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30 <p>Up2date: 20060612 - applies to version grml 0.9/grml-small 0.3</p>
32 <p><a name="toc"></a><strong>Index:</strong></p>
34 <p class="toc"><a href="#general">General:</a></p>
36 <li><a href="#whatis">What is grml?</a></li>
37 <li><a href="#get">Where do I get grml?</a></li>
38 <li><a href="#whatmeans">What does grml mean?</a></li>
39 <li><a href="#pronounce">How do you pronounce grml?</a></li>
40 <li><a href="#releasename">What about the release name?</a></li>
41 <li><a href="#requirements">Requirements for running grml</a></li>
42 <li><a href="#why">Why another Linux distribution?</a></li>
43 <li><a href="#license">What's the license of grml?</a></li>
44 <li><a href="#difference">What's the difference between grml and $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are your main goals?</a></li>
45 <li><a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></li>
46 <li><a href="#accessibility">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></li>
47 <li><a href="#emulation">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></li>
48 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#store">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
52 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlsmall">grml-small:</a></p>
54 <li><a href="#whatissmall">What is grml-small?</a></li>
55 <li><a href="#smallvsnormal">What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></li>
56 <li><a href="#grmlvsdsl">What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></li>
59 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
61 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
62 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
63 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
64 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
65 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
66 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
67 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
68 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
69 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
70 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
71 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
72 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
73 <li><a href="#grml2hdhang">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></li>
74 <li><a href="#hardware">I have problems with my hardware!</a></li>
75 <li><a href="#boot">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></li>
78 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
80 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
81 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
82 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
85 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
87 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#sw_version">What version of $PACKAGE is available?</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#setuid">setuid/SUID</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#bitchx">bitchx</a></li>
95 <li><a href="#ispell">ispell</a></li>
96 <li><a href="#latex">LaTeX</a></li>
97 <li><a href="#slapd">slapd</a></li>
100 <p class="toc"><a href="#release">Release related issues</a>:</p>
102 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></li>
103 <li><a href="#proc_usb">Why isn't /proc/bus/usb mounted anymore?</a></li>
106 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
108 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
109 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
110 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
113 <p class="toc"><a href="#framebuffer">Framebuffer</a></p>
115 <li><a href="#video">The boot option video does not work as expected anymore</a></li>
116 <li><a href="#fbprobs">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></li>
119 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Unanswered stuff</a></p>
121 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
122 <li><a href="#donate">You like grml? Make a donation to support our work!</a></li>
125 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
127 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
129 <p>grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) once based on <a
130 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> and nowadays based on <a
131 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml includes a collection of
132 GNU/Linux software especially for users of texttools and system
133 administrators. grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
134 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
135 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due to
136 on-the-fly decompression grml includes about 2.1 GB of software and
137 documentation on the CD.</p>
139 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
141 <p>You can download grml of course: take a look at <a
142 href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want
143 to get an original grml-CD including <a
144 href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>, need a
145 special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
146 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
147 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact
148 us</a>! Take a look at <a
149 href="http://solutions.grml.org/">grml-solutions</a> for more
150 information regarding our offers.</p>
152 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
154 <p>grml is short for 'grummel' and comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People
155 use this when they want to express their dissatisfaction/discontentedness with software
156 (amongst other things):</p>
159 $ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
160 sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
163 <h3><a name="pronounce"></a><a href="#toc">How do you pronounce grml?</a></h3>
166 % flite -o play -t gremel</pre>
169 $ echo 'ghroummel' | festival \-\-tts
172 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
174 <p>Codename of grml 0.9 is Dioptrienotto. 'Dioptrienotto' is austrian
175 jargon for someone who is wearing glasses. Oh and you should know of
176 course <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=lenny+debian">who is
177 Lenny</a>. (Thanks for the idea to Alexander '<a
178 href="/team/#formorer">formorer</a>' Wirt and thanks for
179 the releasename itself to Martin Piskernig.)</p>
181 <p>Codename of grml-small 0.3 is Zwergenaufstand. Zwerg is the german
182 word for runt/dwarf and Aufstand is the german word for rebellion.
