need help creating a custom linux distro

[threeonethree]

i have to create a custom linux distro for myself, my little bro and some of my friends.. here are the things that i need..1) low hardware requirements : so a lightweight DE like xfce instead of KDE or Gnome.2) lots and lots of educational and scientific packages..3) rest should be standard.. pdf viewer, firefox(or iceweasel or some more lightweight browser).. vlc player, abiword, etc...4) other critical parts of the distro, nothing else..so whats the simplest and fastest way of making my custom distro? ..can i modify an arch install(adding all the packages i need) and then write the installation on a cd? so that it acts like a distro? ( will it work on other pcs? ).. (arch will give me flexibility).or should i make a puplet from puppy linux .. its going to be lightweight already so i just need to add these packages and remove the ones i dont want and burn the iso.. how do i do this?

will i be able to change the artwork and themes? (wallpapers and stuff )
or should i make a custom distro from scratch? its going to be a lot of compiling and hard work.. and i want a fast and easy way.. thanks...

 

[aditya.shevade]

Install arch. Get all packages you need. Use archlive package to make LIVE CD ISO from that. OR, use kiwi (openSUSE) to make a live CD.

Guides (in detail) are available on the respective wiki sites.

 

[threeonethree]

are educational packages and scientific packages available for arch or would i have to compile them ? and i will be able to change the artwork and default themes wudnt i ? can u link me with a wiki for doing this for arch linux?

and what about puppy linux?.. thanks..

 

[FilledVoid]

[filledvoid@Earth ~]$ pacman -Ss educational
extra/kdeedu 4.1.3-1 (kde)
    KDE Educational programs
extra/tuxmath 2001.09.07-2
    'Tux of Math Command' is an educational math tutorial game for elementary
    school level children
community/aqua-data-studio 4.7.2-2
    Aqua Data Studio is an universal database query tool and administration
    tool. Free for personal/educational use.
community/linsmith 0.99.4-1
    a Smith Charting program, mainly designed for educational use
[filledvoid@Earth ~]$

[filledvoid@Earth ~]$ yaourt -Ss educational
extra/kdeedu 4.1.3-1 (kde)
     KDE Educational programs
extra/tuxmath 2001.09.07-2 
     'Tux of Math Command' is an educational math tutorial game for elementary
     school level children
community/aqua-data-studio 4.7.2-2 
     Aqua Data Studio is an universal database query tool and administration
     tool. Free for personal/educational use.
community/linsmith 0.99.4-1 
     a Smith Charting program, mainly designed for educational use
aur/alice 2.0.0-1
    An educational software that teaches students computer programming in a 3D environment
aur/basic256 0.9.2-6
    Educational BASIC programming environment for children.
aur/childsplay 0.90.2-3
    A suite of educational games for young children
aur/childsplay-alphabet-sounds 0.4.3-1
    A suite of educational games for young children -- Sound Translations
aur/childsplay-plugins 0.90-2
    A suite of educational games for young children -- Plugins
aur/childsplay-plugins-lfc 0.90-1
    A suite of educational games for young children -- Plugins
aur/crashtest 1.0-2
    Educational car crash simulation
aur/kdeedu4 3.80.2-1
    Educational programs for KDE 4
aur/kdeedu4-svn -3
    Educational programs for KDE4
aur/logisim 2.1.6-1
    An educational tool for designing and simulating digital logic circuits
aur/pysycache 3.0.1-2
    Educational software for teaching kids how to use the mouse
aur/rcssserver 11.1.2-3
    The RoboCup Soccer Simulator Server (rcssserver) is a research and educational tool for mutli-agent systems and artificial intelligence.
aur/tuxtype2 1.5.3-1
    An educational typing tutor for children

 

[threeonethree]

thank you very much .. i will start this project by monday .. i think there are more scientific and educational packages in the arch user repos, i will check them out..

also which window manager is best for this job? i am thinking about xfce or fluxbox, but what about icewm, window-maker, enlightment and others? i am asking this because i have access to broadband for very less time so i cant download and test all these.

one more thing i would like to ask is that if i install xfce or fluxbox or other wm and then install packages which depend upon gnome or kde, wont i have to install gnome , kde libraries too? will performance take a hit then and negate the benefits of using a light DE?

 

[FilledVoid]

also which window manager is best for this job? i am thinking about xfce or fluxbox, but what about icewm, window-maker, enlightment and others? i am asking this because i have access to broadband for very less time so i cant download and test all these.

If you don't want to download alot then definitely xfce or fluxbox is the way to go. Personally I prefer gnome though.

one more thing i would like to ask is that if i install xfce or fluxbox or other wm and then install packages which depend upon gnome or kde, wont i have to install gnome , kde libraries too? will performance take a hit then and negate the benefits of using a light DE?

You wont have to install gnome or KDE but will have to install any dependencies the programs have which includes various libraries. I have Amarok installed on one of my computers which has Ubuntu on it. I think you might see a bit of more usage but other than that you hardly will note the difference. Please note that this is on a moderately new computer.

 

[MetalheadGautham]

I had made an attempt to make a similar distro, and it was half successful.
From my experience, I suggest you use either Debian or ArchLinux as the backend.
Xfce is the best desktop, but I recommend that you customise the look so that it becomes easier to use.

 

[aditya.shevade]

Check this,

*en.opensuse.org/Education/Repositories Look at the bottom for the links to pages with the software list. Also check this, *www.opensuse-education.org/

Also check edubuntu. It is made for children and education related things.

 

[threeonethree]

open suse is useless in this regard. also i dont want to use ubuntu . anyone else here who has experience of using arch or any other distro for this purpose?

 

[aditya.shevade]

^^ Well, according to me, SUSE education edition is your best bet. You have all the possible software you will ever need. You have option to chose XFCE (or fluxbox). I don't see what the problem is.

If not, then Arch is great too but, when things go wrong in Arch, they go horribly wrong.

 

[FilledVoid]

If not, then Arch is great too but, when things go wrong in Arch, they go horribly wrong.

This is pretty much the case with ANY Linux distro rather than Arch itself. but thats just my opinion.

 

[aditya.shevade]

Hehe... yeah yeah... I also was expressing my opinion cause nothing else crashed for no reason on me....

 

[MetalheadGautham]

If not, then Arch is great too but, when things go wrong in Arch, they go horribly wrong.

You can't go wrong in arch if you follow instructions carefully. Here are two things you can read to help you, the first to gain confidence and the second to get actual ideas.

1. A post by a guy whose first distro was arch and how he felt about it
*thesmallerbang.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/life-on-the-cutting-edge-archlinux/#comment-121

2. Archie CD - a project based on Xfce to create an Arch Live CD
*archie.dotsrc.org/