Advice needed for creating a custom linux

On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 23:11:50 +0000, Ikke Just so we are comparing apples with apples, can you point to a link which shows the "simple" method you describe for Windows 98. I have tried BartPE and that requires the Windows XP kernel and files (and a valid XP license for every machine where it will be deployed.)

But even BartPE relies on a feature within the XP kernel. From Bart's FAQ: Why can't Windows 2000-NT4 be used to build BartPE? Is there a reason for this? Yes, that kernel does not support the "-minint" switch and therefore cannot boot from readonly media... Also the layout.inf does not contain required information.

IIRC, Windows 98 being built (more-or-less) on top of MS-DOS probably can be started from a RAMDISK. You could probably boot to the command line easily (safe-mode), but ensuring that the video would work with all graphics hardware is difficult. I don't know for sure, and I am not interested in testing W98 because I have no Windows 98 licenses and W98 is past its "sell by" date (according to Microsoft.) If you are considering a fallback to W98, consider this, too: booting using W98 on a network connected PC is a dangerous proposition because of the nasty elements which will attack it on an open network. For example, if W98 boots and the hardware wizard "finds" new hardware (network adapter) and starts using it, then that is direct path to infection.

More questions to nail down exactly what you are trying to do... Are you targetting specific hardware? If so, that changes the rules of this exercise, too.

Is your hardware target any general PC? The GNU-Linux Live distros are designed to work with a broad range of hardware devices.

Does your hardware target allow read-write access to a RW media, such as a hard disc. If a single file can be made available on a RW disk, then the root filesystem can be built using a loopback. That is a lot easier than a live CD, and a good first project to learn the startup sequence for GNU-Linux.

-- Douglas Mayne