Cut down Linux + customisable X windows

[Scott Boyle]

Hi all,
  Very new to the list so I am sorry if this is a repeat topic (if it is could you point me to an archive). I have been dreaming of a linux disto that is bare bones (but not so much to make it difficult to use as I am new to linux) one that doesnot come with all the bells and whistles and 30 apps for the same functionality, I want an OS that I need to add the applications for what I want to do. Also I would like to be able to have a highly cusomisable X windos application so I can completely change the look and feel to how I would like. I am hoping there is something out there for me, if not I am willing to start a project to roll my own but I would rather not reinvent the wheel if there is already a wheel that fits.

Scott Boyle

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[Boden Matthews]

Have you tried something like Puppy Linux (http://puppylinux.org) or Damn Small Linux (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/)? They're both very lightweight.

Regards,

Boden Matthews,

http://bodenm.wordpress.com

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[Paul Gear]

On 09/02/12 09:17, Scott Boyle wrote:

Hi all,
  Very new to the list so I am sorry if this is a repeat topic (if it is could you point me to an archive). I have been dreaming of a linux disto that is bare bones (but not so much to make it difficult to use as I am new to linux) one that doesnot come with all the bells and whistles and 30 apps for the same functionality, I want an OS that I need to add the applications for what I want to do. Also I would like to be able to have a highly cusomisable X windos application so I can completely change the look and feel to how I would like. I am hoping there is something out there for me, if not I am willing to start a project to roll my own but I would rather not reinvent the wheel if there is already a wheel that fits.

Xubuntu or Lubuntu might be good options...  Last time i tried Xubuntu it worked pretty well, but that was a few years ago now.

Paul

[Paul Gear]

On 09/02/12 09:17, Scott Boyle wrote:

Hi all,
  Very new to the list so I am sorry if this is a repeat topic (if it is could you point me to an archive). I have been dreaming of a linux disto that is bare bones (but not so much to make it difficult to use as I am new to linux) one that doesnot come with all the bells and whistles and 30 apps for the same functionality, I want an OS that I need to add the applications for what I want to do. Also I would like to be able to have a highly cusomisable X windos application so I can completely change the look and feel to how I would like. I am hoping there is something out there for me, if not I am willing to start a project to roll my own but I would rather not reinvent the wheel if there is already a wheel that fits.

And i forgot to mention Debian.  It's still a 400 MB minimal install, then you can add only the components you want on top of that.

Paul

[Ian Fleming]

On Thu, Feb 09, 2012 at 10:17:33AM +1100, Scott Boyle wrote:
> I have been dreaming of a linux disto
> that is bare bones (but not so much to make it difficult to use as I am new
> to linux) one that doesnot come with all the bells and whistles and 30 apps
> for the same functionality, I want an OS that I need to add the
> applications for what I want to do.

I would say Arch Linux. Having said that you will need to be familiar with
a couple of configuration files and/or have good google foo ;)

> Also I would like to be able to have a highly cusomisable X windos application so I can completely change the look
> and feel to how I would like.

There are too many [1] to list. Maybe try Openbox with addons like tint2 and wicd
etc. Fluxbox is another goodone. The configuration of these two are text files/very
configurable.

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Window_Manager

[Paul Gear]

On 09/02/12 11:54, Ian Fleming wrote:
> ...

> I would say Arch Linux. Having said that you will need to be familiar with
> a couple of configuration files and/or have good google foo ;)

... and have patience for your package manager breaking every time you
update.

Why bother when Debian is so similar to Ubuntu, and takes so much less
effort to maintain? I've never met anyone who needs the bleeding edge
that Arch provides (and Gentoo is pretty much the same).

Paul

[colin mcdermott]

On cut down distribution:
Go to distrowatch.com and take a look.

I would recommend checking out Vector linux as well. It was extreemly cut down and ran very well.

Else if you really need to go cutdown DSL (damnsmalllinux) could be the way to go.

But you need to define if you are talking cutdown as in a P4 with 512mb ram or cutdown as in a 500mhz ARM processor with 32mb of flash memory.

[Ian Fleming]

No fun. I do not recommend the testing repo and one just has to go to archlinux.org
before the upgrade to look for those very rare show stoppers (ive had one in 2 years) or just review the upgrades
output for any warnings. Fun.

True you can not upgrade blindly. That applies to all distros!

[Paul Gear]

On 09/02/12 12:55, Ian Fleming wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 09, 2012 at 12:37:25PM +1000, Paul Gear wrote:
>> ... and have patience for your package manager breaking every time you
>> update.

>> ...

> No fun. I do not recommend the testing repo and one just has to go to archlinux.org
> before the upgrade to look for those very rare show stoppers (ive had one in 2 years) or just review the upgrades
> output for any warnings. Fun.

I've experienced major breakage every time (all three of them ;-) i've
touched an Arch Linux system and tried to update a package. And that
was with their "stable" repo. Note that this was just updating to apply
security updates, not anything analogous to a Debian or Ubuntu
distribution upgrade.

