HOWTO: Remaster the easy way using menu based scripts

Updated Sunday June 12, 2005
Please read through this and if possible please test it out as I would like to get rid of any mistakes
More updates & additions soon!

Knoppix 3.9 has a buggy UnionFS and this makes remastering Knoppix 3.9 fail. If you intend to remaster, then you must use Knoppix 3.8.1 or 3.8.2.

HOWTO: Remaster KNOPPIX the easy way using menu based remaster scripts.
** CHANGELOG **
- Version 1.0.4 - Monday May 2, 2005
- - - Tested & confirmed this HOWTO with Knoppix 3.8.1
- - - Added 'chmod' to deal with /tmp permissions


- Version 1.0.3 - Saturday December 18, 2004
- - - Credit Ian Naylor as a creator of the remastering scripts
- - - Changed title of HOWTO

- Version 1.0.2 - Monday December 13, 2004
- - - Edit some sections for clarity but not content
- - - Added paragraph stating that remaster can be done all in runlevel 2
- - - Tested & verified that this HOWTO works with Knoppix 3.6, 3.7 Pro (PC Welt), and Knoppix 3.7 public

- Version 1.0.1 - Monday November 22, 2004
- - - Fixed typographical error

- Version 1.0.0 - Friday October 8, 2004
- - - First full posting of HOWTO
- - - Major edits & corrections

** DISCLAIMER **
Use this at your own risk. I am not responsible for anything that might go wrong. I am human and I may have made a mistake in this HOWTO. Please private message me if you notice any typos or errors. Corrections & suggestions are welcome.

** WHY REMASTER **
Knoppix is the best Linux live CD available. However, you might have the desire to have your own custom Knoppix. The remastering process is a way creating a new Knoppix CD based off your customizations. Some obvious reasons for making a custom Knoppix CD:
- Knoppix does not have the programs that you require.
- Knoppix is too big to fit on a USB flash drive.
- Knoppix does not support your language.
- You wish to change the default KDE themes & settings.
See the Knoppix Wish List for more ideas.

** WHY I WROTE THIS HOWTO **
This HOWTO is compiled from my numerous attempts of remastering, the knoppix.net documentation, and the brilliant posters in the forums. At knoppix.net, the documentation is well done and thorough and the remastering/customization documentation references a detailed and involved method of remastering. I have used this method of remastering and it works. In August, two Knoppix developers, Klaus Knopper & Fabian Franz, created a new set of scripts that "wrap around" the older method with a menu system. This menu simplifies the remastering process and hides the long and sometimes confusing commands from the user. This is my attempt to bring to light this new method that uses these scripts.

From http://www.ukuug.org/events/linux2004/knoppix.shtml:

Quote:

---

Remastering KNOPPIX has always been a lot of hassle -- requiring numerous intricate steps on the command line making it easy to forget an important step. While there are several HOWTOs on the net that explain the steps, Ian Naylor thought it would be a good idea to write some scripts to automate the process. He described this during this year's UKUUG Linux conference in Leeds, England. Ian presented a talk on "Building your own Live CD based on KNOPPIX". Fabian Franz, a member of the KNOPPIX team who attended the talk, said afterwards: Ian's scripts just opened my eyes -- it was a very clear structure and for the first time in my life I understood the remastering process from a user's point of view.

Ian and Fabian started talking after the presentation and were inspired to develop a new graphical remastering tool to build acustomised KNOPPIX distribution. One day later Fabian was demonstrating the new script to a stunned audience. Unlike previous efforts to solve the same problem this is based on Klaus Knopper's originalscripts and written in a way so that future improvements in themaster scripts will be reflected in these.

---

** CREDITS **
I make no claims that I "discovered or invented" the remastering scripts (see the quoted text above.) My thanks to Klaus Knopper, Ian Naylor, Fabian Franz, Debian developers, KDE developers, the knoppix.net forum moderators, the plethora of knowledgeable forum posters and certainly knoppix.net site admin eadz for creating knoppix.net

** ASSUMPTIONS **
This HOWTO assumes that the user has basic knowledge of the command line programs such as ls, mv, cp, df -h, mkdir, etc. You will probably need to use a command line text editor such as vim, emacs, joe, zile. If you remaster in KDE then you can use any of the graphical editors. You will also need a basic understanding of the Debian apt-get method of package management. At any point during the remastering process, you can make a backup of your progress. This allows you to fully experiment with your remaster and you can add or delete as you see fit without having to start all over. You can read about making a backup in a section I labeled as "THIS IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL".

** REQUIREMENTS **
The total remastering time is dependant on the time it takes to make all the changes, the HD drive speed and CPU speed. I estimate about 2.5 hours for a mid-range system that follows the package changes listed below.
The first half of the HOWTO can either be done from the command line runlevel 2 or inside X at runlevel 5. The only time you are forced to drop to a console session is running X from the chroot. If you choose to remaster from within KDE (runlevel 5), then when you must follow the steps listed at the section labeled "** END OF FIRST HALF **".

The HOWTO as a whole can be done from command line runlevel 2 without having to jump into KDE & runlevel 5. I use runlevel 5 because I like synaptic over aptitiude/apt-get and I hate the default Knoppix transparent menus and the Keramik widget style. I learned how to remaster just to install the kdeartwork package just so I can get the plastik widgets (which will be default style for KDE 3.4 thank god). If you don't need to custom configure the knoppix user's KDE desktop, and if you are comfortable with the command line and aptitude/apt-get, then you can stay in runlevel 2 and complete the remastering process.

