While am new to Linux have used Windows for a while.

With Windows I inherited old PC hardware with Windows XP so from the beginning started checking how to reduce Windows bloatware.

There are a number of ways to do this on the Internet such as:
1. Micro XP v0.82

2. NTLite

3. Black Viper’s Windows XP x86 (32-bit) Service Configurations

Hope there is something similar for Android!

If not is there anything that explains what are the minimum OS files to boot Linux? Hope that all the Linux variations have some basic similarity.

Am I correct?

Am open to all comments

The minimal linux distro is definitely small, like a floppy (1.2 MB). The minimal android is much bigger, probably around 1 GB.
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...te-4175510570/

pan64 Thanks for the info!

Should add a few things.

Am interested in using this minimal Android OS on Arm phone hardware.

Have Googled a number of times using keywords smallest android OS for arm phones and get a lot of non relevant hits. When add "..." get No results found for "smallest android OS for arm phones". Am open to any suggestions how to improve my searches. Had hoped to find either websites or forums discussing this.

All I would like to use the old arm phones for is a Multimedia Player (VLC and others). No Internet or Phone so should be able to remove a lot of thing from a 1GB Android OS.

Am I able to use the old X86 Floppy Linux OS https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...te-4175510570/ as a model for what minimal OS components are needed for mobile 32 bit Arm hardware?

probably you find it interesting: https://itsfoss.com/open-source-alternatives-android/

pan64 thanks for the link https://itsfoss.com/open-source-alternatives-android/ while it was very educational concerning possible alternatives, the summary by the author "When I first wrote this article a few years ago, I was hopeful for some of these alternative mobile OSes. However, the present situation is gloomy, and I don’t think any OS listed here is going to make a mark." is probably very realistic.

Checked the Replicant Devices status https://redmine.replicant.us/project...i/DeviceStatus and my major interest Hardware media encoding/decoding is totally unsupported which eliminates it.

Read e info "/e/ is an “unGoogled” version of Android OS. It has an Android OS core, truly open source, with no Google apps or Google services accessing your personal data. It is compatible with all your favourite Android apps.

Checked Download Option https://e.foundation/get-support/ then https://doc.e.foundation/devices/ and found some older models that I and some friends have. Seems first thing is to "Unlock bootloader" https://community.e.foundation/t/how...ootloader/3053

pan64 Question: Is there anything similar to Black Viper's Windows website www.blackviper.com for Android? What I really like is for Windows Services Includes explanations of each service and advice on which services you can safely disable.

Any suggestions for something similar for either Android or Linux? Hope I can get some idea of what can be eliminated without bricking my Android OS.

Such sites (plural) do exist for Android.
They're just a quick web search away (I'd always search the issue presently at hand, not one site that covers them all).
In the end, you will find a lot on xda-developers.com/.

I tend to agree that this sort of stuff is much harder on Android (and everything based on Google's AOSP) than on any other OS.
Despite being mostly OSS, Android is much less open with documentation. Your either an end user or a developer, there doesn't seem to be anything in between.

ondoho Thanks for your comments! "Such sites (plural) do exist for Android." Any suggestions how to find them?

Maybe I am using the wrong keywords in my searches?

Here are 2 searches and as you mention they are for developers.

As a beginner am interested in finding out what are the various services for the different Android OS versions. Especially 4.4.2 KitKat and earlier because that would be where I would start.

Have done searches using keywords like Android 4.4.2 KitKat services and what do but have not found anything like Black Viper's site for Windows. Any ideas?

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^ I think you need to install a proper browser first.
That one doesn't even have an URL bar.