What is the bare minium required for a minimal ISO?

[linux-aarhus]

What kind of user are you?

Please read before jumping to commenting

Long time users often develop habits of either removing packages from the full install or use the minimal install and add packages - some even use Architect as the ultimative installer.

From readings on the forum - it appears that one user’s necessity is another user’s bloat.

ISO terminology

When we build an ISO we often use the descriptions minimal and full ISO.

My view of a minimal ISO may not align well with the community - so I am trying to get an idea of what type of packages could/should be distinct for a minimal ISO.

One way of doing it could be the Arch way - but we are beyond that - otherwise we wouldn’t use Manjaro - right?

How Manjaro is built

If you are a long time user you know a Manjaro system is unpacked onto a new system using a basic root file system described in the file Packages-Root and the edition specifics is described in the Packages-Desktop file.

The Packages-Desktop file uses tags to describe what packages are to be installed in a given situation - something like this

pkg
>basic pkg
>extra pkg

The packages with no tag is always included - and the basic and extra tag controls what packages is included when the ISO is build. The default is to build a minimal ISO which would then contain packages with no tag and and packages tagged as basic.

Questions to consider

If you were to build a minimal ISO - besides the necessary files for theming and other environment specific files

• Would it include a basic multimedia player?
• Would it include media codecs?
• Would a browser be a must have?
• Would a PDF viewer or image viewer be mandatory?

This research distinguish between a minimal Manjaro which can be used as foundation for adding whatever should be included on a full ISO.

When you comment on this remember…

My research is for a basic yet functional Manjaro - no bells and whistles - just the bare minimum functionality.

Also remember that any given package may pull undesired dependencies; e.g., if you don’t think audio support is necessary, then you should avoid Firefox. It depends on libpulse which in turn will pull in various other audio dependency packages, so the question may not be as easy as it sounds.

The goal of this - not scientific an any way - research

Everyone can build a full ISO - the experiment the opposite of a full blown ISO - a bare minimal - Manjaro themed - ISO as base for your preferred applications.

[Murgi]

Ok, but why

[cscs]

Personally my idea of ‘minimal’ is functionally:
ManjaroRepos+DE/WM+necessities+some_branding+extra_fairy_magic
And not much frills beyond that. As in … if you choose minimal, you should maybe have a basic minimal browser installed, maybe not.

@Murgi
maybe in order to better curate the minimal editions? why else?

[linux-aarhus]

@linux-aarhus

my research is for a basic - yet functional Manjaro

@Murgi

Ok, but why

Research - if you never ask you’ll never know and as maintainer - it is nice to know what the user base is considering when you use the term minimal vs. full ISO.

[Nicomo]

As a teacher, the four things you mentioned, would most likely be needed in a minimal ISO - along with an office suite and an email client (I still use thunderbird) But today a video conferencing tool is also needed. I use practically all - skype, teams, zoom and meet.

[Tomek]

I suppose that long time users have some unneeded and forgotten applications remaining after testing. Or they keep those apps because they may be useful someday… but that time never comes I have some such garbage after 4 years with Manjaro.

But for my ideal fresh installation must have is minimal iso and:

• web browsers, currently FF + Vivaldi and Chromum as backup
• something for writing, now LibreOffice and FocusWriter
• anything for video, I don’t need music player, YT is enough
• pdf viewer, Okular is the best
• anything for image but I suppose that web browser would be enough.
• other must have: Calibre, Megasync, KeePassXC, Arduino IDE
• Steam for some fun

But for absolute minimum for work I need only web browser, anything for writing and pdf viever.

[excalibur1234]

i have created the “kde-minimal” manjaro version a few years ago, because i wanted a minimal manjaro kde desktop (which i am still using btw).
because i was unable to build the ISO, i have stopped maintaining it.

i do not know, whether it is still part of architect or not, though.
there is a “basic” and “extra” variant available.

you can take a look at it, if you want. keep in mind, that it is outdated:

community/kde-minimal · master · Profiles & Settings / iso-profiles

my idea for “minimal” is kind of extreme: for me, it means a minimal viable desktop OS (with network connection, terminal, file browser and nothing else).
however, i acknowledge that you need to read a lot of articles on the arch wiki in order to extend such a minimal system to your own needs. therefore “minimal” (in my definition) is something for expert users and not beginners!

[linux-aarhus]

@excalibur1234

for me, it means a minimal viable desktop OS (with network connection, terminal, file browser and nothing else)

I am in that end too with minimal - perhaps adding Midori browser.

