Whew... 1.8 gig? That is a huge one... Will dload it a bit later to look at it
What installer? What build method? Do you not have an x64 machine? Using V-Box you can build using x64 and x32
1.7 gig because, 1) it has some extra apps, 2) it is squashed by gz, rather than xz. With xz, it would be 1,4 gig. Build using a simple method; clearing up username, hostname, localtime etc from /etc, clearing up unnecessary files from /var, leaving /dev, /home, media, /mnt, /proc, /run, /sys and squashing the rest. Installer is adapted lmde one.
My machine is 64bit. This 32 bit install was there for a long time, starting from wheezy, moved to sid.