[Tech] Partimus (PXE?) (nearly?) unattended install solution(s?) ... next steps?

[Michael Paoli]

Tai - hey, sounds great, thanks for all your work on this!

So ... next steps?  What still needs/ought be done?

Wiki?
I did also go through the steps on wiki for registration, but
I've yet to receive (or be able to set) a password, or receive
link to (re)set such ... so far only got the link to verify my email
address ... still can't login to wiki.
Anyway, would be really good to be able to document this stuff (wiki!)
somewhere where we can "all" get to it, see it, update it, etc.  if/as
needed, share as desired (read-only to "public", or restrict to just
ourselves if/as/where appropriate).
List archive doesn't quite cut it for that (and a broken archive
even less so).  Can only reliably store so much detail in my head,
and that's not as easy to share or backup.  ;-) [nor as easy there for
others to correct errors or omissions I might make 8-O].

PXE(/etc.) server on Ubuntu ...
I have quite done that for Debian (including serving up multiple
Ubuntu PXE boots available from it).  Anyway, I can certainly
share that information (configuration, etc.), and/or do likewise
on Lubuntu 14.04[.x] LTS.  Anyway, I'll follow-up to provide more
information on what I have on that (I did also earlier take some
wee bit of notes on it - but I think I mostly followed Debian or
some similar guide on that (probably also in my notes) ... in any
case, Lubuntu or Debian, the setup for that would be quite similar).

I did read through the Google Docs ... but haven't quite yet read in
detail the repository code to see what we've got there (and what it does
and how - though I gave it a very fast skim - I think it was lateish
last week).

Custom ISO ... bittorrent?  I might be more interested in either or both
of:
o zsync - and it's quite similar to / based upon (such and such ISO,
   e.g. latest Lubuntu 14.04[.x] LTS ISO)
o script(s)/programs that would recreate the custom ISO based upon some
   standard reference ISO (e.g. latest Lubuntu 14.04[.x] LTS ISO)

Oh, ... and I still need to read the notes that were "attached" to the
email referenced.

references/excerpts:

> From: "Tai Kedzierski" <dch.tai at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Tech] Partimus (PXE?) (nearly?) unattended install solution(s?)
> Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2015 19:19:00 +0100

> I was hoping to email on Sunday night or Monday, but got caught up  
> reviewing the code for remastersys...  
> https://github.com/taikedz/remastersys
>
> I have managed to put together what I believe will be able to be a  
> workflow that will allow even teachers themselves to make their own  
> customized ISO images in the future :-)
>
> I've attached the preliminary notes; they will also be on  
> github.com/taikedz/our-pxe under the customization/ directory
>
> I have prepped a final demo CD with some relevant customizations; I  
> will seed this over bittorrent for demo if anyone is interested, or  
> just share some screenshots?
>
> So if this customization workflow is acceptable, only two more items  
> need to be addressed:
>
> 1/ preseed file for making the install unattended (my customization  
> method still requires initial input from user, but after that  
> everything comes pre-installed)
>
> The main question is about /how to find out/ what the options are we  
> are actually looking for...
>
> 2/ & ...... the drasted PXE server. I've burned through a few  
> tutorials by now and no functioning setup.... anyone have a  
> method/guide by which to get from fresh-ubuntu14.04-install to  
> fully-functional-pxe ???
>
> My next intention is, if we can't set up a PXE server from scratch,  
> to make a home-grown solution. I'm thinking of remastering a CD to  
> contain a script that'll auto-partition, mkfs and mount /dev/sda,  
> then just rsync over the network...
>
> PS -- (Guide Attached as markdown, also available at  
> https://github.com/taikedz/our-pxe/blob/master/customizer/oem/respinning_ubuntus.md  
> )