Software attributes
Other attributes
Tiny Core (16 MB) is the recommended option for new users who have a wired network connection. It includes the base Core system and a dynamic FLTK/FLWM graphical user interface.
Core (11 MB) (also known as "Micro Core Linux") is a smaller variant of Tiny Core without a graphical desktop, though additional extensions can be added to create a system with a graphical desktop environment.
dCore (12 MB) is a core made from Debian or Ubuntu compatible files that uses import and the SCE package format, a self-contained package format for the Tiny Core distribution since 5.x series.
CorePure64 is a notable port of "Core" to the x86_64 architecture.
Core Plus (106 MB) is "an installation image and not the distribution". It is composed of Tiny Core with additional functionality, most notably wireless support and non-US keyboard support.
piCore is the Raspberry Pi port of "Core".
Minimal configuration: Tiny Core needs at least 46 MB of RAM in order to run, and (micro) Core requires at least 28 MB of RAM. The minimum CPU is an i486DX.
Recommended configuration: A Pentium II CPU and 128 MB of RAM are recommended for Tiny Core.
The developers describe TCL as "a nomadic ultra small graphical desktop operating system capable of booting from cdrom, pendrive, or frugally from a hard drive." As of version 2.8.1, the core is designed to run primarily in RAM but with three distinct modes of operation:
"Cloud" or Internet mode — A "testdrive" mode using a built-in appbrowser GUI to explore extensions from an online application extension repository loaded into RAM only for the current session.
TCE/Install — A mode for Tiny Core Extensions downloaded and run from a storage partition but kept as symbolic links in RAM.
TCE/CopyFS — A mode which installs applications onto a Linux partition like a more typical Linux installation.
Version Stability Release date
1.0 Stable version January 5, 2009
2.0 June 7, 2009
3.0 July 19, 2010
4.0 September 25, 2011
4.7.7 May 10, 2013
5.0 September 14, 2013
5.0.1 October 1, 2013
5.0.2 October 18, 2013
5.1 November 28, 2013
5.2 January 14, 2014
5.3 April 19, 2014
5.4 September 10, 2014
6.0 January 5, 2015
6.1 March 7, 2015
6.2 May 3, 2015
6.3 May 30, 2015
6.4 September 8, 2015
6.4. November 4, 2015
7.0 February 23, 2016
7.1 May 22, 2016
7.2 July 4, 2016
8.0 April 10, 2017
8.1 September 3, 2017
8.2 September 22, 2017
9.0 February 26, 2018
10.0 January 20, 2019
10.1 June 11, 2019
11.0 February 9, 2020
11.1 April 1, 2020
12.0 February 17, 2021
13.0 January 31, 2022
13.1 Latest version May 8, 2022