This is the reason for this research topic - The easy task is building a fullblown ISO with all bells and whistles.

Getting a middle ground on a minimal ISO is much harder.

[excalibur1234]

as you can see in my link above, i went with a truly minimal system and a lot of “extra” packages.
this way, both kind of people are happy.

i think that i have included a browser in the live system as well, because a it is important to access this forum, if you have a broken system and want to search for a solution.

[Wollie]

@excalibur1234

my idea for “minimal” is kind of extreme: for me, it means a minimal viable desktop OS (with network connection, terminal, file browser and nothing else).

I totally agree with this approach, otherwise it won’t be a minimal edition. Users installing the minimal edition should know how to add packages and what packages they need, so really no requirement for any email client, office package, internet browser, pdf, picture or movie viewer. Sound codecs are usually installed with the corresponding GUI packages and also not needed to be part of the package IMHO. Network functionality, file browser, settings manager, a partition manager, nano, etc. - all this stuff should be included, certainly.

[mbod]

@excalibur1234

my idea for “minimal” is kind of extreme: for me, it means a minimal viable desktop OS (with network connection, terminal, file browser and nothing else

That is also my understanding.

“minimal” = this is what you need to boot the computer and get into the internet. Browser needs to be installed. Eventually user gets a choice of browsers. But no proprietary drivers. Only if the system would not boot otherwise.

“base” = this is what Manjaro thinks a base system should have. incl. office, browser, email program, eventually proprietary drivers, etc… And this, by the way, should be the baseline for any automatic test procedure which will eventually come in the future.

“full” = I would not offer this one. I do not see a clear definition what “full” should mean.

[banjo]

In my (irrelevant) opinion the -dev versions (no longer in archive, the last was 16.10-dev) were the last “real” minimal versions. I.e. xfce, thunar had no tumbler, gvfs, volman, …

[dstiles]

I always remove bluetooth and its associates - I have no need of it and its unused presence annoys me. There is one package which I need - network tools - that uses (or maybe used?) a bluetooth lib - if still required can that be split off, or perhaps a non-bluetooth version included as an option?

Another tool I never use and so remove is hexchat - never have a need for it.

Web browsers - the lightweight Falkon.
Email and RSS: Thunderbird.
Video: VLC.
Sound: Clementine or DeadBeef.

[linux-aarhus]

@dstiles

if still required can that be split off, or perhaps a non-bluetooth version included as an option?

connman and iwd are very good replacement for network manager and they only optionally depends on bluetooth

[Fires]

Please make sure all graphic drivers are there

[linux-aarhus]

@mbod

But no proprietary drivers. Only if the system would not boot otherwise.

Interesting thought.

The nature of things taken into account - I have never been able to fully test any and all possibilities.

With that in mind - and my limited possibility to verify - I must say I have yet to see a system which completely refuses to load using free drivers only.

I will admit there is systems which works better with the proprietary drivers - but wouldn’t the majority be able to at least boot with free drivers?

[mbod]

@linux-aarhus

With that in mind - and my limited possibility to verify - I must say I have yet to see a system which completely refuses to load using free drivers only.

I may be more prices with my definiton of “minimal”. The system should not only be able to boot but also to be able to access the internet. I do not know if some wireless drivers are proprietary but it could be.

[merlock]

Minimal(ist) or minimal (GUI)?

Minimal(ist) (me) /// Minimal (GUI) - applications only, core system may not be able to be minimalized (in a Manjaro context):

Email: neomutt /// Thunderbird (also RSS and Calendar)
RSS: Newsboat
Sound: ncmpcpp /// VLC (video too)
Video: mplayer2
Calendar: remind (steep learning curve)
PDF: xpdf-motif (pre QT) /// maintainers’ choice
Web: w3m/lynx/firefox /// firefox
Password manager: pass /// keepassxc
File manager: ranger /// pcmanfm
Terminal: kitty /// maintainers’ choice
Networking: dhcpcd /// maintainers’ choice
BT & WiFi: not used /// maintainers’ choice
WM: i3-gaps /// i3-gaps
Editor: vim /// maintainers’ choice

IMO, choice of office suite should be on the user after the installer is finished, and the system rebooted.