183 (Thanks for the releasename goes to Alexander '<a
184 href="/team/#formorer">formorer</a>' Wirt.</p>
186 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
190 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
192 <li>at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with ramdisks for unionfs and udev
193 and running X window system we recommend at least 128MB)</li>
195 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
197 <li>bootable CD-ROM drive (or <a
198 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=tips">a boot floppy</a> and standard
199 CD-ROM [IDE/ATAPI or SCSI]) [or network - see <a
200 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>]</li>
204 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
206 <p>There already exist "<a
207 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We decided
208 to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
209 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> and <a
210 href="http://www.knoppix.net/">Knoppix</a> because we don't want to reinvent
211 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue-CD and Knoppix works but
212 does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of texttools
213 out of the box, so we decided to share our work with others.</p>
215 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
217 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
218 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>).
219 You don't have to pay anything for running grml. <a
220 href="/donations/">Donations</a> and <a href="/contact/">feedback</a> are
221 welcome of course. If you want a special LiveCD or need support, take a
222 look at <a href="http://solutions.grml.org/">grml-solutions</a>.</p>
224 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
225 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are your main goals?</a></h3>
227 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
228 users of texttools and sysadmins. grml includes many important
229 texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh, mutt[ng],
230 slrn, vim and many others) and useful programs for admin's
231 daily work. grml uses the existing infrastructure of <a
232 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml was once based on <a
233 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see '<a
234 href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and
235 Knoppix?</a>' for more details). We are also merging
236 useful things from other distributions/live-cds to provide a
237 perfect environment.</p>
239 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
241 <p>grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE
242 and OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800
243 packages which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. grml
244 boots a 2.6.x kernel but no X for faster startup. Knoppix is based
245 on Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is
246 basically based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current
247 versions of software and less painfull upgrades. grml was once
248 based on Knoppix but nowadays (except for a similar initial
249 ramdisk) has nothing in common with Knoppix:</p>
253 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
256 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and
257 provide most of Knoppix' features as well. grml uses (mostly) the
258 same cheatcodes for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra
259 ones. So if you are used to the basic Knoppix features you might
260 find them on the grml-system as well. Ripping out the Knoppix
261 stuff makes it possible to create a grml system out of a
262 Debian system and vice versa. Running 'apt-get install grml' on a
263 Debian box will be officially supported in an upcoming version of
266 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
268 <p>The grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
269 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml blind
270 brltty=type,port,tbl'), emacspeak and flite.</p>
272 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
274 <p><a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a> should work without any
275 problems. It's also possible to run grml with <a
276 href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>, an emulator for various
277 CPUs which works on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and Mac OS X. Running grml with
278 QEMU has been tested successfully on Windows and Linux. Take a look at <a
279 href="/qemu/">the QEMU-grml-webpage</a>.</p>
281 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
283 <p>Take a look at the script <a
284 href="/scripts/grml2usb">grml2usb</a>. For more
285 details, take a look at the <a
286 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb-webpage in the
289 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
291 <p>Yes. grml provides a powerful config framework. See <a
292 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
293 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
294 and 'man save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
297 <h2><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a href="#toc">grml-small?</a></h2>
299 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
301 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.1 GB of software on a 700 MB
302 ISO, grml-small is a flavor with online ~58 MB ISO-size (~170 MB
303 uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software but the
304 essential stuff for being a rescue system on a business card
305 CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the Debian package
306 management system to install software on the fly (assuming you
307 have network access to a Debian mirror). Take a look at the <a
308 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are
309 searching for the package list.</p>
311 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
312 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
314 <p>The 700 MB-grml brings more than 2500 packages of software and a <a
315 href="/kernel/">full-featured kernel</a>. grml-small includes
316 about 215 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages on the ISO and
317 has a stripped-down <a href="/kernel/">kernel</a> (but still
318 provides hardware detection of course). <a
319 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a> is <strong>not</strong>
320 available/supported on grml-small.</p>
322 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
323 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
325 <p>DSL and grml-small have different target audiences. <a
326 href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a> (DSL) uses kernel
327 version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent version of kernel version
328 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which grml-small does not. grml-small
329 provides the most important packages for sysadmins and ships the original
330 Debian package management which allows you to install packages of the Debian
331 pool with no modifications.</p>
333 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
335 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
337 <p>grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
338 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
339 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
340 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
341 get a completion menu.</p>
343 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
345 <p>There are no default passwords. All accounts are locked by
346 default. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set a
347 password or create new user accounts as root). You can create
348 valid passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
351 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
