Creating a custom 14.04.1 live usb?

I know 14.04.1 comes out on the 24th. In the meantime I am looking to research creating what I'll call a custom "current" live usb to run off of.

Not rocket science but I am coming up blank. I simply want to load the 14.04.1 iso (when released) into RAM, then add my network keys, vpn client, and a few other simple things ------- > all in RAM. I can have all the needed files on a separate flash so creating the live usb can be done "offline" and kept clean. Once RAM is current and set how I want it, I'ld like to write out the system to a live USB that I will then lock (physically switched) and use as LIVE ONLY!

I have a few reasons for wanting this flash available. I already use TAILS at times, but there are times that I need more of a raw connection to use at public spots.

I am hoping someone will take a minute and give me a "nudge" on the process. I don't want to continually enter network keys and download clients, etc...., which using a conventional live media would require. I don't want anything persistent either.

My biggest confusion is how to set linux to know the usb image is live only so that no persistence is every attempted.

I fear this thread will sit without responses. I am amazed that I can't figure this out.

 

Hi Palancar,

From what you say, the result to be a live USB, i.e. the original 14.04.1 + your changes - all in an ISO Live USB, it appears that the only way to get this according to my experience is to first unwind the ISO, and add your changes be it adding packages, files, etc. the way you want it, and then roll it up again into a brand new spanking fresh ISO which would get burned to an empty, but formatted to accept the ISO for Live use.

The process is quite involved, but I could walk you through the steps to get there as my experience included doing similar activities a couple of years ago to build my own PAE version of an earlier Ubuntu ISO drop before PAE versions got to be available.

I'll have to look up some recommended papers for reading, and then give you a model for how I proceeded to do the work - it may involve such things as setting up a particular directory structure, having certain tools packages installed, actually setting up where you can put things together in a chrooted directory on hard drive, etc.

I'll start looking into it sometime during the day tomorrow, and post what I can gather together for you then here in this thread.

Note: I'm unsure of what you mean by the lock (physically switched - is that a physical property of the USB you intend to use or something else you mean? Live Only implies that only RAM is used, and by definition, when the system is setup to boot from USB, no hard drives are ever mounted in the entire process from power on to power off, unless you physically were to follow a process like I do to first disable the network, mount a drive, save a file downloaded from the Internet, unmount the drive, and then re-enable the network connection.

-- Tom

 

Tom,

I was trying to communicate that I have a few 4 Gig USBs with physical READ ONLY mechanical switches on them. My thought was that the physical lock would add some element of keeping the USB --- LIVE in the sense all writes to it would be locked. I don't rely upon such switches but then they can't hurt either!

I am familiar with live and as mentioned above in this thread; I use TAILS quite often for activity traces that I want to totally disappear when I am finished. My computers run well in "live mode" because they have 8-16 GB of RAM and nice processors.

I am not sure the process you describe is something I am up for. I may elect to simply use a live flash and then have a little separate flash containing the few items I need. It will mean a minute or two "infusing" what I need every time I boot live though. Hmmmmm?

I don't use live all that much but when its wanted/needed its nice to have available. Speed aside, its tough to beat TAILS. There are times download speed is an issue though.

 

Hi Palancar,

When I Live boot my USB flash drive, it gets mounted Read Only, so then it would appear that the physical READ ONLY mechanical switch is somewhat redundant, but as you say it can't hurt either.

Let me know when you are ready to learn about what I have described, if it ever fits your needs.

-- Tom

 

Tom,

Will do.

btw --- love your avatar!