[TriLUG] custom knoppix

[Matt Pusateri]

On Thu, March 3, 2005 10:24 am, gregbrown at mindspring.com said:
> Has anyone created a custom knoppix ISO?  I read the how-to webpage
> some time ago, but I am curious what anyone's actual experiences were.
>  I would like to create a Knoppix that boots and automatically
> launches Firefox (already configured with as many plug-ins as
> possible) and that's ALL I want on the ISO.
>
> The idea is I can send a CD to my parents (maybe even a mini-cd?) that
> they can pop into their home PC, boot up, and proceed to join the
> world of on-line eCommerce.  They use M$, and steadfastly refuse to
> move off that platform for their daily use, but I have finally
> installed enough fear into them that they want an alternative when
> purchasing items on-line.  Other then a Linux laptop, which is too
> expensive, the only other alternative I could come up with was
> Knoppix, which is too technically complicated for them in it's stock
> form (if it's not simple and doesn't work easily the first time they
> won't use it).
>
> So, in the end, absolute nirvana would be the following:
>
> 1. boot knoppix with iptables running and blocking ALL inbound traffic
> with SYN flag
> 2. knoppix boots and brings up Knoppix -> the home page has a big
> button that says "REBOOT"
> 3. parents could merrily surf away and, when done, click the "home"
> icon
> 4. start page comes back up with the "REBOOT" button
> 5. parents click REBOOT button which runs "init 6" in the background
> 6. PC barfs out the Knoppix CD, parents rejoin the M$ world
>
> Is the "REBOOT" button possible?  Does something like this already
> exist?
>
> Greg

Haven't remastered yet, it's on my todo list.  My boss bought a copy
of Knoppix Hacks, I could probably lend it to you, if you want.

As for the Reboot from the browser, one way would be to have the
reboot button submit to a cgi app that did that, but I would think
that you would need to install apache and relax all permissions, which
wouldn't be a big deal in this case.   Also you could just put a
reboot icon on the desktop, they could close the browser and click
reboot.  In either case you could use sudo to launch the init 6, but
you would either have to script resetting the root password or keep
knoppix from settting it to something random to begin with. Unless I
am wrong and it doesn't set a root pw, which I believe it does.



Matt