More compact but full-featured install? (15 GB too much)

[temcat]

Is it possible to install a current Mint release on a 9 GB / partition and still have some reasonable amount of space there left for additional software? If my memory serves me right, that used to be possible before.
Edit: I have a separate /home partition and a swap partition.

[Moem]

Short answer: No.
Slightly longer answer: Nooooooo.
More constructive answer: Mint is not the right distro if space is a concern. It's a fully-featured OS. You're better off finding a distro with a smaller footprint; maybe MX Linux will suit your needs?

[Moem]

Wait, so that 9 GB would be just for /? Still too small, I'd say.

[DAMIEN1307]

in a word...No...28 gb is what i believe is recommended at present at a minimum to have a comfortable amount of room...it all depends on just what is meant by you as,

some reasonable amount of space there left for additional software

...DAMIEN

[temcat]

Thanks everybody. Maybe I'll try my luck with Debian netinst as the starting point.

[philotux]

You might want to check out antiX. The full install take up something like 3 GB.

[Neil Edmond]

Maybe I'll try my luck with Debian netinst as the starting point.

That can be a fun exercise. You will be amazed at how much you have to add to get a functional system, let alone a "full-featured install". But you will be able to install as much, or as little, as you want and customize it to your hearts content.

You might want to check out antiX. The full install take up something like 3 GB.

This is a good option too. Although, a full antiX install has more apps than I would ever use. AntiX Core is probably the way to go if you want to roll your own. It has all the utilities you will need already install and set up, plus the x-server and window manager already configured. Kind of gives you a more complete base to build on than Debian Net-Install (though AntiX is built on Debian).

[Flemur]

Is it possible to install a current Mint release on a 9 GB / partition and still have some reasonable amount of space there left for additional software? If my memory serves me right, that used to be possible before.
Edit: I have a separate /home partition and a swap partition.

My mint installs have been less than 6GB, including wine and /home, but removing libreoffice. (firefox/mozilla and ~/.wine are on another partition, they'd add a few hundred MB). This lubuntu install I'm running from right now takes 4.87 GB.

[philotux]

AntiX Core is probably the way to go if you want to roll your own. It has all the utilities you will need already install and set up, plus the x-server and window manager already configured. Kind of gives you a more complete base to build on than Debian Net-Install (though AntiX is built on Debian).

Spot on!

[anticapitalista]

AntiX Core is probably the way to go if you want to roll your own. It has all the utilities you will need already install and set up, plus the x-server and window manager already configured. Kind of gives you a more complete base to build on than Debian Net-Install (though AntiX is built on Debian).

Spot on!

Not quite.
antiX-Core does not come with an x-server and window manager already configured. It is a 'fat' net-install with wifi drivers installed.
Perhaps the poster meant antiX-base?

[Neil Edmond]

Perhaps the poster meant antiX-base?

Yes of course, you are right...it's been many, many moons since my last AntiX install, and I just forgot. I never really found "Core" very useful just for that reason. True, it's a step up from a plain net-install, but still too bare for me. I was, no doub thinking of "Base".

[philotux]

Not quite.
antiX-Core does not come with an x-server and window manager already configured. It is a 'fat' net-install with wifi drivers installed.
Perhaps the poster meant antiX-base?

My bad! Thanks for pointing it out!

[Mute Ant]

'...possible to install a current Mint release on a 9 GB partition and still have some reasonable amount of space...' Yes. The distribution ISO expands from 2GB to 6GB and in a Live Session is all under the Folder /rofs . You can copy that read-only snapshot into your partition and replace /etc and /home with the Live Session versions.

It's only the installer (ubiquity) that insists on a large OS root space. If you tweak the Ubiquity script you can make it install into less than Ubuntu's suggested minimum.

If you look at 'frugal install' distributions like Knoppix or Puppy, they don't unpack the ISO at all, running like a persistent Live Session as standard.