My system:
AMD 1.6 GHz Duron
768MB RAM
IDE hard drive /dev/hda is 40GB
IDE hard drive /dev/hdb is 40GB
IDE DVD-ROM drive is /dev/hdc
IDE CD-RW drive /dev/hdd

This HOWTO has been tested with versions:
- - - Knoppix 3.6
- - - Knoopix 3.7 Pro (German PC Welt)
- - - Knoppix 3.7 public

You will need a PC that can boot Knoppix 3.6 or 3.7 to a graphical KDE desktop. You should be able to remaster on that PC as long as you have at least 1 GB combined swap & RAM and 3GB of hard drive space. The 3GB figure is calculated using a remaster filesystem of about 2.1GB which compresses down to about 685MB CD ISO.
NOTE: You do not need to format your C: drive or lose data. This system is my test & experiment system. I format/partition/reinstall Linux & windows on that system regularly. This means I completely lose whatever was on the hard drives.

** BEGIN REMASTERING **
I boot to the console command line (called runlevel 2) with Knoppix 3.6 english using cheatcodes.

Code:

---

knoppix 2 vga=normal

---

Get to the console command line (called runlevel 2) with Knoppix 3.7 using cheatcodes.

Code:

---

knoppix 2 lang=us vga=normal

---

Alternatively, I could use the boot cheatcodes to boot directly to KDE (runlevel 5) and perform the first half of the remastering process from within KDE.

Code:

---

knoppix

---

Or If I am using Knoppix 3.7 then I use cheatcodes

Code:

---

knoppix lang=us

---

When it brings me to the command prompt I use cfdisk and partition hda & hdb as follows:

Code:

---

cfdisk /dev/hda

---

- hda1 swap 1GB
- hda2 6GB
- the rest of hda is left free

Code:

---

cfdisk /dev/hdb

---

I partition /dev/hdb as into hdb1 ext3 40GB

I exit cfdisk, it tells me that I have to reboot to make the system recognize the newly created partitions. So I type use the following command to reboot.

Code:

---

init 6

---

Again I boot with the appropriate cheatcodes.
At the command prompt I format the filesystems.

Code:

---

mkswap /dev/hda1
swapon /dev/hda1
mke2fs -vj /dev/hda2
mke2fs -vj /dev/hdb1

---

Next I mount the hda2 partition which will be the place where I extract out the remaster

Code:

---

mount -t ext3 /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2
mkdir /mnt/hda2/remaster
cd /mnt/hda2

---

Now I get the remastering scripts located at http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/remaster/, extract the scripts, and setup my directories.

Code:

---

wget http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/remas...r_0.1-6.tar.gz
tar zxvf remaster_0.1-6.tar.gz
mv remaster-0.1 scripts
cd scripts

---

I edit the config file so that my remastered CD is personalized. The config file is in the scripts folder at KNOPPIX.build/remaster_config. I leave the _FILESYSTEM variables alone. I leave the REMASTER_COMPRESSION_BEST variable alone even though the best compression might be better since it would take about 4 to 6 times longer to make the compressed filesystem.

** PROXY SETTINGS **
The cleanup remaster script uses apt-get and must access the internet or the cleanup will fail. If you are behind a proxy and must authenticate against it to access the internet, then first gather the required proxy info and write it down in the following form

Code:

---

http://username:[email protected]:portnumber/

---

I need to edit the knoppix-remaster script and add the proxy settings. At line 136, I add new line for the proxy

Quote:

---

136: cp -f /etc/dhcpc/resolv.conf "$REMASTER_CHOICE"/etc/dhcpc/
137: CREATE_COMPRESSED_FS="yes" CLEANUP="$REMASTER_CLEANUP" COMPRESSION_BEST="${REMASTER_COMPRESSION_BEST:+--best}" chroot $REMASTER_CHOICE" /KNOPPIX.build/Knoppix-3.4.mkcompressed "$REMASTER_MASTER" auto

---

Becomes

Quote:

---

136: cp -f /etc/dhcpc/resolv.conf "$REMASTER_CHOICE"/etc/dhcpc/
137: export http_proxy="http://username:[email protected]:portnumber/"
138: CREATE_COMPRESSED_FS="yes" CLEANUP="$REMASTER_CLEANUP" COMPRESSION_BEST="${REMASTER_COMPRESSION_BEST:+--best}" chroot $REMASTER_CHOICE" /KNOPPIX.build/Knoppix-3.4.mkcompressed "$REMASTER_MASTER" auto

---

** END PROXY SETTINGS **

Run the remastering script with the following command.

Code:

---

./knoppix-remaster /mnt/hda2/remaster

---

Then I follow the menus and create a new remaster and hit <ENTER> for the default path. It will extract the contents of the CD. When it is done it will ask if I want to chroot into the extracted enviornment. Choose the chroot option & it will drop me into a command line enviornment that is inside the extracted Knoppix filesystem. To exit the chroot and get back to the menu, type exit or use the keyboard keys <CTRL-D>.

** BEGIN CHROOT INFO **
If you do not want to know more about the chroot, then skip this section.
Chroot changes the perceived root ( / ) of the filesystem. Please examine the following command.

