Hopefully this isnt too controversial. I want to have a Linux operating system that is very minimalistic. I want just a terminal if I can/cli.
I think Ubuntu is counterfeit windows. Im not against having a gui but I think it might make me faster without one. I kinda just want something without very much installed (until I need it).
I have been a Linux user from the past 17 years, and i have thought about this topic a lot. So lets focus on two points here. What distro and what you can do with it.
For distro i have 2 options for you. First one is Ubuntu Server and the Second One would be Centos. Both of them comes without gui. So both are perfect for this.
And now, what can you do with it? Well, here you have some useful tools:
Lynx - Navegate on the web
wget - download stuff
youtube-dl - download youtube content
mplayer -vo caca - watch videos in ascii
ffplay example.mp3 - Play a song
alsamixer - manipulate volume
irssi - connect to irs chat
...
So, you can do tons of things without Gui.
So if you decide to try it, i would recommend you to take a look to this site, here you will find the best command lines for your OS
https://www.commandlinefu.com/