I'm preparing an old system with 256 Mb RAM to send it to some children. It doesn't have Ethernet controller and there are no Internet access at the destination. I've chosen Edubuntu for obvious reasons and modified it with UCK trying to minimize memory usage just to install, let alone using it yet.

But Ubiquity won't start even in openbox (edited /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf) because there are no space left on /cow right after booting. I've already deleted things like ibus, zeitgeist, update-manager (no network access after all), twisted-core, plymouth logos.

I'm thinking about creating a swap partition on HDD, can it be later added to expand this /cow ?

This behavior is reproducible in VM limited to 256Mb RAM.

This question is moved to a follow-up below: Is there a package for the text-mode installation which is used on Alternate CDs? I don't want to re-create Edubuntu from an Alternate CD.

Follow-ups:

How to move packages from the live image to a pool on the disc?

Where is the source code for Alternate CD installer?