353 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
356 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
358 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
361 $ sudo umount -l /cdrom
362 $ sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs ;)
363 $ mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed ;)
366 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
368 <p>By default grml uses English settings. But it is possible to
369 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
370 keyboard and xkeyboard or via running grml-lang when grml is
371 already running. Usage examples:</p>
374 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
375 # German keyboard layout and German $LANG, $LC_ALL,
377 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
378 # and you will get German keyboard and Austrian
380 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
381 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
384 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
385 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
386 language options:</p>
390 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
391 environment settings</li>
393 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
394 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
395 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
396 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
398 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
399 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
401 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
402 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
403 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
407 <p>Notice: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
408 /etc/default/locale and grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
409 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
411 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
413 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a distribution
414 for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to run KDE with
415 Debian use e.g. <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a>, <a
416 href="http://kanotix.com/">Kanotix</a> or <a
417 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
418 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like to
419 see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
420 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
422 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
424 <p>grml is shipped only with window managers which are lightweight and
425 fast - so well suited for a live-CD. At the moment, grml provides these window managers:
426 <a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>,
427 <a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>,
428 <a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>,
429 <a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>,
430 <a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>,
431 <a href="http://modeemi.cs.tut.fi/~tuomov/ion/">ion3</a>,
432 <a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>,
433 <a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>,
434 <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>,
435 <a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>,
436 <a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>,
437 <a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a>,
438 <a href="http://wmii.de/">wmi and wmii</a>.</p>
440 <p>If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
441 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
443 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
445 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
446 udev on grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
447 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
449 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
450 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
452 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
453 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
455 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
456 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the
457 box; you don't need to modify anything. If accessing the device
458 fails, use the 'scandelay' cheatcode on bootprompt. So, boot with
459 'grml scandelay'. If the timeout is still not long enough add the
460 time to wait in seconds as parameter: 'grml scandelay=15'. See <a
461 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb-webpage in the
462 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
464 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
465 disk? Take a look at <a
466 href="http://btmgr.webframe.org/">btmgr</a>, <a
467 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
468 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
469 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
471 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system
472 via network. If you have a floppy drive, you can even boot your
473 system over network when your network card does not provide
474 PXE-support! For more information, refer to the <a
475 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver-webpage</a>.</p>
477 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
478 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
480 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
483 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
484 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
485 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
489 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk
492 <p>Use the <strong>tzconfig</strong> utility to set the local
499 <p>which adjusts /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to
500 the provided information. Running:</p>
503 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
506 <p>might be useful as well.</p>
508 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
509 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
510 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
512 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
516 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
519 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
520 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
521 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
522 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
523 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
525 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
526 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
529 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
530 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
534 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
537 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is
540 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
542 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
549 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
550 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
553 <h4>Further information:</h4>
555 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
556 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
557 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a>
559 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in
560 the Debian-Wiki</a>.</p>
562 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
564 <p>Take a look at the <a href="/bugs/">bugs-webpage</a>.</p>
566 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
568 <p>Yes. grml provides a tool called grml2hd (see '<a
569 href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is developed on a box
570 running the grml-system itself, and we - the grml-developers - especially like
571 grml2hd because it gives us a working Linux box within 10 to 30 minutes!
