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I want a lightweight CLI only Linux distribution that can rapidly boot from a USB stick, run a script by itself at startup and then shut down the computer.

All of this without any user intervention other than turning on the laptop with USB plugged in.

Anyone have recommendations?

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1 Answer

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  • Linux From Scratch
  • ArchLinux
  • Gentoo

Have a look around on Distrowatch, particularly in the Live-Medium, Specialist, Source based and Rescue catagories. Find something where the build system makes sense to you so that you can build the distro from the ground up with a just what you need but having a working reference point, and then add in your scripts on top of that.

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Thanks. I've found one called finix i think it might fit the bill. – skittles88 Jun 30 '11 at 11:31
Finix looks good :) – Caleb Jun 30 '11 at 11:35
Then i just put the script in /etc/rc.local i think... – skittles88 Jun 30 '11 at 11:52
@skittles88: Yup. – Caleb Jun 30 '11 at 11:57
Hmm only issue is im not sure about 'persistent storage'. Since it is basically a live cd booting from a usb stick, my script would vanish from /etc/rc.local after a single reboot. I used unetbootin to put finix on usb, it has option for persistent storage but says 'ubuntu and derivatives only' – skittles88 Jun 30 '11 at 12:07

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