[notageek]

personally I like the Architect way via Unconfigured Desktop (plasma), nothing is installed except Discover, xterm and plasma-sdk ecct, no browser, no konsole no kde apps, from there i remove Discover and few other thing not needed for my particular hw, reaching little more then 650 packages then I start adding the sw I need/use

here is my pacman.txt

Riepilogo

a52dec 0.7.4-11
aalib 1.4rc5-14
accounts-qml-module 0.7-3
accountsservice 0.6.55-3
acl 2.2.53-3
acpi 1.7-3
acpid 2.0.32-2
adobe-source-code-pro-fonts 2.030ro+1.050it-6
adwaita-icon-theme 3.36.1-1
akonadi-contacts 20.08.1-1
alpm-octopi-utils 1.0.2-1
alsa-lib 1.2.3.2-1
alsa-plugins 1:1.2.2-2
alsa-topology-conf 1.2.3-1
alsa-ucm-conf 1.2.3-2
alsa-utils 1.2.3-2
aom 2.0.0-1
appstream 0.12.11-1
appstream-qt 0.12.11-1
archlinux-keyring 20200820-1
argon2 20190702-3
ark 20.08.1-1
at-spi2-atk 2.34.2-1
at-spi2-core 2.36.1-1
atk 2.36.0-1
atkmm 2.28.0-2
attica 5.74.0-1
attr 2.4.48-3
audit 2.8.5-6
autoconf 2.69-7
automake 1.16.2-3
avahi 0.8+15+ge8a3dd0-1
baloo 5.74.0-1
baloo-widgets 20.08.1-1
bash 5.0.018-1
bashrc-manjaro 5.0.018-1
bc 1.07.1-4
binutils 2.35-2
bison 3.6.4-1
blas 3.9.0-3
bluez 5.55-1
bluez-libs 5.55-1
bluez-qt 5.74.0-1
breeze 5.19.5-1
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brotli 1.0.9-2
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ca-certificates 20181109-4
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colord 1.4.4+9+g1ce26da-2
colord-kde 0.5.0-3
convertlit 1.8-10
coreutils 8.32-1
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cracklib 2.9.7-2
crda 4.14-3
cronie 1.5.5-1
cryptsetup 2.3.4-1
curl 7.72.0-2
dav1d 0.7.1-1
db 5.3.28-5
dbus 1.12.20-1
dbus-glib 0.110-2
dconf 0.38.0-1
desktop-file-utils 0.26-1
device-mapper 2.02.187-3
dhclient 4.4.2-2
dhcpcd 9.2.0-1
diffutils 3.7-3
digikam 7.1.0-1
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discount 2.2.7-1
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file 5.39-1
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firefox 81.0-2
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libssh2 1.9.0-2
libstemmer 0+713-2
libtasn1 4.16.0-1
libteam 1.31-1
libthai 0.1.28-2
libtheora 1.1.1-5
libtiff 4.1.0-2
libtirpc 1.2.6-1
libtommath 1.2.0-3
libtool 2.4.6+42+gb88cebd5-14
libunistring 0.9.10-2
libunwind 1.3.1-2
libusb 1.0.23-2
libusbmuxd 2.0.2-1
libutempter 1.2.1-1
libva 2.9.0-1
libvdpau 1.4-1
libvisual 0.4.0-8
libvorbis 1.3.7-2
libvpx 1.9.0-1
libwacom 1.5-1
libwebp 1.1.0-1
libwpe 1.8.0-1
libx11 1.6.12-1
libx86emu 3.1-1
libxau 1.0.9-3
