meta-pine64 VS DietPi

If you want to use Wifi, USB and GPU (HDMI) the only images working for Star64 are at https://github.com/Fishwaldo/meta-pine64/

If you burn a proper image on the SD card (I used images in https://github.com/Fishwaldo/meta-pine64), the machine boots (not instantly!), requires an IP address through DHCP and you can log in with SSH. (The "minimal" image does not have SSH.)

I used the xfce4 image linked from this repository: https://github.com/Fishwaldo/meta-pine64 - this image specifically: https://pine64.my-ho.st:8443/star64-image-xfce-star64.wic.bz2

If you watch https://github.com/Fishwaldo/meta-pine64 over the next day or so, you should see a big push I do. Then grab a image linked in the readme, and flash to a SD card. (The currently linked minimal image should work, the plasma image needs some tweaks and is recompiling as I write this)

DietPi is a lightweight Debian based Linux distribution for SBCs and server systems, with the option to install desktop environments, too. It ships as minimal image but allows to install complete and ready-to-use software stacks with a set of console based shell dialogs and scripts.

The source code is hosted on GitHub: https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi

That's a good point, but the array of devices supported by the DietPi team is extensive: https://dietpi.com/

Before someone starts the usual yadda yadda about the RPi biger community, the OS not having long time support etc. I would repeat one more time: do not rely on board vendor supplied images; this is valid for pretty much all boards. Just go to Armbian or DietPi pages and you'll almost certainly find one or more images that work on your board and forums to discuss about them with very knowledgeable people.

https://www.armbian.com/download/

https://dietpi.com/#download

Those projects are well worth a contribution, as they don't have a giant like Broadcom behind them.

> bananapi do a lot of boards but their software story has been a bit poor

This is quite common with other board manufacturers too. I'd rather suggest to ignore completely their cobbled together distros, often also tainted by proprietary modifications, that become unmaintained in a few years, and see if they're among the many supported by Armbian or DietPi.

https://www.armbian.com/download/

https://dietpi.com/#download

The full release notes can be found at: https://dietpi.com/docs/releases/v8_25/

RPi OS = diet pi https://dietpi.com/ - initial config via text file - SDcard burning out partially mitigated as writes log files to ram then flushes to SDcard reducing write cycles

You could also try very minimalistic distros like TwisterUI or DietPi which are most known for their use in the RasprebbyPi / SBC computers but which also have editions for desktop / laptop.