572 grml2hd is perfect for prototyping: test hardware support of Linux, test a
573 specific setup, ... You can even use grml2hd in a fully automatic mode without
574 any further interaction. More information is available on <a
575 href="/grml2hd/">grml.org/grml2hd/</a> and <a
576 href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>. Notice: If you are using grml
577 in a production environment and/or use a grml2hd installation, we strongly
578 recommend you subscribe to <a href="/mailinglist/">the grml user
579 mailinglist</a>! Note that grml is based on Debian unstable, so you should
580 be familiar with Debian unstable if you plan to use grml as a harddisk
581 system. If you want to get a plain Debian system take a look at
582 grml-debootstrap.</p>
584 <h3><a name="grml2hdhang"></a><a href="#toc">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></h3>
586 <p>grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output.
587 If you see something like:</p>
590 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
591 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
592 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]</pre>
594 <p>your ISO/CD-ROM very probably is not ok. Verify it via booting with
595 grml testcd. Check your CD low-level via running:</p>
598 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom</pre>
600 <p>If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with
601 DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma' at the bootprompt.</p>
603 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
605 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a
606 file named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about
607 your hardware. If you think we might help, please run
608 grml-hwinfo and send us the file with additional, relevant
609 information regarding your problem.</p>
611 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
613 <p>Please take a look at <a
614 href="/files/grml-cheatcodes.txt">the available
615 bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which ways
616 exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
617 noapic' might help. Bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal
618 hardware detection. You still have problems? Please <a
619 href="/contact/">contact us</a>!</p>
621 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
623 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
626 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
628 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
629 used on grml?</a></h3>
631 <p>grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
632 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
633 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
635 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
637 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
639 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Notice: this works
640 for uniprocessor systems as well, thanks to <a
641 href="http://lwn.net/Articles/164121/">SMP alternatives</a>.)</p>
643 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
645 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
647 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
648 root-shell run "sudo su".</p>
650 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
651 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
652 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>!</p>
654 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">What version of $PACKAGE is
657 <p>Take a look at the dpkg_... files in the <a
658 href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
659 grml.org/files/</a>. </p>
661 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
663 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
664 textonly one' and it's debian's default.</p>
666 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use
667 sysv-rc but file-rc. This means you can configure the init system
668 in one single file named /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite
669 editor. No symlink-hell anymore.</p>
671 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell (/bin/sh)?</a></h3>
673 <p>Short answer: because zsh rocks.</p>
675 <p>Longer answer taken from <a href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH
676 FAQ: 1.2: What is it?</a>:</p>
678 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
679 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
680 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
681 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
682 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
683 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
685 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
686 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
687 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
688 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
689 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
691 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash is largely a
692 subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
694 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
696 <p>Yes, until grml 0.6 zsh was the intepreter for /bin/sh. Starting
697 with release 0.7 grml uses /bin/bash as /bin/sh. The reason?
