Critical Ubuntu apps? Trying to leave only the essentials.

[TRWOV]

I installed Ubuntu on a 8GB stick (full install, not Live CD w/persistence file) for a boinc cruncher and to my dismay saw that only 1.9GB were left available so I set to uninstall unneeded applications.

I left the Accessories untouched and uninstalled everything after that but after uninstalling Python 2.7 I lost the launcher and top bar so I had to use sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop to revert back.

So I now know that I shouldn't touch Python. Is there other critical app I shouldn't uninstall?

[Chevalr1c]

You cannot deinstall the default multimedia progs afaik, and indeed Python is used for a lot of stuff, including components of most of the modern desktop software (as you already noticed). Best advice I can give is using Synaptic Package Manager instead of the software center, trying to remove stuff seeming to be unneeded (by reading the decriptions of the packages that appear using the "installed" search filter (left of the interface in Synaptic)). Also, before confirming you will see a list of what will be removed. Check that list out for dependancies that have been automatically selected to be removed.