Quote Originally Posted by dwstarke View Post
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.
I think there is no fault in logic per se, the main problem is that it seems that even Klaus Knopper may occasionally have problems stripping down to a CD version. Because of special adaptations and some general differences in approach, Knoppix and general Debian are quite different distro-wise, and seemingly diverging. Last year, I was able to mix and match vanilla Debian and Knoppix 6.4.4 for a pure 64-bits Knoppix version, couldn't repeat that with Knoppix 7.X.

Ubuntu is quite close to both, and my recent experience with it has been quite positive. (Much better than some years ago.) Maybe Ubuntu's version of debootstrap (which has worked flawlessly for me) could be adapted to Knoppix?

I think your hunch that adding is much safer than removing is quite to the point for today's versions. And because Klaus K's approach to booting and HW detection is the only one I have seen that I really like, I would really like to have a minimalist Knoppix. But anyone who wants something like that right now, should probably check out Ubuntu live.