Small footprint install distro?

[liquidstate]

I'm looking for a small distro to run on a small hard drive, but with modern hardware. I have a target of <1GB fully installed in mind. I would like a distro that looks fairly good, and that absolutely maximizes screen availability, as the machine will use a very small screen. RAM usage etc is not a problem, these should run a fully bloated kde equipped distro with no problem, it's the hard drive and screen that are the only constraints. I'd also like a 2.6 kernel.
EDIT: forgot to mention, there'll be no CD or floppy drive available for installing, so the installer would need to boot from USB memory stick.
thanks in advance for replies

[Bachstelze]

http://damnsmalllinux.org/

[eljoeb]

there is always the matter of that sticky on the top of the Other OS forum...

[K.Mandla]

Slax is a lovely KDE desktop and will boot from USB. I'd use it over DSL any day of the week.

http://www.slax.org

[Wiebelhaus]

Slax is a lovely KDE desktop and will boot from USB. I'd use it over DSL any day of the week.

http://www.slax.org

Wow! Nice , Although not really small as in 50meg but Fluxbuntu is cream of the crop.

[K.Mandla]

I thought the OPer wanted <1Gb installed? 50Mb is really teeny, but not nearly as pretty as Slax, in my opinion. Most of DSL is still GTK1.2, isn't it? That's the anti-Slax, to me. :twisted:

[Wiebelhaus]

idk , I was referring to DSL being 50 meg & Fluxbuntu being 300meg , I've never used SLAX before , right after your mention I downloaded it and it's hella nice , Added to my toolbox also I didn't know KDE could run that well.

Thanks.

[K.Mandla]

It surprised me too when I first used it. I tried the full KDE version on a 300Mhz machine as a live CD and it was very smooth, and terrifyingly easy to customize.

[init1]

Debian. If you want a <1GB install I recommend using the bootable business card ISO.
http://www.debian.org/
Another solution is Slitaz Linux. I'm not sure how much space it will take up extracted but when compressed it's only 25MB.
http://www.slitaz.org/index.en.html

[diatribe]

arch would be a good choice

[K.Mandla]

Another solution is Slitaz Linux. I'm not sure how much space it will take up extracted but when compressed it's only 25MB.
http://www.slitaz.org/index.en.html
+1. Slitaz is amazing!

By the way, an Ubuntu command-line installation takes up less than 300Mb, although I don't know how much space the core KDE packages will take up. I'm guessing with a little luck and a lot of pruning you could make a usable KDE system in just under 1Gb.

Just thought I'd mention it anyway.