On 2006-05-11, Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> posted something concerning:
> __/ [ quickquestion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ] on Thursday 11 May 2006 05:28 \__
>
>> Can anyone point me to a linux distribution that runs from a cd or dvd
>> such as knoppix that will let me burn my settings onto a new boot cd?
>>
>> What I mean is, I would like to boot into a cd-based distribution, but
>> once in, I want to use my dvd-burner to make a new cd that has my
>> screen resolution preference, my network setup and my favorite
>> wallpaper already stored. Also, it would be a bonus if the boot cd
>> knows exactly what hardware to look for.
>>
>> While I'm asking for everything, I would like to be able to update the
>> Java and Firefox from inside the distribution then save a new dvd or cd
>> so I can pick up where I left off.
>>
>> Maybe it is not possible, but I figure I'll ask.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>
> Hi,
>
> I suggest that you just keep a copy of the distribution CD/DVD in question
> and keep apart all your settings files, either /with/ or /without/ the
> distribution. In Linux, everything is a file^tm, so you could just create an
> image (much like Norton Ghost) of your installation. Here are some pointers:
>
> man dd
>
> For boot sector: dd if=/dev/hdd0 of=bootsect.lnx size=512 count=1
>
> For entire drive:
> dd if=/dev/hdd0 of=/some-location-of-yours/hdd0.img
>
> http://www.sysresccd.org
>
> http://freshmeat.net/projects/g4l/
>
> http://freshmeat.net/projects/sdd/
>
> Hope it helps,
>
> Roy
The original never made it here, so I'll tag on unless you object.
<too late>
Get Ubuntu Dapper and burn it (it's up to Flight 7 now, I believe).
Then follow the instructions here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveCDPersistence
Once you set it up and boot for the first time, you'll need to create a
user or settings won't be changed.
At the first boot, hit F6, type in 'persistent' (no quotes) and hit
enter. It will take awhile the first boot to populate the drive, but it
will eventually get there.
That and more are explained on the page.
2 things that might cause some distress which aren't mentioned:
1. Recreating the CD with 'persistent' already on the default
commandline. In can be done, but remastering will need to be located
on some other page(s) to do it. There are quite a few available that
will explain it. You don't have to do this. You might not *want* to
do this if you plan on running the CD in anything but persistent
mode because it bombs really badly if it can't find a usable drive
with the right name, although you could hit F6 and remove
'persistent' from the commandline as well.
2. Booting up always goes to the wrong user (ubuntu). In a previous
version (Flight 3? 4?) I had that changed. When I redid everything
it came back. I tried editting gdm files manually and that didn't
work. You can't edit the behavior of gdm from the login screen
(although it will appear that it's going to for a few seconds after
you manually create a root password). There's no gooey editor in
Gnome that I could find where it could be changed. I even removed
the original user, but it seems to stick around anyway. It can be
done, I know, but I'm missing something this time around or
something. (It's not like I spent more than about 20 minutes on it
anyway, so I could easily be missing something simple.) The result
is that one needs to log out & log back into the homemade user
unless that part is changed. Otherwise settings won't be saved.
I've been using it on a 1G thumbdrive for several things (and recently
expnaded that to 3.5G of a 5G drive, which also has a swap partition
included to make things speed up). I even installed Crossover so I
could run some goofy work-related stuff that won't work (I tried) with
anything but IE, and that works fine on linux. The WIFI has saved
settings for the work laptop and the home laptop, so I can drop it into
either machine and just tell it which to use. And it has printer
definitions for both places as well. The gigger has ample room to save
important files, just so long as I don't get carried away (which I
usually do, and that's why I already got a bigger drive).
My next attempt will be to try running a second drive as a mount point
below the casper-rw drive to see if I can expand it all and allow some
new possibilities. And to fix the default user thing again.
--
Now there's a man with an open mind - you can feel the breeze
from here.
-- Groucho Marx
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