custom linux cd (adding custom installed programs)

[NickNenov]

I am currently working on a project which may involve setting up a large amount of computers in a short period of time for an art installation. Ideally, I would like to be able to set up a distro which runs off a cd which would load up a ready pre-set environment such as a website in kiosk mode, is this possible? The computers will be pentium 3 or 4 with varying other hardware. If possible I would really appreciate any input on how this could be done. If you live in london and know a better approach please email me and I can discuss the project further and in a more professional manner.
regards

[moksha]

what you need to do is mount an iso image
su
mkdir -p /mnt/mtpoint
# mount -o loop yourdistro.iso /mnt/mtpoint

now you should be able to add and remove files then resave with a new name, burn and test

Ooops yourdistro.iso is any distro you want to use and modify to suit your purposes

good luck

[Mudgen]

^Doesn't work like that. A loop mounted iso is a read-only filesystem.

[alf55]

what you need to do is mount an iso image
su
mkdir -p /mnt/mtpoint
# mount -o loop yourdistro.iso /mnt/mtpoint

now you should be able to add and remove files then resave with a new name, burn and test

Ooops yourdistro.iso is any distro you want to use and modify to suit your purposes

good luck

You would need a "union" filesystem like "aufs" or "unionfs" (or copy the contents to another location on youe disk!)

[NickNenov]

Thank you for this advice, it sounds simpler than I imagined it would be, what if the programs I am hoping to put in this boot cd need to be installed though?

[yancek]

I'm not sure if I understand correctly what you want but it sounds like you want to remaster a Live CD with specific programs added/removed. You can use remastersys for Debian/Ubuntu. Other distributions which have this type of utility are PCLinux OS, Fedora, Opensuse and probably others.

it sounds simpler than I imagined it would be

It's not. Remastering and installed version will work much better, or at least be easier.

[onederer]

Instead of using an *.iso read-only disk, how about a file-system on a rw cd/dvd disk, which would not require any installation on the machine's hard disk. Other option, use a memory flash drive that's large enough to able to handle the whole thing, and it can run dynamickly, besides!

[tdsan]

I am currently working on a project which may involve setting up a large amount of computers in a short period of time for an art installation. Ideally, I would like to be able to set up a distro which runs off a cd which would load up a ready pre-set environment such as a website in kiosk mode, is this possible? The computers will be pentium 3 or 4 with varying other hardware. If possible I would really appreciate any input on how this could be done. If you live in london and know a better approach please email me and I can discuss the project further and in a more professional manner.
regards

Ubuntu process from commandline to gui
[code]

1. sudo apt-get install system-config-kickstart

2. sudo system-config-kickstart &

Go through the screen and configure the kickstart process. This will automate the process for deploying servers in your environment. Just make sure the servers are the same type.

However, if you have HP, Dell or IBM machines, I would suggest using Altiris because it installs all of the drivers necessary to get the machine up and running.

You may want to get up to speed on how this works, I have included links for your review.

Ubuntu - https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/installation-guide/i386/automatic-install.html

Redhat - http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Installation_Guide/sn-automating-installation.html

Todd

[NickNenov]

Thank you, everyone for this extremely useful information, I now need to find someone to do this for me.