# Operating system

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**Operating system (OS)** is the core system software that manages hardware and software resources, providing an operating environment and fundamental services for applications. On the Quectel Pi H1 smart single-board computer, you can choose from a variety of Linux distributions to meet different development needs.

This section introduces the main operating systems supported by our products and development environments, aiming to cover a wide range of development and application scenarios from general-purpose servers to specialized embedded devices.

# Supported operating systems

**Debian** (recommended by default)

- **Positioning**: A general-purpose, stable and basic Linux distribution.

- **Key features**: Offers a rich set of precompiled software packages, a mature and stable software ecosystem, and long-term support.

- **Application scenario**: Servers, cloud hosts, desktop development environments, or as an application platform requiring quick deployment and a rich software ecosystem.

**Yocto Linux**

- **Positioning**: A customizable embedded Linux build framework.

- **Key features**: Allows building highly optimized and minimal Linux systems tailored to specific hardware from source code, offering extreme flexibility.

- **Application scenario**: IoT devices, embedded products, resource-constrained hardware, or mass-production hardware with limited recoourses or strict control over system composition.

# Quick selection guide

| <div style="text-align: center"><br><strong>Feature</strong><br></div> | <div style="text-align: center"><br><strong>Debian</strong><br></div> | <div style="text-align: center"><br><strong>Yocto Linux</strong><br></div> |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Core difference** | Use prebuilt systems | Build customized systems, enabling advanced developers to perform secondary development. |
| **Customization flexibility** | Low (based on existing packages) | Extremely high (compiled from source codes) |
| **Learning and usage difficulty** | Low | High |
| **Applicable scenario** | General computing, standard servers, applications requiring quick deployment | Specialized embedded hardware, mass-production products with strict system size or composition requirements |

# **Quick access**

- [Debian](<Debian/Debian.md>)
- [Yocto Linux](<Yocto Linux/Yocto Linux.md>)