libxaw 1.0.13-3
libxcb 1.14-1
libxcomposite 0.4.5-3
libxcrypt 4.4.17-1
libxcursor 1.2.0-2
libxdamage 1.1.5-3
libxdmcp 1.1.3-3
libxext 1.3.4-3
libxfixes 5.0.3-4
libxfont2 2.0.4-3
libxft 2.3.3-2
libxi 1.7.10-3
libxinerama 1.1.4-3
libxkbcommon 1.0.1-1
libxkbcommon-x11 1.0.1-1
libxkbfile 1.1.0-2
libxml2 2.9.10-2
libxmu 1.1.3-2
libxpm 3.5.13-2
libxrandr 1.5.2-3
libxrender 0.9.10-4
libxres 1.2.0-2
libxshmfence 1.3-2
libxslt 1.1.34-5
libxss 1.2.3-3
libxt 1.2.0-2
libxtst 1.2.3-4
libxv 1.0.11-4
libxxf86vm 1.1.4-4
libyaml 0.2.5-1
libzip 1.6.1-2
licenses 20200427-1
linux-api-headers 5.8-1
linux-firmware 20200923.r1716.afbfb5f-1
linux54 5.4.67-1
linux58 5.8.11-1
llvm-libs 10.0.1-3
lm_sensors 3.6.0-2
lmdb 0.9.26-1
logrotate 3.17.0-1
lsb-release 1.4-13
lua52 5.2.4-5
lvm2 2.02.187-3
lz4 1:1.9.2-2
lzo 2.10-3
m4 1.4.18-3
mailcap 2.1.49-1
make 4.3-3
manjaro-icons 20191015-1
manjaro-keyring 20200603-1
manjaro-release 20.1.1-1
manjaro-settings-manager 0.5.6-10
manjaro-settings-manager-knotifier 0.5.6-10
manjaro-system 20200906-1
marble-common 20.08.1-1
md4c 0.4.5-1
mdadm 4.1-2
media-player-info 24-2
meld 3.20.2-1
memtest86+ 5.01-4
mesa 20.1.8-1
mhwd 0.6.5-2
mhwd-amdgpu 19.1.0-1
mhwd-ati 19.1.0-1
mhwd-db 0.6.4-12
mhwd-nvidia-340xx 340.108-1
mhwd-nvidia-390xx 390.132-1
mhwd-nvidia-418xx 418.113-1
mhwd-nvidia-430xx 430.64-1.0
mhwd-nvidia-435xx 435.21-1.0
mhwd-nvidia-440xx 440.100-1
mhwd-nvidia-450xx 450.66-1
milou 5.19.5-1
minizip 1:1.2.11-4
mkinitcpio 28-1.0
mkinitcpio-busybox 1.31.1-2
mkinitcpio-openswap 0.1.0-3
mobile-broadband-provider-info 20190618-2
mpfr 4.1.0-1
mpg123 1.26.3-2
mpv 1:0.32.0-4
mtdev 1.1.6-1
mujs 1.0.8-1
nano 5.2-1
ncurses 6.2-1
ndctl 69-1
net-snmp 5.8-6
nettle 3.6-1
networkmanager 1.26.2-1
networkmanager-openvpn 1.8.12-1
networkmanager-qt 5.74.0-1
nfs-utils 2.5.1-1
nfsidmap 2.5.1-1
noto-fonts 20190926-4
npth 1.6-2
nspr 4.29-1
nss 3.57-1
ntfs-3g 2017.3.23-5
octopi 0.9.0-24
octopi-notifier-qt5 0.9.0-24
okular 20.08.1-1
openal 1.20.1-2
opencore-amr 0.1.5-4
opencv 4.4.0-1
openexr 2.5.3-1
openjpeg2 2.3.1-2
openmpi 4.0.5-1
openssh 8.3p1-4
openssl 1.1.1.h-1
openvpn 2.4.9-2
opus 1.3.1-2
orc 0.4.32-1
oxygen 5.19.5-1
p11-kit 0.23.21-1
pacman 5.2.2-2
pacman-mirrors 4.16.4-1
pacmanlogviewer 1.4.2-1
palemoon-bin 28.13.0-1
pam 1.4.0-3
pambase 20200721.1-2
pango 1:1.46.2-1
parted 3.3-2
partitionmanager 4.1.0-1
patch 2.7.6-8
pavucontrol-qt 0.15.0-1
pciutils 3.7.0-1
pcre 8.44-1
pcre2 10.35-1
pepper-flash 32.0.0.433-1
perl 5.32.0-3
perl-clone 0.45-2
perl-encode-locale 1.05-7
perl-error 0.17029-2
