Lowest Number of Background Processes

might be of interest: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-blog-archive/...

?? embedded/iot, customized[1], or stock OS??

?? does text display/command line only useage count as usable (vs. gui interface).

"Linux from scratch"[0] provides a way to experiement what what 'still have a usable OS' is.

IOT/ebmedded/customized OS (linux & windows) can be setup to act as a relay between local screen and remote server/cloud. There would be no backround processes/services/daemon on the local box.

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[0] : https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

[1] : yocto : https://www.yoctoproject.org/

The answer is 1: init=/bin/bash.

https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/473252