When comparing Adélie Linux vs PsychOS, the Slant community recommends PsychOS for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux distros that don't use systemd?” PsychOS is ranked 8th while Adélie Linux is ranked 41st. The most important reason people chose PsychOS is:
PsychOS is designed for older/lighter, 32-bit, i686 hardware with plans to go even further back with i486 (PsychOS486), i386 and older (PsychDOS), and so on and so forth as opposed to always trying to run on the latest hardware, not that it could in most cases anyway since 32-bit i686 operating systems will run on most x86_64 ones.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Simple packaging system
Built on Alpine's APKBUILD system, which is an accessible and simple packaging system. If you're familiar with Arch's ABS or Gentoo's ebuilds, APKBUILDs are a breeze.
Pro Is pure Python 3
There is a hard and fast rule against Python 2 software in the main repositories, with efforts focused on adapting software to use Python 3 where possible.
Pro Small and performant
A standard installation takes under 200 MB. Only the bare necessities are included.
Pro Inviting and receptive development team
The people building the distro are knowledgeable and helpful when issues arise. Merge requests are actively suggested and reviewed, and the developers thank users for taking the time to learn the distro.
Pro Runs well on older, 32-bit hardware (i686)
PsychOS is designed for older/lighter, 32-bit, i686 hardware with plans to go even further back with i486 (PsychOS486), i386 and older (PsychDOS), and so on and so forth as opposed to always trying to run on the latest hardware, not that it could in most cases anyway since 32-bit i686 operating systems will run on most x86_64 ones.
Pro RetroGrab is really cool
It lets you install old software for use with emulators like DOSBox but run them as if they were normal programs from the normal applications menu.
Pro No fuss. Just works.
A lot of the programs are already set up for you. Just boot it and go. This is definitely one of the better SHTF distro's.
Pro QuickEdit
There's a yad-based tool you do not see on any other GNU/Linux distro in which you can simply right-click pretty much any file and then use the "QuickEdit" option to quickly edit small things about a file such as size if it's an image or video, convert the file, or even render the file if it's a Blender project. It's nice not having to open an image with GIMP every time I want to resize or convert something.
Pro The IceWM option looks and functions nice
Most GNU/Linux distributions that include IceWM as a desktop environment option don't do too much to it, if a t all. PsychOS seems to have a customized or themed version that actually doesn't feel you with dread and still uses many of the keyboard shortcuts from XFCE.
Pro Lots of command-line tools
Lots of command-line tools and I really like the CLIMax thing. It's a good tool to have if you want to spend time in the command-line but aren't that experienced. Also, it plays a quick, one-time ascii animation when you go into the tty for the first time.
Pro TONS of Thunar Custom Actions
PsychOS comes with a lot of Thunar Custom Actions, many of which as disabled, but they are there none the less; most probably just in case. Right-click on a DOOM WAD shows there's a menu item to play it directly using LZDoom.
Cons
Con Not (yet) ready for Linux newbies
As of November 2018, there isn't an installer yet. If you're familiar with installing Arch or Gentoo (via chroot, fdisk, et al) then it's no big deal. An installer framework (called Horizon) is in the works.
Con Is pure Python 3
Python 2 support is not supported by the distro, so many older upstreams who haven't adapted to Python 3 yet will need their software patched to work (this is both a pro and a con).
Con Somewhat limited package set for servers
As of November 2018, it's still missing some server software. It's primarily a desktop-oriented distribution, but accepts server packages and progress has already been made on that front, including lighttpd, apache, and php-fpm. Contributors are already bringing more server software to the distro, including certbot, cgit, and Nextcloud.
Con Bloated
Over 3000 packages by default including several package managers.
Con 7 package managers included
There should only be one.
