DietPi vs MiniBian (Comparison)

General Discussion
1

DietPi-v129: DietPi - Lightweight justice for your SBC!

dietpi-htop.png
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**Minibian v2016-03-12 :**https://minibianpi.wordpress.com/
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Based on Raspbian (100% compatible, uses RPi repositories):
DietPi = Yes
Minibian = Yes

Optional “ready to run” software installations, with unique optimizations for your specific RPi model:
DietPi = Yes, using dietpi-software: DietPi-Software | Details for ALL installation options
Minibian = No

Configuration tool (eg: raspi-config):
DietPi = Yes, using dietpi-config
Minibian = None

Memory usage on boot (Pi3, from htop):
DietPi = 24MB
Minibian = 31MB

Total processes on boot (Pi3, from htop):
DietPi = 11
Minibian = 18

Automatic Filesystem Expansion on 1st bootup:
DietPi = Yes
Minibian = No

Minimum SD card size:
DietPi = 2GB (user prevention of 0 free space)
Minibian = 1GB

Optimized ext4 file system (Noatime & discard to auto TRIM flash media):
DietPi = Yes
Minibian = No

Swapfile with swapiness set to 1 (To prevent out of memory RAM errors):
DietPi = Yes Auto size default (RAM - 1GB). Can be changed in dietpi-config
Minibian = No

Full Wifi support:
DietPi = Yes, user interface also available to scan and connect dietpi-config
Minibian = No

Full Bluetooth support:
DietPi = Yes, can be enabled on the fly in dietpi-config
Minibian = No

Linux kernel version:
DietPi = 4.9
Minibian = 4.1.18

Root file-system usage:
DietPi = 490MB
Minibian = 442MB

Automatically disable modules when not in use, saves additional Ram and resources:
DietPi = Yes, 7 modules loaded by default
Minibian = No, 14 modules loaded by default

Ramlog(all logfiles goto ram, saving SD writes and reducing IO performance impact on filesystem):
DietPi = Yes, logs are automatically cleared on a daily basis
Minibian = No, rsyslog based.

SSH Server:
DietPi = Dropbear (lightweight SSH server) | Can easily be changed:
Minibian = OpenSSH server

2

Could this be updated for latest DietPi and latest MiniBian 2016 ???

3

Yep, I believe ours has improved since then, lets find out :slight_smile:

4

Updated original post to latest versions. https://twitter.com/DietPi_/status/764832393773678593

5

Wow, thanks for such a speedy response… I’m trying to persuade some people to base their Amiga distros on DietPi… this will help :smiley:

6

Amiga 500+ with the 1MB RAM upgrade (been a few years, or was it 2MB?) to play Rise of Robots? Count me in, i was denied the 1MB chip as a child, still gives me nightmares lol :smiley:

On a serious note :wink:, DietPi will give you a great minimal optimized Debian Jessie installation, should run Amiga emulators like a dream.

Which emulator will you run? I’ll add it to the DietPi-Software list and see if we can optimize it further :slight_smile:

7

There are several “distros” (loose definition!) which are based on Minibian + Chips’ UAE4ARM. http://gunkrist79.wixsite.com/amibian is one

8

Thanks, heres the ticket: https://github.com/Fourdee/DietPi/issues/474, should make it to next DietPi update (v129)

9

I don’t know…

…maybe that should be a deal breaker.

:wink:

I’m not familiar with MiniBian, but reading through the list, DietPi is quite impressive!

I wonder if there are any systems out there that beat DietPi.

Seeing the 1 weakness above, the root file system usage, the completionist in me would want to do something just to change that from red to green, even if that means the usage is 441MB.

Either way, I recently started using DietPi and I love it!

10

Most of that is due to WiFi/bluetooth support and packages.
Unlike most minimal images, DietPi comes with WiFi support, for the major boards (RPi/Odroid).

Another factor is kernel version. Generally speaking, each new version of the kernel has increased overall size, mainly due to additional modules as more hardware is supported.

So even then, we might use an extra 48MB of file space, but I think overall, its a win :slight_smile:

I’am tempted to power up a RPi and see what it takes to get the filesystem size lowered.

I wonder if there are any systems out there that beat DietPi.

Not that i’am aware of for a Debian/Raspbian image.

11

Worth it! :slight_smile:

12

This is for new version of DietPi? Is it working on it? :open_mouth:

13

A few things have changed our end:

  • Automatic Swapfile size (RAM - 1GB)
  • 2GB SD card minimum (we had too many users reporting 0 free space, added prevention measure)
  • Kernel 4.9

Not sure about MiniBian.

14

I removed this comparison from sticky/announcement, since Minibian is practically dead. No progress since more than two years, no Stretch image etc: https://sourceforge.net/projects/minibian/

Instead we could update the Raspbian Lite comparison or add another Debian-based minimal image.