At the beginning of March 2019 I (JN) looked into

• a reported update of Linux Respin (the Gitlab repository shows activity in January 2019), see https://gitlab.com/remastersys/LinuxRespin and http://www.linuxrespin.org/
• a “new” remastering script (to me), JLIVECD. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JLIVECD and https://github.com/neurobin/JLIVECD
• the iso-snapshot capability of Antix Linux. See https://antixlinux.com/

I only got as far as investigating the repository for Respin.

JLIVECD-release.tar.gz dated 2018-12-17 was downloaded and I made a few attempts to run the script. It seemed to be “mostly” working, but subject to some to the usual script glitches related to needing precise paths for different resources. I believe this script is rather similar to the original remastersys or to CrunchMaster in this respect. That is, it needs a careful hand controlling its us.

Antix Linux turned out to be surprisingly helpful. Using antiX-17.3.1_386-base.iso in a VirtualBox VM, I was able to add Abiword, gnumeric and Double Commander to the set of software tools, then create a new iso with my personal username and password using the iso-snapshot tool built in. Furthermore I subsequently made a “distribution” version with username and password equal to the default (demo/demo). It appears that there is also a remastering functionality if one uses a frugal install of the distro.

Still to check with Antix:

• changing splash screens etc.
• scripts to install different collections of software that might be useful to linux-ottawa members or their friends
• a better wifi setup tool than that supplied (the text based network control is clunky, the GUI did not seem to work).

JN 2019-3-7