Mini iso

[The Black Pig]

Talking to Pavroo in our facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/SparkyLinux/ I said would be nice if we had a distro that was mini so that peopl could add whatever programs they fancied.
As this is a personnel thing He suggested asking members what they would like on it. The above is a suggested list , if you think of something else post here.

[Lizzie]

I suggest adding a terminal - maybe xfce terminal, or gnome terminal

[The Black Pig]

I suggest adding a terminal - maybe xfce terminal, or gnome terminal

Done , have you voted?

[seppalta]

I think you need a web browser and a window manager.  I vote for iceweasel and openbox.  For image viewer,  mirage is lightweight and offers some editing tools,  for pdf viewer,  xournal offers some editing tools in addition to viewing, and for terminal, lxterminal or sakura are preferable to xfce4-terminal.

How will this iso be different from the current Sparky-Base-Openbox?

[The Black Pig]

I think you need a web browser and a window manager.  I vote for iceweasel and openbox.  For image viewer,  mirage is lightweight and offers some editing tools,  for pdf viewer,  xournal offers some editing tools in addition to viewing, and for terminal, lxterminal or sakura are preferable to xfce4-terminal.

How will this iso be different from the current Sparky-Base-Openbox?

The latest (4.2) Openbox has more applications than the JWM 4.1 version , and you haven't voted lol

[paxmark1]

I have been a big fan of openbox for years, but it will probably not be ported to wayland.  lxqt is making the move to xfwm4 for wayland compatibility.  I have on the back burner how to add my #! shortcut key strokes to xfwm4. 

For getting info easily for forum postings and also when asked on some irc channels I would recommend inxi to be automatically installed. 

Another part of the equation for a mini-iso is what language and libraries are drawn in by the chosen browser, editor, etc., etc. If one pulls in gtk-2, another gtk-3 and another qt4, qt5, python 2 and 3,  etc.  that adds up. 

And of course there is the plumbing in systemd.  systemd-timesyncd.service is working well now and makes ntp not needed.  There are several other newish things in systemd to simplify and prune programs.  Eliminating automatic installation of bluetooh and raid - mdadm is also an option. 

Display manager.  slim is not being kept up to date.  lightdm or sddm are both candidates, sddm is being designed to transition to wayland easily. 

tint2 is getting more development again, but the simplicity of plank is quite elegant. 

Kernels get upgraded fairly regular in testing.  Although it is not debian per se, the siduction package of "kernel-remover"  is by far the easiest and safest route I know of for managing how many kernels I have. 

Peace out,

[grandadruss]

Display Manager, Window Manager, Package Manager, Terminal, Text Editor, Web Browser. And a Network Manager.
I install LightDM, i3WM, Synaptic, Lxterminal, Leafpad, Qupzilla and NetworkManager onto CLI iso.

[balloon]

I also looked at Facebook group.
I do not know the intention of the Mini ISO. Why are you trying to make it?
Because I do not know it, the action will not be able to do anything.

[pavroo]

As I spoke with John (The Black Pig) before, he asked about as small as possible iso image.
After a hard drive installation, you can install all the software you like and set the system yourself, without uninstalling applications which are already pre-installed on the standard iso images.

I'd like to join the disscussion and add my point of view.
As many people as many options. it could be difficult to find a compromise, specially with the default mini iso desktop.
My suggestion is:
1. No desktop, no graphical server, it could be based on cli edition.
2. Adding additional scripts so the cli installer will be able to install a specific, your favorite desktop (a window manager or a desktop environment) with very basic applications.
It can be done via meta-packages, such as: sparky-jwm-desktop which will install (for example, as you suggest):
- graphical server
- window manager (or desktop environment in as small settings as possible)
- terminal emulator
- web browser
- login manager (lightdm as default , sddm for plasma)
- a few tools for desktop configuration
- network-manager (-gnome for all desktops/ -kde for plasma)
- a text editor

To help managing network connection in the cli edition, I can enclose ceni, the nurses based cli network manager.
The core system will be installed from the iso (offline) as it's managing now.
The additional desktop will be installed from sparky and debian server (online installation) if the internet connection will be made before starting the installation process.
If you will not install any desktop, you can do it after the system reboot from the hard drive and connectiong to the network, just installing a sparky meta package.
The package lists you propose could be used to create separate meta packages so will automate installation of any desktop (with basic settings only).

I spent the last two days improving the old installer, so it supports efi machines too (not in repos yet) so can be used on bios and efi machines now.

[The Black Pig]

Yup , I'm not always very good at putting My thoughts down in the proper manor but I think pavroo your idea for adapting the CLI version
'ticks all the boxes'   ;)

[The Black Pig]

Strange , been trawling the website and and according to this page - http://sparkylinux.org/sparkylinux-4-0-base-cli-editions/ we already have these mini editions

Quote "SparkyLinux 4.0 Base and CLI Editions are available to download.

Sparky 4 is based on and fully compatible with Debian testing 9 "Stretch".

Base Edition editions feature the core system, a lightweight desktop, wireless drivers and a few applications only.

The new iso images of Base Edition are available in 3 flavors, such as :
– Enlightenment (0.19.5)
– JWM
– Openbox

CLI Edition (Command Line Interface) features the core system, wireless drivers and a few, text mode applications." Unquote
However they don't appear on the download pages ?Maybe restorer the link will solve it ?

[pavroo]

Still there is sparky 4.2 openbox and enlightenment with as small set of apps as possible.

There is another point of matter with the mini iso.
It is not possible to put the core system, drivers, tiny window manager on a 700 mb iso image to let install it on old machines without DVD drive.
The cli image is still smaller that 700 mb.

Edit:
As the latest poll showed that cli and jwm are not too popular, I did not relese them as 4.2 image.

[balloon]

If you add a package, Many of the package it is not to become a Sparky own design, It Debian of content is reflected.
and Debian exists netinst ISO, has become possible such a thing.
Sparky is whether there is really need to create a Mini ISO, we need to discuss more.

[DennisD]

I have been using the Openbox version. My vote would be to base the mini.iso on it, but trim the fat. As such, include only:
Session Manager (Sparky Branded)
Window Manager(openbox) (Sparky Branded)
Network Manager
Tint2 (tasks, systray, time and network manager configured)
File Manager (PCmanFM)
Web Browser
Text Editor
Terminal Emulator
Sparky-Screenshot
Sparky-Conky (maybe rebranded, though I am partial to the BunsenLabs Conky. It is what I use now to display my system specs and shortcuts.)

anything else can be added through apt.

IMHO this would give a good, solid graphical base while still being very minimal. Maybe even devote a wiki page to just the Mini.iso with a quick start section, how to edit tint2 and openbox, etc.

Just my 2 cents.

[partsman]

Hi all  :)

I realize I am new here so I don't want to step on toes here !  ;)
With that said ! The following is just some random thoughts  ;D

Would it be possible "without adding much bloat to the ISO"
Have a a WM that is small but easy to use and still somewhat visually stimulating such as JWM
And have something like in sparky APTus to simply install a different WM and comletely remove the base and/or the previous WM ?
"All the config file etc.

The only reason I say this is because not everyone these days is a guru  ;)
And I am afraid that only having command line might scare off someone new to linux !

Personally I prefer Xfce4 but we are not all the same ! Linux is about choice !
And in my opinion xfce4 is not minimal  ;D
For what its worth here is a nice WM comparison that makes a good read  ;)
https://l3net.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/a-memory-comparison-of-light-linux-desktops/

Regardless of what goes into it I will be ready and waiting to test !  ;)
Thanks all  :)