If you are already familiar with the apt package manager, and want a minimal install, you could try the Debian net install. It installs very few packages, and you can just add what software you need after it is complete. From their website, you can also download an archive file with the non-free drivers, and unroll it to a second USB. During the install it should prompt you for secondary storage for those drivers, but even if it doesn’t, you can just use it to install what you need once you are up and running.
1 Like
Especially those small teams out of Pyongyang, Chengdu, or Bandar Abbas! (Red Star Linux anyone?)
they’d have a fair chance if Linux was used on most end-user-desktop systems (read thin-client Librem-Mini like systems) rather than the majority being servers and workstations … and CUC-ed laptops …