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Automatically Installing Linux from Bootable CD?
phorm asks: "While there are newer many distributions of linux that come bootable from CD, I've found that some are a bit difficult to customize and wonder how hard it would be to create my own. Currently we are looking at replacing some of our Windows desktops at work with Linux test-machines - and it would be nice to make the installation process as simple as possible. How hard would it be to create a bootable CD that would automagically install Linux onto the first detected hard-drive? How would you go about 'imaging' an existing machine to use as the base?
I suppose that in many cases a tar-gzip of the entire OS would work, provided you could partition the drive correctly, recreate some important handles as in /proc, and run lilo/grub to install a boot loader. Does anyone here have experience with this? I know morphix/knoppix make nice bootable distros but what I really want is a basic Linux bootCD which installs a preconfigured version of the OS of my choice."
You want Mepis [www.mepis.org] It's a knoppix-based Live CD distro that works as both a live CD and an installed distro. It's designed with a few of the Knoppix kinks worked out so that the LiveCD can "help" the installed version out when their's trouble...perfect for corperate environments. Also, it's based on Debian...so you can always get your favorite stuff if you get bored/ need special configs!
Try Mondo Rescue / Mindi http://www.microwerks.net/~hugo/
It can create a bootable CD image. Essentially, it can be used to clone/backup a harddrive. I use it to setup a customized distro. Using the recue CD your "install" image can be put on bare hardware and be up in running in less than 20 minutes. If you are using a distro with KUDZU, after the first boot it will recognize your hardware.
I have been very pleased thus far, it has allowed me to build "base" configuration of dedicated servers and quickly migrate data and test new hardware.
-MS2k