What is the most bare-bones Unix distribution?

[Bounty]

I've been struggling with NetBSD (ps don't bother), but while the operating system itself sucks the barnacles off a galleon, I do like the idea of a very bare-bones operating system - terminal, networking, X with twm, no other apps - that I can then build on to include only the extra software I really want.

So:

Is there a distribution of, say, Linux (I've had it with BSD) that comes in a version which only install the absolute basics, but with good hardware support (in particular, support for an RT2500 wireless card is vital), and the option to install precompiled binaries from a repository?

[Chris OFarrell]

I think you really need to define *exactly* what you want it to do, and what you want to do with it, before you can say what you might want to look at. You might be able to get a basic OS up with nothing but the core fundamentals, and find its as functional as a block of cement...

[Bounty]

I need to get an underpowered laptop to work as a basic browsing/text editing/IM platform. If I have a shell, support for networking, and a way to fetch programs from the internet I think I can manage to get the rest (window maanger, browser) up and running.

[Beowulf]

Try Damn Small Linux? It's about 50 Meg.

[Bounty]

What I'd probably try first is to take your favourite distro, do a minimal install of it, and build up from there and see if it works.

Yeah, that's what I'm trying now - I got the first CD of Debian, unchecked everything except the base system and am now wrestling with the wireless (I got the card up and running but using the rt2500 package and compiling it against my kernel but it's wandered off somewhere...)

... would you be up for running the links browser, vi editor, and naim im client?

As a backup, yes, but my goal is to have at least a basic window manager running. Console apps are fine for a lark but with 128MB to play with I'd like some convenience.

[Dave]

Not that it's especially small, but an (x)Ubuntu server install might have all the hardware drivers and stuff you need, as well as being able to tack on whatever software you need.

[Bounty]

I didn't do a server install, I just used a basic version of Debian. With Fluxbox and some multimedia stuff installed it clocks in at just over 2GB, which is pretty good for a perfectly usable desktop.

Incidentally, is there any trick to get /etc/network/interfaces to work? It keeps failing for generic reason ("invalid argument", I believe it was) at boot. I got around it by putting network command in a shell script and adding it to init.d but that's hardly the most elegant solution.