Code:

---

ls /etc/*.conf

---

That command when run outside a chroot will give us a listing of all .conf files in /etc which are physically on the Knoppix CD. However, that command run inside the chroot will give us a listing of all the .conf files in /etc which is really /mnt/hda2/etc. This means that in our case /mnt/hda2/remaster is mapped to /. Also, all commands run in a chroot only affect the chroot filesystem. See the following links for more info.
http://www.ketec.ie/WebHelp/oh_site_about_chroot.htm
http://www.ss64.com/bash/chroot.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroot
** END CHROOT INFO **

The following examples are MY way of customizing Knoppix. (I have no need for other international locales or languages, so I remove them. I do not like the openoffice that is bundled with Knoppix so I replace it.)
I use following command to get a listing of all packages installed.

Code:

---

dpkg-query -l | less

---

While that command is useful, I use grep to sort out which packages I want to remove. The following command shows me packages that kde uses for internationalization support and strips off all the other extraneous information.

Code:

---

dpkg-query -l | grep i18n | grep kde | cut -d' ' -f3

---

I can feed this to apt-get so that it will remove those packages.

Code:

---

apt-get remove `dpkg-query -l | grep i18n | grep kde | cut -d' ' -f3`

---

I remove openoffice and other German tools as follows.

Code:

---

apt-get remove openoffice-de-en manpages-de trans-de-en

---

I remove enigma and bacula as follows

Code:

---

apt-get remove enigma bacula-common

---

I also remove emacs since I don't like it or use it.

Code:

---

apt-get remove emacs21 emacs21-bin-common emacs21-common emacsen-common gettext-el zile

---

This gives me a reasonable base to begin updating and adding packages to this system. First I configure /etc/apt/sources.list and add the appropriate entries for a local Debian mirror.
** PROXY SETTINGS **
If you are behind a proxy and must authenticate against it to access the internet, then use the following command.

Code:

---

export http_proxy="http://username:[email protected]:portnumber/"

---

** END PROXY SETTINGS **
Next I update the system's package listing with the command.

Code:

---

apt-get update

---

After that is finished, I add three useful packages.

Code:

---

apt-get install localepurge aptitude synaptic

---

Localepurge will only keep the locales that are marked. This means that it will free up additional space. Aptitude is a console menu front end to apt and dpkg, while synaptic is a graphical front end to apt & dpkg.
So far, all of the tasks I have done have been on the command line and requires quite a bit of knowledge and some people view the command line as tedious work. Fortunately I can also use synaptic to add/remove packages. Before I enter a graphical enviornment, I need to make sure it is configured. This next command must be done outside the chroot. From virtual terminal 2 <ALT-F2>, I copy the XF86Config-4 file from /etc/X11 to /mnt/hda2/etc/X11.

Code:

---

cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /mnt/hda2/remaster/etc/X11

---

I am done with commands outside the chroot and the rest of the commands need to be done inside the chroot. Flip back to virtual terminal 1 <ALT-F1> and copy /etc/skel to /home/knoppix

Code:

---

cp -Rp /etc/skel /home/knoppix

---

Change the user of /home/knoppix & its files to user knoppix

Code:

---

chown -R knoppix:knoppix /home/knoppix

---

** END OF FIRST HALF **
If you performed the first half of this HOWTO from within KDE, then you must follow these steps.
If you perfored the first half of the HOWTO from console command line session, then DO NOT DO THESE STEPS! You can skip down to the start of the last half.


Exit the chroot by typing exit or <CTRL-D>. Exit the menu by choosing option 6 "Quit the program." Use the following command to go to runlevel 2.

Code:

---

init 2

---

It will close KDE and leave you at a command prompt.

Code:

---

cd /mnt/hda2/scripts
./knoppix-remaster /mnt/hda2/remaster

---

Choose "No", I do not want to create a new remaster. Hit <ENTER> to choose the path /mnt/hda2/remaster as default. Choose the chroot option to enter the chroot.

This section is complete.
** START OF LAST HALF **
For Knoppix 3.8.1 only
Now inside the chroot as root user, change the permissions of /tmp to full read/write and execute. If you do not, then KDE will not run.

Code:

---

chmod 777 /tmp

---

End For Knoppix 3.8.1 only

Become the user knoppix

Code:

---

su - knoppix

---

Start X which will start KDE and bring us to a graphical desktop

Code:

---

startx

---

Now that it is in KDE, I can change the fonts to Bitstream Vera Sans and enable anti-aliasing. I can disable the menu translucency and the konsole translucency. I can use synaptic to add mozilla firefox, openoffice.org, vncviewer, kdeartwork which contains the Plastik widget style, and I can even update KDE from 3.2.3 to 3.3. If I do update all or parts of KDE, it is suggested that I exit KDE (close session), drop back to the command prompt and rerun startx to make sure it is applied.

When I am happy with all the changes that I have made, then it is time to exit KDE. I exit KDE (close session) and I am dropped back at the prompt. I type exit to exit my session as the user knoppix and I am now root.
** THIS IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL **
This assumes that you have at least 3GB of additional free hard disk space.
At this point I want to make a safe backup copy of all the changes that I have made. If you do not want to make a backup copy then skip this part.

I exit the chroot by either typing exit or using the keyboard <CTRL-D>. Now back at the menu, I choose option 6, and quit the program. Next I mount hdb1

Code:

---

mount -t ext3 /dev/hdb1 /mnt/hdb1

---

Now I copy the whole remaster to hdb1 for safe keeping.

Code:

---

cp -Rp /mnt/hda2/remaster /mnt/hdb1/backup-remaster

---

With that complete, I unmount hdb1.

Code:

---

umount /mnt/hdb1

---

When that is complete I rerun the knoppix-remaster command and tell it "No", I do not want to create a new remaster. Hit <ENTER> to choose the path /mnt/hda2/remaster as default.

