Comment 34 for bug 202959

"me too"

New install of 10.04 mini.iso, screen blanks while loading packages prior to HD partitioning. Point at which this occurs varies directly with the amount of RAM available. The more RAM, the farther the progress bar reaches.

I would very much like to install on 64MB or less systems. I have no problems *running* ubuntu 10.04 minimal + openbox in less than 64MB (anywhere from 12MB to 40MB without any desktop apps running). It seems to me that the issue occurring is simply that the CLI installer loads a pile of optional packages into RAM before formatting the HD and doing the proper install, and that this pile has required more than 64MB since 8.04 at least. An advanced CLI installer which would allow the user to choose which packages to load would be one way to solve the issue, if my assumption is correct. Alternatively, only load the bare minimum required to partition the HD and then use that space to proceed, as an option.

My motives here are quite practical: there seems to be, for a certain type of user, some kind of correlation between lack of PC literacy, lack of purchasing power, and the age of the hardware they currently own. Rather than banging my head against the wall trying to help them run modern, secure systems that "just work" within the existing legacy OS (usually a very old version of Windows), it is much more cost effective to have them use a very light weight installation of Ubuntu with all the fluff removed but with the tools they do need just a simple mouse click away. Choosing Ubuntu over other light weight distros provides the immense number of packages to choose from and, more importantly, the widest range of localization options out of the box. Specifically, the Japanese Ubuntu team have done a great job including the attractive IPA fonts that are otherwise unavailable due to Japan having a proprietary approach to open/free licensing in many cases.