Kernel differences: machinekit vs. iot vs. lxqt vs. console, standalone, flasher, etc.

[pbft]

I've been in a cave for the past few years, working happily with an older (4.4.21-ti-r47) Robert C Nelson kernel on my BeagleBone Black. I ran into some problems with the system clock and thought I'd try a new kernel. I discovered that there are many flavors, but I can't find a simple description of the differences. I *think* I know what I need, but that's not always a reliable path to happiness ;-)

Is there a simple guide out there somewhere that I've missed?

FWIW, I'm running headless off of a microSD card.

[alanmt...@icloud.com]

This is not a complete answer, but as you've been waiting some time, here is the little that I know:

LXQT  Includes a graphical user interface using QT.  This takes up some space, so I believe the images are bigger.

IOT     No GUI, so smaller.  

   reference Molloy, "Exploring Beaglebone"

Flasher      Automatically reflashes the eMMC when you put the SD card in.  This is too dangerous for someone absent minded like me to have around, especially since all SD cards look the same.  The automatic flashing can be defused but personally I would always start with a non flasher and use Robert Nelson's scripts to flash the eMMC if desired.

Best of luck,

Alan