Code:

---

./knoppix-remaster /mnt/hda2/remaster

---

I choose option 1 and chroot into the remaster.
** END OF COMPLETELY OPTIONAL **
NOTE: The rest of the steps are written with the assumption that it is being done from runlevel 2. However they can be done within KDE by typing init 5, running the knoppix-remaster script, and then chroot into the remaster.


Now I need to make the changes to the system so that the knoppix CD will boot without errors. As a reminder, these commands need to be done inside the chroot, virtual terminal 1 <ALT-F1>.
Delete the existing /etc/skel.

Code:

---

rm -rf /etc/skel

---

Move /home/knoppix to /etc.

Code:

---

mv /home/knoppix /etc/skel

---

Change the owner back to root.

Code:

---

chown -R root:root /etc/skel

---

Remove the XF86Config-4 file as it will get recreated on every bootup.

Code:

---

rm /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

---

For Knoppix 3.8.1 only
Now inside the chroot as root user, change the permissions of /tmp back to read and execute.

Code:

---

chmod 555 /tmp

---

End For Knoppix 3.8.1 only

I must now mention the file /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession. This script controls how knoppix behaves & how knoppix creates the knoppix user's home directory. I am looking for the ninth occurence of rsync in the script and it is found at the line 128:

Quote:

---

126: if [ -z "$DONTCHANGE" ]; then
127: # No persistent homedir, copy everything
128: rsync -Ha --ignore-existing /etc/skel/{.kde*,Desktop} $HOME/ 2>/dev/null
129: [ "$USER" = "knoppix" ] && rsync -Ha --ignore-existing /usr/share/knoppix/profile/{.kde*,Desktop} $HOME/ 2>/dev/null

---

It is line 128 which populates the /home/knoppix folder. So In line 128, I delete from & including the { to the }. It is changed as follows.

Quote:

---

126: if [ -z "$DONTCHANGE" ]; then
127: # No persistent homedir, copy everything
128: rsync -Ha --ignore-existing /etc/skel/ $HOME/ 2>/dev/null
129: [ "$USER" = "knoppix" ] && rsync -Ha --ignore-existing /usr/share/knoppix/profile/{.kde*,Desktop} $HOME/ 2>/dev/null

---

Make the change and save the 45xsession file. Enter the following command to clean up the downloaded .deb packages.

Code:

---

apt-get clean

---

I want to remove any traces of recently used programs in KDE so I edit /etc/skel/.kde/share/config/kickerrc and I find the field that reads something like

Quote:

---

RecentAppsStat=9 1096000374 /usr/share/applications/mozilla.desktop

---

I edit the line and leave the end blank

Quote:

---

RecentAppsStat=

---

I am now all done with the customization and want to exit the chroot by either typing exit or using the keyboard <CTRL-D>. I flip back to virtual terminal 2 <ALT-F2>, and since I am paranoid, I delete /mnt/hda2/remaster/etc/skel/.bash_history & delete /mnt/hda2/remaster/root/.bash_history.

Code:

---

rm /mnt/hda2/remaster/etc/skel/.bash_history /mnt/hda2/remaster/root/.bash_history

---

I flip back to virtual terminal 1 <ALT-F1> and run the knoppix-remaster script.

Code:

---

./knoppix-remaster /mnt/hda2/remaster

---

I choose option 2 "Create compressed fs". It will ask me "Do you want to cleanup your remaster?" & I choose yes.

NOTE: a remaster filesystem of about 2.1GB compresses down to about 685MB CD ISO. I can check the system size by issuing the commands df -h or du -h --max-depth=1.

At this point it is fully automated and will create compressed Knoppix filesystem that is found on the Knoppix CD.

Compression times that I have experienced
Pentium 3 - 450 MHz 384MB aprox. 1hr 15min
Duron 1.6 GHz 768MB RAM aprox. 25 min
Opteron 242 (1.4GHz) 1GB RAM aprox 12 min

When the compressed filesystem step is complete, I choose option 3 "Create isofs" to create the ISO file. Again, through the wonders of these scripts, it is all automated. Once that step is complete, I choose the option 6 & quite the program.
I finished ISO file is located at /mnt/hda2/remaster/Knoppix.build/Knoppix.Master/KNOPPIX-CUSTOM.iso.

At this point I burn the ISO to CD. If you have an available CDRW drive in your system like my /dev/hdd, then type init 5 to go to runlevel 5 where it runs KDE and you can burn the CD with K3B. Or you can burn the CD from the command line. First get the CDRW device ID numbers via

Code:

---

cdrecord -scanbus

---

It will scan your system and display a list of devices. Identify the ID numbers in form #,#,#. My CDRW is 1,1,0. Load the CDRW drive with a blank CDR and use the command below to burn the ISO to the CDR.

Code:

---

cdrecord -v gracetime=2 dev=1,1,0 speed=32 -dao driveropts=burnfree -eject -data /mnt/hda2/remaster/Knoppix.build/Knoppix.Master/KNOPPIX-CUSTOM.iso

---

If you do not have a available CDRW drive, then perhaps you can boot into the graphical KDE environment via init 5. In KDE you can use the Knoppix menu and start the samba service to permit sharing of the hard drives via Windows network filesharing. Or you can copy the ISO to a FAT32 partition.
** END REMASTERING **
This ends my HOWTO. Please private message me if you notice any typos or errors. Corrections & suggestions are welcome.
Happy remastering!

good read...thanx! i'll be using your tips along with the scripts to create my rescue cd :)

tried it today...

the good:

slimmed my iso down to 280mb!!! :shock:

the bad:

apt broke...when i go into aptitude it doesn't show the "Installed Packages" section :cry:

I think it happened during the cleanup phase of the scripts just before you do the compress_fs

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bizarro

tried it today...
the good:
slimmed my iso down to 280mb!!! :shock:

---

That is great! No really. Congrats to you. :D I haven't yet gotten my knoppix smaller than 350MB, though I admit that I didn't try too hard.