perl-file-listing 6.04-8
perl-html-parser 3.74-1
perl-html-tagset 3.20-10
perl-http-cookies 6.08-3
perl-http-daemon 6.06-2
perl-http-date 6.05-3
perl-http-message 6.26-1
perl-http-negotiate 6.01-8
perl-io-html 1.001-7
perl-libwww 6.49-1
perl-lwp-mediatypes 6.02-8
perl-mailtools 2.21-4
perl-net-http 6.19-4
perl-timedate 2.33-2
perl-try-tiny 0.30-5
perl-uri 1.76-4
perl-www-robotrules 6.02-8
perl-xml-parser 2.46-2
perl-xml-writer 0.625-6
phonon-qt5 4.11.1-2
phonon-qt5-gstreamer 4.10.0-2
pinentry 1.1.0-5
pixman 0.40.0-1
pkcs11-helper 1.26.0-2
pkgconf 1.7.3-1
pkgfile 21-2
plasma-desktop 5.19.5-1
plasma-framework 5.74.0-1
plasma-integration 5.19.5-1
plasma-pa 5.19.5-1
plasma-workspace 5.19.5-1.2
polkit 0.117-1
polkit-kde-agent 5.19.5-1
polkit-qt5 0.113.0-2
poppler 20.09.0-1
poppler-data 0.4.9-2
poppler-glib 20.09.0-1
poppler-qt5 20.09.0-1
popt 1.18-1
portaudio 1:19.6.0-7
powerdevil 5.19.5-1
powertop 2.13-1
ppp 2.4.7-7
pptpclient 1.10.0-2
prison 5.74.0-1
procps-ng 3.3.16-2
psmisc 23.3-2
pulseaudio 13.0-3
pulseaudio-alsa 1:1.2.2-2
pulseaudio-qt 1.2-2
pulseaudio-zeroconf 13.0-3
purpose 5.74.0-1
pygobject-devel 3.36.1-1
python 3.8.5-2
python-appdirs 1.4.4-1
python-cairo 1.19.1-1
python-chardet 3.0.4-5
python-gobject 3.36.1-1
python-idna 2.10-1
python-npyscreen 4.10.5-4
python-ordered-set 4.0.2-1
python-packaging 20.4-1
python-pyparsing 2.4.7-1
python-requests 2.24.0-1
python-setuptools 1:50.3.0-1
python-six 1.15.0-1
python-urllib3 1.25.10-1
qca 2.3.1-2
qqc2-desktop-style 5.74.0-1
qrencode 4.1.0-1
qt5-base 5.15.1-1
qt5-declarative 5.15.1-1
qt5-graphicaleffects 5.15.1-1
qt5-imageformats 5.15.1-1
qt5-location 5.15.1-1
qt5-multimedia 5.15.1-1
qt5-quickcontrols 5.15.1-1
qt5-quickcontrols2 5.15.1-1
qt5-script 5.15.1-1
qt5-sensors 5.15.1-1
qt5-speech 5.15.1-1
qt5-svg 5.15.1-1
qt5-tools 5.15.1-1
qt5-translations 5.15.1-1
qt5-wayland 5.15.1-1
qt5-webchannel 5.15.1-1
qt5-webengine 5.15.1-1
qt5-webkit 5.212.0alpha4-7
qt5-x11extras 5.15.1-1
qt5-xmlpatterns 5.15.1-1
qtav 1.13.0-1
qtermwidget 0.15.0-1
quazip 0.9.1-1
rav1e 0.3.4-1
re2 1:20200801-1
readline 8.0.004-1
reiserfsprogs 3.6.27-3
rest 0.8.1-3
rpcbind 1.2.5-3
rsync 3.2.3-1
rtkit 0.13-1
rubberband 1.9-1
run-parts 4.8.6.1-2
sane 1.0.31-1
screenfetch 3.9.1-1
sddm 0.18.1-3
sddm-kcm 5.19.5-1
sdl 1.2.15-14
sdl2 2.0.12-2
sed 4.8-1
shaderc 2020.0-1
shadow 4.8.1-4
shared-mime-info 2.0+1+g6bf9e4f-2
signon-kwallet-extension 20.08.1-1
signon-plugin-oauth2 0.24-3
signon-ui 0.17+20171022-2
signond 8.60-3
skypeforlinux-stable-bin 8.65.0.76-1
slang 2.3.2-2
