Ubuntu without pre-installed software?

[Johnny Rosenberg]

2012/9/17 Avi Greenbury <lists at avi.co>:
> Johnny Rosenberg wrote:
>> I've always wondered why there are a lot of things pre-installed in
>> Ubuntu and most other GNU/Linux-distributions.
>
> The clue is in the name - it's a software distribution, a collection
> of software. Most distros aim to provide a whole operating system
> complete with all the things you're likely to want to use on it (like
> an office suite and a web browser).
>
> Even just doing that isn't obvious - how much of the system is needed
> for it to count as a full OS? DSL doesn't ship a Javascript-capable
> web-browser by default, but it does ship an implementation of the tile
> game Taipei.
>
>> Maybe I'm not like the rest of humanity, but I always end up
>> uninstalling everything, replacing it with the stuff I prefer
>> anyway. It would be easier to fit Ubuntu on a CD too, faster to burn
>> it or create the USB stick.
>
> You fit into a large minority, I'd suggest. There's plenty of
> minimalist distros, but as reliable high-speed internet connections
> become ever more prevalent it's becoming easier and easier to just
> remove things from 'complete' ones.
>
>> For example: LibreOffice. Why? Yes, why? If I want it, I'll install it
>> with the debs from http://www.libreoffice.org/ (and I usually do,
>> since I find it a lot better than the Ubuntu repository one).
>
> Everything that comes with the distro gets updated by it - if you
> install a minimal distro and then a load of software from an
> assortment of other sources, you'll need to update each of them
> individually (or not run updated versions). Many people prefer the
> situation where everything is updated by one tool
>
>> I wish there was an alternate Ubuntu CD for a minimal install. Just
>> the necessary stuff for getting started: A web browser, Firefox is
>> good enough, the software centre, all those command line tools, of
>> course, Gnome, Unity, Compiz but pretty much not much more than that.
>
> You can use the server CD to install almost-nothing and then apt-get
> your favourite DE and whatever software you like.
>
>> Or a CD that does a minimal install of Ubuntu, then opens a somewhat
>> modified software centre. There could be something like a guide
>> letting you know that you need, for example, a media player, then it
>> displays maybe the top ten rated ones, letting you choose one or more
>> of them for install, then tells you that you might need some office
>> stuff, a firewall, web browser and all that, and you can always select
>> nothing if you like.
>
> This sounds like a lot more hassle than booting into a 'normal'
> install and just deleting everything not wanted. Maybe that one's just
> me :)
>
>> Well, that was just some thoughts.
>
> This is a technical support list so, much as these sorts of things are
> welcome as part of your search for a solution to the problem, this
> isn't a way of getting ideas up to Canonical. There's dedicated
> developer lists (and discussions at UDS) that're more for this sort of
> thing. That said, it's not something that appears to lie particularly
> well with the ideas behind Ubuntu.
>
> --
> Avi

I had no intention to reach Canonical; they wouldn't listen anyway. I
just wrote into the wrong list, sorry. I guess there is a discussion
list that I should have written to instead, but let's ju drop the
whole thing right now.


Kind regards

Johnny Rosenberg
ジョニー・ローゼンバーグ