Which Linux for crypto?

English General Discussions
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I’m almost definitely going to switch to a dedicated Linux pc for crypto.* Not for development, just security. So I’m looking for recommendations as to which variety to use. I’ve some experience of Debian but not so much that I’d be losing much by going elsewhere. Any suggestions?

*(Actually dual booting with Windows, but the Linux side will be for crypto only.)

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I have been told by different guys on Reddit that Qubes OS was the absolute best Linux distro for security, however installing it properly required a minimum set of skills, which I believe you have as a programmer. On the downside I have also read somewhere that it is so secure that it doesn’t play nice with Ledger…

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Thanks Pierre. I’m not looking to maximise security, I feel it’s good enough if it’s a) dedicated and b) not Windows. I’ll look into Qubes but probably go with a more ordinary distro.

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If any Linux will do than any solid distro like CentOs should serve you OK.
If you want a live CD i would check out BitKey. Can’t vouche for’em but worked well for me and the minimalism is nice.

Tails is also maybe an honorable mention…

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CentOS is the best version of Linux I have ever used. It works exactly like Red Hat Enteprise Linux just with the badges removed (because that is what it is).

I just used my RHEL 5.6 book and it worked letter for letter on CentOS but the versions are a lot newer than 5.6 now … like 6.X

When I would upgrade like CentOS 5.2 to 5.6 it worked like a champ on that department too.

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Well CentOS is certainly winning so far… thanks guys.

I think at the back of my mind I was wondering which distro is likely to be most compatible with most wallets. Ease of installation would be the main issue I guess. But my Linux experience is quite dated and maybe there’s more standardisation than there used to be.

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If you want to compile from source, then I find Ubuntu best for most crypto projects. I’m still making and running Cardano on Ubuntu until we get into actual staking on mainnet later this year.

Generally, I like CentOS 7 too, especially for hardened production ops with SELinux turned on.

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