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28 <h1 align="center">FAQ for grml</h1>
30 <p><strong>Up2date:</strong> 20090727 - applies to grml releases version 2009.05</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
45 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the 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="#bootoptions">Which bootoptions does grml support?</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#emulation">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></li>
50 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
51 <li><a href="#store">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
52 <li><a href="#persistency">Is a persistency feature available?</a></li>
55 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlmedium">grml-medium</a> / <a
56 href="#grmlsmall">grml-small</a> / <a
57 href="#grml64">grml64</a>:</p>
59 <li><a href="#whatismedium">What is grml-medium?</a></li>
60 <li><a href="#whatissmall">What is grml-small?</a></li>
61 <li><a href="#whatisgrml64">What is grml64?</a></li>
62 <li><a href="#whatismedium64">What is grml64-medium?</a></li>
63 <li><a href="#whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></li>
64 <li><a href="#grml64vsnormal">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></li>
65 <li><a href="#smallvsnormal">What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></li>
66 <li><a href="#grmlvsdsl">What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></li>
69 <p class="toc"><a href="#problems">Problems</a>:</p>
71 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></li>
72 <li><a href="#hardware">I have problems with my hardware!</a></li>
73 <li><a href="#boot">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></li>
74 <li><a href="#fbprobs">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></li>
75 <li><a href="#utf8">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></li>
76 <li><a href="#grml2hdhang">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></li>
77 <li><a href="#missingfiles">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></li>
78 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
81 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
83 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
84 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
85 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
86 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
87 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
93 <li><a href="libata">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
95 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
96 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
99 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
101 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
102 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
103 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
106 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
108 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
109 <li><a href="#sw_version">Which package(s) and which version is available?</a></li>
110 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
111 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
112 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
113 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
114 <li><a href="#configuration">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></li>
115 <li><a href="#truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></li>
116 <li><a href="#grub">grub does not work on my system?!</a></li>
117 <li><a href="#fdisk">fdisk/parted/... complains with something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk label'?!</a></li>
120 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
122 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
123 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
124 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
127 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></p>
129 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
130 <li><a href="#support">Commercial Support</a></li>
133 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
135 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
137 <p>grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on <a
138 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml includes a collection of
139 GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of
140 texttools. grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
141 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
142 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due
143 to on-the-fly decompression grml includes more than 2GB of software and
144 documentation on the CD.</p>
146 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
148 <p>grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors listed at
149 <a href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want to get an
150 original grml-CD including <a href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>,
151 need a special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
152 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
153 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact us</a>. Take a look at
154 <a href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a> for commercial
157 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
159 <p>grml is short for 'grummel' and comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in
160 English. People use this when they want to express their
161 dissatisfaction/discontentedness with software (amongst other
165 $ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
166 sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
169 <h3><a name="pronounce"></a><a href="#toc">How do you pronounce grml?</a></h3>
172 % flite -o play -t gremel</pre>
174 $ echo 'ghroummel' | festival \-\-tts
177 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
179 <p>Codename of grml 2009.05 is Lackdose-Allergie. Lackdose is a
180 homophonous wordplay for the german words 'lackdose' (meaning a can of
181 paint) and 'allergie' (allergy). Check out the release wallpaper
184 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
188 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
190 <li>grml/grml-medium: at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with
191 ramdisks for aufs and udev and when running X window system we
192 recommend at least 128MB)</li>
194 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
196 <li>either a bootable CD-ROM drive or <a href="#usbboot">USB-boot
197 capabable system</a> (for booting via network/PXE check out <a
198 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>)</li>
202 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
204 <p>There already exist "<a
205 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We
206 decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
207 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> because we don't want to reinvent
208 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works
209 but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of
210 texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with
211 others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool
214 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
216 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
217 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public
218 License</a>). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want
219 a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at <a
220 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a>.</p>
222 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
223 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?</a></h3>
225 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
226 sysadmins and users of texttools. grml includes all the tools for
227 admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many
228 important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh,
229 mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). grml uses the existing
230 infrastructure of <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml was
231 once based on <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see
232 '<a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a>'
233 for more details). We are also merging useful things from other
234 distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.</p>
236 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
238 <p>grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and
239 OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages
240 which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. grml boots a 2.6.x
241 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on
242 Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically
243 based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of
244 software. grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in
245 common with Knoppix:</p>
249 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
252 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide
253 most of Knoppix' features as well. grml uses (mostly) the same <a
254 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">cheatcodes</a>
255 for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are
256 used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the
257 grml system as well.</p>
259 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
261 <p>The grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
