Using moblin-image-creator-ui

You can start moblin-image-creator-ui from the Moblin Image Manager control panel by double clicking the "create image" icon or running the command "moblin-image-creator-ui" from the terminal. It will navigate you to create one or multiple moblin images.

Click "Get Started" to go to the next screen.

In this screen, you can select one or multiple image type, it can create multiple images once using the same configuration.

In the Configure screen, you can select the main configuration file. By default, Moblin Image Manager has /etc/mic/mic.conf selected as the main configuration file. You can edit it to meet your requirements.

Here is the default configuration sample:

Its format is the same as the Revisor main configuration file. Just modify the "Models" section to meet your requirements. You can add or remove a model, from conception. A model is a release, its intention is to use the same image creator for all your products during your products life cycle. There is a configuration file for every model. A section for the model can define some attributes, such as model configuration file, product name, and version.

"Configuration Section to Use" in the above screen is used to select a model. For the default configuration, you can see moblin-alpha, moblin-beta, and moblin-devel.

Here is the configuration file for model "moblin-devel":

Actually, this is a yum configuration file. You can set one or multiple repos for it. The repo list box in the above screen will show all the repos in this file. You can select one repo to edit and save it to this file. You can also add a new temporary repo for this image or create or add a repo for this configuration file.

In the above screen, you can also specify the destination directory for images, repo cache directory (for caching metedada and packages from repos in this model configuration file), and temporary build directory (image creating will need some disk space, it will be removed after creating).

The "View/Edit Repository" button is used to view or edit an existing repo. You must use the mouse to select a repo in the repo list box, by clicking a repo item then view or edit. The "Add Repository" button is also used to add a new repo. If the new repo is temporary, it is valid only for this image creation. It won't exist for the next creation, but you can save it to the current model configuration file, so that it will exist for the next creation. The "Delete Repository" button is used to remove an existing repo. You must select a repo before you can delete it.

Here is the repo dialog:

You can set the proxy for a repo. The "Save to Configuration" check box indicates whether this repo is saved to the current model configuration file.

The check box in the repo list box is used to indicate whether this repo will be used. After configuration, click the "Forward" button to progress to the next screen, "Load Kickstart Data".

In the "Load Kickstart Data" screen, you can select a kickstart file, which determines some image creation settings, such as package selection. You can also choose whether, in the selected kickstart file, to use repos, base packages selection, or to re-customize packages and customize language, keyboard, timezone, kernel boot parameters, and users/passwords.

If you don't want to use kickstart or you don't have an available kickstart file, you can click the "Forward" button to go to the next screen, "Package Selection".

In the "Package Selection" screen, you can select packages according to your requirements. Some packages are necessary, such as the kernel, so please select a kernel package according to your target device, such as netbook.

If you selected a kickstart file and don't select "customize package manifest", you will skip the "package selection" screen.

If you selected "Customize language, keyboard...", you will see the screen below.

In the "Basic Configuration" screen, you can configure language, keyboard, time zone, desktop, and root password, and then go to the next screen, "kernel boot parameters".

You can add extra kernel boot parameters in this screen, then enter "Users/Passwords" screen

This is the screen where you can set the default Moblin login user.

Finally, you have reached the "Ready" screen. Note: You will skip these three screens if you didn't select "customize language, keyboard...". If you selected a kickstart file and didn't select "customize package manifest...", "package selection", the screens will also be skipped.

The "Ready" screen summarizes how many packages will be installed and how much disk space will be used. Next, you go to the "Build Image" screen.

This screen will show build processes and progress until the final image is created successfully. Then a result screen will appear to display the path to the resulting image.

If you want to create another image, click "Run Again". Otherwise, click "Quit" to return to the control panel, where you can launch another tool.