What should I do to trim down an ubuntu install?

"To add to John T's answer, Xubuntu is a distribution of Ubuntu designed for less powerful computers. It uses the Xfce window manager.

More info at http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/xubuntu"

"Seems to almost be recommended already, but I'd say just start with a light weight distro in the first place.

I think crunchbang linux crunchbanglinux [dot] org is a lightweight Ubuntu based distro.

Damn Small Linux (aka DSL) ""is a very versatile 50MB mini desktop oriented Linux distribution."" damnsmalllinux [DOT] org IIRC

Puppy Linux is also small light weight distro puppylinux [DOT] org/main/index.php

You could also check out http://distrowatch.com/ they have a list of dang near every Linux distro out there, including a brief description and the packages available in the distro."