Quote:

---

the bad:
apt broke...when i go into aptitude it doesn't show the "Installed Packages" section :cry:
I think it happened during the cleanup phase of the scripts just before you do the compress_fs

---

I think I have seen that before myself. Either something broke, I experienced a aptitude bug, or umm I just remembered that there is way to change the view in aptitude from Status (installed, not installed, upgradeable) to Sections (Base, Communications, Development).
Perhaps that might help.

James

nope...not with the view...upon further investigation i find that i can't even apt-get any new apps...i can however apt-get remove...but no install anymore :(...maybe i just took out too much

i'm trying again tonight

I updated the HOWTO. It is now easier to read, gives the user alternatives and better explantions, lists possible reasons for remastering, and is in a better sectional format.

i tried it again twice...

1st attempt i did everything exactly as i did before with my mods and changes and ran all the way through including the cleanup section and had the same result...installed packages disapeared from aptitude and it removed the ability to install more if i needed to later...

my 2nd attempt faired better when i avoided running the cleanup method...result was a larger iso BUT the ability to install packages later if i wanted to.

i then inspected the script for cleanup and ran everything manually except for the apt portion...

any ideas?

btw, thanx for this...well thought out and well written... :)

Have you already tried to compile your own kernel for a remastered knoppix?
Any suggestion?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bizarro

i tried it again twice...
......................
i then inspected the script for cleanup and ran everything manually except for the apt portion...

any ideas?

btw, thanx for this...well thought out and well written... :)

---

Sorry, I have no idea why it might disable the installed packages portion.
Thanks for the followup and thanks for the compliments.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sante

Have you already tried to compile your own kernel for a remastered knoppix?
Any suggestion?

---

No, I have not tried to compile my own Knoppix kernel. That is certainly something for me to try in the future.

Hello, I've found a typo

Quote:

---

Fortunately I can also use synaptic to add/remove packages. Before I enter a graphical enviornment, I need to make sure it is configured. This next command must be done outside the chroot. From virtual terminal 2 <ALT-F2>, I copy the XF86Config-4 file from /etc/X11 to /mnt/hda2/etc/X11.

Code:


cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /mnt/hda2/etc/X11

---

Last line should be

Quote:

---

cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /mnt/hda2/remaster/etc/X11

---

I owe you a beer for this howto, if you'd come to Rome...

I hate to be the devils advocate here but I would love to see this same HOW TO using
-just- run level 2!

Does anybody have a link to a how-to for Knoppix 3.6 or 3.7 that describes the remastering
process as well (if not better) than the above using -only- the command line run level 2?

PERSONAL NOTE: Anybody willing to make a new HOW-TO, I would love to see a section
that assumes the user wants to recompile his/her kernel for the remastered KNOPPIX.
I can not imagine using the stock kernel when there are so many goodies out there
that can be included. ;-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by roadapathy

I hate to be the devils advocate here but I would love to see this same HOW TO using
-just- run level 2!

---

OK. Just don't use runlevel 2. :wink: :shock: (I'm joking. sorta)
I use runlevel 5 and jump into KDE for the reasons that I like synaptic over aptitiude/apt-get and that I hate the default Knoppix transparent menus and the Keramik widget style. I install the kdeartwork package just so I can get the plastik widgets (which will be default style for KDE 3.4 thank god). If you don't need to custom configure the knoppix user's KDE desktop, and if you are comfortable with the command line and aptitude, then you can stay in runlevel 2 and complete the remastering process.

:D ** I have updated the HOW TO reflect the concept of remastering entirely in runlevel 2 **

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by roadapathy

Anybody willing to make a new HOW-TO, I would love to see a section
that assumes the user wants to recompile his/her kernel for the remastered KNOPPIX.

---

That person will probably not be me. :( I find that custom compiling a new knoppix kernel is a task that is not applicable to the scope of this HOWTO. My initial reasons for remastering knoppix was to change the default KDE settings. Yes, I hate the transparent menus that much. :D I was familiar with the complicated remastering HOWTO and so I used that. When Fabian posted the menu scripts, I junped for joy since I would not have to remember all the commands. Now knoppix remastering is simple with my HOWTO.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by roadapathy

I can not imagine using the stock kernel when there are so many goodies out there
that can be included.

---

If you have the time, I would like to know what kernel mods would you add. I use the stock kernels because I have found that they work on a wide variety of HW (I admit that I do have to use a lot of cheat codes) but I have not found it necessary to further customize the kernel. I will even admit that I run the latest stock 2.6.9 Debian kernel on my parent's PC. Personally I see no need to do a custom compile.

