NetbootCD

NetbootCD is a GNU/Linux live CD based on Tiny Core Linux. The live CD allows the user to download and run one of several Linux netboot installers, which can install a full GNU/Linux system with only a hard drive and Internet connection.

Several of the distributions supported by NetbootCD are prerelease distributions (such as Debian testing) or development distributions (openSUSE Factory, Fedora Rawhide, Debian sid.) Because NetbootCD downloads the latest installer, which in turn downloads the latest system components, you can install a fully up-to-date system without burning a new CD.
Supported Distributions

The following distributions are installable from the current NetbootCD:

NetbootCD also supports downloading and launching the latest versions of the GRUB4DOS bootloader and of Tiny Core Linux and its sibling Micro Core.

Downloads

The current version of NetbootCD is version 4.7, available from TuxFamily. It is built on a microcore-4.1 base, with kexec support added to the kernel. The ISO image can be burned to a CD/DVD or written to a flash drive.
Download NetbootCD 4.7 (12 MB) (md5)
NetbootCD is also available on a set of five 1440KB floppies. (See here for how it works.)
Download floppy version (v4.6 - 5 disk set)

I have also made available an ISO image with NetbootCD 4.7 and Tiny Core Linux 4.1. It should work with CDs or USB drives, and includes everything in multicore (except microcore).
NetbootCD-4.7+TinyCore.iso (50 MB) (md5)

Both ISO images include the GRUB4DOS bootloader in command-line mode, for "emergency situations."

Notes
  • When using NetbootCD with the wi-fi addons from Multicore, press Ctrl+C to stop the script from looking for an internet connection, then set up the wi-fi manually through the command line. Once it's up, type "netboot".
  • NetbootCD uses a recompiled Tiny Core Linux kernel with kexec support. The kexec-tools binaries are in the initrd (nbinit4.gz) and, on the NetbootCD + Multicore ISO, they are also in a kexec.tcz archive on the CD so you can use kexec from within Tiny Core.
  • In the NetbootCD + Multicore ISO, you can launch NetbootCD with the Multicore add-ons (such as wi-fi access, if you know how to configure a wi-fi network from the command line.)
  • NetbootCD 4.5+ has a new "script" option on the main menu. With this option, you can have NetbootCD load and parse a SYSLINUX-formatted boot configuration and do its best to run one of the boot options specified.
    • Multiple initrds are supported, but they are combined in memory, so the process takes a bit longer.
    • Kernels other than Linux and GRUB4DOS probably won't work.
    • You can choose to search for syslinux.cfg, isolinux.cfg, pxelinux.cfg, or nbcd.cfg. The search checks the CD-ROM first, then all disks listed in "fdisk -l".
Links
Licensing and Source

The NetbootCD script (nbscript.sh) is written by me and is licensed GPLv2+: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

Text of GPLv2 - Text of GPLv3

Source for software in version 4.7 can be found at http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/4.x/release/src and in the folder http://downloads.tuxfamily.org/netbootcd/4.7/build, which also contains the build script. (To build NetbootCD, grab the contents of the folder with FTP. You'll also want to put microcore.gz (4.1) in that folder and kexec.bzI in a folder called "done".)

Source code for kexec-tools was obtained from Debian sid (kexec-tools_20080324.orig.tar.gz).

GRUB4DOS is available from http://download.gna.org/grub4dos.

If you have any questions, you can ask at Ubuntu Forums thread linked above. You can also contact me (Isaac Schemm) via e-mail.