creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

michaelbischof · 2012-01-21 14:50:02

Hi all,

for a school project I intend to do the following thing:

I booted from a 3.0-Live-CD using the

....root=/dev/ram0 rw lang=de kmap=de

command. I manually installed via tazpkg some software and added some school files on /home/tux/Desktop. Now I want to create a => bootable iso-Image from this changes ,,installation".

How to do that, step by step?

michaelbischof · 2012-01-21 14:57:36

Sorry, I forgot one important detail: the RAM on my machine is 1 GB.

When I use the tazlito writeiso command I get the following result:

Unable to mount the cdrom to copy the Kernel and needed files. When SliTaz

is running in RAM the kernel and bootloader files are kept on the cdrom.

Please insert a LiveCD or unmount the current cdrom to let Tazlito handle

the media.

I need a method to overcome this problem.

christophe · 2012-01-21 15:17:47

Insert the 3.0 cdrom you booted from in the cd reader

or if you do not have any, i think you can address this by leaving an image of the iso file on your hd and mounting it on cdrom on a loop mode

mount file.iso /cdrom -t iso9660 -o loop

(adapt to your config)

michaelbischof · 2012-01-21 15:33:29

Thanks a lot for your quick answer!

Yes, this I had done. I loop-mounted the CD, copied the content to a folder slitaz on the ext3-partition and booted from it. Then I installed some software, added some content and can compress the file system anew by using ,,tazusb writefs gz". This new rootfs.gz I can copy into the slitaz/boot-folder and could reboot from it so that all the installed software is still there.

But now I need to get an iso-file that I can burn to CD. This is the form in which I intend to hand it over to my pupils.

How to manage that? As by now slitaz booted into the (1 GB RAM) RAM the command tazlito writeiso does not have enough space to do its job.

kultex · 2012-01-21 16:48:58

isomaster -

http://mirror.slitaz.org/packages/cooking/isomaster-1.3.8.tazpkg

http://mirror.slitaz.org/packages/stable/isomaster-1.3.5.tazpkg

michaelbischof · 2012-01-21 17:26:49

Thank you, kultex,

that works for changing an existing iso - as it seems. To test whether it will boot from such a CD I will see later, but today.

In this way I can have e.g. firefox and other software as tazpkg-files on the machine after having booted - but they must be installed manually then. For me no problem.

Any potential way to create a bootable iso from a folder, like /slitaz/... including a changed rootfs.gz? My dream is a CD that has Firefox and Adobe Reader already installed, running, and the chance to install other things via tazpkg install <package.tazpkg>.

kultex · 2012-01-21 18:30:37

you open a standard slitaz iso with isomaster and change the rootfs.gz and make the iso - there might be a problem with /home, because tazlito includes /home to the iso and tazusb writefs not - sorry - I did not think this problem

so I think you have to do it on a machine with more ram or you change the tazlito script, which should be in /usr/bin/ that tazlito writes the iso to /home/tux instead of /home/slitaz/??, - so it does not depend on ram - this means you have to have a seperate /home partion

kultex · 2012-01-21 18:34:47

but you should test before without changing the script - because when you create the home partition of slitaz - there is a folder tux - so it should write the iso also to the home partition (/home/slitaz/) and not into Ram

michaelbischof · 2012-01-21 20:52:21

Ok, done. It did not work. The reason is that opening the iso with isomaster and then adding another compressed rootfs.gz into the iso results in a broken rootfs.gz which does not boot properly, not from CD, not from a frugal ,,installation".

The first method using isomaster as well worked better.

Software is not installed, the rootfs.gz is not changed. One just puts software date to the root desktop. Then it is saved as a new iso and burnt. This works.

But then the additional software must be installed manually after having booted from the CD. And this is a step that newbies most likely will not manage to do.

In this style Adobe Reader worked! Even the LibreOffice (App, from probono, the one that you recommended yesterday) worked, a bit slow (constant prompts that java is missing), but finally it worked.

So: to change a CD by just adding data seems easy. To change it by first booting slitaz, then install some software and then add the newly compressed rootfs.gz to a new iso seems not that easy. My headache is that under the conditions in my school everything should be running out of the box. A little step more, e.g. *.odt-files instead of *.docx, is ,,nerdstuff".

michaelbischof · 2012-01-22 15:33:25

OK, I got quite some % of what I intended to do. But not all.

slitaz-vesa was the only useful flavor for me. The other ones led to troubles that newbies would never ever solve. I have made an e-book about the paradise - is it a myth or some kind of reality hidden in the past. This e-book works with internal links.Therefore any PC must be configured so that html-pages and pdf-files are connectable out of the box. This works with Midori and ePDFView.

To create a bootable CD that contains slitaz plus this e-book and some more software (LibreOffice, for example) was successful. But it is by far too nerdy:

- the screen opens with login for ,,tux" (which does not exist yet)

- one needs to know that one has to type ,,root" with the password ,,root" - then a screen opens, ok. The fonts in the x-terminal are too small.

- connecting with the net when running from a CD is no headache, as far as I know.

- otherwise a new user must be established. Still possible for a beginner.

- But after establishing ,,tux" the screen opens - black! Impossible. Right click: Favourite Applications => pcmanfm. Then one can see something. To make the dock visible one has to open an x-terminal and type ,,openbox-session". Too much for a beginner.

So I have something that I can spread. But it is not yet the desired thing that would be one big and nice invitation for beginners, with some cool nerd smell. For me this is more a political problem than a plain technical one. We talk about the freedom of choice.

The German readers might want to red this:

http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/Die-Woche-Freie-Software-gegen-die-Entmuendigung-der-Anwender-1417513.html

For such reasons I intend to spread Free Software in school environments.

michaelbischof · 2012-01-22 16:44:42

The above mentioned e-book can be, for a short time, downloaded here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?48hmf32xlyyhjf7

- a 55 MB download zip-file. In German, but the careful reader will find the adress of a source that delivers the best bacon that I ever tasted, surpasses even pata negra from Spain.

Regards,

Michael Bischof

SliTaz Forum

SliTaz Forum

#1 2012-01-21 14:50:02

creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#2 2012-01-21 14:57:36

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#3 2012-01-21 15:17:47

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#4 2012-01-21 15:33:29

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#5 2012-01-21 16:48:58

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#6 2012-01-21 17:26:49

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#7 2012-01-21 18:30:37

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#8 2012-01-21 18:34:47

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#9 2012-01-21 20:52:21

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#10 2012-01-22 15:33:25

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

#11 2012-01-22 16:44:42

Re: creating bootable iso - how would you do it?

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