Thanks for you time,
James

James,

Thank you very very much for your excellent reply. I am anxious to try out your new HOWTO
to see if I can remaster knoppix 3.7. I follow the HOWTO's verbatim but somehow the author
seems to assume that I know something that I don't OR the software moves too far ahead
of the documents. INCIDENTLY, I had always been taught (no, beat over the head) to DOCUMENT
MY WORK! He meant comments in the code AND written documents. Hehehe. I think we
Linux users need to keep it up. ;-)

I would be happy to add to your HOWTO or make a seperate HOWTO concerning custom
kernels. My RH Fedora RC2 custom kernels all run flawlessly. They have been extremely
effective. Just so you know, I prefer to run a monolithic kernel using only what I need.
My Knoppix kernel is also monolithic but includes just about everything I think I might
run into out on the "field". I should probably use the modules for the field. ;-)

For my Fedora Kernel, I have about 4-5 kernels for various tasks. One of them has the CLOOP
patch and works just fine. The others have things that I only occassionaly need so I can reboot
and choose one of them. Mainly, I tweat them out as much as possible! I like to run lean
and mean. :twisted:

I will look over your HOWTO and try to remaster (using stock kernels for now) and after that,
maybe we could collaborate! Let me know what you think.

Again, thank you thank you!

Joel

following those steps, after i switch to user knoppix within the second half and try to run startx, i get errors saying cannot start ksmserver and that theres not enough memory to run. i have 1GB of RAM with 1.5GBs of swap, all working. and startx as root works. so it's gotta be a problem with the user's config/permissions, but i can't figure it out. any ideas? using remaster 1.6 and knoppix-3.7-en

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sneakerski

following those steps, after i switch to user knoppix within the second half and try to run startx, i get errors saying cannot start ksmserver and that theres not enough memory to run. i have 1GB of RAM with 1.5GBs of swap, all working. and startx as root works. so it's gotta be a problem with the user's config/permissions, but i can't figure it out. any ideas? using remaster 1.6 and knoppix-3.7-en

---

Thanks for taking the time to try out the HOWTO. Thanks for the feedback. Based on your post, I went through remastering again with Knoppix 3.7 public english and did not run into any errors. I actually copied and pasted the commands so that I knew I had typed them correctly and not made any typos. I am sorry that you had problems with the HOWTO and unfortunaetly I do not have any suggestions on how to fix that error.
James

i played around some with permissions of /tmp and /var/tmp and for some reason, after doing that i was able to get it to work
thanks for looking into the problem, and overall a great howto (the apt-get front end helped me so much, coming from gentoo's emerge)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sneakerski

i played around some with permissions of /tmp and /var/tmp and for some reason, after doing that i was able to get it to work
thanks for looking into the problem, and overall a great howto (the apt-get front end helped me so much, coming from gentoo's emerge)

---

Good, I'm glad you got it to work. Its good to hear from another Gentoo user here at knoppix.net. :D

haha i'm not exactly converting, just using it for it's far superior hardware detection ;-)
really tho, i got a dvd burner and felt it was time to experiment with partimage so i could have a 15 minute windows install preconfigured with drivers and programs (i use windows around 2 days out of the month, so i'm lazy securing it. this makes it easy to repair when/if it dies or gets bloated).

anyway, is there a decent way to switch window managers from kde to xfce4? i want to completely remove kde, except for qt and kdelibs (which k3b needs).

when knoppix starts up, it autoconfigures the XF86Config - is there any way to make it default use 1280x1024 instead of 1024x768? is it as simple as resaving XF86Config-4?
thanks for the help
ewww just realized knoppix STILL uses OSS. i'm definitely not stopping until i can get a custom kernel w/ alsa enabled to boot. 2.6.9-nitro4 here we come. if i get it to work and it requires not-simple steps i'll post a heads up for y'all

- Version 1.0.3 - Saturday December 18, 2004
- - - Credit Ian Naylor as a creator of the remastering scripts
- - - Changed title of HOWTO

Think might have found a problem with the "Create compressed fs" when it
asked if you want "Do you want to cleanup your remaster"

I wrote a script to do some things at boot, also added cupsys to start.
Both kept getting deleted. Boot the remasted cd and cups wasn't started
and my symlink in /etc/rc5.d to myscript in /etc/init.d was also gone.

While the cleanup was going on, switched consoles and did a
'ls -l /mnt/hdb1/remaster/etc/rc*.d' and both mentioned were gone.
Stopped the cleanup and chrooted back, update-rc.d cupsys defaults.
Checked again and was there now.

Started the cleanup again and wiped them out again.
Next time didn't choose to cleanup and cupsys and myscript stayed.

Am I doing something wrong when remastering or is the cleanup removing
the links in /etc/rc*.d folders?

Looked thru the KNOPPIX.clean script and not seeing anything that would
do it, but maybe I am too tired. Spent quite awhile to get things just right
and why this problem occurs has eluded me, but looks like I have a work
around. Haven't tested the new burn yet.

New burn worked, so the cleanup was killing my links to cupsys and myscript.
Now they work. Haven't tried it, but might just be able to run cleanup, then
chroot back and add the default runlevels you want, then make the iso.

dear sneakerski I've got the same problem but i can't figure out how to solve problem...
just a little help ...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sneakerski

i played around some with permissions of /tmp and /var/tmp and for some reason, after doing that i was able to get it to work
thanks for looking into the problem, and overall a great howto (the apt-get front end helped me so much, coming from gentoo's emerge)

---

Hello manage to remaster using this How To. Thanks a lot for this the only questions I have is if i want to change background, startup html page like that info about knoppix? Where and in which stage of remastering i should do it?
Plus is it possible to change the background of boot loader? and that small window which shows what is loaded during booting to X?

Cheers

Nikolay

Hello,
Have a question.. I followed this How To on remastering the cd but at the remastered CD whenever KDE starts the KDE mix starts as well? Does anyone met this problem?

Nikolay

I need to spend some time investigating the problems that people are running into. The earliest will be this coming weekend.

