For a decade or more I start with the minimal netinstall image plus the firmware files on a usb stick. My dotfiles and move-in script take care of basic packag

For a decade or more I start with the minimal netinstall image plus the firmware files on a usb stick. My dotfiles and move-in script take care of basic package selection and setup. I need something else, I just 'apt install' it. Prior to that I was distro hopping and I'd usually boot Knoppix or PHLAK, local install and update from there.