Linux Distro with just a browser?

[Vorth]

Basically, I'm hoping to start a little project.
I, myself am a Web Developer and create various web-based applications. I'd like to create an entirely online "OS" as it were, where you're given a customisable desktop, can browse the internet in web-based 'windows' and so forth.

I was wondering if anything like the following exists, or could be easily created..

A simple linux distro that can be installed onto a hard-drive that boots straight up into a full screen web browser (a custom URL), with nothing else apart from perhaps a menu that allows network configurations, keyboard settings and such to be modified.

Anything that i've come across so far seems to be more than i'm looking for and incorporates a simple UI of it's own. I'm just looking for something to launch straight to a web page.

Any suggestions and help is much appreciated

[rokytnji]

It has already been done in a couple of distros.

Chromium OS builds by Hexxeh

BrowserLinux

or build from the ground up

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...tion/MinimalCD

Debian -- Network install from a minimal CD

[acrizona]

Check out "BlueFlops" A super-simple 2-floppys distro with browser.

Look in sourceforge.net plus...
!! nic-nac-project.de ! ~stefan ! blueflops-forum ! index.php

! are slash characters.

The entire thing easily fits into a very small ext2 partition which means time-to-boot-to-web-page will be mere seconds using a quick boot loader.
I used DOS-based "linld" which can be invoked from anything.

[glene77is]

Vorth,

I downloaded "BrowserLinux50b2.iso" yesterday.
It is basically a Browswer Only Puppy, ver. 50b2.

The ISO is on the site along with MijnPuppy.iso,
which is a very 'fat' Puppy, so to speak.

HTH,
glene77is

[glene77is]

A simple linux distro that can be installed onto a hard-drive that boots straight up into a full screen web browser (a custom URL), with nothing else apart from perhaps a menu that allows network configurations, keyboard settings and such to be modified.

Vorth,
I downloaded and installed TinyCore Linux on several systems, then thought of your post.

You should check out TinyCore Linux, with an OS of 10.6 Megabytes in /tinycore,
and the FireFox application squash file at 15 Megabytes in /tce.
The desktop is GUI with a nice pop-up icon bar.
There is a Application Downloader, filemanager, etc.
Your posting leads me to believe you will be using a multi-boot loader, like grub4dos or grub2.

If this sounds interesting, then read on.

I downloaded TinyCore Linux, burned the .iso to CD, which booted as a Live-CD.
I installed it into 10 MegaBytes of a simple subdir in the base of my Ubuntu partition.
Installed into /tinycore and /tce. The TinyCore subdir contains the linux OS, and any applications download into /tce. Install to HD was a simple copy. I already had grub2 and wrote the script for TinyCore (similar to their example, but in grub2 syntax.

So, the first application I downloaded was FireFox, which stashed its files into a Squash file in the /tce subdir. All downloaded applications deposit themselves into /tce, inside of their own Squash file.

( The TinyCore OS is normally copied as a whole from the CD and into the /root subdir.
I averted any conflict with /root by copying into a special subdir named /tinycore.
The /tinycore/isolinux/isolinux.cfg was modified to point to /tinycore. )

On my "sand-box" computer, I installed it into a BootCode only partition, as /tinycore and /tce.
Grub4dos controls this computer, and I wrote in the calling script, similar to their example.