I can't determine (on my own) which packages to take out of the mix. I have had some experience in the ancient past of recompiling Slackware 0.98, but no experience with modern linux. I don't mind remastering and I think I'm pretty close to taking Knoppix 7.0.3 and chrooting into it and then being able to reconstitute the iso. What I cannot seem to be able to do at all is remove packages that I think should not effect the iso, yet I have problems. This is exactly what you describe in your original post. So, I guess, that I wish there was a minimalist Knoppix that I could add to, since my hunch is that adding won't create as many problems as removing. Forgive me if my logic is faulty.

Thanks for your guidance here. I have no idea about Ubuntu.