I’m quoting @openminded here:
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@freggel.doe Frankly, I haven’t seen any failure to boot with free drivers. However, that doesn’t mean that the booted system was 100% reliable. To the contrary, it was 100% prone to lock up during reboot or halt. By saying lock up I mean total freeze, no way to halt except power button. And no REISUB in Manjaro by deafult btw huh. That’s another story however. Also such systems were about 50% to freeze during normal operation (installation, browsing web, etc). Sometimes some magic boot options help. Sometimes others are of help. Sometimes nothing. That’s why I have no faith in nouveau working correctly with relatively “fresh” (up to 5 years old) Nvidia hardware. It just won’t. Ever.
Sorry for this offtop.
As for the topic, I’ve been using Linux since 2004 or 2005 IIRC. But Manjaro – only since the end of 2017.
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wonder what you call bloated 
This is exactly how it should be. Just watch what EndeavourOS does! There it is perfectly solved. No frills, no bloat that you have to remove after the reinstallation. And NO, Archtitect is no solution!
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Not what I use…I can work (except Firefox) straight from multi-user target. Can you?
ETA: bloat == X/Wayland…any DE…fonts…themes…dang near all GUI wrappers for CLI tools…
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Why not ?
IMO, a minimal ISO requires:
- DE/WM
- file manager
- terminal emulator
- file archiver
- web browser
The rest can be added later to each one’s taste. The web browser is debatable, it’s just that it is such a general tool. It is needed for such a basic function as getting information, so IMO nothing is lost by including a web browser.
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Howdy! 
I have been a Linux user all my life, never had a single Windows PC, we had Slackware with OpenBox at home…
Lifetime Linux user, shall I say…
I always select the minimal install ISO, as I prefer choosing my own apps… 
IMHO the first thing to consider is to help the new user solve problems she may encounter. So, for axample, a web browser is a must for enabling her to visit forum and support pages. It would be good to allow the user to choose other apps from a list of categories/packages offered during the installation (or after).
By the way, I am content with current defaults.
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To clarify - The discussion is about minimal editions, not full ones.
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That is why Manjaro Application Utility exist.
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I would agree with this list. The selection of each dependant on the environment needs/wants.
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This one is new to me - thank you for sharing.
I would add a lightweight pdf viewer to a minimal iso, if Manjaro-minimal comes with a pdf manual .
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We are need also an universal player audio and video available. A pdf viewer and a picture viewer is necessary for the every minimal desktop environment
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Are they ?
I feel a minimal system should enable you to install those things if you want them… but otherwise not.
Maybe there could be an argument for slim versions like cmus for music … but I dont really think this is the intention or approach.
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Yep I don’t think having an office suite, video and music players, mail/RSS/IRC client or other communication apps like zoom, skype and so on, PDF/image viewer, calendar, password manager, are suited for a minimal ISO, I wouldn’t even add most of them to the regular ISO.
I think this sums it up:
To that I would add sound support, but as talked in earlier messages sound may be a dependency of other packages, like Firefox.
Network support would also be a requirement in my opinion.
I think including nonfree option for booting the ISO is important as one can want a minimal installation but with the proper video drivers.
A GUI package manager could also be added, like Pamac, not required as you can install it from terminal but for a DE I think it is a good fit.
For me a Minimal ISO just needs the minimum for a properly working system where you have your desktop and its required applications (for example on KDE Minimal ISO, I would NOT install Kate but I would install the Network Manager applet as it is required GUI to configure the network), network support, sound support, and no extra applications, or only what everyone would want, like maybe a web browser to be able to access the forum for example.
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Ouch. I almost entirely agree with you … but … I like kate as a default for kde.
and a text editor (besides vi) is acceptable in my opinion.
Though … again … I would technically be fine with a minimal version that didnt have it.
Anyways … thats part of the point I suppose … minimal should be pretty basic and you add the packages you want. And kate isnt required to have a working KDE or pacman.
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I would still have basic text editor like nano though 
PS: I love Kate 
but yeah, I would cut all the fat on a minimal ISO.
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micro would be my preference. but for the most part I think we agree.
I want to make sure things like networking are possible … and maybe some niceness like some esoteric libraries or patches. Beyond that … pdf readers or office suites or … those are for the user to install if they want.
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