MyOS

MyOS is a project to help you customize your own Linux LiveCD.

To do build your own LiveCD, you'll need:

Virtualbox (Click here to download)
Filezilla Server (Click here to download)
MyOS ISO file. (Download the ISO image now) Second Mirror
MySlax Creator (For extracting and compressing back LZM)
UltraISO or any other ISO editor http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/

Please report any missing link to our official mail support

1.0 What is MyOS ?

MyOS (not to be related with My1OS nor Fimos) is an customizable Linux Operating System LiveCD. It is based from both Slax and Slackware which is extremely modular and customizable under multiple operating system. Henceforth, MyOS is very easy and recommended for starter in making their own Linux LiveCD. Once you've mastered the basics, you can go on with Ubuntu remastering or even more advanced, build it from scratch!

1.1 LiveCD

LiveCD is a term most widely used in Linux operating system or any Boot-from-CD or Boot-from-USB operating system. Basically a live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive.

In MyOS, the LiveCD is extremely modular which will enables you to customize all of it including the kernels easily.

2.0 What you need?

To build MyOS, you will need a machine that is higher than the specs:

Intel Pentium 4 1.5 GHz (AMD 2.0 Ghz recommended)
512 MB of RAM (2 GB of RAM recommended. If your ram is lower than the minimum requirement, then your Virtualbox will lag)
1 GB of space recommended

Extract all files in the ISO file to continue (Use Winrar to do this). To edit the ISO file, use UltraISO. So when you are ready, we'll get you to the process.

2.1 The Sun VirtualBox

Sub-contents 2.1.1 Preparing Virtualbox 2.1.2 Creating a Virtual Machine 2.1.3 Extra notes

VirtualBox is an x86 virtualization software package, originally created by software company Innotek GmbH, purchased by Sun Microsystems, and now developed by Oracle Corporation as part of its family of virtualization products. It is installed on an existing host operating system; within this application, additional guest operating systems, each known as a Guest OS, can be loaded and run, each with its own virtual environment.

Supported host operating systems include Linux, Mac OS X, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Solaris, and OpenSolaris; there is also a port to FreeBSD (only OSE version). Supported guest operating systems include versions and derivations of Windows, Linux, BSD, OS/2, Solaris and others. Since release 3.2.0, VirtualBox also allows limited virtualization of Mac OS X guests on Apple hardware.

According to 2010 surveys by LinuxJournal.com, and LifeHacker.com, VirtualBox was the most popular virtualization product with over 50% of the vote.

2.1.1 Preparing Virtualbox

First of all, download Virtualbox here. Then proceed to the installation. If you are in Windows 7, run the program as Administrator.

2.1.2 Creating Virtual Machine

On the Virtualbox interface, click on the New button. Read the description and click on Next. Give your operating system a name. Click on the "Operating System" drop-down menu and select "Linux". On the version drop-down menu, select Linux 2.6. After all click Next.

Then you'll see the Memory options. Set the amount of RAM as follows if you want a good performance on the virtual environment:

Size of RAM in host machine	Size of RAM in Virtualbox
512 MB	286 MB
1024 MB	504 MB
2048 MB	1024 MB
4096 MB or more	2048 MB

Click on Next. Then, you'll see Virtual Hard Disk option. You don't need any virtual hard disk now so just click on the radio button "Boot Hard Disk". When prompted a warning message, just click on continue. That's all click Finish.

2.1.3 Extra Notes

For better experience, you must disable Absolute Pointing Device. You can do so by right clicking on your Virtual Machine, and click on the System tab. Note that if you have VT-x or AMD Virtualization technology, it is best to turn it on.

2.2 The CD-Image of MyOS

You can get the CD-image of MyOS from:

University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece. Download now
Singapore Linux User Group Download now or Second server
Our official mirror (France) Download now
Download from Open Source Software Torrent. Download now

2.3 Filezilla Server (For windows) or other FTP server (Linux)

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server. FTP users may authenticate themselves using a clear-text sign-in protocol but can connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow it.

Best FTP server (our best choice)

Sub-contents 2.3.1 Installing Filezilla on Windows 2.3.2 Installing ProFTPd on Linux 2.3.3 Knowing what is your internal IP address

2.3.1 Installing Filezilla on Windows

2.3.2 Installing ProFTPd

2.3.3 Knowing what is your internal IP address

It is best if you know what is your own internal IP address. They are such as:

192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.255
10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.255
192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255
or any LAN IP (not WAN IP)

You can get the IP address from the "ipconfig" command.

2.4 MySlax Creator

* MySlax is needed to extract your LZM files, and compress it back.

MySlax Creator can be used to extract and compress the LZM files. The LZM files contain:

Programs/Apps,
System files,
Desktop themes,
Icons,
Boot logo; and
Desktop Environment files

Download now from their Google site https://sites.google.com/site/myslaxcreator/. Install it to your hard drive, but you don't need to do anything with the MySlax creator because we just want their extracting and compressing tools.

