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31 <p>Up2date: 20060612 - applies to version grml 0.9/grml-small 0.3</p>
33 <p><a name="toc"></a><strong>Index:</strong></p>
35 <p class="toc"><a href="#general">General:</a></p>
37 <li><a href="#whatis">What is grml?</a></li>
38 <li><a href="#get">Where do I get grml?</a></li>
39 <li><a href="#whatmeans">What does grml mean?</a></li>
40 <li><a href="#pronounce">How do you pronounce grml?</a></li>
41 <li><a href="#releasename">What about the release name?</a></li>
42 <li><a href="#requirements">Requirements for running grml</a></li>
43 <li><a href="#why">Why another Linux distribution?</a></li>
44 <li><a href="#license">What's the license of grml?</a></li>
45 <li><a href="#difference">What's the difference between grml and $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are your main goals?</a></li>
46 <li><a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></li>
47 <li><a href="#accessibility">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></li>
48 <li><a href="#emulation">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
50 <li><a href="#store">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
53 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlsmall">grml-small:</a></p>
55 <li><a href="#whatissmall">What is grml-small?</a></li>
56 <li><a href="#smallvsnormal">What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></li>
57 <li><a href="#grmlvsdsl">What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></li>
60 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
62 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
63 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
64 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
65 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
66 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
67 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
68 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
69 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
70 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
71 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
72 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
73 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
74 <li><a href="#grml2hdhang">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></li>
75 <li><a href="#hardware">I have problems with my hardware!</a></li>
76 <li><a href="#boot">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></li>
79 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
81 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
82 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
83 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
86 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
88 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#sw_version">What version of $PACKAGE is available?</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#setuid">setuid/SUID</a></li>
95 <li><a href="#bitchx">bitchx</a></li>
96 <li><a href="#ispell">ispell</a></li>
97 <li><a href="#latex">LaTeX</a></li>
98 <li><a href="#slapd">slapd</a></li>
101 <p class="toc"><a href="#release">Release related issues</a>:</p>
103 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></li>
104 <li><a href="#proc_usb">Why isn't /proc/bus/usb mounted anymore?</a></li>
107 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
109 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
110 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
111 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
114 <p class="toc"><a href="#framebuffer">Framebuffer</a></p>
116 <li><a href="#video">The boot option video does not work as expected anymore</a></li>
117 <li><a href="#fbprobs">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></li>
120 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Unanswered stuff</a></p>
122 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
123 <li><a href="#donate">You like grml? Make a donation to support our work!</a></li>
126 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
128 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
130 <p>grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) once based on <a
131 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> and nowadays based on <a
132 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml includes a collection of
133 GNU/Linux software especially for users of texttools and system
134 administrators. grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
135 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
136 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due to
137 on-the-fly decompression grml includes about 2.1 GB of software and
138 documentation on the CD.</p>
140 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
142 <p>You can download grml of course: take a look at <a
143 href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want
144 to get an original grml-CD including <a
145 href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>, need a
146 special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
147 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
148 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact
149 us</a>! Take a look at <a
150 href="http://solutions.grml.org/">grml-solutions</a> for more
151 information regarding our offers.</p>
153 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
155 <p>grml is short for 'grummel' and comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People
156 use this when they want to express their dissatisfaction/discontentedness with software
157 (amongst other things):</p>
160 $ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
161 sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
164 <h3><a name="pronounce"></a><a href="#toc">How do you pronounce grml?</a></h3>
167 % flite -o play -t gremel</pre>
170 $ echo 'ghroummel' | festival \-\-tts
173 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
175 <p>Codename of grml 0.9 is Dioptrienotto. 'Dioptrienotto' is austrian
176 jargon for someone who is wearing glasses. Oh and you should know of
177 course <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=lenny+debian">who is
178 Lenny</a>. (Thanks for the idea to Alexander '<a
179 href="/team/#formorer">formorer</a>' Wirt and thanks for
180 the releasename itself to Martin Piskernig.)</p>
182 <p>Codename of grml-small 0.3 is Zwergenaufstand. Zwerg is the german
183 word for runt/dwarf and Aufstand is the german word for rebellion.
