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.

And if this works, here's the light-mode themed version of the os tier list:

Tier 1; OS: Debian.
Tier 2; Hmm: Red Hat, Arch, Gentoo.
Tier 3; Shit: Android, Windows, TR-DOS.
Tier 4; Is it even an OS: all others...

Mint is corpo-ish? That's new to me.

mint is based on ubuntu (except for the mint debian edition) which is probably why it is there

This was my reasoning, yes.

There are some weird picks here. Is replicant even maintained anymore? UBports and Asahi Linux in Corpo-ish? And what do you have against LineageOS?

Edit: see response from OP.

Come again? What's wrong with Artix?

Did you forget about Clonezilla, Fedora Silverblue and their other variants?

My personal S-tier is Debian stable.

From the Ageless Linux site:

Ageless Linux is a Debian-based operating system distribution.

It didn't have a logo so I made one based on the styling of the site. There used to be a site for Ageless Arch not long ago, and so I had made a logo for it based on what I'd made for Ageless Linux. The site seems to be offline now but I kept the logo in the list anyway.

UBPorts was created by a corporation and is an ubuntu distro. Asahi Linux is a Red Hat (Fedora) distro. I'd wanted corporate influence to be represented.

LineageOS is not degoogled and will connect to google unless properly firewalled, which afaik cannot be done properly on-device. 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.

Edit: Replicant is still technically maintained but has fallen very far behind.

In reading about it, I learned that the devs are apparently hateful and hostile to transgender people. When trying to see for myself, I found their forums gated, inaccessible to the public. So I placed Artix in the Dubious row to represent my unwillingness to recommend it.

Edited to add this:

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

Artix Linux | Developers are openly transphobic

Thanks for doing the research and informing me! 🙏😭🩷

true. I will adjust my comment. Good logo!

Lineage is not gegoogled? You have to install google services seperatly, when does it connect?

I suppose if corporate status is inherited that may be correct. in my opinion, its a bit too far removed to be corporate. Asahi linux is a purely volunteer distro, and ubuntu mobile was discontinued years ago, and is also purely volunteers-run nowadays.

I'd figured that all of the various flavours of Fedora would be represented by the single Fedora logo in the Red Hat group. I do have Secureblue in a special "Secure Fedora" group in the Enhanced row, since it's more independent from Red Hat than Fedora itself.

As for Clonezilla, where would you place it? And where would one find an svg of the logo? I did leave out distros for which I could not find an svg logo (except for the few I was able to make myself).

My personal S-tier is Debian stable.

Valid ❤️

Why is elementaryOS corporate?

Oh, but you have variants of Ubuntu. Do you have them, because there are technically not part of Canonical? This, I would understand.

For me, CloneZilla is a sysadmin tool. Wouldn't have guessed that they don't have a SVG version of their logo.

Lineage is not gegoogled? You have to install google services seperatly, when does it connect?

I had tried Waydroid (containerized LineageOS) 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).

in my opinion, its too far removed to be corporate.

That's why I called it "corpo-ish" :p (cuz I have no idea how else to describe the corporate relationship at play).
But yeah, the corporate row is acceptable to me. They get a passing grade. I still use PureOS on my Librem 5 and OSMC on my Vero and have my parents setup with /e/OS on their Fairphones. Valid options all around.

Oh fuck!

From wiki/Elementary_OS:

The operating system, the desktop environment (called Pantheon), and accompanying applications are developed and maintained by elementary, Inc.

From elementary.io:

The elementary brand belongs to elementary, Inc., the company that guides and supports development of elementary products.

lol sorry. idk how to spoiler uploads on mbin or if it's even possible.

Oh, but you have variants of Ubuntu. Do you have them, because there are technically not part of Canonical?

Yeah, that's my reasoning for including them and for the row they occupy.

For me, CloneZilla is a sysadmin tool. Wouldn't have guessed that they don't have a SVG version of their logo.

I'm not saying they don't have an svg logo, just that I hadn't come across it when searching for as many operating system logos as I could find. I had started with distros I've used and then worked my way through popular distros. Clonezilla had seemed more of a tool and less of a distro so I hadn't spent much time searching for its logo. If i were to add it, I'd probably want it in the debian row, which is already quite full.

i dont use arch btw

neither do i :p

Nice. It would be good to put the distro name beneath each logo, for people who don’t recognise the logos.

