A frugal, portable and flexible OS.

Vanilla Dpup is a lightweight, community-built operating system based on Puppy Linux and Debian.

Like Puppy, it has that 2000s look and features a curated selection of preconfigured, lightweight applications for a variety of daily computing tasks like browsing and note-taking. Like Debian, it's compatible with a huge range of computers and applications. Vanilla Dpup tries to strike the right balance between lightweight and practical, while improving efficiency and security.

Currently, the 10.0.x release series receives security and stability updates, while the 11.0.x series is in development.

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Vanilla Dpup 10.0.x (Stable)

This release series is based on Debian Bookworm packages and cuts the amount of technical debt and legacy cruft accumulated in Puppy Linux throughout the years, to prepare for big and disruptive changes like the deprecation of X.Org and GTK+ 2 in favor of Wayland and GTK+ 3 or 4, and the adoption of overlay as a replacement for aufs.

Those familiar with Puppy Linux will enjoy improved responsiveness, low resource usage, reliable package management with apt-get, GTK+ 3 ports of classic themes, GTK+ 3 ports of lightweight applications lost to time, a modern audio stack with PipeWire and Bluetooth support, fast web browsing thanks to DNS caching, ad blocking and privacy tweaks, Landlock-based sandboxing for internet-facing applications, shell completion, man pages, keyboard shortcuts, easy installation of drivers, multi-language support and even a Wayland preview.

Flavor X.Org Xwayland
Tagline The safe bet The best of both worlds, mostly
VSync Requires compositor Built-in
Suitable for Gaming Yes Mostly yes
Range of Supported GPUs Wide Limited
Multi-Monitor Support Normal With caveats
HiDPI Support Limited With caveats
Flatpak Support Limited Better
Download latest release (32-bit) Download latest release (64-bit)
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Vanilla Dpup 11.x (Unstable)

This version is in early development, tracks Debian Trixie and completes the multi-year migration effort to Wayland by replacing the traditional Puppy desktop with labwc and waybar.

This version boots faster, shuts down faster, feels faster, improves Debian compatibility and includes new features like save folder encryption, improved multi-monitor support, screen recording, simpler installation, more flexible management of saved sessions and better documentation.

It's built by a revamped build system that makes it easy to develop, rebuild and customize.

Download latest development build (64-bit)

Vanilla Dpup is not affiliated with Debian. Debian is a registered trademark owned by Software in the Public Interest, Inc.