184 (Thanks for the releasename goes to Alexander '<a
185 href="/team/#formorer">formorer</a>' Wirt.</p>
187 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
191 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
193 <li>at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with ramdisks for unionfs and udev
194 and running X window system we recommend at least 128MB)</li>
196 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
198 <li>bootable CD-ROM drive (or <a
199 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=tips">a boot floppy</a> and standard
200 CD-ROM [IDE/ATAPI or SCSI]) [or network - see <a
201 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>]</li>
205 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
207 <p>There already exist "<a
208 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We decided
209 to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
210 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> and <a
211 href="http://www.knoppix.net/">Knoppix</a> because we don't want to reinvent
212 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue-CD and Knoppix works but
213 does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of texttools
214 out of the box, so we decided to share our work with others.</p>
216 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
218 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
219 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>).
220 You don't have to pay anything for running grml. <a
221 href="/donations/">Donations</a> and <a href="/contact/">feedback</a> are
222 welcome of course. If you want a special LiveCD or need support, take a
223 look at <a href="http://solutions.grml.org/">grml-solutions</a>.</p>
225 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
226 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are your main goals?</a></h3>
228 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
229 users of texttools and sysadmins. grml includes many important
230 texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh, mutt[ng],
231 slrn, vim and many others) and useful programs for admin's
232 daily work. grml uses the existing infrastructure of <a
233 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml was once based on <a
234 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see '<a
235 href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and
236 Knoppix?</a>' for more details). We are also merging
237 useful things from other distributions/live-cds to provide a
238 perfect environment.</p>
240 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
242 <p>grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE
243 and OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800
244 packages which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. grml
245 boots a 2.6.x kernel but no X for faster startup. Knoppix is based
246 on Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is
247 basically based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current
248 versions of software and less painfull upgrades. grml was once
249 based on Knoppix but nowadays (except for a similar initial
250 ramdisk) has nothing in common with Knoppix:</p>
254 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
257 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and
258 provide most of Knoppix' features as well. grml uses (mostly) the
259 same cheatcodes for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra
260 ones. So if you are used to the basic Knoppix features you might
261 find them on the grml-system as well. Ripping out the Knoppix
262 stuff makes it possible to create a grml system out of a
263 Debian system and vice versa. Running 'apt-get install grml' on a
264 Debian box will be officially supported in an upcoming version of
267 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
269 <p>The grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
270 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml blind
271 brltty=type,port,tbl'), emacspeak and flite.</p>
273 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
275 <p><a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a> should work without any
276 problems. It's also possible to run grml with <a
277 href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>, an emulator for various
278 CPUs which works on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and Mac OS X. Running grml with
279 QEMU has been tested successfully on Windows and Linux. Take a look at <a
280 href="/qemu/">the QEMU-grml-webpage</a>.</p>
282 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
284 <p>Take a look at the script <a
285 href="/scripts/grml2usb">grml2usb</a>. For more
286 details, take a look at the <a
287 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb-webpage in the
290 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
292 <p>Yes. grml provides a powerful config framework. See <a
293 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
294 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
295 and 'man save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
298 <h2><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a href="#toc">grml-small?</a></h2>
300 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
302 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.1 GB of software on a 700 MB
303 ISO, grml-small is a flavor with online ~58 MB ISO-size (~170 MB
304 uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software but the
305 essential stuff for being a rescue system on a business card
306 CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the Debian package
307 management system to install software on the fly (assuming you
308 have network access to a Debian mirror). Take a look at the <a
309 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are
310 searching for the package list.</p>
312 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
313 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
315 <p>The 700 MB-grml brings more than 2500 packages of software and a <a
316 href="/kernel/">full-featured kernel</a>. grml-small includes
317 about 215 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages on the ISO and
318 has a stripped-down <a href="/kernel/">kernel</a> (but still
319 provides hardware detection of course). <a
320 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a> is <strong>not</strong>
321 available/supported on grml-small.</p>
323 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
324 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
326 <p>DSL and grml-small have different target audiences. <a
327 href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a> (DSL) uses kernel
328 version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent version of kernel version
329 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which grml-small does not. grml-small
330 provides the most important packages for sysadmins and ships the original
331 Debian package management which allows you to install packages of the Debian
332 pool with no modifications.</p>
334 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
336 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
338 <p>grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
339 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
340 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
341 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
342 get a completion menu.</p>
344 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
346 <p>There are no default passwords. All accounts are locked by
347 default. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set a
348 password or create new user accounts as root). You can create
349 valid passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
352 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
