this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
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In the Linux world, there are a few primary giants that most other distros have historically been built on and one of the chief among these is Debian. Giants like this may not be quite "household names" outside our (rapidly growing) sphere, but they're among the wise council of elders that most of us are familiar with.

Speaking of Debian, you've probably heard by now, it's "The universal operating system". That's an official Debian tagline, and you may have seen it in memes or elsewhere across the web.

With just how many distributions are based on Debian, you might have taken a guess as to why. But what does this really mean, and why is it still said today? In this article, we'll take a peek into the history of this tagline, and what it means in reality. Plus, I'll answer the question: Does Debian actually live up to this claim?

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[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 36 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Much as I like Debian, if it doesn't run on the 3DS then it's not "universal".

[–] cm0002@toast.ooo 94 points 1 week ago (1 children)

BEHOLD BASK IN THE GLORY THAT IS DEBIAN AND REPEAL YOUR BLASPHEMY

https://github.com/mozl3/sd-linux-3ds/wiki/Installing-Debian

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 36 points 1 week ago

...I walked right into that one didn't I.

[–] muhyb@programming.dev 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Don't know the architecture of 3DS but I remember someone put Debian on a Kindle, so that's universal enough to me. :)

Its Nintendo custom hardware but the CPU is based on ARM11 RISC, so i dont doubt you could get some form of Linux running on it.

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I've been using Linux since Slackware. Debian for decades and this is the first time I've heard Debian referred to as 'the universal operating system'.

[–] illusionist@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 week ago

Sounds like Roland Taylor used a little too much LLM to write it

[–] the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So you've never been to their website?

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not in quite a while. Why would I? I need the ISO every five years or so.

[–] the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

According to the wayback machine that's been their tagline for at least 15 years

Feb 19 2011

Feb 19 2011

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I guess I just never paid attention to it. My usage of debian goes back thirty years. Like other utterly unimportant facts I am no wiser for having heard it. I pay attention to things that matter.

[–] illusionist@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

First time that I read that line after years in this and many other subs/forums/wikis/news.