smartmontools 7.1-4
smbclient 4.12.6-1
smplayer 20.6.0-1
smplayer-skins 1:15.2.0-3
snappy 1.1.8-2
solid 5.74.0-1
sonnet 5.74.0-1
sound-theme-freedesktop 0.8-4
spectacle 20.08.1-1
spectre-meltdown-checker 0.43-1
speex 1.2.0-3
speexdsp 1.2.0-2
spirv-tools 2020.4-1
sqlite 3.33.0-2
srt 1.4.2-1
startup-notification 0.12-7
sudo 1.9.3.p1-1
sweeper 20.08.1-1
syntax-highlighting 5.74.0-1
sysfsutils 2.1.0-11
systemd 246.6-1
systemd-kcm 1.2.1-5
systemd-libs 246.6-1
systemd-sysvcompat 246.6-1
systemsettings 5.19.5-1
taglib 1.11.1-4
talloc 2.3.1-3
tar 1.32-3
tbb 2020.3-1
tdb 1.4.3-2
terminus-font 4.48-3
tevent 1:0.10.2-1
texinfo 6.7-3
thin-provisioning-tools 0.9.0-1
threadweaver 5.74.0-1
thunderbird 68.12.0-1
thunderbird-i18n-it 68.12.0-1
tlp 1.3.1-2
tlp-rdw 1.3.1-2
tslib 1.22-1
ttf-dejavu 2.37+18+g9b5d1b2f-2
ttf-hack 3.003-3
ttf-indic-otf 0.2-11
ttf-liberation 2.1.1-1
ttf-ms-fonts 2.0-12
ttf-vista-fonts 1-10
twolame 0.4.0-2
tzdata 2020a-1
uchardet 0.0.7-1
udisks2 2.9.1-1
ufw 0.36-3
upower 0.99.11-3
usbmuxd 1.1.1-1
usbutils 012-2
user-manager 5.19.5-1
util-linux 2.36-4
util-linux-libs 2.36-4
v4l-utils 1.20.0-1
v86d 0.1.10-5.1
vamp-plugin-sdk 2.10.0-1
veracrypt 1.24.update7-1
vid.stab 1.1-3
vivaldi 3.3.2022.47-1
vmaf 1.5.3-1
volume_key 0.3.12-3
vulkan-icd-loader 1.2.153-2
wavpack 5.3.0-1
wayland 1.18.0-2
wayland-protocols 1.20-1
webkit2gtk 2.30.1-1
webrtc-audio-processing 0.3.1-2
wget 1.20.3-3
which 2.21-5
wireless-regdb 2020.04.29-1
woff2 1.0.2-3
wpa_supplicant 2:2.9-7
wpebackend-fdo 1.8.0-1
wxgtk-common 3.0.5.1-1
wxgtk3 3.0.5.1-1
x264 3:0.160.r3011.cde9a93-1
x265 3.4-1
x86_energy_perf_policy 5.7-1
xapian-core 1:1.4.17-2
xcb-proto 1.14-1
xcb-util 0.4.0-3
xcb-util-cursor 0.1.3-3
xcb-util-image 0.4.0-3
xcb-util-keysyms 0.4.0-3
xcb-util-renderutil 0.3.9-3
xcb-util-wm 0.4.1-3
xdg-dbus-proxy 0.1.2-2
xdg-user-dirs 0.17-3
xdg-utils 1.1.3+19+g9816ebb-1
xf86-input-evdev 2.10.6-2
xf86-input-libinput 0.30.0-1
xfsprogs 5.8.0-1
xkeyboard-config 2.30-2
xorg-fonts-encodings 1.0.5-2
xorg-server 1.20.9-2
xorg-server-common 1.20.9-2
xorg-setxkbmap 1.3.2-2
xorg-xauth 1.1-2
xorg-xdpyinfo 1.3.2-4
xorg-xinit 1.4.1-2
xorg-xkbcomp 1.4.3-1
xorg-xkill 1.0.5-2
xorg-xmessage 1.0.5-2
xorg-xmodmap 1.0.10-2
xorg-xprop 1.2.4-2
xorg-xrdb 1.2.0-2
xorg-xset 1.2.4-2
xorg-xsetroot 1.1.2-2
xorgproto 2020.1-1
xvidcore 1.3.7-2
xxhash 0.8.0-1
xz 5.2.5-1
yakuake 20.08.1-1
yay 10.0.4-1
yubico-c 1.13-6
yubico-c-client 2.15-5
yubikey-personalization 1.20.0-3
zeromq 4.3.3-2
zita-alsa-pcmi 0.3.2-3
zita-resampler 1.6.2-3
zlib 1:1.2.11-4
zstd 1.4.5-1

