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Idea #26306: At the moment I can install a cli version in 2 different ways...

Written by J05HYYY the 30 Oct 10 at 00:49. Category: Installation. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
1) I can use the alternate cd and press F4 after the splash screen and choose the command line version.

2) I can use the minimal cd and type cli to install from the internet.

Option 1 has additional bloat. Option 2 relies on the network connection heavily.

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Solution #1: What I propose is...
Written by J05HYYY the 30 Oct 10 at 00:49.
Make an offline distrobution of Ubuntu which only contains files for installing the command line version of Ubuntu.

This could be done by stripping down the alternate cd, removing all the packages which are included in the GUI install but leaving the ones which are required for the cli install.
-5
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Solution #2: Or ...
Written by J05HYYY the 31 Oct 10 at 19:59.
Make an offline distrobution of Ubuntu which only contains files for installing the command line version of Ubuntu.

This could be done by getting the minimal Ubuntu iso and adding the ubuntu-standard metapackage to it so it doesn't have to download anything online.
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Solution #3: Or ...
Written by J05HYYY the 1 Nov 10 at 19:53.
Use the debian netinst instead... which is what I'm doing.

Propose your solution

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cheesehead (Brainstorm admin) wrote on the 30 Oct 10 at 03:06
By 'the command line version of Ubuntu', do you mean the ubuntu-standard metapackage? Or something different?

Please elaborate on the benefit of this new distribution. Who is it aimed at? How big a market is it? One of the big advantages of the two current methods is that they are easy. Is the added confusion to other users worth the (minor) bandwidth savings? Especially since this seems aimed at the users who are proficient at CLI, and probably best understand package management.

J05HYYY wrote on the 30 Oct 10 at 16:07
I mean the version of Ubuntu you can install without Gnome, KDE, or XFCE or even X11. Probably the ubuntu-standard metapackage but I can't be sure.

The benefit would be that people could roll there own version of Ubuntu that would fit on a CD. At the moment the CD is around 700mb, so nothing can be added. Lots of people could use this version to customise using LDXE, Fvwm, JWM, Openbox, Fluxbox ect. and other applications. It would be brilliant.

J05HYYY wrote on the 30 Oct 10 at 18:02
Also it could help create this:

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-5981.html

cheesehead (Brainstorm admin) wrote on the 30 Oct 10 at 19:25
Creating a whole new distro cd (the Rationale) merely to create custom install images seems unecessarily complicated. Users can already create their own custom install images on any Ubuntu system. The tools are in the repositories, and the tutorials are just a search engine away.

J05HYYY wrote on the 30 Oct 10 at 19:48
Users can add packages to an existing install CD.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCDCustomization

Unfortunately, like I said, the CDs are already ~700mb so any customisation would mean the user would have to burn a DVD.

Not even Debian has a stripped down command line version for this purpose. I think it would fill in a niche market. No other linux distribution offers a cli environment with apt-get. I thoroughly believe that this needs fixing from the people with the appropriate know how.

cheesehead (Brainstorm admin) wrote on the 31 Oct 10 at 03:13
You don't need to install any additional packages. A complete CLI environment is included with the ubuntu-standard metapackage, which is already part of every installation image except the minimal CD. You're talking about simply removing all the GUI packages from an alternate image (or adding ubuntu-standard and its dependencies to a minimal image). So most of https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallCDCustomization is much easier than it looks - you're not customizing any settings or environments, you're just changing the list of installed packages and the package cache.

If you have network access, you can get the same result even more easily with a minimal (or netboot) install, then 'sudo apt-get install ubuntu-standard'.

The server install image is CLI-only, (well, it was last time I used it), so someone does do it...but includes LAMP and other tools that are specific to that mission.


J05HYYY wrote on the 31 Oct 10 at 19:03
There is already an unofficial version for a live CD:

http://www.ubuntu-mini-remix.org/

Maybe this could help?

How would I customise a minimal image to include ubuntu-standard and it's dependencies, so as it wouldn't have to download anything off the internet?


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