698 Debian does not support zsh as /bin/sh. Take a look at <a
699 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
701 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
704 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
706 <p>grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
707 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
708 well) is provided by grml.</p>
710 <h3><a name="setuid"></a><a href="#toc">setuid/SUID</a></h3>
712 <p>If you set a programm SUID (setuid/mode 4755), unprivileged users on your system will
713 be able to run it. This <em>could</em> be a potentially security hole, so by default the
714 packages are configured not to install binaries with setuid. If you want to use the
715 binaries with setuid please run 'dpkg-reconfigure $packagename' or 'chmod 4755
716 =programm'. The following packages are well known to have a programm with not set
728 <h3><a name="bitchx"></a><a href="#toc">bitchx</a></h3>
730 <p>Why isn't bitchx part of grml? <a
731 href="http://www.google.com/search?q=bitchx+sucks">bitchx
732 sucks</a>. Please use a better alternative like <a
733 href="http://irssi.org/">irssi</a> or <a
734 href="http://weechat.flashtux.org/index.php?lang=en">weechat</a>
735 which are part of grml.</p>
737 <h3><a name="ispell"></a><a href="#toc">ispell</a></h3>
739 <p>You don't want to use the preselected default for ispell? Run
740 'select-default-ispell' for changing it.</p>
742 <h3><a name="latex"></a><a href="#toc">LaTeX</a></h3>
744 <p>auctex and preview-latex are loaded by default in emacs. If you want to load
745 auctex based on your personal settings put the string "(require 'tex-site)" in your
746 ~/.emacs, for preview-latex use the string '(load "preview-latex")'.<br />
747 To change this run 'dpkg-reconfigure auctex' and/or 'dpkg-reconfigure
750 <h3><a name="slapd"></a><a href="#toc">slapd</a></h3>
752 <p>The password for the admin entry in the LDAP directory is 'grml'.</p>
754 <h2><a name="release"></a><a href="#toc">Release related issues</a></h2>
756 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
758 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
759 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
763 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_0.9">issues regarding
764 grml 0.9</a> and</li>
766 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_0.2">issues
767 regarding grml-small 0.3</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
772 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
773 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please report it to us</a>!</p>
775 <h3><a name="proc_usb"></a><a href="#toc">Why isn't /proc/bus/usb mounted anymore?</a></h3>
777 <p>Starting with kernel 2.6.14, /dev/bus/usb replaces usbfs.
778 Current versions of libusb check for /dev/bus/usb's existence and
779 /proc/bus/usb is not necessary anymore (see <a
780 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=336596">#336596</a>).
781 Of course 'mount /proc/bus/usb' still works; it is just not mounted
782 by default anymore. If you see any problems please <a
783 href="#bugreport">report them</a>.</p>
785 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
787 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
789 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
790 generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
791 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
792 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
793 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
798 <p>If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of
799 grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
801 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
803 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
804 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x)! Some usage examples:</p>
807 grml-x -display 8 fluxbox # start fluxbox on display 8
808 grml-x -force -nostart fluxbox # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
809 grml-x -hsync 60 fluxbox # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
810 grml-x -hsync 60 -vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
811 grml-x -mode '800x600' fluxbox # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
812 grml-x -module vesa fluxbox # start fluxbox and use vesa module
815 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
817 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
818 example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.</p>
820 <h2><a name="framebuffer"></a><a href="#toc">Framebuffer</a></h2>
822 <h3><a name="video"></a><a href="#toc">The boot option video does not work as
823 expected anymore</a></h3>
825 <p>grml versions 0.4 and 0.5 provided <a
826 href="/kernel/#vesafbtng">vesafb-tng</a> instead of
827 normal vesafb. Starting with grml 0.6 and grml-small 0.2 vesafb-tng
828 is not part of the grml-kernel anymore because it caused too many
829 problems. Therefore, you can use the 'normal' vga=... option
832 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
834 <p>Likely, this is a problem with vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
835 with bootoption 'nofb' or 'grml vga=normal'.</p>
837 <h2><a name="question"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h2>
839 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in
840 the provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a>
841 (also run 'grml-info' on your grml-system)? Run 'grml-tips
842 $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at <a
843 href="/">the grml-website</a> and <a
844 href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. Please don't
845 hesitate to <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>, a
846 good place to start is the <a
847 href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>.</p>
849 <h3><a name="donate"></a><a href="#toc">You like grml? Make a donation
850 to support our work!</a></h3>
852 <p>grml is, as every other Open-Source project, driven by the many
853 contributions made by many developers. The grml-team spends a great
854 deal of their time and money toward this project.</p>
856 <p>If you have been using grml you will come to remember how much money you
857 or your company saves by using it and how you have been supported via
858 the project mailing list, personal mail or irc.</p>
860 <p>Now you can contribute by donating to grml. Your donation could either
861 be money or hardware that one of the developers or the project as a whole
862 needs. A donation would enable us to either support a specific
863 hardware/software either at all or simply better.</p>
865 <p>See <a href="/donations/">grml.org/donations/</a> for
866 details. Thank you for helping us to work on grml!</p>
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