How To Build Your Own Linux Distro?

Well, you can in many ways make your very own custom distro. One way is building your own Linux distro from scratch (huh! not so easy, right?). Or you can install the Ubuntu Customization Kit on a distro that is close to what you want and customize it into your personalized distro (simple right?). But then there is an even easier way, with SUSE Studio online in 20 minutes. And all you are going to need is a web browser and an internet connection. Even if you are a Linux newbie, SUSE Studio is really easy to use. So let’s dive in…

First, go to www.susestudio.com and create an account. You can sign in with your Google account, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Novell or OpenID. Once you’re logged in for the first time, you’re asked to choose a base template for your appliance(your distro).

There are options for openSUSE Leap 42.1(current edition), openSUSE 13.2 and SUSE Linux Enterprise editions. You can also choose your desktop environment from amongst KDE 4 desktop, GNOME desktop, Server which is text-only base or Just enough OS which is tiny and minimalistic. You even have the option of choosing from thousands of other appliances created by others. Depending on the base template you choose, you can choose the architecture (32 or 64 bit).  Then you give a name to your appliance, click on “Create appliance” and wait for your appliance/distro to be created.

After your appliance is successfully created, you are brought to the edit section. Here, you can alter the name of your appliance under the “Start section”.

Under the software tab, you get to choose the software and packages that will come with your appliance. A pre-selected choice of packages are already selected based on the choice of your base package. You can also add other software such as firefox, vlc, LibreOffice and any other you might need.

Then you move on to the “configuration” tab. Here you can add your very own custom logo and background to the appliance under “Personalize”. You can even add an End User License Agreement(EULA) if you intend to share your distro. You can add autostart desktop programs or enable automatic login. You may even add support for live installers, enable VMware support and UEFI secure boot amongst others.

At the “Build” section, you choose the default format of your build. You can choose amongst a host of formats including USB Stick and Live CD/DVD and others and then click on “Build” to get your build prepared.

Once your build is ready, you can even “Test drive” your build online before downloading it. If you wish to make changes, you can easily do that and rebuild your appliance. If you are satisfied with your work, can go ahead and download your own Linux distro.