Hey self-hosting people!
Is there any agreed collective term for distros like @yunohost or @freedomboxfndn which are specifically designed to turn a PC into a self-hosting server with a graphical interface for setting up services?
A self-hosting OS? Something else?
Jul 23, 2026, 7:08 AM@FediThing
I haven't seen one, but #homelab OS, maybe?
@nanianmichaels @FediThing homelab OS sounds good!
Jul 24, 2026, 1:14 AM@nitinkhanna @nanianmichaels @FediThing homelab os sounds interesting, but I feel like that implies more tinkering on the OS itself. Part of me thinks of it as some kinds of 'appliance os' or 'self hosting os' sounds better because the high level idea (greatly simplifying) seems to be adding a docker container UI for users to interact with and users not touching the underlying system too much.
Curious to follow the thread and see what other ideas come out 😃
@FediThing @yunohost @freedomboxfndn I would name it virtual environment for self hosting.
@FediThing @yunohost @freedomboxfndn
I guess I would call the genre "homelab platforms" 🤷♀️
@FediThing @yunohost @freedomboxfndn
You mean a full IS or as a panel, or both?
One is Hestia Control Panel. There are several others, but not all are free as in freedom and libre in ways.
I use both HCP & YNH.
I'm just asking what people call a distro that is specifically designed for self-hosting 🙂
@FediThing
Ahh. There are a couple of them that I use.
@debian and @rockylinux are everyone's favourite. There are few others as well. @almalinux, Proxmox, etc.
Jul 23, 2026, 8:27 AM@FediThing I don't think there's a widespread one, no. They're server-oriented OSes aimed at casual users (relatively speaking). On @alternativeto "Server Management Tools" looks to be the most similar, albeit much wider: https://alternativeto.net/browse/all/?tag=server-management
That seemed to be the most obvious relevant category where @yunohost is present at least: https://alternativeto.net/software/yunohost/about/
It's crowdsourced and decently moderated, which probably makes it a decent indicator of the general popular picture.
"Homelab OS" I'm not a huge fan of because a homelab commonly extends beyond a single machine to speak of an OS that would contain the whole thing. Proxmox would be closer to it in this regard.
"NAS OS" seems to have wider use to me and probably has a substantial intersection, but it's not the same, since it focuses on very different features.
So if you're looking for an existing widespread one, I don't think that exists right now.
Jul 23, 2026, 8:39 AM@FediThing @yunohost @freedomboxfndn I'd say a server OS or server distro, but that's not an official term
@FediThing @yunohost @freedomboxfndn
Maybe #selfhOS?? 😝
@FediThing NAS OS
@FediThing I can recommend DietPI OS it use TUI as interface but its simple and has very good documentation.