Is there a very basic version of Manjaro?

Non-technical Questions
#1

Hi there,

I just got myself manjaro KDE and I am wondering is it possible to get a very slim version of manjaro without any unnecessary packages and applications? I installed manjaro and it came with apps like

Qt Assistant
Qt Designer
Qt Linguist
Qt DbusViewer
Avahi SSH Server Browser
Avahi Zeroconf Browser
Htop

and many others. My point is, I have no clue what ALL of those mentioned above are for, why in the world would I need them in my system? Is it possible to get a version of manjaro that would have none of this bloatware?

#2

I’m not so sure that this is bloatware.
After all it was your choice to want to use KDE.
I myself use Xfce - just because I don’t like the way KDE works and is configured.
It is not much lighter, if at all.
You could also go for Openbox as a window manager - there is an Openbox Edition of Manjaro.
But this has many components of Xfce too - to make configuration (and your life in general) a little easier.
If you don’t need Avahi, you can deinstall it.
But it will not save you much - and some day you might need the functionality and then start searching and looking for ways to use it.
htop is a very small program - just “top” will do as well - but not as nicely

#3

Some of them are necessary dependencies for KDE or other programs so better leave it alone. You can hide them by right click in menu :wink:

#4

Try the Architect ISO.
Although, if you stick to KDE i believe you will still end with the Qt tools as they’re part of the core qt5 packages AFAIK.

#5

Better no, it’s required by cups and some parts of KDE.

#6

ok - thanks for that correction
and that’s what I meant/intended to say
It’s generally a bad idea to try to rip out parts of the functionality of a DE like KDE in order to safe some space or somehow make it lighter.
I’ll just end up crippled in ways you only discover much later - when you already forgot what you did … :wink:

#7

I have KDE Neon (Ubuntu based distro) on my other machine and it does not have all those Qt applications or Avahi ones. So I am not sure if those are essential for KDE

#8

the inter-dependencies between parts are different between Arch/Manjaro and Ubuntu/Debian - because the packages functionality is split in a different, perhaps more granular way

not directly comparable

for instance, as @Tomek said:
if you remove Avahi - cups might not work - or not fully
These might be separate packages in Ubuntu/Debian - but maybe not here.
You are free to try - or investigate before you do :wink:

#9

I’ve read rapidly, maybe it was already said but there are minimal Manjaro isos.
Ex: Downloading File /kde/20.2.1/minimal - Manjaro Linux - OSDN

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#10

Yeah That’s what I was gonna suggest, the minimal ISO still have some applications installed but it is a good start for a lighter system (disk space wise, not really resources wise), or even the Architect ISO to build your own OS from scratch, but that’s already been suggested. Also I suggest NOT to remove thing because YOU THINK it is bloatware. If you’re not sure, make you research what a package is for.

#11

Without having looked at it more closely (use Xfce at the moment anyway): what is not included in the minimal ISO? Can not find any documentation. If I should stumble upon KDE again sometime, I might prefer to use the minimal ISO.

#12

and then you’ll find yourself looking for and installing the things you actually need and want to use, instead of the
(not existing) defaults.

This can be done either way.

install what you need if it isn’t there
or
remove that which you don’t want or need

… of course, for someone new and unexperienced, deciding on what isn’t needed, or which could be replaced by a better suited alternative, isn’t an easy task

trial and error …
(not really “error” though …)

#13

I’m shamelessly referring to my answer :blush:

#14

In the end, I also did it with Arch in such a way that I installed everything afterwards. But at some point the maintenance effort with Arch became too much for me. So far I do it with Manjaro also so, everything away what is too much. But in the end remains probably only Architect, if you want to have a clean system.

#15

OK, thx. sorry, should have found it myself, was just a bit stressed.

#16

… if you actually know beforehand …
Architekt is of not much use if you don’t already know what you want
… which is then much like Arch,
minus the defaults that you inevitably still choose with Architekt

#17

:roll_eyes:

#18

I’m not very good at interpreting the actual meaning of emojis

#19

Yes it is - but it requires you to install it by hand.

It also requires you to know which dependencies any given package pulls in.

What you call bloatware - the Qt apps - is part of the Qt tools which is used to build KDE - you cannot avoid them because they are dependencies of the tools.

Avahi is a network tool and the Network Manager depends on Avahi - unless you choose another way of managing your network - you cannot avoid it.

Htop is a console application to view and maintain running system processes much like the tasklist on Windows. It can be uninstalled but not recommended as it can turn out to be the tool you suddenly need to kill a runaway process.

The best way is to learn how to install by hand - then you will have the lean system you are looking for.

You can start here

Then add in the KDE desktop

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