262 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml
263 blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.</p>
265 <h3><a name="bootoptions"></a><a href="#toc#">Which bootoptions does grml support?</a></h3>
268 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">grml-cheatcodes
269 file</a> (available through the link titled 'grml-cheatcodes.txt' in the
270 <a href="/files/#debian">Debian section on the files webpage</a>). Of
272 href="http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt">kernel-parameters.txt</a>
273 of the Linux kernel applies to grml as well.</p>
275 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
277 <p>Syre, grml works with <a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a>, <a
278 href="http://www.virtualbox.org/">Virtualbox</a>, <a
279 href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/">MS Virtual
280 PC</a>,... It's also possible to run grml with <a
281 href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>, an emulator for
282 various CPUs which works on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and Mac OS X. Take a
283 look at <a href="/qemu/">grml's QEMU webpage</a>.</p>
285 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
288 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb#grml2usb">grml2usb</a> at the
289 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb webpage in the
292 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
294 <p>Yes. grml provides a config framework, check out <a
295 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
296 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
297 and 'man save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
298 details. Starting with release 2009.05 a <a
299 href="#persistency">persistency option</a> is
302 <h3><a name="persistency"></a><a href="#doc">Is a persistency feature available?</a></h3>
304 <p>Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use
306 href="http://grml.org/online-docs/live-snapshot.en.1.html">live-snapshot</a>
307 (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling
310 <a name="grmlmedium"></a><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a name="grml64"></a>
311 <h2></a><a href="#toc">grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?</a></h2>
313 <h3><a name="whatismedium"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-medium?</a></h3>
315 <p>grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between <a
316 href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a> and <a
317 href="#whatis">normal/large/full version of grml</a>. grml-medium is an
318 ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a
319 sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same <a href="/kernel/">kernel
320 version</a> as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some
321 further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped
322 as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the <a
323 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
325 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
326 features</a> are <strong>NOT</strong> available/supported on grml-medium
329 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
331 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO,
332 grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB
333 uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no
334 X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue
335 system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the
336 Debian package management system to install software on the fly
337 (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the
338 same <a href="/kernel/">kernel version</a> as normal grml does so you
339 can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as
340 well. Take a look at the <a
341 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
342 the package list.</p>
344 <h3><a name="whatisgrml64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64?</a></h3>
346 <p>grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on <a
347 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/">the amd64 port of
350 <h3><a name="whatismedium64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64-medium?</a></h3>
352 <p>grml64-medium is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatismedium">grml-medium</a>.</p>
354 <h3><a name="whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></h3>
356 <p>grml64-small is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a>.</p>
358 <h3><a name="grml64vsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></h3>
360 <p>The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version
361 whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel
362 which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides
363 libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some
364 packages aren't available for amd64 yet some packages are missing on
365 grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml. For more details please take a
366 look at <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64">the grml64
367 webpage in the grml-wiki</a>.</p>
369 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
370 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
372 <p>The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small
373 includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages
374 on the ISO. <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a> and <a
375 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
376 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported on
379 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
380 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
382 <p>DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target
383 audiences. <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a>
384 (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent
385 version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which
386 grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most
387 important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package
388 management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with
389 no modifications.</p>
391 <h2><a name="problems"></a><a href="#toc">Problems</a></h2>
393 <a name="release"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
394 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
396 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
397 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
401 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_2009.05">issues regarding
402 grml 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a></li>
404 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64_2009.05">issues
405 regarding grml64 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
408 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-medium_2009.05">issues
409 regarding grml-medium 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
412 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-medium_2009.05">issues
413 regarding grml64-medium 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
416 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_2009.05">issues
417 regarding grml-small 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
420 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-small_2009.05">issues
421 regarding grml64-small 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
426 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
427 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please it</a>.</p>
429 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
431 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file
432 named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your
433 hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and <a
434 href="/contact/">send us the file</a> with additional, relevant
435 information regarding your problem.</p>
437 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
439 <p>Please take a look at <a
440 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">the
441 available bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which
442 ways exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
443 noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal
444 hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot
445 with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot
446 commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to
447 be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you
448 don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken
449 (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using <a
450 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a> then for booting your
451 system. Also check out the <a
452 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=problems">problems webpage</a> in
453 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. You still have
454 problems? Feel free to <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
456 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
458 <p>Likely, this is a problem with vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
459 with bootoption 'nofb' or 'grml vga=normal'.</p>
461 <h3><a name="utf8"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></h3>
464 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=utf8">UTF8-webpage in the
467 <h3><a name="grml2hdhang"></a><a href="#toc">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></h3>
469 <p>grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output.
