I need help creating a custom bootable CD,auto install to HD

Hi-
I'm in a bit of a unique situation. Allow me to explain. I've got hundreds of these linux boxes i have to make for some really odd human genome stuff for colleges around the united states. We decided to used linux for everything for two reasons: 1, stability. 2, price. We are making over 1000 of these boxes over a 5 year period. The basic hardware setup uses as laptop HD, a cd burner, and a mini-itx motherboard from VIA. Here is my delima. I have to get the exact same software settings on each linux box. But there probbably wont be more than 5 boxes with the exact same hardware. The company I'm working for is pretty much buying parts from internet vendors 10 at a time to build these things. I thought about making an exact copy of the HD and burning it to multiple CDs and then copying it back onto each HD to boot all the software settings and what not, but that won't work if the hardware changes or the HD size changes. Can Knoppix do the following:?

1. boot directly from cd onto hd with little/no user input (i dont have time to select stuff when i'm building 10 of these at once cause i'll mess one little thing up)
2. can auto detect and setup most major hardware, i'm not using anything special
3. can setup printers automatically (not a requirement but sure would be nice)
4. I need it to auto install some tarballs of custom software i have developed and be able to write a WHOLE bunch of files to different directories
5. Edit user settings on the first boot

Can Knoppix do all of this (or even come close). And, if it can, how do i go about doing all of this? I've read the remastering guide on this website and I don't understand half of it. If anyone could help me out with creating the CD I'd really appreciate it.

Something else to consider: When these things are in the field there REALLY needs to be a recovery cd that erases the HD and boots everything from scratch that works the first time.

Thanks!

Cobra133,

I have the very thing you need! Well, at least I know where you can get it, but same thing, right?

I work with a project called Intellibuild (basically, I document, break things and bug the developers). Intellibuild allows you to easily build a custom LiveCD with only one command, once you've set up the configuration files (I'd be happy to help you do that).

For an in depth description, check out the HOWTO at http://www.freelifeministries.org/ibuild

For you situation, I'm thinking the following:

1) Use the CDRom too boot the machine... hardware detection is Knoppix-style and software is just what you want... exactly the same.
2) Use the hard drive as just one giant swap partition... OR (And this I recommend:) make a partition the size of you LiveCD .iso and boot from that instead of requiring a CDROM - bam! - you just saved more money than switching to Geicko.

3) Have LTSP servers and a MOSIX like environment... no hardrive or CDROM needed for this one (I have more info, if you like).

4) Boot your LiveCD over the LAN - again, no hard drive, no CDROM needed - probably the easiest to setup (use a usb key drive, direct cheap floppy drive or PXE on ethernet card to boot)

Just some thoughts. Key is that I (and the iBuild devels) can help you get that LiveCD you're looking for.

So you know... iBuild is based on Morphix, which is a derivative of Knoppix, so inherents all of its strengths (great HW detection) without all of the weaknesses (only on iso an a pain to remaster).

There will soon be a GUI version of iBuild, too. Yippee!

Let me know if you have any questions,
KermitJunior

I like the idea of booting the uncopmpressed Knoppix from hdd. If you were to leave it on its own partition you could easily have a user rerun the installer or even script the installation so it is hands free. The beauty of having the filesystem uncompressed is that you can also upgrade the packages and not have to create a new cd. ;)

Hi cobra133

Quote:

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laptop HD, a cd burner, and a mini-itx motherboard from VIA

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I have a laptop HD in my VIA and it works fine -- i had to get
a special cable and make my own mounting bracket. This not a bad
idea since the drive is rugged, quiet, cool, low power, and low cost.

Quote:

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pretty much buying parts from internet vendors 10 at a time to build these things

---

For such a large project this sounds a bit risky. KNOPPIX is good at
hardware detection but as kernels change, there is a risk. KNOPPIX 3.3
worked fine on my via but the usb detection of eternal drives quit
working for 3.4. I am presently using KANOTIX. Hopefully this will be
fixed soon. On the positive side, if you do pick KNOPPIX your hardware
people can run tests to check any add on devices.

KNOPPIX is very suitable for cheaply delivering an operating system
with added programs. There is a lot of debian scientific packages.
It is easy to re-install from the CD.

You may remaster but an easier option may be to try a script I have
written that copies KNOPPIX or KANOTIX on to a DVD and add 4 GB
of your content.

Scripts can then automatically install this data to the hard drive.
The printer configuration can be saved and loaded automatically,
but it may be best to specify a single prefered printer.

http://grow-knoppix.berlios.de/
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11150

Best Wishes,
paradocs