Quickly:

Quote:

---

change background, startup html page like that info about knoppix? Where and in which stage of remastering i should do it?
Plus is it possible to change the background of boot loader?

---

I could be wrong, but I think the background is set via 45xsession.
Startup HTML page is in the Knoppix.build/KNOPPIX.Master directory.
The boot loader is isolinux. Google isolinux for for info.

Quote:

---

and that small window which shows what is loaded during booting to X?

---

I do not understand this one. Please elaborate.

Quote:

---

remastered CD whenever KDE starts the KDE mix starts as well? Does anyone met this problem?

---

Yes. When you exit KDE and drop back to the command line, either KDE is saving your session (and keeps KMix open for the next session) or KMix is not staying in the icon tray as it should. I get around this by manually closing KMix before I exit KDE.
I hope this helps.

I need more time to address everyone's concerns.
Thanks,
James

Re the kmix problem, I too had the same problem when remastering fior the first time. I don't even have sound on my test box, but I remastered and it went away. I have remastered a few times since and it did not show up again. I suspect I clicked on something in the kde control centre that made it happen the first time.

re the background image, the following proved useful for me in conjunction with the great HOWTO by Underscore.

It's from http://www.knoppix-std.org/docs/customize.html the site also has some info on how to insert default cheat codes etc into syslinux.cfg I also read somewhere else that you may need to pad out the syslinux.cfg file if u edit it, so just add or subtract the hashes at the end of the file to match the number of characters that you added or subtracted from the original file.

Edit your preferences: The preferences for the knoppix user account are set under /etc/skel/. For instance, the KDE K-Menu can be found under: /etc/skel/.kde/share/applnk/. This gets copied to the /home/knoppix directory on boot. Other preferences you might want to configure:

/etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig : knoppix boot options, like which windows manager to load
/etc/skel/.mozilla/knoppix/ujixazk6.slt/bookmarks.html : Mozilla bookmarks
/etc/skel/.kde/share/config/kickerrc : KDE Kicker panel
/usr/local/lib/knoppix.jpg and /cdrom/KNOPPIX/background.jpg : background image : 1024x768
/usr/share/apps/ksplash/pics/splash_top.png : KDE loading splash screen : 400x244

You can also create users and set passwords while in the chroot'ed environment.

Now my current problem is getting my kmenu modifications to stick after compressing and making the iso. My remaster remains intact but the new iso puts back all the kmenu items that I removed, back to default kmenu. Kmenu items for new software additions appear to remain however? Anyone found a solution to that?

have fun!

2 stest - It's great. Thanks a lot thats exactly information that i ve been looking for. :D

2 James - Thanks for your effort.:)

Thanks

Nikolay

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by stest

Now my current problem is getting my kmenu modifications to stick after compressing and making the iso. My remaster remains intact but the new iso puts back all the kmenu items that I removed, back to default kmenu. Kmenu items for new software additions appear to remain however? Anyone found a solution to that?

have fun!

---

Probably you are missing the step of removing original /etc/skel dirctory and replacing it with you customized /home/<username> directory mentioned in the HOWTO.

Check it and reply.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by raj1478

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by stest

Now my current problem is getting my kmenu modifications to stick after compressing and making the iso. My remaster remains intact but the new iso puts back all the kmenu items that I removed, back to default kmenu. Kmenu items for new software additions appear to remain however? Anyone found a solution to that?

have fun!

---

Probably you are missing the step of removing original /etc/skel dirctory and replacing it with you customized /home/<username> directory mentioned in the HOWTO.

Check it and reply.

---

G'day Raj,

Sadly I have tried that, suspect that something in the 45xsession script is overwriting my custom kde menu. Just need to figure out how kde menu changes are done, which files etc, and work from there.

Simple task when I get enough time to do it!

It does work fine if I use a persistent home dir. So it is possible, and the files are in the /home/knoppix dir and the /etc/skel when moved. They just don't get loaded so I can only assume that a default set of files is being used instead.

Cheers

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by stest

G'day Raj,

Sadly I have tried that, suspect that something in the 45xsession script is overwriting my custom kde menu. Just need to figure out how kde menu changes are done, which files etc, and work from there.

Simple task when I get enough time to do it!

It does work fine if I use a persistent home dir. So it is possible, and the files are in the /home/knoppix dir and the /etc/skel when moved. They just don't get loaded so I can only assume that a default set of files is being used instead.

Cheers

---

Hi,
I too faced this problem a few times. But I don't know what exactly is the solution. As far as my experience is concerned. The best way to cutomize the menus is to boot knoppix with "knoppix 2". Then copy the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file to you custom knoppix's /etc/X11 directory. Then chroot into it. Mount proc, "su - <username>" (if you are customizing it otherwise it will be "knoppix") and "starkde". The step of su - <username> is important otherwise it will change menus of "root" account!!!

If the problem still persists, then try by replacing all "resync -Ha --ignore-existing" commands in 45xsession by "\cp -uaR"

Good Luck

this how to is really good!

can you make it sticky?!

OK, maybe it's just me but...

When I run the script for remastering, copy the files from the CD and then I go to chroot, the shell is all messed up. Carraige returns don't work (drop down to another line) and what I type doesn't show up. The text is entered, because I can run a command, hit Enter and it executes, but I can see what I initally entered in. I have used knoppix 2 vga=normal thinking it was a screen thing, but still no joy. i am using 0.1-6 version of the script, but 0.1-5 does the same thing. This happens at a computer at work and at home, with different CDs even, so it isn't related to that.

