m kinda surprised you’re the only one to have pointed this out so far. I simply didn’t feel like waiting to share this tier list meme thing and didn’t want to make it seem as though apple is the only one implementing age-verification.

      • Why is LineageOS ‘borderline’? I’m not aware of anything dangerous about it. It’s not far from Graphene, just for a lot more devices.

      LineageOS is not degoogled and will connect to google unless properly firewalled, which afaik cannot be done properly on-device. LineageOS is googled android, and google is a nefarious surveillance advertising corporation. So LineageOS is borderline malware in my eyes.

      In contrast, GrapheneOS is fully degoogled and is also maximally secured, which is why I placed it in a much higher rank. Though, it is ultimately still android, so it’s not for me. Android is under google’s control and doesn’t look like it will last indefinitely. I feel that android itself is a dead-end. Projects like GrapheneOS will have to do a hard fork away from android one day, or they will cease to exist as an option.

      • Why are Artix Linux and Waydroid ‘dubious’? Especially Waydroid, as it’s not an operating system.

      Waydroid is basically a containerized LineageOS which can at least be firewalled from the host os, but that’s sub-optimal, which is why I have it one notch above LineageOS.

      I had tried Waydroid on my linux phone, and the OpenSnitch firewall running in the host linux system flagged multiple google connections that Waydroid was attempting to make upon starting. Basic connectivity stuff, but googled nonetheless. I hadn’t seen any disclaimers on their site about it, but I also hadn’t seen anything about LineageOS advertising itself as degoogled in the first place. I view degoogled android as generally acceptable (though it’s not for me), but googled android is unacceptable (in my view). So I placed Waydroid in the Dubious row to represent my unwillingness to recommend it.

      As for Artix Linux, this repo, made in response to another repo, has this bit:

      Artix Linux | Developers are openly transphobic

      When attempting to click the link to see for myself, I still find that the artix forums are inaccessible, and so I can’t see for myself. I remember seeing something mentioned on a reddit post or forum somewhere about the same sort of thing, which makes me think it’s true. So I placed Artix in the Dubious row to represent my unwillingness to recommend it.

      The other two I’m unfamiliar with, or at least the logos.

      The other two distros in the Dubious row are Omarchy and OpenMandriva.

      When researching Omarchy, I came across articles like this, this, and this detailing the many unpleasant aspects of the dev’s character, including racism and transmisia. So I placed Omarchy in the Dubious row to represent my unwillingness to recommend it.

      When researching OpenMandriva, I came across lots of links referring to it as “the non-woke linux distro” and their forum, which was and is accessible, was what I’d expected to see. Basically “non-political” politics, which tends to mean anti-<group>. It was an unpleasant place, and I think the intention is to make it unpleasant for the types of people they hate so as to keep them away. So I placed OpenMandriva in the Dubious row to represent my unwillingness to recommend it.

      This might be the best looking and most comprehensive tier list of anything I’ve ever seen.

      tyvm 🩷

    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      9 hours ago

      “Possibly” denotes the fact that it depends on the user’s sensibilities.

      LineageOS is not degoogled and will connect to google unless properly firewalled, which afaik cannot be done properly on-device. And as another user pointed out, android is under google’s control and doesn’t look like it will last indefinitely. I feel that android itself is a dead-end. Projects like GrapheneOS will have to do a hard fork away from android one day, or they will cease to exist as an option.

      But anyway, LineageOS is googled android, and google is a nefarious surveillance advertising corporation. So LineageOS is borderline malware in my eyes.

      Feel free to disagree of course. I don’t really care either way. You do you.

    • Solrac@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      If you consider the fact that for some devices it’s available in an unofficial capacity and people choose to run it but also that it still uses Google servers for things like NTP and that there is no guarantee that it’s completely de-googled. It’s understandable… Not to mention that they have an actual risk of stagnation if Google continues to close source more parts of the AOSP…

      So, although it could be safe to use now with some modifications, especially in microg and removing any calls to google, it might not be the case in the near future.

      • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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        9 hours ago

        Very good points, but I wanna add that since MicroG does make connections to google, I don’t see MicroG as usable either and would place it alongside LineageOS as borderline malware. Phoning home to a nefarious surveillance advertising corporation with bad history is not acceptable to me. The main issue I have with /e/OS (besides being android) is that it has MicroG installed and enabled by default, requiring the user to disable it in order to complete the degoogling of the device. And it’s also annoying that it cannot be removed. There should be 100% degoogled murena devices which do not ship with that shit installed. Though I’d much prefer to see new Fairphones shipped with postmarketOS as an option, and bonus points for optionally shipping without a cellular modem.

        • Solrac@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          HOPEFULLY. The Fairphone 6+ picks up the work that The Mighty Cat has been doing and adds the missing pieces so that pmOS is a viable option.

    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      2 days ago

      From wiki/Tier_list

      A tier list is a ranking system where items are subjectively arranged in tiers from the best to worst.

      • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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        2 days ago

        Idk if it matters, but here’s how I see the tiers:

        Qubes OS: S-Tier Advanced: A+ Enhanced: A Minimal: B+ Indie & BSD: B Arch: C+ Debian: C Corpo-ish: D+ Corporate: D Dubious: F Borderline: F- Malware: -F

        That doesn’t mean I exclusively use distros from the top tiers. I can’t yet run Qubes OS on a linux phone, but if and when I’m ever able I will absolutely do that. For now, distros like postmarketOS and PureOS are good enough for me, for the phones. OSMC is good for the Vero and devices like it. Generally, the trend is that the higher up in the list you go, the more there is to learn in order to make the best use of the distro selected.

          • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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            2 days ago

            😇 (random mini-rant: omg it’s so much more difficult to respond on fedi than platforms like matrix where i would typically emoji-react without much thought, whereas here i am contemplating the proper way to respond or whether to respond at all, since mbin doesn’t support reacts without making a whole new comment 😖)

    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      10 hours ago

      I had initially considered that but ultimately decided it would be easier and more similar to other tier lists to keep it left-aligned. But yeah, I know it’s a lot and might be too complicated to easily understand. Good enough for a meme though, I figure.

    • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Yeah, outlines like subway lines where each colour is visible the entire way would ne nice. Might be a bit thick in some places though.

    • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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      9 hours ago

      This repo, made in response to another repo, has this bit:

      Artix Linux | Developers are openly transphobic

      When attempting to click the link to see for myself, I still find that the artix forums are inaccessible, and so I can’t see for myself. I remember seeing something mentioned on a reddit post or forum somewhere about the same sort of thing, which makes me think it’s true. So I placed Artix in the Dubious row to represent my unwillingness to recommend it.

      • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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        9 hours ago

        While that can be a valid concern, that’s not my reason for placing Artix in the Dubious row. See my other response here.

        (can someone remind me how to properly format links to comments so they bring the user to the instance being used?)

        • keiko@fedia.ioOP
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          2 days ago

          Complicated setup and configuration to best thing to have?

          I kinda think so, yeah. Qubes OS is top-tier in my eyes, and is pretty sophisticated (and quite complicated to understand when first starting out with it). From there, Whonix is wonderful (qubes-whonix is the perfect combo), and the other advanced distros are known for their extensive customizibility/configurability (which also makes them pretty complex/complicated). With great power comes great responsibility (to read and learn lots of stuff).

          Then tiers that just say arch, debian.

          There’s not much to differentiate those distros in my view. Lots of flavours of arch and debian. I see them all similarly. Some users might prefer something like pearOS for an arch-based distro which is styled very similarly to apple operating systems, while some other users might prefer an arch distro like CachyOS which is meant to be optimally performant. But I still see those as comparably arch. Similar with the debian row. The ones which sprout from those rows are the ones which are optimized for security, otherwise they’re all just flavours.

          And maximally mini

          lol yeah ^^’ See, one of the things is that all of the text has to fit and line up pretty much perfectly, and I’d wanted to keep that one simple and (hopefully) easy to understand. Also, idk, it felt kinda cute. “maximally mini” idk lol