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I want to setup some VMs running as small a Linux as I can.

The criteria:

  1. Package system based on Apt.

  2. Runs some GUI ( can be very small ).

  3. Runs in as little ram as possible: in this context 64M is good and 256M is bordering on too much.

  4. Install on a hd, not ram resident.

  5. As little HD space as possible. Ideal would be 1G.

  6. Fast boot and shutdown times.


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May I ask why it must be based on apt? –  Keith Jan 16 '11 at 10:16
I also question the apt requirement, because it is quite memory-intensive. If you get a system running in 64MB, you're likely to need to increase that just while you're running apt. –  Gilles Jan 16 '11 at 12:20
Tshepang just reminded me of the existence of dselect, which if you're on Debian (or other system using dpkg) is sort of a lesser aptitude but consuming less memory. –  Gilles Jan 17 '11 at 22:42

6 Answers 6


According to them 64 mb of RAM are enough to run it with a GUI and they are the original Apt distribution. You should bear in mind that 256 mb is recommended even without a GUI, though.

They do list a 5 GB HD for a "desktop" but you should be able to install many window managers/web browsers/etc within the 1 GB limit if you start from the minimal install. 2 GB per virtual disk would probably be best though, or you risk running out of swap memory.

If you are familiar enough with apt(itude), it shouldn't be hard to add just the software you need. Any minimalist distro will be biased to the authors' goals and stop getting updates when you need them.

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Not that I actually recommend GNU/Linux. Configuring the above minimalist system from the command line was so much of an undocumented mess that I gave up on aptitude and the endless Debian repositories and moved to OpenBSD which just works. –  jbcreix Jan 16 '11 at 6:49
repositories-- @jbcreix I recommend distro's that don't really recognize the repository concept, or where there's only one set and it doesn't step on other repo's toes. gentoo and arch linux are both designed not to need external repos. In arch you might have to enable non core repos but I think they're all in the conf to start. –  xenoterracide Jan 16 '11 at 7:40
@xenoterracide: hum, Debian is like that; I mean, they have one repo per version, but mixing them is strongly discouraged. –  André Paramés Jan 17 '11 at 2:27
@andre pretty sure to get full desktop functionality you have to add repo's to debian. but I could be wrong. Sure it has one core set, but I do remember adding repo's in ubuntu to get everything I needed, I know debian is not ubuntu. –  xenoterracide Jan 17 '11 at 4:42
@xenoterracide: Nope, Debian's main repo has everything; KDE, Gnome, XFCE, etc: –  André Paramés Jan 17 '11 at 19:37

Damn Small Linux will make Debian look huge. If HD is only 50MB, you can believe memory footprint is small too. It's based on knoppix, which is based on debian, so AFAIK, it uses apt

DSL was originally developed as an experiment to see how many usable desktop applications can fit inside a 50MB live CD. It was at first just a personal tool/toy. But over time Damn Small Linux grew into a community project with hundreds of development hours put into refinements including a fully automated remote and local application installation system and a very versatile backup and restore system which may be used with any writable media including a hard drive, a floppy drive, or a USB device.

Important note: Apparently Damn Small Linux is no longer maintained

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Tiny Core Linux can be considered the continuation of DSL. Neither are based on Apt which is a strange requirement anyway. –  jonescb Jan 17 '11 at 14:22
@jones, mebbe I'm wrong, but I thought for sure you could use apt in dsl. It's obviously been some years since I've used it. –  xenoterracide Jan 17 '11 at 14:24

I am not aware of any apt-based Linux that is actually small. However, if you remove that one requirement (apt-based), I can recommend Slitaz.

The ISO file is 30MB, it comes with a GUI and a functional Web browser. It is actually still maintained as opposed to DSL which seems to have been abandoned for a while.

Slitaz uses tazpkg for management, which from my opinion is as easy as apt:

tazpkg list
tazpkg get-install gparted
tazpkg upgrade
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when was DSL deprecated? –  xenoterracide Jan 16 '11 at 11:29
@xenoterracide: Sorry for the wrong use of language. I was trying to mean "abandoned." According to Wikipedia page it says the last stable release was well over 2 years ago. IIRC there was a reason why the initial packager moved on to (I believe) Tiny Core Linux, but I do not remember the exact details (and am lazy to dig it out :P) –  kizzx2 Jan 16 '11 at 11:32

Crunchbang Linux

It used to be based on Ubuntu, but now it's based on Debian. It comes with Openbox as the default window manager. The default Debian install uses Gnome which is quite a bit heaver than Openbox.

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Debian can be quite small. During the install when you get to tasksel, unselect everything. You'll get a very minimal system taking up only 512M. Even then, you can still remove packages that you won't use.

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  • has apt-get
  • can use LXDE

"Trisquel Mini" download is 456 MB

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