Other Help Topics :: HOWTO: Remaster with only Embedded DSL

Remastering using Embedded DSL

I did this on a Pentium 4 - 2.7GHz with 512MB ram, running windowsXP

Download the dsl-embedded-[currentversion].zip from the DSL homepage. (My version is 8.4)

Edit the dsl-windows.bat
Change let it use 512MB memory. You'll need a shitload of it, because everything is done there.

Code Sample

START qemu.exe -L . -m 512 -hda harddisk -cdrom dsl.iso -boot d -enable-audio -user-net -localtime

Boot up DSL with the dsl-windows.bat

Wait till you get into the shell and open up a root shell (right mouse button->XShells->Root Access)

All the following code blocks are input commands:

Code Sample

cd /ramdisk

Move into the ramdisk

Code Sample

mkdir remaster

Create a location to put the remaster files.

Code Sample

cd remaster

move into it.

Code Sample

mkdir newcd newcd/KNOPPIX source

Create a few directorys to put stuff in. The "newcd" directory will contain the new files that are put into the new ISO. And the source directory will contain all the files that are compressed into the KNOPPIX file.

Code Sample

cp -Rp /cdrom/boot newcd
cp -Rp /cdrom/index.html newcd
cp -Rp /KNOPPIX/.bash_profile source
cp -Rp /KNOPPIX/* source

copy the needed files to the right locations. (The last one takes quite a while)

Now you can edit the files in the source directory at will. For example, if you want to change the default runlevel, then you can simply edit the "inittab" file in "etc".
At this moment i'm still unsure to what's the best way to uninstall applications.

After doing all the stuff you wanted to do, go into the "remaster" directory:

Code Sample

cd /ramdisk/remaster

Code Sample

mkisofs -R source | create_compressed_fs - 65536 > newcd/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX

Next compress all the needed files into a image file. This could take quite a while, depending on your computer speed, and the size of the image.
(took me about 10 min for a 40MB unpacked image)

Code Sample

mkisofs -pad -l -r -J -v -V "NewDSL" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat -hide-rr-moved -o mydsl.iso newcd

Now we have a new iso file. Called mydsl.iso

Now we just need to move it from our RamDisk (remember, ramdisk only exists in ram, so it will be gone when you close DSL)

We need a host to move the file to, the computer you're working on looks like a nice target. The easiest way would be to setup a windows share. (share a directory, and give writing permissions)
Now we need to connect to that share from DSL

Code Sample

smbclient //computername//sharename

If done correctly, then it should ask for a password now. If you setup the share to have access from anyone (the easiest thing to do) then you can simply press enter. (you might need to enter your IP address instead of the hostname, sometimes the last time I tried, it didn't work with my hostname, but the IP worked fine)
now put up the iso file:

Code Sample

put mydsl.iso

now you have a new iso file. You could give it a fast test with qemu, to make sure it boots fine, and software you added runs. If that works fine, then you can burn it like you would burn any other DSL iso.

Outstanding work!
---
The NewCD directory is where I put my smaller .dsl extensions, and they are
loaded automatically upon bootup.
Here's what I have:
wvdial.dsl
whitebox.dsl
wmppp.dsl
wmcalc.dsl
wmclock.dsl
wmmoonclock.dsl
wmpinboard.dsl
wmweather.dsl
---
I have menu items to boot any of these up.
---
Now, one directory down, NewCD/optional
is where I put my larger MyDSL applications:
Gimp
Foxfire
Opera
Abiword
Those, then have to be loaded into the system with the
MyDSL Click and Load GUI, and I have menu items for each of them.
I do have a lot of stuff in my remaster, but I like to use the MyDSL apps
as they work well, and save me a lot of time trying to make them work
in the remaster, otherwise.
I did have Opera and Firefox built into my earlier remasters, as well as wvdial.
---
Looks like you have a nice setup going, so I thought I would pass along what
I might want to do if I were working with your setup. I did make a custom
logo16, and have bright yellow boot.msg text from that. I use several
partitions to remaster, so I have older versions I can copy from if needed.
I use my "Rapidweather Remaster of Damn Small Linux" to do all of the
remastering work, and I found that the long command lines could be saved
in a file, and mastered-in, so I could just copy and paste to an rxvt to get
going. The last one, I just edit the version number and off I go!
---

Thank you Daid, I'm just about to start playing and your posting hits the spot.

This is such fun

I hadn't thought of qemu until I checked here yesterday, and since then I have managed to boot several linux iso's, though most need lots of ram.

Sitting down now to create my definitive iso.........until the next one.

original here.