2.5 LZM files

LZM stands for Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm. The Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm (LZMA) is an algorithm used to perform data compression. It has been under development since 1998 and was first used in the 7z format of the 7-Zip archiver. This algorithm uses a dictionary compression scheme somewhat similar to LZ77 and features a high compression ratio (generally higher than bzip2) and a variable compression-dictionary size (up to 4 GB).

simpleLinux uses Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm because it have the best compression rate and which enable MyOS to be extremely modular.

These are the LZM files that is included on the CD-image:

LZM file name	Function	Extra notes
KSPLASH.lzm	Contain the loading screen Click here to see ksplash screenshot
KDEICON.lzm	Places all your Icons. It can be easily customized
SPLASHYCONF.lzm	Contain the boot screen themes, can be easily customized
ROOT.lzm	Contain the home folder of your account "root". ROOT.lzm is capable of changing the desktop looks, the need of displaying hidden icons, settings, wallpaper et cetera
APPS.lzm	Contain your applications, such as JuK, and the text editor.	No need to be extracted
BOOT.lzm	Contain system files which is required for the boot loader	No need to be extracted
FIREFOX.lzm	Contain the Mozilla Firefox browser	No need to be extracted
KDE.lzm	Holds the entire Desktop Environment, which include desktop themes, cursor et cetera	No need to be extracted
OFFICE.lzm	Contain the KOffice, the best office suite	No need to be extracted
SPLASHY.lzm	Contain the boot screen files	No need to be extracted
SYSTEM.lzm	Contain the system files which holds the Linux kernel, default drivers et cetera	No need to be extracted
XORG.lzm	Contain the display drivers, the X-window which is the most important element which configure your display server	No need to be extracted

3.0 Lesson One: Customizing the Desktop

A video spokes thousand of images. Am I right? LOL. See this and you'll get a clearer view. Watch it in HD.

Now, boot the Virtual Machine on the Virtualbox. If you experienced lag of your system becoming unresponsive, close the Virtualbox and lower the RAM value. Then, you'll see MyOS boot menu. Just select the first option "myOS Boot" and then press enter. Choose the Failsafe option if you experienced a display error. Failsafe option overrides the X.conf which will only use a virtual graphic adapter instead of utilizing the Graphic Card.

After being a while, the desktop will appear. You will see the full desktop of Desktop Environment. Simply made any change to the desktop. Changes any settings, wallpaper, add new panel as shown on the video tutorial.

After you satisfied with the changes. Follow this step, this might be a little tricky so be careful:

Step one: Click on the System icon which will open you the file manager.
Step two: Navigate to the directory "/" . You can do so just by typing / on the location: textbox.
Step three: Copy the folder named "root"
Step four: Make a folder, eg, remaster
Step five: Open the newly created folder. Paste the root folder inside your new folder.
Step six: Go back to directory "/" . Right click on the remaster folder of which you have newly created, and click on Build Slax Module.
Step seven: After that, you'll receive a notification of which telling you the "Module created in / /remaster.lzm".

3.1 The ROOT.lzm file (On slax/modules folder)

You have the new remaster.lzm file. Transfer it first to your host PC. The Filezilla FTP server will be in charge for transferring files from Virtualbox back to your host PC. Just open the file manager, and go to ftp:(your Internal IP) (for example: ftp://192.168.1.3). Drag the "remaster.lzm" to the folder. This will transfer the file from Virtualbox to your host PC. See the tutorial video for a clearer view.

4.0 Lesson Two: Changing the Icons

Changing icon will be the easiest way you can do just from your host PC. If you are on Windows, just go to the folder slax/modules/, right click on the file "KDEICON.lzm" and click on Extract Slax Module. After a while, you'll be notified that the extraction of the file is completed. Then go to the folder named KDEICON. Navigate to usr/share/icons/crystalsvg/ and everything is inside the folder. The best icon we find is the Faenza Icons. Download it and then just replace all default icons.

4.1 The KDEICON.lzm file

Go back to the folder slax/modules/ Right click on the folder KDEICON, and click on Compress to Slax module. Now replace the old KDEICON.lzm on the ISO file.

5.0 Lesson Three: Changing the boot logo

Changing the boot logo is very easy. You can do so by just doing the same as above, but you'll extract the file "SPLASHYCONF.lzm". Once you extracted the SPLASHYCONF.lzm, navigate to slax\modules\SPLASHYCONF\etc\splashy\themes. Replace the images there. Or you could just google for "Splashy Themes". You can download many themes from http://kde-look.org/, and simply change the whole theme. Changing boot logo is now easier!

5.1 SPLASHYCONF.lzm file

Go back to the folder slax/modules/ Right click on the folder SPLASHYCONF, and click on Compress to Slax module. Now replace the old SPLASHYCONF.lzm on the ISO file.

