Remastering Without Wrecking Your Brains?

[pakhoe]

Hi,

I am very new to KNOPPIX, well sort of!!, I've been using KNOPPIX since 3.4, I can never master the complexities of Linux in General. I have been a MS Administrator and have been supporting MS Products since time in memorial, and KNOPPIX and Linux in General is a new challenge. I used the free tools included in 'diagnosing' network and hardware problems.

I have always wanted to configure KNOPPIX since I laid hands on it to give me a basic UK English, Time, Date and Calendar and not to forget the '£' Sign and things associated with the 'QWERTY' English Keyboard. Also my Network Printer, which is an HP5N.

I have re-mastered the KNOPPIX*.iso in the past, and I can tell you I will not be doing that anymore, because the following process is what I used to alter the latest 'KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso'. My previous versions of re-master was not as good as the original, because I have to un-install alot of stuff before getting it to fit into a CD-R, but it fitted into a DVD-R or DVD+R without any problems, it's just that it gets a little expensive doing that.

Stage 1
I loaded up KNOPPIX 3.7 on my PC using the following cheat codes "knoppix lang=en xkeyboard=gb", once I am in the session. I set about configuring the Desktop and also the background and colour including the printing, using 'cups'. When I am satisfied with what I want, I saved the configuration onto a floppy diskette (Menu > KNOPPIX >Configure > Save KNOPPIX Configuration), which generated the two following files:

1. knoppix.sh
2. configs.tbz

Stage 2
I used WinISO 5.3, which incidentally can be downloaded from http://www.winiso.com/download.htm, obviously you must have the fully registered version before it will do everything.

I tested the configuration on the floppy diskette to ensure that it is actually what I want by using the following cheat code on a re-boot 'knoppix floppyconfig'

You must open the 'KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso' image in WINISO 5.3 before you can insert the files. I then proceeded to insert the files found on the floppy disk, i.e. knoppix.sh and configs.tbz into the 'KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso' image under the '\KNOPPIX' folder within the ISO image, using WinISO 5.3, and saved the image upon completion.

I then used NERO 6.0 to burn the 'modified KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso' image onto a CD-RW, just incase it did not turn out as expected. Infact you should be able to use any CD-R burning software as long as it supports burning an ISO image. I think this try out is important so as you don't waste any CD-R before reaching a final design of your choice.

Once the image is burned onto the CD-RW, I tested it on a few of my systems, and I was very relieved that I was not disappointed.

Stage 3
Burn the 'modified KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso' onto a standard CD-R and have fun. You will find that this image is very similar to the original, but with an English Setting, and perhaps what ever you wish to add, that can be saved onto a floppy disk.

EOF

Please try this out and if you have any comments, I would like to hear about it.

The whole process took less that an hour.

[Harry Kuhman]

Stage 2
I used WinISO ........ obviously you must have the fully registered version before it will do everything......

Yea, that's where the whole thing falls apart, isn't it? There are several pay to use (even pay to try) tools for editing ISO files, this as well as IsoMagic and MagicISO come to mind. But does anyone know of a good free tool, either for Windows or Linux, that will let users edit the contents of an ISO file (on a higher level than hex editing) and produce a new iso file?

[nvgringo]

btw winiso does not seem to work on live dvds. you will need another product . There is isobuster for free but I don't know much about it

[bfree]

I have always wanted to configure KNOPPIX since I laid hands on it to give me a basic UK English, Time, Date and Calendar and not to forget the '£' Sign and things associated with the 'QWERTY' English Keyboard. Also my Network Printer, which is an HP5N.
....
I loaded up KNOPPIX 3.7 on my PC using the following cheat codes "knoppix lang=en xkeyboard=gb"

You could just use lang=uk !

[Harry Kuhman]

btw winiso does not seem to work on live dvds. you will need another product . There is isobuster for free but I don't know much about it

DVD iso files would be a bonus, but I would be happy to find a free product that would just let me edit a live CD iso.