I did include a full list in the original post, organized by row, and placed in a spoilered text-box thing. I had decided not to include the names under the logos because I would have obsessed so much longer if I'd have attempted to do that. As it is, I'd been obsessing with this project for several weeks. Why? idk

Waydroid is just a container of a slightly modified LineageOS. Why is LineageOS dangerous?

LineageOS is not degoogled and will connect to google unless properly firewalled, which afaik cannot be done properly on-device. 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.

What's wrong with waydroid?

LineageOS is not degoogled and will connect to google unless properly firewalled, which afaik cannot be done properly on-device. 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.

Doesn't LinegeOS needs MicroG to have Play Services? I guess it still retains Google DNS, NTP and SUPL.

I think this might be the most impressive/best one I've seen so far

Damn, did not realize there was a phone version of nixos.

Yes, the google connectivity is the connectivity stuff like dns and ntp, and yes I think it lacks Play Services and MicroG by default. I just don't like google connectivity built-in without an easy way to disable it. That's why I like that projects like /e/OS exist as an easy way for people to get degoogled android (though I prefer linux over android for myself).

Those tiers are weird

as am i

tyvm ❤️ I credit my unmedicated psychological disorders and the emptiness of my life which is sometimes randomly filled by projects like this that captivate me and don't really matter.

Huh. Þere are more systemd-free distros þan I was aware of.

Wheþer or not I agree wiþ all of your opinions about categorization, þis is an interesting, þoughtful, and þought-provoking piece of work.

Complicated setup and configuration to best thing to have? Then tiers that just say arch, debian.

And maximally mini

Will you offer þe SVG source?

tyvm ❤️ What had started as a random fun project ended up sucking me in, and I spent more and more time researching different distros to see how þey compared in my eyes. Þe systemd age-verification controversy is what had caused me to consider it a worþwhile goal to be free from reliance on systemd, and I slowly discovered lots of such distros. I do really hope Qubes OS can move in þat direction eventually. And yes, I realize my views of þese distros is probably very different from þe views of most oþers. Neverþeless, random conversation-starting content <3

My plan was to eventually make a repo after eventually setting up my own server (if i can ever accopmlish such a þing), but I will probably share þe svg versions here soon-ish (i need to double-check þe original code for all þe svg files used to make sure i re-add any/all attribution þat was stripped out when making þis þing). (oh and also, i was 2 pixels in þickness off, wiþ þe group at þe very bottom)

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

I þink GrapheneOS was þe only one which actually had attribution to a person who had created it, as opposed to þe oþers which eiþer had attribution for þe program which was used to create it or noþing at all. Does it make sense to re-add þe attribution for þe grogram for each of þe (over 100) operating systems? Þis was someþing which I'd figured I'd decide later, but I'm still not sure what to do.

Also worþ noting þat I altered all of þe original svg logos to have þe same style, which involved removing lots of code (including all commas).

Sorry to point out a mistake but isn't CacheOS a gaming distro? As I understand the chart, it's not in that grouping but is right next to it

The pink Linux Mint got me bugged for a moment lol

If you do an update on this, add calyx os (A custom rom to android), it's more safe than lineage os, but less safe than graphene is. And it does support a few more devices other than pixel.

Honestly, same.

My SO said I constantly need to be tinkering or my mental state goes off the rails.

I just got calyx's work profile set up and its really useful!

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).

Gentoo freebsd exists?

Ah, I remember seeing that CalyxOS came back from the hiatus recently.

Well, I'll have to obsess over how to add that one into the mix, since it will be somewhat disruptive pretty much regardless of where and how it's added. It's not really security-oriented, so it doesn't make sense for it to be in the Enhanced row with GrapheneOS. It's not the creation/product of a corporation, yet it is of android, so it would make sense for it to be basically right where Replicant is currently. If I add it there and move Replicant and the rest of the row to the right by one, that will shift the groups. So I'd probably want to move the "wildcard" of Unraid to the non-grouped bubble with OSMC and Kali Linux, in order to shift that row to the right by one to keep the groups lined up. But then I would also need to adjust the debian and arch rows. Probably would want to move VanillaOS to the left of Emmabuntüs. Oh, but then idk about the gaming group. Technically, with the way the groups are shaped, Garuda Linux could be to the left of the main column of that group and still be connected but idk how good that would look. If, instead, I were to shift the gaming group entirely to the left by one, then it would be right next to the popular group, and due to the group shapes, they would overlap in such a way that could make it somewhat confusing as to where the gaming group truly ends.

So idk, but thank you for reminding me about CalyxOS