I understand few of the previous items. However, I have thought that like there is a menu item for create a Flash boot disk, it would be great to have a menu item to "create a flash boot drive like the one that I have".
Having just been through the creation of a fully 64-bits version of Knoppix, including remastering, I am thinking about simple solutions for creating this kind of derivatives. What to do with an upcoming Knoppix 6.6, for example? According to Klaus, it will still be hybrid.
I think working out from the minirt might be a good way. We have the 64-bits kernel, which does not have to be replaced (if it's not for Knoppix-unrelated bugs etc - like with 2.6.37 necessitating 2.6.39). We also have 64-bits busybox from Debian releases - what more do we need to start off?
To me, it seems that it might suffice to put dpkg with support libraries into the minirt bin. Debian live and Kanotix stuffs all sorts of utilities there, I think the Knoppix minimal way is better and more robust.
1. Create a loop-mounted image 5-15GB, just use adaptation of the persistent creating function in minirt.
2. No compressed image in the first version, and minimal system initialization. Use only internal hard disk partitions and USB-mounted media, which are already supported by kernel.
3. Init into a console, where dpkg can be run, to install apt-get, aptitude etc, and continuing from there.
4. Split package lists from to distro-to-copy (e.g. Knopix 6.6) into manageable units, and feed them to aptitude, batch-wise.
5. All the initial setup and testing work is done in qemu-kvm, no rebooting necessary ever.
6. When all actual packages are installed, copy in 64-bits /sbin/init and Knoppix initialization.
7. Create compressed image the ordinary way.
It wouldn't be too hard to have this as an option in standard minirt, I think.
I understand few of the previous items. However, I have thought that like there is a menu item for create a Flash boot disk, it would be great to have a menu item to "create a flash boot drive like the one that I have".
1U Supermicro Server 10 Bay 2x Intel Xeon 3.3Ghz 8C 128GB RAM 480GB SSD 2x 10GBE
$297.00
HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Intel Xeon E3-1265L 16GB ECC PCIe x16 4x1TB HDD
$249.99
HP ProLiant Xeon E3-1220L V2 MicroServer Gen8 2.30 GHz 16 GB RAM NO DRIVES
$199.99
SuperMicro Server 505-2 Intel Atom 2.4GHz 8GB RAM SYS-5018A-FTN4 1U Rackmount
$202.49
HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus v2 Ultra Micro Tower Server - 1 x Intel Xeon
$846.19
Supermicro 505-2 Mini-1U Server 5018A-FTN4 16GB 2.4ghz Atom + Rack Ears
$199.00
Microsel Server Tower Supermicro X10SAE E3-1275 V3 @3.5GHz 16GB 509849-001
$149.99
Supermicro 5018A-FTN4 Rack Server - Black
$125.00
1U Supermicro Server X10DRU-i+ 2x Xeon Total 36 Cores 64GB 4x 10GBE-T 2PS
$299.00
SUPERMICRO CSE-512 AMD Opteron Processor 6128, 32GB DDR3 RAM NO HDD
$90.00