Isobuster is a fantastic free product. I've used it for years. It's is great for extracting parts from an ISO file. It has also been able to pull files of a CD for me when CD Rot has made the CD otherwise unreadable. Recent versions have had some "extra" features in them that you have to pay for, but the basic features that have always been there remain free. But Isobuster, at least in it's free form, does not let you edit an ISO fle and make a new changed ISO.

[markpreston]

Hi pakhoe,
I'd be interested in using the files you mention.
1. knoppix.sh
2. configs.tbz
If you could send me a copy of them that would be great.

I've produced a remastered Knoppix primarily intended for UK dentists, but I've struggled to implement the gb keyboard.
Currently I use setxkbmap gb as part of the scripts I use to set up a LAMP server, but it would be better if this was set up on booting Knoppix, and I would like the toolbar icon to change to gb rather than it remain us.
http://truth.positive-internet.com/~...astering1.html
gives some details of the method I have used to remaster Knoppix (- 3.3 version). If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you'll see the screenshot shows how the files are split into two groups. You might be able to tell me where I can put the two files you mention so that they will be incorporated correctly into the finished .iso

If you ever get the chance to go to a SoSlug meeting on a Thursday night I'd be interested to see how you remaster Knoppix.
http://www.sos.lug.org.uk/
(I live in Benfleet)
Regards,
Mark

[bfree]

I've produced a remastered Knoppix primarily intended for UK dentists, but I've struggled to implement the gb keyboard.

I'll say it again, KNOPPIX has cheatcodes for this. In all probability you simply need to use "lang=uk". You can edit the isolinux.cfg on your cd to make this the default lang used. If for some reason lang=uk is not suitable, then perhaps keyboard=, xkeyboard=, kdekeyboard=, kdekeyboards= will all help you out.

If your language isn't supported in Knoppix and you want to add it to a remaster, you should look at /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig and you can add a new language in here, using the existing languages for inspiration. If you do this you can forward on your changes to the knoppix developers mailing list and it could well be added to the official releases.

[markpreston]

If, when at the boot prompt for Knoppix 3.7 I type
lang=uk

I get "Can't find kernel image: lang=uk"
If I type
knoppix lang=uk

at the boot prompt I end up with the desired gb keyboard settings, so I guess the question is how do I set this up to run automatically on a remastered CDROM?
Regarding the isolinux.cfg file only one I can find is in the directory /usr/share/mindi
Is this the file that needs to be modified, or is there another isolinux.cfg file I should know about.
Regards,
Mark

[bfree]

Yes, you need to use "knoppix lang=uk" or "knoppix26 lang=uk". When you are entering cheatcodes the first thing you need to enter is the "name" for the kernel isolinux should use.

The isolinux.cfg you want to edit is on the cd uncompressed, not on the compressed system. It is located at the /boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg. Again you make this change outside the compressed system not while you are chrooted.

[markpreston]

Thanks for the advice about isolinux.cfg
It's starting to make sense to me now. FWIW Knoppix 3.3 doesn't have an isolinux directory, or even a boot directory uncompressed on the CDROM.
However part of the boot.img file located in the KNOPPIX directory has very similar details to that contained in the isolinux.cfg file of Knoppix 3.7.
I have copied the part below:

DEFAULT vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
TIMEOUT 300

PROMPT 1
DISPLAY boot.msg
F1 boot.msg
F2 f2
LABEL knoppix
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
LABEL knoppix-txt
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi vga=normal initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
LABEL expert
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz nomce BOOT_IMAGE=expert
LABEL fb1280x1024
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi vga=794 xmodule=fbdev initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
LABEL fb1024x768
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi vga=791 xmodule=fbdev initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
LABEL fb800x600
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi vga=788 xmodule=fbdev initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
LABEL failsafe
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us vga=normal nosound noapic noscsi nodma noapm nousb nopcmcia nofirewire noagp nomce nodhcp xmodule=vesa initrd=miniroot.gz BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
LABEL userdef
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND###########

So I guess the next question is how to modify this to achieve a boot knoppix lang=uk effect? Just add lang=uk after BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix, and change the default from vmlinux to knoppix lang=uk?
Regards,
Mark