I have a customer that needs a bunch of PCs that will do only one thing: run a specific Java GUI (Swing in this case) app. They need a full running JVM. There are probably ways of setting up Windows XP disks that will auto-run a JAR and be locked down, but Knoppix is better, right? Right! There's also a cost factor; they don't want to spend an extra $150 or whatever per PC for an XP license, and XP isn't stable, and they don't want people to be able to install software on these, and they don't want hard drives in them, so there are many reasons why going for a Linux live cd is best.

So... here are what I have identified as the needs:

1. It needs to boot up without prompting for options. There are no choices here!

2. It needs to go straight into X, but no KDE etc.

3. Of course it needs to configure its network, just as normal, so the app can access its main app server.

4. Ideally it wouldn't even have a window manager at all, because we don't want any menus or options or other stuff on the screen. When they want to shut it off they will just turn the computer off, so there shouldn't even be a "shutdown" button.

5. It needs to just launch straight into the Java application, running it from the JAR. It could get that app from a JAR on the CD, or it could fetch it from a URL, either way is fine. I'm planning that when I upgrade the app for them I'll burn a dozen new CDs and distribute it that way.

6. This is written in Java 1.6, so I'll need to be able to install the JRE. This is probably the easiest part.

Of course I'm thinking of Knoppix because it has the best hardware detection, auto network config, etc, but what I'm trying to do is a lot more limited than what Knoppix itself does. For starters I don't even need a window manager.

Thanks for any suggestions.