470 If you see something like:</p>
473 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
474 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
475 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]</pre>
477 <p>your ISO/CD-ROM <em>very</em> probably is NOT ok. Verify it via
478 booting with grml testcd if that works, or even better check your CD
479 low-level via running:</p>
482 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom</pre>
484 <p>If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with
485 DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma libata.dma=0' at the bootprompt.</p>
488 <h3><a name="missingfiles"></a><a href="#toc">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></h3>
490 <p>Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some
491 failures. The reason is pretty simple: some few modification have been
492 done either because they are required for the provided environment or
493 because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to
494 really care about, but as we don't hide anything we thought it might be
495 worth mentioning.</p>
497 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
499 <p>Searching for a bug? Want to report a bug? Take a look at the <a
500 href="/bugs/">bugs webpage</a>.</p>
502 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
504 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
506 <p>grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
507 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
508 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
509 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
510 get a completion menu in the shell.</p>
512 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
514 <p>There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default
515 for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set
516 a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid
517 passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
520 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
522 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
525 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
527 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
530 % sudo umount -l /live/image
531 % sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs unless you booted using 'toram'
532 % mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed
535 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
537 <p>By default grml uses english settings. But it is possible to
538 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
539 keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is
540 already running. Usage examples:</p>
543 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
544 # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
546 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
547 # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
549 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
550 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
553 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
554 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
555 language options:</p>
559 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
560 environment settings</li>
562 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
563 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
564 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
565 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
567 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
568 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
570 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
571 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
572 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
576 <p>Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
577 /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
578 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
580 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
582 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a
583 distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to
584 run KDE with Debian use e.g. <a href="http://sidux.com/">Sidux</a> or <a
585 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
586 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like
587 to see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
588 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
590 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
592 <p>grml is shipped only with window managers which are lightweight and
593 fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment, grml provides the
594 following window managers:</p>
596 <li><a href="http://awesome.naquadah.org/">awesome</a>
597 <li><a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>
598 <li><a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>
599 <li><a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>
600 <li><a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>
601 <li><a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>
602 <li><a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>
603 <li><a href="http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Main_Page">openbox</a>
604 <li><a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>
605 <li><a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>
606 <li><a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>
607 <li><a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>
608 <li><a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a>
609 <li><a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>
612 <p>Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
613 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
615 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
617 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
618 udev on grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
619 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
621 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
623 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
624 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
625 devices just execute:</p>
628 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
630 or use the shorter version:
635 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
636 bootoption which automatically enables LVM.</p>
638 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
640 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
641 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
642 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
645 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
647 or use the shorter version:
652 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid'
653 bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.</p>
655 <h3><a name="libata"></a><a href="#toc">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></h3>
657 <p>Since release 2008.11 grml uses <a
658 href="http://linux-ata.org/faq.html">libata</a> exclusively (so no
659 longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems
660 don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a
661 system please provide output of 'lspci' <a href="/contact/">to
664 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
665 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
667 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
668 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
670 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
671 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box;
672 you don't need to modify anything. Check out <a
673 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">the usb webpage in the
674 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
676 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
677 disk? Take a look at <a
678 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a
679 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
680 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
681 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
683 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network
685 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment">PXE</a>
686 (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide
687 support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the
688 provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy
689 drive) or using <a href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php">gPXE</a>.
690 For more information, refer to the <a
691 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver webpage</a>.</p>
693 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
694 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
696 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
699 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
700 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
701 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
705 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk installation:</h4>
710 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
713 <p>to adjust /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to the
714 provided information.</p>
716 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
717 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
718 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
720 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
724 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
727 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
728 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
729 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
730 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
731 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
733 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
734 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
737 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
738 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
742 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
745 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is set to
748 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
750 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
757 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
758 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
761 <h4>Further information:</h4>
763 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
764 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
765 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
766 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
769 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
771 <p>Yes. grml provides a tool called <a href="/grml2hd/">grml2hd</a> (see
772 '<a href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is developed
773 on a box running the grml-system itself, and we - the grml-developers -
774 especially like grml2hd because it gives us a working Linux box within
775 10 to 30 minutes. grml2hd is perfect for prototyping: test hardware
776 support of Linux, test a specific setup, ... You can even use grml2hd in
777 a fully automatic mode without any further interaction.</p>
779 <p>But <strong>please note</strong>: grml2hd does <strong>NOT</strong>
780 provide a Linux distribution for newbies and should be installed to hard
781 disk only if really know what you are doing (or don't care about
782 maintainability, seriously). Please install grml using grml2hd only if
783 can answer all of the following questions with 'sure, YES':</p>
786 <li>Are you used to work with Debian/unstable?
787 <li>Do you know how to report bugs to Debian?
