Making an inst. & img. for a Linux Dis.

Hiya all,

I've finally finish making my own custom Linux Distribution and working perfectly on a harddrive.

I made it by d/ling the latest kernel, making it, compiling it. Getting Lilo. Partitioning the harddrive. Then i copied the bootloader and other essential tool (eg. kernel) to the partition, then setup the boot loader then reset the machine. After that I installed Sendmail KDE and Apache to name a few programs. I recompiled the kernel and everything worked (close to ;)) perfect.

However, i was wondering, how would i be able to put the distribution on cd so users can actually create an image and install the distribution like other distributions like RedHat and SuSE? I just dont know where to start.

Any information would be great,

Thanks dudes,

Wow.... creating your own distribution is quite an undertaking. Congratulations.

A very simple way to package your distribution would be to follow the Gentoo model. Just tar it up and put it on a bootable CD, then untar it on the new system. The brand new 1.4 RC1 of Gentoo has a new live ISO image that gives you a fully functional Linux OS to install from. You can mount the ISO image and delete the Gentoo tarball and insert your own. I did that the other day with a tarball of my fully configured and tweaked firewall box.

Or if you're feeling brave you can use isolinux to create your own cusotom bootable ISO.

Good luck.

dont forget to include fd boot images, linux goes on many older machines.

why would someone want to use your distro as opposed to say mandrake or RH. Not trying to be a wise arse but what are you aiming at with this distro. anything in particular or just shits and giggles.

Tedob1, just to see if i could do it... ;)

a noble cause!

Ill test it if youd like, im no linux 'expert' but i know it pretty ok. Let you know if it installs and runs allright on other machines. i got a bunch at work i gota re-do and have on stand by, in case. i have to wipe them clean anway.

Hey, congratulations, unixjim. After you get the heavy stuff out of the way, don't forget a good, catchy name for it. Seriously, be proud of your accomplishment. I play with Slack on an old machine I have. I seem to spend as much time reformatting my HD and reinstalling as doing anything with it. That's the extent of my skill with linux. I'm getting good at loading the software though.

I still have to get some more devices and stuff, so it shouldn't be long before i can actaully have it in CD proper. Neone have a catchy name?