354 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
357 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
359 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
362 $ sudo umount -l /cdrom
363 $ sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs ;)
364 $ mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed ;)
367 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
369 <p>By default grml uses English settings. But it is possible to
370 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
371 keyboard and xkeyboard or via running grml-lang when grml is
372 already running. Usage examples:</p>
375 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
376 # German keyboard layout and German $LANG, $LC_ALL,
378 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
379 # and you will get German keyboard and Austrian
381 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
382 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
385 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
386 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
387 language options:</p>
391 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
392 environment settings</li>
394 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
395 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
396 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
397 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
399 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
400 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
402 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
403 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
404 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
408 <p>Notice: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
409 /etc/default/locale and grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
410 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
412 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
414 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a distribution
415 for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to run KDE with
416 Debian use e.g. <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a>, <a
417 href="http://kanotix.com/">Kanotix</a> or <a
418 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
419 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like to
420 see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
421 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
423 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
425 <p>grml is shipped only with window managers which are lightweight and
426 fast - so well suited for a live-CD. At the moment, grml provides these window managers:
427 <a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>,
428 <a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>,
429 <a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>,
430 <a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>,
431 <a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>,
432 <a href="http://modeemi.cs.tut.fi/~tuomov/ion/">ion3</a>,
433 <a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>,
434 <a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>,
435 <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>,
436 <a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>,
437 <a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>,
438 <a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a>,
439 <a href="http://wmii.de/">wmi and wmii</a>.</p>
441 <p>If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
442 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
444 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
446 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
447 udev on grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
448 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
450 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
451 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
453 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
454 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
456 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
457 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the
458 box; you don't need to modify anything. If accessing the device
459 fails, use the 'scandelay' cheatcode on bootprompt. So, boot with
460 'grml scandelay'. If the timeout is still not long enough add the
461 time to wait in seconds as parameter: 'grml scandelay=15'. See <a
462 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb-webpage in the
463 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
465 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
466 disk? Take a look at <a
467 href="http://btmgr.webframe.org/">btmgr</a>, <a
468 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
469 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
470 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
472 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system
473 via network. If you have a floppy drive, you can even boot your
474 system over network when your network card does not provide
475 PXE-support! For more information, refer to the <a
476 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver-webpage</a>.</p>
478 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
479 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
481 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
484 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
485 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
486 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
490 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk
493 <p>Use the <strong>tzconfig</strong> utility to set the local
500 <p>which adjusts /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to
501 the provided information. Running:</p>
504 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
507 <p>might be useful as well.</p>
509 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
510 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
511 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
513 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
517 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
520 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
521 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
522 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
523 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
524 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
526 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
527 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
530 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
531 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
535 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
538 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is
541 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
543 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
550 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
551 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
554 <h4>Further information:</h4>
556 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
557 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
558 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a>
560 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in
561 the Debian-Wiki</a>.</p>
563 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
565 <p>Take a look at the <a href="/bugs/">bugs-webpage</a>.</p>
567 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
569 <p>Yes. grml provides a tool called grml2hd (see '<a
570 href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is developed on a box
571 running the grml-system itself, and we - the grml-developers - especially like
572 grml2hd because it gives us a working Linux box within 10 to 30 minutes!
