zlacker

~Tiny Core Linux has a version for Raspberry Pis called piCore [0] that I wish more people would look at, because it loads itself entirely into RAM and does not touch the SD card at all after that until and unless you explicitly tell it to."

Before RPI existed, I always made filesystem images for USB sticks in NetBSD so that writes never touched "disk" ("diskless"). This allows me to remove the USB stick after boot, freeing up the slot for something else

BSD "install images" work this way

I have been using the RPi with a diskless NetBSD image since around 2012; there are no SD card writes, the userland is extracted into RAM

I can pull out the SD card after boot and use the slot for something else

If I want data storage, I connect an external drive

It's been wild to read endless online complaints from RPi users for the last 13 years about SD card wear and tear

To me, it's another example of how it's possible to have a solution that is as old as the hills and have it be completely ignored in favor of a "modern" approach that is fatally-flawed

>>1vuio0+(OP)
There is (at least) two different groups of people using Raspberry PI. One of them are completely new Linux users who need a ton of help and resources to understand enough so they can achieve what they're trying to do. Raspbian/Raspberry Pi OS, even with their faults, is probably the better option for those people, as the environment and context very much takes first time users into account.

NetBSD and Tiny Core Linux, even with all their benefits, is a harder experience to get into if you haven't already dipped your toes into Linux, and doesn't have the same wide community and boundless online resources.