James Fifield compiled this list of Debian 1.2 packages.  There
are probably some things on here which aren't absolutely necessary but it might
still be a good indication of what should be installed. 

admin:
at_2.9b-1.deb
bsdmainutils_3.2-0.deb
cpio_2.4.2-8.deb
cron_3.0pl1-38.deb
quota_1.55-4.deb
statserial_1.1-13.deb
sudo_1.5.2-1.deb

devel:
autoconf_2.10-3.deb
bin86_0.3-1.deb
binutils_2.7-3.deb
byacc_1.9-11.deb
cpp_2.7.21-4.deb
e2fsprogs_1.06-3.deb
expect_5.19.0-2.deb
gcc_2.7.2.1-4.deb
gdb_4.16-2.deb
libc4_4.6.27-15.deb
libc5-dev_5.4.20-1.deb
libdb1-dev_1.85.2-8.deb
libelf0-dev_0.6.4-2.deb
libelf0_0.6.4-2.deb
libg++27_2.7.2.1-6.deb
libgdbm1-dev_1.7.3-11.deb
m4_1.4-6.deb
make_3.75-1.deb
ncurses-base_1.9.9e-1.deb
ncurses-bin_1.9.9e-1.deb
ncurses3.0-dev_1.9.9e-1.deb
ncurses3.0_1.9.9e-1.deb
perl_5.003.07-6.deb
rcs_5.7-3.deb
tcl74_7.4p3-5.deb
tcl75-dev_7.5p1-2.deb
tcl75_7.5p1-2.deb

doc:
doc-debian_1.4-0.deb
doc-linux_97.01-2.deb
man_2.3.10-18.deb
manpages_1.11-7.deb

editors:
ed_0.2-11.deb
vim_4.5-3.deb

misc:
fdutils_4.3-5.deb
less_321-1.deb
patch_2.1-9.deb
perforate_1.0-4.deb
termcap-compat_1.1.0.deb

net:
dnsutils_951231-2.deb
lpr_5.9-13.deb
netbase_2.09-1.deb
netstd_2.12-1.deb
ppp_2.2.0f-19.deb

text:
groff_1.10-2.deb