I think its about time I stopped deluding myself that I'm going to have 'more spare time' in the near future to do another version of the Reprap LiveCD. It just isn't going to happen.

The original reason I made the LiveCD was twofold: so that the install process for the host software could be made easier, and so that there was a standard testing platform available for others to try and replicate problems. The first reason has basically disappeared as the software has matured but I'm not sure about the other.

So, if anyone else wants to take it over, here's my braindump:

- Most everything I did in the past is in the change.log file on the LiveCD. Note that if you open it on a Windows machine, you'll probably have to open it Wordpad rather than Notepad.
- The equivalent of the change.log for each version of the LiveCD could be made into a bash script with little effort but I'm not sure how useful it would be as the prerequisites have changed so much.
- I was planning the next LiveCD to be based on a script that installed everything and integrated into Reconstructor [reconstructor.aperantis.com]
- Potential NVIDIA graphics card issue [forums.reprap.org]

Things I was going to look into:
- Have a simple .iso -> Bootable USB key-drive environment pathway (possibly have that as the supported media type)
- Adding in Ardunio programming software
- Adding in stl export to AoI
- Adding in AoI plugin CSG Evaluator
- Save settings to HDD/USB key drive
- Potential java pre-req see [forums.reprap.org]
- Get MeshLab working on LiveCD see half way down 1st page of general discussion link below

And for general discussion of the last LiveCD see [forums.reprap.org]

I'm not volunteering to take over the live CD, but re Nvidia cards, one of the Ubuntu frequent posters made a little application a while back that sorts out nvidia cards pretty well, it's called EnvyNG. I've typically spent between a few days and a month sorting out xorg.conf and selecting the corect nvidia drivers after Ubuntu 6 monthly upgrades, but EnvyNG takes the tedium and annoyance out of that, so far, anyway. I use dual screen, and I don't like applications opening across both.

Personally, I haven't got a 3D printer/CNC machine yet, but I'm about ready to order some boards I've designed for STM arm cortex-M3 processors and lots of CAM specialist additional I/O. I bought a ASUS EEEBOX for a GCODE server and CAD file processor. Cheap, and only 9 volts at 4.5 amps. Comes with XP, but that can be fixed...

Out of curiosity, do you have an estimate for how much time you spend putting together a LiveCD release? I think the LiveCD is an important part of the project (if nothing else, it makes it more accessible), and it would be a shame to see it dry up.