Ubuntu Live CD

Systemback

Simple system backup and restore application with extra features

Systemback makes it easy to create backups of system and users configuration files. In case of problems you can easily restore the previous state of the system. There are extra features like system copying, system installation and Live system creation.

Installation:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nemh/systemback
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install systemback

EASILY CREATE A CUSTOM UBUNTU LIVE CD WITH UBUNTU CUSTOMIZATION KIT (UCK)

When Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx comes out, I will probably upgrade instead of doing a fresh install. But I will also create an .ISO file for various usages and my Ubuntu Live CD will have GIMP installed by default (among other changes I will make to my custom ISO)! I'm not going to comment on the decision to exclude GIMP from the default Lucid installation, but I don't want to accept it so I will make a custom Ubuntu Lucid Lynx Live CD.

Ubuntu doesn't support customization before downloading the ISO, but you can customize your Ubuntu Live CD by using UCK - Ubuntu Customization Kit.

Ubuntu Customization Kit is a GUI tool that helps you customizing official Ubuntu Live CDs (including Kubuntu/Xubuntu and Edubuntu) to your needs. You can add any package to the live system, for example language packs, or applications.

Using Ubuntu Customization Kit (UCK)

To use UCK, you will need (download link at the end of the post):

1. about 5 GB of free disk space in ~/tmp
2. Internet access for fetching language packs
3. apt-source line "deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main" enabled (necessary for bootlogo building) - "karmic" should be changed if you use a different Ubuntu version.


If you want to build an ISO for an Ubuntu version other than the once you are currently using, you must open your /etc/apt/sources.list and search and replace (temporarily) any occurrence of your current Ubuntu version with the Ubuntu version you want to build the ISO for. Doing this is pretty easy: press ALT + F2, enter:

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

If for instance you are using Ubuntu Karmic and want to create an Lucid ISO (obviously, you will also need the Lucid ISO), replace "karmic" with "lucid" and save the file. Don't forget to revert the changes after you finish building your custom ISO (repeat the steps above, and replace "lucid" with "karmic" - in my example).

Note: If customizing a CD for another architecture than the installation used for customization the executables from the LiveCD may not run.

If you don't want to build a custom language ISO, you can simply click OK on the first 2 configuration screens, select your default Ubuntu .iso downloaded from the website, then just choose yes when asked if you want to customize the ISO. After this, the fun part begins: you can choose to open the UCK Package Manager which is basically Synaptic, but for UCK and then you can install new packages and remove others:

You can also chose to select which packages to add / remove, via a terminal.

Once you are done with the customizations, select "Continue building":

Now all you have to do is wait for UCK to finish your custom Ubuntu ISO. On a slow computer, it cant take quite a while. Once the ISO file is ready, it will be saved under ~/tmp/remaster-new-files/livecd.iso.

For a more advanced way of customizing your Ubuntu Live CD (manually, without a GUI), see this HOW-TO.

Download Ubuntu Customization Kit

WEB BASED UBUNTU AND DEBIAN CUSTOM INSTALLATION / LIVE CD CREATION SERVICE

We already posted about UCK (Ubuntu Customization Kit) which is an application for creating acustom Ubuntu Live CD, but it doesn't have as many options as one would expect and it only runs in Ubuntu, as an application. One of the most mentioned ideas at Ubuntu Brainstorm is creating a custom installation/live cd website-as-service which would allow users to customize their install/live cd, in the spirit of Linux and open-source in general.


A service like this already exists: Reconstructor, a web based GNU/Linux distribution customization and creation toolkit. It allows for the customization of the Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux distributions. Customizations include boot logo image and text color, wallpaper, themes, icons, applications, and more.

Reconstructor is free to use. Even though it says certain services cost actual money, every user starts with a $5 balance and gets $5 each month which is enough for building and downloading your custom Ubuntu / Debian distributions. More info on this.

More about Reconstuctor and how to use it

Once create your free account and log-in, you can choose if you want your Ubuntu / Debian with Gnome, KDE, XFCE or text only:

And then you get to edit the actual packages that come with your custom Ubuntu / Debian Linux distribution:

Under the "Modules" section, you can edit the default theme, upload custom .deb files, change the default icons and wallpaper, boot menu and even create custom GConf keys (among many other options):

Here is the full list of things you can add through Modules:

• Apt repository
• Custom boot menu
• Default theme (for Gnome, etc., use an already installed theme or upload your own)
• Add Ubuntu PPA repositories
• Perform a system upgrade
• Change the Usplash image
• Change Firefox start page
• Create a custom desktop launcher
• Change the default icon theme (use an already installed theme or upload your own)
• Change the wallpaper
• Window border
• Install .deb package
• Install a file to the chroot environment
• Set the Live Environment hostname
• Set the initial splash image of the Live CD
• Set the live CD text color
• Modify Gconf keys

Other than this, there are also some more advanced options.

When your project is ready, click on the "Build project" icon on the top left corner. Then you can select how you want your project to be built: as a Live Image, VMWare, Xen or Qemu:

When your project has finished building, you will receive an email with a download link and a log. In my test, it took around 5-10 minutes for my custom Ubuntu to be built. The downloads are valid for 7 days. After that you will need to rebuild the project.