[LAU] Shopping for a linux distro

Very Specific Requirements..... Must boot quickly -- Ability to turn off hardware autodetection easily highly desirable. Must be fairly straight forwards to customise X to run a single app rather than a window manager. Prefer a realtime kernel out of the box. Must have working firewire by default. Must be relatively straight forwards to build software on or for and package it. Basically I am looking to set up a single app box to be used in live performance. If something goes wrong I want to be able to hit the reset button and have a working system again in the minimum with no human interaction other than the grub loading screen. Any suggestions Danni Mencken and Nathan's Ninth Law of The Average American: The quality of a champagne is judged by the amount of noise the cork makes when it is popped.