I. Introduction

MkDistro LiveRemaster is a component belonging to the MkDistro suite of tools, designed to build and remaster whole distros or their modules.

Its main goal is to make it possible for any user, when running Dreamlinux as a LiveCD, to customize the distro and then regenerate a new iso image
mirroring the customizations made.

The main motivation behind the development of this tool came from our common understanding that not all of our users appreciate all the applications
that come in Dreamlinux as default. So, using MkDistro LiveRemaster properly any user can install and/or uninstall applications, configure Engage, the background screen, etc. according to his/her own willings and, after being happy with the customizations (his/her dream linux), generate a new
Dreamlinux iso image, ready to be burnt.



II. Using the Tool

MkDistro LiveRemaster is extremely simple to be utilized and doesn't require much more instructions out of those that show in its main interface (Fig. 1).

Basically, you only need to provide a name to the new iso image, in the entry box named “Distro Name” and then select a partition where the iso
image will be built, by mouse clicking over one of the partitions that show on the left scrolling box, named “Select a partition to remaster to” and clicking
on the Select button.

Be advised that this scrolling box shows all the Linux type partitions existing on your HDD, as well as information about each partition's size, free space
and file system in which it is currently formatted.

It's advisable to select a partition that have enough free space to generate the new remastered iso. As a planning factor you can consider that a LiveCD
fully filled uses about 700 MB. But you will need about triple of this to have your uncompressed image copied, before it is copressed back.  
Of course, this space will increase a lot, depending on the new packages you have instalaled. So, to be on the safe side, I would recommend something
around 4GB.

In the event you don't have a partitioned hard disk, MkDistro LiveRemaster provides two different tools you can make use of to partition
or repartition your HDD: Gparted and Cfdisk.

Gparted is a graphical application that's able to not only partition an empty HDD, as well as repartition a HDD that posses already existing partitions,
and even shrink windows partitions to free space.

Cfdisk can not shrink partitions to free space, being more directed to a destructive mode partitioning.

Bear in mind that, if you don't have enough knowledge about partitioning, this operation can mess up the integrity of the data you may have on the HDD.
It's advisable, before remastering, to do a backup of your data.

Tutorials on how to use these two applications are free and easily available on Internet.
                           


Fig. 1 – Main window of MkDistro LiveRemaster.


If you regret of any choice you've made when selected a partition, you can restart from the beginning by means of only a mouse click on the Reread button.  This action will clean all fields and will read again the Linux partition table.

The Cancel button exits the application, as also does the Exit menu option, as well as the main window closing button (that round shaped button on the top right).

The Ok button will start the distro remastering and iso generation processes, which will be indicated by the messages and bouncing progress bar between Cancel and Apply buttons.

The working directories, except the iso one, that holds the generated iso image, will be deleted after the iso generation is completed.


Happy remaster!