big linux/knoppix newb needs remastering help

I love Knoppix, so much so that i want to tailor my own CD for myself and my friends, but i need some serious help

1) I'd prefer to extract, manipulate, and compress the knoppix filesystem and work on it on winXP or Mac 0SX, as i can't format a drive or partition to linux.
2) I need to skip the boot options menu and go straight into loading knoppix.
3) I need to change, the startup sound, the default desktop picture, and include a readme file on the desktop (or change the homepage to said readme when konqueror starts up)

Thanks for your help and patience!