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I'd like to lean out my distros.

I use Red Hat, Mandrake, and for surfing, Xandros.

I'm not a server
I'm not a workgroup
I don't share files
I don't FTP
I never IRC
I don't even want Open Office on my system, it's not an office machine
I have no use for games
No ssh or telnet
I only do the Email thing on the Net, NEVER on my system

But, I do a LOT of downloading and modifying of files

And, I need the drive space...... I'm @ 18.7 Gigs ona 20 Gig HD, and unless SanteeClawz is VERY good to me, there won't be a new HD in da howse anytime soon......

My question is two-fold:

How to determine which (of the gazillion pre-installed) packages I don't need, and how to remove them ??

I know that's a pretty generic question, but I'm looking for a starting point, not a walk thru -

Anybody ??

I'd sure appreciate any help here, especially on the removing part.... ...

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Well.... I install bare minimum and then add what I need. But if you already have it installed it is harder because you won't know exactly all the libraries you don't need which can take up a lot of space.

I don't know about makdrake but for redhat you want symapitc and Xandros probably has a synapitc available as well. It's a good gui tool to help make sure nothing gets broken. Remove server software you know you don't use. Apache, games, openoffice. But since Xandros is Debian based it may have something like deborphan which can tell which library packages are no longer being used and can be safely removed. Also, if you have tried the different windowmanager/desktops, you can remove the ones you don't want.

That's what Xandros Network (XN) is all about. It lists available packages, identifies those already installed and offers one click installation or removal.

Piece of cake.

I agree.... I think Xandros is best option for you.