573 grml2hd is perfect for prototyping: test hardware support of Linux, test a
574 specific setup, ... You can even use grml2hd in a fully automatic mode without
575 any further interaction. More information is available on <a
576 href="/grml2hd/">grml.org/grml2hd/</a> and <a
577 href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>. Notice: If you are using grml
578 in a production environment and/or use a grml2hd installation, we strongly
579 recommend you subscribe to <a href="/mailinglist/">the grml user
580 mailinglist</a>! Note that grml is based on Debian unstable, so you should
581 be familiar with Debian unstable if you plan to use grml as a harddisk
582 system. If you want to get a plain Debian system take a look at
583 grml-debootstrap.</p>
585 <h3><a name="grml2hdhang"></a><a href="#toc">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></h3>
587 <p>grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output.
588 If you see something like:</p>
591 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
592 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
593 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]</pre>
595 <p>your ISO/CD-ROM very probably is not ok. Verify it via booting with
596 grml testcd. Check your CD low-level via running:</p>
599 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom</pre>
601 <p>If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with
602 DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma' at the bootprompt.</p>
604 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
606 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a
607 file named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about
608 your hardware. If you think we might help, please run
609 grml-hwinfo and send us the file with additional, relevant
610 information regarding your problem.</p>
612 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
614 <p>Please take a look at <a
615 href="/files/grml-cheatcodes.txt">the available
616 bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which ways
617 exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
618 noapic' might help. Bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal
619 hardware detection. You still have problems? Please <a
620 href="/contact/">contact us</a>!</p>
622 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
624 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
627 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
629 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
630 used on grml?</a></h3>
632 <p>grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
633 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
634 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
636 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
638 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
640 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Notice: this works
641 for uniprocessor systems as well, thanks to <a
642 href="http://lwn.net/Articles/164121/">SMP alternatives</a>.)</p>
644 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
646 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
648 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
649 root-shell run "sudo su".</p>
651 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
652 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
653 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>!</p>
655 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">What version of $PACKAGE is
658 <p>Take a look at the dpkg_... files in the <a
659 href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
660 grml.org/files/</a>. </p>
662 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
664 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
665 textonly one' and it's debian's default.</p>
667 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use
668 sysv-rc but file-rc. This means you can configure the init system
669 in one single file named /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite
670 editor. No symlink-hell anymore.</p>
672 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell (/bin/sh)?</a></h3>
674 <p>Short answer: because zsh rocks.</p>
676 <p>Longer answer taken from <a href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH
677 FAQ: 1.2: What is it?</a>:</p>
679 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
680 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
681 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
682 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
683 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
684 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
686 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
687 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
688 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
689 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
690 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
692 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash is largely a
693 subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
695 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
697 <p>Yes, until grml 0.6 zsh was the intepreter for /bin/sh. Starting
698 with release 0.7 grml uses /bin/bash as /bin/sh. The reason?
