I'd like to print a retraction: To all those kids who attended my Free Software seminar at the MacMaster SHAD Camp where we attempted to create our own personalized custom distribution of Knoppix/GNU, I want to say that I would no longer even attempt to make a SHAD-Branded special Linux in that way. Been there, done it, and life is just too short.

If asked again today, I'd say Go Morphix -- and embarrasingly the clue was sitting there on the Knoppix website all along, at the part where they say when you roll your own, why not pick another Knoppix derivative closer to what you need? and right there in the list, several times hidden behind other brandings like Gnoppix, the link you really need: Morphix.org

Morphix is a Knoppix derivative with a slightly different aim: They seek to be easily customized into whatever you really need, building from a modular base to create a truly custom GNU that's just what you need, whether that's a lightweight ICEWM distro for your old laptop, a new Gnome-base for a Gentoo, or a truly dedicated one application turn-key box based on Linux ... like maybe a kiosk based on Morphix-FireFox.

The Morphix LiveCD ­ firefox, runs a single application, firefox. In this example this is modified to run ethereal and firefox is removed. We will then
have a LiveCD which boots and runs ethereal.

So, to re-answer the young woman who asked about crafting a quick turnkey Linux specifically for a social software network, I was right in telling you it was largely just a matter of unpacking the distro, trimming the offerings and tweak the configs before you rebundle and re-burn, but if you want to save yourself a lot of extraneous tweakings, what you really want is to grab Morphix, and follow the guides from there.

[ Source: /mnt/hda5/How_To/html/How_to_Make_Single_Application_Morph/index ]