minimum linux installation
 

hey ppl

i have tried many linux distrubutions and i could not decide which one is the best for me. many unneeded things on them.

and i decided to have minimal installation that i can install everything myself. to learn, to see whatever. i have enough time to do. i dont care how hard it is.

my question. what linux wants to work ??

thanks for any reply

You have time and want to learn:
Gentoo or Slackware or even LFS

Any distribution that has a net install option: Ubuntu. I think Fedora and Debian do too.
Debian in any case.
I predict the next 10 consecutive posts to tell you to install Gentoo, Slackware, DSL, Puppy or LFS. I cannot approve of that :P

edit:
jomen was faster.

Debian is a good one too ;) - not very easy to really make it small IMO

Debian gets my vote too :)
 

installing the base system via netinst will give you the basic system...in my view, great for the basis of a server as it will not install a window manager or unneeded apps. In addition, apt-get is a fantastic package management system, and is a great tool for getting it all installed.

There was a Linux from Scratch project going on a few years ago, though I'm not sure if its still around

Debian netinst = http 404 page not found pff

Here is the link:
 

http://www.debian.com/CD/netinst/
Do'h! I didn't test the link until now :(
My apologies

Ask Google - or navigate the Debian site - it is not hard to find:
http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/
http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst

using this approach - not reading/searching - you won't get very far

Here for Ubuntu:
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...mages/netboot/

They could be doing some maintenance at the moment. I can't get at any images either, so I don't think it is just you. Be patient, they'll be back soon enough. :)

I'd like to add that all things are "unneeded" until you need them. I am very happy about the bloat that modern distributions provide, so I don't need to plow the internet every time I need a tool for something. Unless you are very short on disk space I think it's better to go with the bloat. It's your decision of course, I won't stop you.

That first sentence is quite profound....;)

Seriously, my current favorite for "lean and mean" is Arch + Kdemod. The initial install is very compact, and adding new things does not require "plowing the internet"

i used centos 5. and had to install many things that i need. whats the point to use a distribution or not use them?

Debian base netinstall.. it's simple to aptitude install anything I need after that point.

With the size of Debians software repositories I rarely have to search the internet for software to download and install, it's all right there at my fingertips, and can be installed in a couple seconds (depending on speed of net connection that is...)

you can install ubuntu server and then add what you need like a gui(?) from the command line.

well. ty for reply all. ill wait till debian web site works and try ubuntu + debian =).

solution for my question = netinst or installing server only

Well, I've been thinking about giving NimbleX a go. Which raises the idea that the "Custom Nimblex" version/fork/flavour doesn't have anything unnecessary, because you decide what goes in.

But then you'll have looked at distrowatch and considered all of the frugal distros, won't you?

Gentoo :) you install it manually and you will learn a lot about how your system works in the process. the documentation is very good it will walk you through every step and explain what you are doing. when you are done you get a basic system with a compiler, basic utilities, working network connection and a CLI. no GUI included. then you 'emerge' anything else you want. It's not the easiest or the quickest to install, but you said you wanted something minimal that will allow you to learn and install everything yourself and that in a word is Gentoo. If you go this way and need help send me a PM.

could be better. but i already installed centos5. i have a gentoo cd too. after tried all of them. ill write here =)

For me the point is ease of use. I dont't want to have to set up samba just to connect to a windows network. Even if I will only have to connect to a win network once or twice - or even more so if I only need it on occasions... same goes for lots and lots of applications.
Install a reader just for a pdf, install extra codecs for a real-media stream.

I use CentOS 5.2 right now, and it's a reasonably bloated distribution IMO. CentOS is definitely not what I'm thinking of when I say "minimalistic system"

I just don't get why people will automatically shout "GENTOO, SLACKWARE" everytime a thread like this comes up. The OP asked for a minimal install, not a source based system. The obvious answer is: use the netinstall of your favorite distribution.