788 <li>Are you aware of the differences between plain Debian and grml?
791 <p><strong>Tip</strong>: If you want to get a plain Debian system take
792 a look at <a href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
794 <p><strong>Note:</strong> If you are using grml in a production
795 environment and/or use a grml2hd installation, we strongly recommend you
796 subscribe to <a href="/mailinglist/">the grml user mailinglist</a>!</p>
798 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
800 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
803 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
805 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
806 used on grml?</a></h3>
808 <p>grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
809 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
810 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
812 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
814 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
816 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it
817 works for uniprocessor systems as well)</p>
819 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
821 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
823 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
824 root-shell run "sudo -i".</p>
826 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
827 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
828 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>.</p>
830 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">Which package(s) and which
831 version is available?</a></h3>
833 <p>If you want to get details about the provided packages and the
834 package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_...
835 files in the <a href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
836 grml.org/files/</a>.</p>
838 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
840 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
841 textonly one' and it is Debian's default.</p>
843 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc
844 but <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/file-rc">file-rc</a>. This
845 means you can configure the init system in one single file named
846 /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell
849 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell (/bin/sh)?</a></h3>
851 <p>Short answer: because <a href="/zsh/">Zsh rocks</a>, really!</p>
853 <p>Longer answer taken from <a
854 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH FAQ: 1.2: What is
857 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
858 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
859 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
860 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
861 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
862 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
864 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
865 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
866 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
867 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
868 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
870 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash
871 is largely a subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your
872 knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
874 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
876 <p>Yes, until grml 0.6 zsh was the interpreter for /bin/sh. Starting
877 with release 0.7 grml uses /bin/bash as /bin/sh. The reason? Using zsh
878 as default /bin/sh interpreter leads to some problems, especially since
879 Debian does not care to support zsh as /bin/sh overall. Take a look at
881 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
883 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
886 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
888 <p>grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
889 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
890 well) is provided by grml.</p>
892 <h3><a name="configuration"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></h3>
895 href="http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/12/22/make-console-work-comfortable/">'Make
896 console work comfortable'</a>.</p>
898 <h3><a name="truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></h3>
900 <p>Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named
901 'TrueCrypt License 2.6' which doesn't permit us to distribute Truecrypt.
902 See <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license">section VI/4 of the
903 license</a> for details. The Ubuntu version from <a
904 href="http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads">truecrypt.org/downloads</a> is
905 known to work under grml.</p>
907 <h3><a name="grub"></a><a href="#toc">grub does not work on my system?!</a></h3>
909 <p>Looks like you used mkfs.ext3 from grml but are using an old grub
910 version. Notice that older versions of grub do not support 256 byte
911 inodes on ext3, being the default in recent versions of mkfs/e2fsprogs.
912 More information is available at <a
913 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=463236">#463236</a>
914 in the Debian bug tracking system.</p>
916 <h3><a name="fdisk"></a><a href="#toc">fdisk/parted/... complains with
917 something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk
920 <p>The 'disk label' is libparted's word for 'partition table'. It looks
921 like you installed gnu-fdisk on your system. To work around this problem
922 you might want to try one the following options:</p>
925 <li>use /sbin/fdisk.distrib from util-linux</li>
926 <li>switch to sfdisk, cfdisk,...</li>
927 <li>use parted's mklabel command (but please read the <a
928 href="http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/">parted manual</a>
929 before executing this command)</li>
932 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
934 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
936 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
937 generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
938 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
939 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
940 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
945 <p>If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of
946 grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
948 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
950 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
951 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x). Some usage examples:</p>
954 grml-x -module vesa fluxbox # start fluxbox and use vesa module
955 grml-x -mode '800x600' fluxbox # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
956 grml-x -display 8 fluxbox # start fluxbox on display 8
957 grml-x -force -nostart fluxbox # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
958 grml-x -hsync 60 fluxbox # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
959 grml-x -hsync 60 -vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
962 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
964 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
965 example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.</p>
967 <h2><a name="stuff"></a><a href="#toc">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></h2>
969 <h3><a name="questions"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h3>
971 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the
972 provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (execute
973 "grml-info" on your grml-system for offline documentation)?
974 Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at
975 <a href="/">the grml website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
976 grml-wiki</a>. A good place to become part of the community is the <a
977 href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>. Please don't hesitate to <a
978 href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
980 <h3><a name="support"></a><a href="#toc">Commercial Support</a></h3>
982 <p>You want to deploy grml in your data center, use it as part of your
983 business or have an emergency case? You're happy with grml but would
984 like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software
985 selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)? As part of
986 our business we do provide commercial support, feel free to <a
987 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">contact us at Grml
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