Help With Creating a Debian LiveCD USB Drive

[ElectroPulse]

Hello, all!

Alright, here's the deal. I am wanting to make a Debian LiveCD USB Drive to give to my friend to run Minecraft on his laptop. A couple of reasons for wanting to do this are: 1. Linux is a lot less resource-hungry than Windows, so it could potentially run faster. 2. For some reason, Minecraft just won't start on his computer (at all... we're not sure why).

Anyway, if it improves the speed at which Minecraft can run, some of the other guys in the dorm may want to try this out.

Alright, so here's my question: I have created a LiveCD ISO file (using Remastersys) and used Unetbootin to install it on a flash drive. When I booted from it, I was watching the text fly by at bootup, and noticed that it mentioned Virtualbox... I am wondering if there is a way to set up an OS without it having any traces of the machine I set it up on. I would also want it to do what a normal LiveCD would do when it first boots up... scan the computer's hardware to detect what it has, and set itself up for that hardware (like screen resolution, as well as recognizing the hardware it has).

One thing that I noticed when I tried running Minecraft from the USB Drive was that it was as slow as when I tried running it in Virtualbox... My computer runs it just fine under Windows... I am wondering if this has to do with it not recognizing some hardware?

I would also like it to be persistent once it has been installed on a flash drive. For example, if someone changes the desktop background, I would like it to stay that way.

I would also like it to have some specific files/folders on the desktop when a user first logs in, as well as a folder in their /home/username folder.

Also, when I install it on a USB drive, I would like it to have the packages that I installed on it originally. For example, I plan on installing Java and LXDE. When I install the ISO on the drive, I would like these packages to be included.

One problem that I have heard of, that I would like to avoid, is Linux using a swap file... If it is running on a USB drive, I would prefer for this not to be enabled (as it would wear out the USB drive faster).


So, to recap, I would like to:
1. Create an ISO that functions like a LiveCD in that it checks the computer's hardware.
2. Include packages that I have installed.
3. Copy specified files to desktop as well as user's /home/username folder.
4. Once ISO has been installed onto flash drive, save all changes made under that install.
5. Not use Swap.

Any ideas how I would go about doing this? I am new to Linux, so pardon and newbishness that is coming out in the post... Also, well-documented instructions are strongly encouraged

P.S. Does Debian have most of the display/other hardware drivers built in? Or is there a package that needs to be downloaded to support the majority of hardware? (wondering because this could be run on a variety of machines)

[Roxoff]

The easiest way I can think of is to get hold of the Fedora Live USB creator, (there's even a version that'll work from Windwos) tell it to use the standard LiveCD iso for Debian and give the installation the biggest overlay filesystem you can on the USB device.

Once the system is installed, you can then go and customise it with the packages and config changes you want - as it's using an overlay filesystem the changes are saved. You don't even have to build your own custom ISO image.

[ElectroPulse]

The problem with that is that it requires an internet connection to download packages... I would like to create an ISO for the guys in the dorm (no internet) to be able to install it on their computers.

[Willynux]

You can try the ubuntu live cd, or lighter versions like lubuntu or xubuntu to make it run faster. It won't need an internet connection and the information you add is stored (up to 4giga). But to run an OS from the USB is not as fast as running it from the HD. However you can try some light distros like Puppy Linux, vector, wattOS... last but not least, there is a live gamer distro called linuX-gamers Live DVD that could be interesting in your situation.

The problem with that is that it requires an internet connection to download packages... I would like to create an ISO for the guys in the dorm (no internet) to be able to install it on their computers.