This is an old revision of the document!
SnackLinux is an ultra minimal Linux distribution for Intel 486 CPUs, utilizing a 4.x kernel with BusyBox, musl, Bash and a built-in package manger. There are over 40+ pre-built software packages that can be installed out of the box. SnackLinux is built from scratch, with a footprint of less than 4MB. Go to the Downloads page to download the live ISO or hard drive image, or check out the getting started page on how to set everything up.
A i486DX at 33mhz with at least 8MB of RAM are the minimum requirements. Last release: March 01 2025
The philosophy is to create a completely hackable Linux system, controllable by makefiles.
Simple build instructions, - Standard GNU build utilitiess
- Simple distribution of software.
The system installs to a local directory, anything in there is included in the final build. Imagine Linux From Scratch but with a lot less features.
SnackLinux runs a barebone kernel with downloadable extra kernel modules, and focused on systems with ISA cards (sorry PCI). The project was created to run on old 486 CPUs (486DX and up, including Cyrix and AMD) with the latest software, so SnackLinux is optimized for size and low RAM. It can also be used for minimal virtual machines.
