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Add to SafariWhen comparing Void Linux vs Peppermint Linux OS, the Slant community recommends Void Linux for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux distributions for desktops?” Void Linux is ranked 9th while Peppermint Linux OS is ranked 31st. The most important reason people chose Void Linux is:
A single instance of Void will be supported forever without needing to reinstall (you can update the system every day instead of having to install one major update every 6 months or so).
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Rolling release
A single instance of Void will be supported forever without needing to reinstall (you can update the system every day instead of having to install one major update every 6 months or so).
Pro Very minimal
More minimalistic than Arch since it doesn't use systemd.
Pro Runit init system
An init system with the "do one thing and do it right" mentality. Void Linux does not support systemd.
Pro Easy to use installer
Unlike it's closest competitor, Arch, Void includes a very user-friendly and simple installer in the ISO.
Pro Runit is fast and easy to configure
Runit init system is incredibly fast to boot and very simple to use.
Pro Different DE's live ISO's are available
Arch Linux doesn't make ISO's with different DE's. One need to manually install it through CLI version. But Void which is competitor of Arch, provides a wide range of DE's ISOs.
Pro Very lightweight
Base installation can idle at less than 250 megabytes of RAM.
Pro XBPS (X Binary Package System)
A brand new package manager that is fast, full-featured, and tailored specifically for Void Linux.
Pro BSD-like improvements with Linux
Full support for LibreSSL, an OpenSSL fork focused on maximizing security. The xbps-src package builder works in a similar manner to BSD's ports collection.
Pro Musl image available
Musl libc is lighter and faster than bloated glibc. Musl has been argued to be more secure overall than glibc also but is also not supported by all software.
Pro Friendly forum
Unlike the Arch Forum, it is a friendly forum (although small).
Pro Xbps-src
Xbps-src is a source packages collection which is pretty similar to FreeBSD's ports and may replace AUR for Void users.
Pro Many packages
There are some packages in official repos, than may be found only in AUR.
Pro Cool Neofetch logo
Neofetch looks good.
Pro No systemd
Uses runit instead of systemd.
Pro Looks great
The XFCE Whisker menus and dark theme are well designed.
Easy to move the panel to the top and add plank on the bottom.
Pro Friendly and helpful forum
Pro Fast and light on resources
RAM consumption is the same as LxLE, but more efficient and because of Whisker Menu and other tweaks that let us feel more like we have a XFCE desktop environment, as keyboard shortcuts, for instance, it looks like we got here the fastest and lightest, globally speaking. Very good on performance. Download Respin 7 (March 2017), install Libreoffice and then compare, for example, opening Libreoffice Writer inside Peppermint 7, Extix 17.04, Lubuntu 16.10, Xubuntu 16.04, Backbox 4.7, Linux Mint 18.1 Xfce an Mate or Linux Lite 3.4 (and others). Finally, you'll find out that after opening a few apps in Peppermint it remains smooth and light. Nemo file explorer on Peppermint is incredibly faster than on Mint Cinnamon; lx terminal is very fast when opening; updating is fast. And after all this, distro keeps working and working very solidly and consistently along the time. And yet the look and feel of the environment is pleasant.
Pro Comes with a variety of helpful tools
Works great with Teamviewer, Synaptic, XNview, KODI, and Pdf-Xchange editor (via playonlinux). Netflix works awesome with Chrome browser. The ICE SSB tool is great for creating web apps that run as if you installed them locally.
The Software Boutique (packaged with The MATE Welcome software Center) recognizes all software and installs it with one click.
Pro It works well "Out Of The Box"
There are enough useful back end packages installed by default to make the system useable for normal use right after the installation of the base distro.
Pro Peppermint 7 is stable
Peppermint 7OS (32 and 64 bit) has been updated to the Respin PPA . Kernel updated to 4.9.24 on 23-April -2017 with no issues and all software still runs great.
Pro Peppermint 10 is Stable
Pro Peppermint9 is stable
Peppermint 9OS (32 and 64 bit) has been updated to the Respin PPA.
Cons
Con Not suitable for those new to Linux
Documentation is scarce, NTFS partitions aren't automatically mounted, etc.
Con Not popular
Void Linux is not a popular Linux distro. So, if you run into a problem then it's likely you won't find any fix except from the maintainers.
Con Manual unclear about base configuration
Manual does not explain how to fix GRUB and gives no partition hints to the available options.
Con Niche distro
Fewer developers, smaller community, fewer packages than other distros.
Con Nvidia CUDA cumbersome to setup
If your using a Nvidia card with programs that require CUDA for fast rendering (Blender), you can expect some trouble getting it to work as it's not included with the Nvidiadriver of the nonfree repo.
Con No packages
Void developers refuse to package brave.
Con Since it is based on Lubuntu, the double click speed needs to be slowed down
It's false that Peppermint 7 is tout court based on Lubuntu. Take a look at this: "Peppermint Seven makes use of the Xfwm4 window manager and Xfce bottom panel in the LXDE desktop environment. This is unlike other Linux distributions that use LXDE as the default desktop environment where it is common to use the Openbox window manager and lxpanel." And more: "Peppermint Seven is built on the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS code base and makes use of its package repositories." Contrarily to other Linux distributions, Peppermint creators never said Peppermint 7 is based on Lubuntu, like LXLE. Using LXDE and being based on Ubuntu is very different from being simply based on Lubuntu. In fact, Lubuntu is not faster than Peppermint and has loads of lacks for a nowadays OS experience.