Is there something I am doing wrong or something that needs to be altered in the script to make the shell behave correctly?

Thanks

I dont't know, but I have same problem.
Probably a bug.

You are correct. It is a bug and it happens randomly with practically any computer. When that happens I type exit or CTRL-D and completely quit the remaster menu script. If it seems to lock up the console I use ALT-F2 or ALT-F3 to get another console. Then I ps aux | grep remaster to get the PID of the script and kill with kill -9 PID.
I hope this helps.
James

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by raj1478

[Hi,
I too faced this problem a few times. But I don't know what exactly is the solution. As far as my experience is concerned. The best way to cutomize the menus is to boot knoppix with "knoppix 2". Then copy the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file to you custom knoppix's /etc/X11 directory. Then chroot into it. Mount proc, "su - <username>" (if you are customizing it otherwise it will be "knoppix") and "starkde". The step of su - <username> is important otherwise it will change menus of "root" account!!!

If the problem still persists, then try by replacing all "resync -Ha --ignore-existing" commands in 45xsession by "\cp -uaR"

Good Luck

---

Also give a look at /usr/share/applnk/ directory. Make sure it reflects the changes you made to menus. Probabaly this problem is because of these resynch command, which restore default menus from this directory.

Tell the results....

Hi,

I went thru this guide twice. very good guide, well done.

however in both times I couldnt get the new burned CD to run properly,
I trie on several computers it gives different errors but the same kind, like he cant find something, might be HD ?.

if anyone can help me it will be greatly appreciated,

when its booting it displays this:

Welcome to the KNOPPIX live linux CD
<checking hardware>

Accessing KNOPPIX CDROM at /dev/scd0...
Total Memory foun: 482000kb
Creating /ramdisk (dynamic size=379996k) on shared memory...Done
Creating directories on Symlink on ram disk... **Errors start running**

at the end it looks like many errors of:
I/O error: dev 0b:00, sector 102960

cloop: Read error at pos 4730000 in file /cdrom/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX, 31247 bytes lost.
cloop: error -3 uncompressing block 2373 65536/0/31247/0 4732401-47403648
Done.
Starting init process.

more errors
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k binfmt-0000, errorno=5
kernel panic: No Init found. try passing init= option to kernel

If you received no errors or odd messages during the remastering process then it seems you are suffering from a bad CDR burn speed, or bad CDR media, or bad CDROM drives. This is sometimes hard to narrow down & I had to use 2 different burners on 2 different PCs with 2 different CDR media to confirm that it was the CDR media brand and not my remastered ISO image. You may search the forums or see this google search to get a second opinion.
I hope this helps.
James

Thanks Man,
i reduced the burning speed to x10 and the CD is now fully working!

thanks alot!

now the real work starts :)

Hi,

I encounter a strange error,
I tried it several times but nothing seems to work,
I try to change the menus so I do like it says,
everything works fine.
if I quit with ctrl-D and come back again the menus are as I configured and its all good.
however when I burn it I get default KNOPPIX theme with thier menus.

I made sure to overwrite /etc/skel and I made sure that I made the change on line 128 correct however it looks like
for the menus it takes them from somewhere else.

can anyone please help me ?

update:
(sorry dude, didnt meant get you or anyone upset with the quote thing , just thought it would help)

I changed all the refrences of rsynch to cp like said in the comments above and it made even more mess :)
now I get totally different results.

I did followed the HOWTO step by step (a lot of times).

however I almost sure there is a problem with customizing the menu,
changing this line (with the 9th rsynch) not resolving, maybe it should be cp instead of rsynch only on this line and line after.

I will work on it tomorrow and update onthe results hopefully it will be good.

thanks alot for the quick replays and this for making this HOWTO, its just great.

thank you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by moran

Hi,

I encounter a strange error,
I tried it several times but nothing seems to work,
I try to change the menus so I do like it says,
everything works fine.
if I quit with ctrl-D and come back again the menus are as I configured and its all good.
however when I burn it I get default KNOPPIX theme with thier menus.

I made sure to overwrite /etc/skel and I made sure that I made the change on line 128 correct however it looks like
for the menus it takes them from somewhere else.

can anyone please help me ?

---

First, please edit your post and delete the quoted HOWTO from your post as it is annoying to quote the entire thing and will only serve to confuse search engines.

Second, as I have provided exact steps & exact commands in the HOWTO, you must provide the same level of completeness. In order to figure this out so that all people can benefit, I will need your exact commands and also the very detailed info of any deviations you have made from the HOWTO. I have run the HOWTO commands verbatim ( in a ssh windows & I was able to copy & paste them) so I know that they work. This means I have a high confidence level of the HOWTO. This seems to point out that people who are having problems are doing something different.

Third, I think some of the problems people are having are due to booting Knoppix differently. Notice in the /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession file that there is more than one rsync command. These separate rsync commands are used to make changes to the /home/knoppix directory based on how the user is booting knoppix (ie: as a normal Knoppix sesssion, as a saved on floppy or USB knoppix session, or a poor man's install).

Thanks,
James

I have the same probelem, I followed the exact steps as in How To, When I was working in X I used the Menu Edit and create a new item in the menu, but after i burned the cd it wasn't there. Something overwrited it.
Have a question. what if just before making a compressed filesystem boot from a cd, make changes and then synchronise with an unpacked system on a hard drive

Code:

---

sudo rsync -a /home/knoppix/ /mnt/hda2/remaster/etc/skel/

---

and then finish off the remastering as usual boot from run level 2, run the script and so on..
maybe it will work?