>I rather hope that Knoppix will be available in "32-bits for quite a
>while" indeed! Most of the machines I run Knoppix on are 32-bit machines.
I explicitly stated that 32 vs 64 bits was not the subject here. Furthermore, it will not be difficult to deliver both 32 and 64 bits in the same package, just two different compressed images to choose between, analogous to the way we can choose between 32 and 64 bits kernels when booting Knoppix today. From my own very modest and superficial testing of 32 vs "pure" 64 bits on ordinary actual hardware (like the I5-430M processor), the difference is not huge today with ordinary user space programs.
So making this an important development issue today isn't very fruitful, I think.
There is, however, no good reason why Knoppix should be confined to 32-bits, if volunteers take the (mostly administrative) job of making a 64-bits version for each release. Remastering-wise, 32 and 64 bits versions should behave similarly.
As for the approach, I think I may try out starting from a basic 64-bits Debian and see how it works out.