Stripped out customized Live CD with X

[nim108]

I've been assigned the task of creating a very slim, stripped out, and customizable Live CD with a very basic desktop (all I really need is X). It will eventually run a cross-platform application (either written in Mono or QT), and some Linux daemons like tftpd, sshd, dhcpd, etc. Because starting from scratch will take too much time (solutions like LFS or buildroot are not practical for the time I have to do this) I've narrowed down my choices to two distributions: SliTaz (I've already done it with the flavor called justx, which is just 15 MB in size and very easily customizable, not to mention creating a live CD is very easy with their tazlito utility), and TCL. I would much prefer getting a solution working with TCL because of the support here and daily updates (to the base and the extensions). Now what is the best way to go about this? I do not need the full TCL desktop with Fluxbox. Should I go with Microcore and add the X packages manually? Or can I possibly go with TCL and strip out things I don't require? Any tips, suggestions, and comments would be appreciated. I do not know how difficult this will be, with SliTaz, it's very easy because I already have my starting point with the justx version/flavor of their distro, which comes with X and Openbox.

Sorry for the vagueness of the question. I am not sure exactly what I need just yet, but I'm trying to get a feel of what direction I should go with this.

[Rich]

Hi nim108
Sounds like you are looking for a basic game plan, so I'll offer my suggestions.
Burn a Multicore CD and use it to install TCL to a development machine. There you can install any
compilers and tools you need to create your applications. You will also use this machine to test,
debug, and optionally convert them into extensions. When you feel your application is ready, use
the EZ-Remaster application to create a custom CD with Microcore and a desktop. The default
window manager for Tinycore is FLWM by the way, not Fluxbox. This post by roberts should be
helpful as to what you need to add to Microcore for X support and a desktop:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,11710.msg62099.html#msg62099

[Rich]

Hi nim108
I should mention in case you are not aware, Multicore includes EZ-Remaster as well as both Tinycore
and Microcore. In addition, you might want to install Microcore and your applications to a testing
machine prior to committing to a CD just to verify all the required files and libraries are included
and that everything is functional.
 

[nim108]

Rich thank you! These are the kinds of suggestions I was looking for. I will definitely start out with a HD install of TCL so I can do all my development in there. I have never used ez-remaster but it sounds like the tool I'd need to do something like this easily.

[thane]

nim108, I don't know if it's relevant/timely for your project, but roberts mentions some planned changes to TCL here (it's several posts down):

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,11724.0.html

[coreplayer2]

Rich is right on the money as usual.   I think if you're comparing a stripped down version to a regular distro, then Tinycore really has no superfluous apps or features, in fact once booted up you'll be hard pressed to find anything to remove.. this is one of the many benefits of Tinycore.   Microcore is less but if you need X...     

I find building a working copy in a VM, then transferring that over to a real machine works great too

Tinycore is so cool.   

[nim108]

nim108, I don't know if it's relevant/timely for your project, but roberts mentions some planned changes to TCL here (it's several posts down):

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,11724.0.html

Very interesting ... will be looking forward to the changes. I think I will wait until I see what is in store for 4.2. The problem for me with the 4.x releases is that the 3.0.3 kernel seems pretty buggy. It breaks a few of the extensions for me and doesn't run as well on older hardware as 2.6.*. Hoping it will be upgraded soon just for the sake of stability.

Rich is right on the money as usual.   I think if you're comparing a stripped down version to a regular distro, then Tinycore really has no superfluous apps or features, in fact once booted up you'll be hard pressed to find anything to remove.. this is one of the many benefits of Tinycore.   Microcore is less but if you need X...     

I find building a working copy in a VM, then transferring that over to a real machine works great too

Tinycore is so cool.   

I know TCL is stripped down as is, but I don't need the full desktop with all the icons and whatnot. I'd like to totally customize the desktop, so I think the best thing is to go with Microcore and add the libs roberts mentioned in the link posted by Rich above. I just need Microcore with X and a very simple desktop (I kind of like Openbox because of the very simple XML config, but I'm open to anything really).

[curaga]

Oh, you just want to remove wbar? It's not a part of flwm, and not adding it to MC is easy