699 Debian does not support zsh as /bin/sh. Take a look at <a
700 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
702 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
705 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
707 <p>grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
708 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
709 well) is provided by grml.</p>
711 <h3><a name="setuid"></a><a href="#toc">setuid/SUID</a></h3>
713 <p>If you set a programm SUID (setuid/mode 4755), unprivileged users on your system will
714 be able to run it. This <em>could</em> be a potentially security hole, so by default the
715 packages are configured not to install binaries with setuid. If you want to use the
716 binaries with setuid please run 'dpkg-reconfigure $packagename' or 'chmod 4755
717 =programm'. The following packages are well known to have a programm with not set
729 <h3><a name="bitchx"></a><a href="#toc">bitchx</a></h3>
731 <p>Why isn't bitchx part of grml? <a
732 href="http://www.google.com/search?q=bitchx+sucks">bitchx
733 sucks</a>. Please use a better alternative like <a
734 href="http://irssi.org/">irssi</a> or <a
735 href="http://weechat.flashtux.org/index.php?lang=en">weechat</a>
736 which are part of grml.</p>
738 <h3><a name="ispell"></a><a href="#toc">ispell</a></h3>
740 <p>You don't want to use the preselected default for ispell? Run
741 'select-default-ispell' for changing it.</p>
743 <h3><a name="latex"></a><a href="#toc">LaTeX</a></h3>
745 <p>auctex and preview-latex are loaded by default in emacs. If you want to load
746 auctex based on your personal settings put the string "(require 'tex-site)" in your
747 ~/.emacs, for preview-latex use the string '(load "preview-latex")'.<br />
748 To change this run 'dpkg-reconfigure auctex' and/or 'dpkg-reconfigure
751 <h3><a name="slapd"></a><a href="#toc">slapd</a></h3>
753 <p>The password for the admin entry in the LDAP directory is 'grml'.</p>
755 <h2><a name="release"></a><a href="#toc">Release related issues</a></h2>
757 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
759 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
760 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
764 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_0.9">issues regarding
765 grml 0.9</a> and</li>
767 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_0.2">issues
768 regarding grml-small 0.3</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
773 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
774 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please report it to us</a>!</p>
776 <h3><a name="proc_usb"></a><a href="#toc">Why isn't /proc/bus/usb mounted anymore?</a></h3>
778 <p>Starting with kernel 2.6.14, /dev/bus/usb replaces usbfs.
779 Current versions of libusb check for /dev/bus/usb's existence and
780 /proc/bus/usb is not necessary anymore (see <a
781 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=336596">#336596</a>).
782 Of course 'mount /proc/bus/usb' still works; it is just not mounted
783 by default anymore. If you see any problems please <a
784 href="#bugreport">report them</a>.</p>
786 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
788 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
790 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
791 generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
792 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
793 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
794 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
799 <p>If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of
800 grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
802 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
804 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
805 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x)! Some usage examples:</p>
808 grml-x -display 8 fluxbox # start fluxbox on display 8
809 grml-x -force -nostart fluxbox # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
810 grml-x -hsync 60 fluxbox # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
811 grml-x -hsync 60 -vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
812 grml-x -mode '800x600' fluxbox # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
813 grml-x -module vesa fluxbox # start fluxbox and use vesa module
816 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
818 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
819 example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.</p>
821 <h2><a name="framebuffer"></a><a href="#toc">Framebuffer</a></h2>
823 <h3><a name="video"></a><a href="#toc">The boot option video does not work as
824 expected anymore</a></h3>
826 <p>grml versions 0.4 and 0.5 provided <a
827 href="/kernel/#vesafbtng">vesafb-tng</a> instead of
828 normal vesafb. Starting with grml 0.6 and grml-small 0.2 vesafb-tng
829 is not part of the grml-kernel anymore because it caused too many
830 problems. Therefore, you can use the 'normal' vga=... option
833 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
835 <p>Likely, this is a problem with vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
836 with bootoption 'nofb' or 'grml vga=normal'.</p>
838 <h2><a name="question"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h2>
840 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in
841 the provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a>
842 (also run 'grml-info' on your grml-system)? Run 'grml-tips
843 $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at <a
844 href="/">the grml-website</a> and <a
845 href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. Please don't
846 hesitate to <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>, a
847 good place to start is the <a
848 href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>.</p>
850 <h3><a name="donate"></a><a href="#toc">You like grml? Make a donation
851 to support our work!</a></h3>
853 <p>grml is, as every other Open-Source project, driven by the many
854 contributions made by many developers. The grml-team spends a great
855 deal of their time and money toward this project.</p>
857 <p>If you have been using grml you will come to remember how much money you
858 or your company saves by using it and how you have been supported via
859 the project mailing list, personal mail or irc.</p>
861 <p>Now you can contribute by donating to grml. Your donation could either
862 be money or hardware that one of the developers or the project as a whole
863 needs. A donation would enable us to either support a specific
864 hardware/software either at all or simply better.</p>
866 <p>See <a href="/donations/">grml.org/donations/</a> for
867 details. Thank you for helping us to work on grml!</p>
870 <?php include '../static_bottom.inc'; ?>