but i think newbies or Manjaro-newbies may adopt the official minimal edition to be disater-proof…

PS
@linux-aarhus sorry here is what you was asking for

Summary

acpi
acpid
alpm-octopi-utils
alsa-utils
ark
atkmm
avahi
bash
breeze
breeze-gtk
btrfs-progs
bzip2
cairomm
colord-kde
coreutils
cpupower
crda
cronie
cryptsetup
device-mapper
dhclient
dhcpcd
diffutils
digikam
dmraid
dnsmasq
dolphin
dolphin-plugins
dosfstools
downgrade
e2fsprogs
ecryptfs-utils
efibootmgr
ethtool
exfatprogs
f2fs-tools
ffmpeg
ffmpegthumbs
filesystem
firefox
firefox-i18n-it
flashplugin
freeoffice
fuse3
gcc-libs
gcr
glibc
gnome-icon-theme
gnome-themes-extra
gnustep-base
grub
gst-plugins-base
gst-plugins-good
gst-plugins-ugly
gufw
gwenview
haveged
hunspell-it
hyphen-it
icedtea-web
imagewriter
inetutils
intel-ucode
inxi
iproute2
iptables
iputils
jfsutils
jre8-openjdk
jre8-openjdk-headless
kcalc
kdegraphics-thumbnailers
kde-gtk-config
kdeplasma-addons
kde-servicemenus-rootactions
keepassxc
kgamma5
khelpcenter
khotkeys
kimageformats
kinfocenter
kio-extras
kipi-plugins
kmenuedit
konsole
kqtquickcharts
kscreen
kscreenlocker
ksysguard
ksystemlog
kwayland-integration
kwin
kwrite
kwrited
less
libcanberra
libcanberra-pulse
libpipeline
licenses
linux54
linux58
linux-firmware
logrotate
lsb-release
lvm2
manjaro-icons
manjaro-release
manjaro-settings-manager-knotifier
manjaro-system
mdadm
meld
memtest86+
mhwd
mhwd-ati
milou
mkinitcpio-openswap
mobile-broadband-provider-info
nano
networkmanager
networkmanager-openvpn
nfs-utils
noto-fonts
ntfs-3g
octopi
octopi-notifier-qt5
okular
openssh
openvpn
oxygen
pacmanlogviewer
palemoon-bin
partitionmanager
pavucontrol-qt
pciutils
pepper-flash
perl
phonon-qt5-gstreamer
plasma-desktop
plasma-pa
plasma-workspace
poppler-data
portaudio
powerdevil
powertop
pptpclient
procps-ng
psmisc
pulseaudio-alsa
pulseaudio-qt
pulseaudio-zeroconf
qt5-imageformats
qt5-translations
qt5-webkit
reiserfsprogs
rsync
screenfetch
sddm
sddm-kcm
shadow
skypeforlinux-stable-bin
smartmontools
smplayer
smplayer-skins
spectacle
spectre-meltdown-checker
sweeper
sysfsutils
systemd-kcm
systemd-sysvcompat
systemsettings
tar
terminus-font
thunderbird
thunderbird-i18n-it
tlp
tlp-rdw
ttf-indic-otf
ttf-ms-fonts
ttf-vista-fonts
udisks2
ufw
usbutils
user-manager
util-linux
veracrypt
vivaldi
wget
wpa_supplicant
x86_energy_perf_policy
xdg-user-dirs
xdg-utils
xf86-input-evdev
xf86-input-libinput
xfsprogs
xorg-server
xorg-xinit
xorg-xkill
yakuake
yay

[wongs]

I installed my main Manjaro system almost 6 years ago. Were there even minimal iso images then? There was certainly no Architect.

I never wanted an minimal install in any case. I wanted a useful workhorse so for me I would say yes to all of your items: multimedia player, codecs, browser, pdf AND image viewer. But that’s probably not an answer to your question.

I can’t even really recall what the system started with, but I think it had:

1. Mirage or Viewnior - Now I have nomacs in their place
2. guayadeque - switched to lollypop and now quodlibet
3. Was VLC preinstalled? I think so. I’ve kept it all this while.
4. Midori, which annoyed me a lot (couldn’t play youtube properly at that time, IIRC) and which I swapped for Firefox very early on.
5. qpdfview - I kept it but use masterpdfeditor4 as well

Removed and not replaced: thunderbird, hexchat (or whatever was the IRC client at that time).

I may be remembering incorrectly. Pre-2015 I already had Manjaro on my old 32-bit machine before I replaced the machine in Jan 2015. So maybe I’m confusing the isos I installed in these 2 periods.

But I would still have wanted a comprehensive distro with all the functionality you listed. It’s just that over the years, the choice of applications providing some of that function changed for me.

Second PC install was in 2016, so it was also quite some time ago. Not sure if there were minimal isos then.

More recently I installed Manjaro on my laptop but I really have no time to fiddle with it so again I just installed the main iso.

I’m probably not the type of longtime user you were targeting with your questions.