> True you can not upgrade blindly. That applies to all distros!

I've upgraded almost blindly on Debian & Ubuntu many times and not had
even the troubles i had on simple application of security updates on Arch.

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are some of the greatest online security threats to desktop computers.
Browsing with the NoScript Firefox extension can greatly reduce the
chance of these exploits. http://noscript.net/

[Jason Warner]

On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 1:44 PM, Paul Gear <pa...@libertysys.com.au> wrote:

On 09/02/12 12:55, Ian Fleming wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 09, 2012 at 12:37:25PM +1000, Paul Gear wrote:
>> ... and have patience for your package manager breaking every time you
>> update.
>> ...
> No fun. I do not recommend the testing repo and one just has to go to archlinux.org
> before the upgrade to look for those very rare show stoppers (ive had one in 2 years) or just review the upgrades
> output for any warnings. Fun.

I've experienced major breakage every time (all three of them ;-) i've
touched an Arch Linux system and tried to update a package.  And that
was with their "stable" repo.  Note that this was just updating to apply
security updates, not anything analogous to a Debian or Ubuntu
distribution upgrade.

> True you can not upgrade blindly. That applies to all distros!

I've upgraded almost blindly on Debian & Ubuntu many times and not had
even the troubles i had on simple application of security updates on Arch.

As a general rule, if you apt-get upgrade, you are always going to be safe. If you apt-get dist-upgrade, you should know what you are doing (packages can be removed). Just be aware of the differences. My workflow is typically apt-get upgrade and then dist-upgrade. If dist-upgrade tells me that some package will be removed and it looks important (unity, ubuntu-desktop etc), I leave it alone for a day and then start it over again.

Ubuntu is by far the most stable upgrades I've ever experienced. IMO, nothing else comes close. 

 

--
Drive-by downloads and cross-site scripting attacks while Web browsing
are some of the greatest online security threats to desktop computers.
Browsing with the NoScript Firefox extension can greatly reduce the
chance of these exploits. http://noscript.net/

[Ian Fleming]

You be suprised just how "stable" current versions can be.

Im not talking "testing" or cobbling stale versions together. But we digress..

lols.. Moreover...
I can not take you seriously while your flashing that business card around.

:P

[Chris Robinson]

Definitely have a look at Lubuntu.  It's an extremely light 'buntu that will typically use less than 100Mb at boot but does not require any Linux knowledge to get working on most hardware.  It has all the usual things we now take for granted - hardware support, package management, automated updates and access to the maintained repositories.  It will feel a lot more minimal compared to Ubuntu but does what you need it to do.

For a completely cut down Linux I think people should be looking to something like Tiny Core:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/welcome.html

which is still happily in continued development.  It's very bare bones at around 12MB and is a very interesting project.  Most people think of DSL (Damn Small Linux) when they talk about a minimal LInux distro, but Tiny Core is made by the same person after the originators of DSL had a falling out.  Given that Tiny Core is in continued development (currently 3.0.3 kernel) and DSL has stagnated (kernel 2.4.31) I'm rather surprised that more people don't know about it.  Tiny core is very easy to get working thanks to the installer but to add any hardware support (3G, specialised laptop hardware) will require you to configure it yourself.  It's impressive to see it boot, since it boots up almost as fast as the bootloader itself.

Chris

---

From: Scott Boyle <sjb...@gmail.com>
To: ubun...@lists.ubuntu.com
Sent: Thursday, 9 February 2012 9:17 AM
Subject: Cut down Linux + customisable X windows

[Chris Jones]

> Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2012 10:17:33 +1100

> From: Scott Boyle <sjb...@gmail.com>
> To: ubun...@lists.ubuntu.com

> Subject: Cut down Linux + customisable X windows

> Message-ID:
> <CABZvh+E1Sj=UmxpA7te-nOOn2Xt56H...@mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

>
> Hi all,
> Very new to the list so I am sorry if this is a repeat topic (if it is
> could you point me to an archive). I have been dreaming of a linux disto
> that is bare bones (but not so much to make it difficult to use as I am new
> to linux) one that doesnot come with all the bells and whistles and 30 apps
> for the same functionality, I want an OS that I need to add the
> applications for what I want to do. Also I would like to be able to have a
> highly cusomisable X windos application so I can completely change the look
> and feel to how I would like. I am hoping there is something out there for
> me, if not I am willing to start a project to roll my own but I would
> rather not reinvent the wheel if there is already a wheel that fits.
>
> Scott Boyle
>
> --

Hi Scott. I don't know whether you found the solution that you are
after, but I reckon you should give Bodhi Linux a try. It is Ubuntu
based and sits at around ~350MB ISO download.

It is basically a base install for you to build and customize to your
own liking. It's what I use and now I swear by it.

But the first thing I do in it is replace Enlightenment with GNOME. But
that's easy by running:

sudo aptitude install gnome-panel

Done.

Regards

--
Chris Jones <chris...@comcen.com.au>