~60mb at :
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD
bone edition, GUI to select desktop (if you want) / connect to wifi (tested&working with IntelChipset and HiddenNetwork)
–
1GB - Ubuntu v14.04.5 LTSx86 (Trusty Tahr) has 'Try Ubuntu' http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.04/
2.6GB DVD Edition - Ubuntu v14.04.5 LTSx86 (Trusty Tahr) has LiveCD http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/trusty/release/
Use Rufus to ‘burn’ it to USB
or
Lubuntu v12.04 w/ LXDE (~688mb) (good for 128 MB of RAM)
Is a fast and lightweight operating system with a clean and easy-to-use user interface. It is a Linux system, that uses the minimal desktop LXDE, and a selection of light applications. Because of this, Lubuntu has very low hardware requirements.
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/12.04/release/
or
father of all :
FreeBSD feels significantly faster and more responsive than the several major Linux distros (including Red Hat Fedora, Gentoo, Debian, and Ubuntu) ref
https://www.freebsd.org/where.html
have *mini-memstick.img (251mb) howto at : https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/bsdinstall-pre.html#bsdinstall-usb
use Win32 Disk Imager to ‘burn’ it to USB
How to Install A Minimal (And Non-Bloated) Ubuntu On Your Old Laptop https://www.maketecheasier.com/install-a-minimal-ubuntu-on-old-laptop/
Adding wireless drivers to the Minimal CD iso/image before burning to CD https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2108622
The LiveCD List http://livecdlist.com/media/cd/
Etcher (says Burn. Better.) https://etcher.io/
origin - http://www.pipiscrew.com/?p=12630 ubuntu-minimal