this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

I find this comparison unfair becuase k3s is a much more batteries included distro than the others, coming with an ingress controller (traefik) and a few other services not in talos or k0s.

But I do think Talos will end up the lighest overall because Talos is not just a k8s distro, but also a extremely stripped down linux distro. They don’t use systemd to start k8s, they have their own tiny init system.

It should be noted that Sidero Labs is the creator of Talos Linux, which another commenter pointed out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

You could try mine, SimpleK8s (kubeadm, containerd, systemd, buildroot), ~50Mb single file (kernel+initramfs). https://simplek8s.org/

The current footprint is lower than every alternatives commented on this article.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Keep in mind that this post is by a company that offers one of the options they compare. So there is an obvious conflict of interest, and I wouldn't trust the conclusions that were reached

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

And obviously their option is the "best". From the conclusion:

Talos Linux is unique. It’s the only option that includes OS management in a purpose-built distribution for running Kubernetes. There’s no compromise for scaling up or down. In terms of small-scale numbers, it “wins” in several of the examined categories, including memory usage, disk r/w, and installation size. But all of these metrics are side effects of Talos Linux’s defining characteristic: It’s simple.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours ago

Playing with Talos Linux is one of the reasons I switched to NixOS on my main computer, I loved the concept