6.0 Lesson Four: Changing the startup script

A startup script is very useful if you want to run any program just before the Desktop Environment starts (load at boot).

6.1 The simpleLinux.sh file (on \slax\rootcopy\usr\share\branding)

Navigate to slax\rootcopy\usr\share\branding and edit the "simpleLinux.sh". Just before Hostname, add path to the programs you want. Please refer to this page for advanced startup script.

6.2 Hostname

Changing Hostname is another step to rebrand the LiveCD! Put your operating system name by replacing the word "hostname simpleLinux". For example, "hostname LuckyOS".

7.0 Lesson Five: Adding even more apps

Application is which will enhance your operating system more! You could also add Real Player, the Gimp to replace Adobe Photoshop, or even run the Wine which will let you run Windows programs seamlessly!

The Slax page itself have redundant amount of apps which can be included on the ISO file!

7.1 Adding NVidia driver supports

Adding the support for all NVidia graphic cards is very easy! Download this - nVidia 185.18.14 Slax 6.1.1 kernel 2.6.27.8 - and include it in your Modules folder in the ISO file.

7.2 Adding ATI driver supports

To enable support for ATI graphic cards, download this file ATI Catalyst™ 9.3 Proprietary Linux x86 Display Driver - and put in on the Modules folder in your ISO file.

7.3 Adding the simplelinux package management support

There is another way to install a new applications! You need to include this file in your Modules folder in your ISO file. Then, in MyOS, launch the "terminal" program by right clicking on the desktop, and select "Run application". Type "konsole" and press enter. After that, type there "pkg update" and wait for the package manager to updates. Just after it finished, you can now install a new apps.

Type "pkg install Thunderbird" and press enter that will install Mozilla Thunderbird. You can also search through all the apps by typing "pkg search browser" that will search for all apps under category "browser"

7.4 Adding other apps from Slax

http://www.slax.org/modules.php - Seacrh through all the apps and you might find some rock solid apps for your own LiveCD!

8.0 Lesson Six: Converting apps from Ubuntu or Debian using pkg-tools

9.0 Lesson Seven: Adding Windows(tm) Application Support

Screenshot:

Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like systems.

To add a support for running Windows(tm) applications on MyOS, simply add the list of packages to your Modules folder in your ISO:

Wine Version 1.3.24 - Wine allows windows and dos programs to run on unix/linux systems. It is not an emulator, but instead implements an open-source version of the windows api, resulting in no loss of performance. In fact some applications run faster in wine than in windows. This module was made from a slackware package, obtained from winehq's website, and loaded with all known dependencies
Gstreamer 0.10.21-1 - Streaming multimedia framework. GStreamer is a library that allows the construction of graphs of a media-handling components, ranging from simple Ogg/Vorbis playback to complex audio (mixing) and video (non-linear editing) processing. Applications can take advantage of advances in codec and filter technology transparently. Developers can add new codecs and filters by writing a simple plugin with a clean, generic interface. GStreamer is released under the LGPL.
Slax Devel 6.1.2 - Devel tools to compile programs from source codes. Includes Linux kernel sources (stripped version only), many header files, make utilities and gcc compiler.
Glibc Locales 2.3.5 (11tr) - Glibc-locales includes the data files for the glibc national language support (locale). The files necessary for the \'en_US ISO-8859-1\' locale is included in the main package.
Gstreamer 0.10.21-1 - GStreamer Base Plug-ins is a well-groomed and well-maintained collection of GStreamer plug-ins and elements, spanning the range of possible types of elements one would want to write for GStreamer. It also contains helper libraries and base classes useful for writing elements. A wide range of video and audio decoders, encoders, and filters are included.
Liboil 0.3.15-1 - A library of simple functions. Liboil is a library of simple functions that are optimized for various CPUs. These functions are generally loops implementing simple algorithms, such as converting an array of N integers to floating-point numbers or multiplying and summing an array of N numbers. Such functions are candidates for significant optimization using various techniques, especially by using extended instructions provided by modern CPUs (Altivec, MMX, SSE, etc.).
Libvisual 0.4.0-2 - Audio visualization library. Libvisual is an audio visualization library that acts as a middle layer between audio visualization plugins and applications. Any application written with libvisual support included will be able to make use of all the plugins that are written for libvisual. Libvisual also contains a whole set of facilities to ease the development of plugins. Libvisual was written by Dennis Smit.
udev-151 - Dynamic device management system udev provides a dynamic device directory containing only the files for the devices which are actually present. It creates, removes and can optionally perform actions on device nodes files located in the /dev directory.
Fix Totem-Xine 2.21.4 on KDE - This fixes missing lib links when running on KDE.

10.0 Final lesson: The dos and don'ts

simpleLinux GNU/Linux Official Wiki Page : MyOS

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