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29 <h1 align="center">FAQ for grml</h1>
31 <p><strong>Up2date:</strong> 20090727 - applies to grml releases version 2009.05</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
46 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?</a></li>
47 <li><a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></li>
48 <li><a href="#accessibility">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#bootoptions">Which bootoptions does grml support?</a></li>
50 <li><a href="#emulation">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></li>
51 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
52 <li><a href="#store">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
53 <li><a href="#persistency">Is a persistency feature available?</a></li>
56 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlmedium">grml-medium</a> / <a
57 href="#grmlsmall">grml-small</a> / <a
58 href="#grml64">grml64</a>:</p>
60 <li><a href="#whatismedium">What is grml-medium?</a></li>
61 <li><a href="#whatissmall">What is grml-small?</a></li>
62 <li><a href="#whatisgrml64">What is grml64?</a></li>
63 <li><a href="#whatismedium64">What is grml64-medium?</a></li>
64 <li><a href="#whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></li>
65 <li><a href="#grml64vsnormal">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></li>
66 <li><a href="#smallvsnormal">What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></li>
67 <li><a href="#grmlvsdsl">What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></li>
70 <p class="toc"><a href="#problems">Problems</a>:</p>
72 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></li>
73 <li><a href="#hardware">I have problems with my hardware!</a></li>
74 <li><a href="#boot">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></li>
75 <li><a href="#fbprobs">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></li>
76 <li><a href="#utf8">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></li>
77 <li><a href="#grml2hdhang">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></li>
78 <li><a href="#missingfiles">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></li>
79 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
82 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
84 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
85 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
86 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
87 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
94 <li><a href="libata">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></li>
95 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
96 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
97 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
100 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
102 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
103 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
104 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
107 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
109 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
110 <li><a href="#sw_version">Which package(s) and which version is available?</a></li>
111 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
112 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
113 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
114 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
115 <li><a href="#configuration">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></li>
116 <li><a href="#truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></li>
117 <li><a href="#grub">grub does not work on my system?!</a></li>
118 <li><a href="#fdisk">fdisk/parted/... complains with something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk label'?!</a></li>
121 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
123 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
124 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
125 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
128 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></p>
130 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
131 <li><a href="#support">Commercial Support</a></li>
134 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
136 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
138 <p>grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on <a
139 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml includes a collection of
140 GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of
141 texttools. grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
142 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
143 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due
144 to on-the-fly decompression grml includes more than 2GB of software and
145 documentation on the CD.</p>
147 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
149 <p>grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors listed at
150 <a href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want to get an
151 original grml-CD including <a href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>,
152 need a special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
153 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
154 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact us</a>. Take a look at
155 <a href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a> for commercial
158 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
160 <p>grml is short for 'grummel' and comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in
161 English. People use this when they want to express their
162 dissatisfaction/discontentedness with software (amongst other
166 $ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
167 sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
170 <h3><a name="pronounce"></a><a href="#toc">How do you pronounce grml?</a></h3>
173 % flite -o play -t gremel</pre>
175 $ echo 'ghroummel' | festival \-\-tts
178 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
180 <p>Codename of grml 2009.05 is Lackdose-Allergie. Lackdose is a
181 homophonous wordplay for the german words 'lackdose' (meaning a can of
182 paint) and 'allergie' (allergy). Check out the <a
183 href="http://grml.org/files/wallpaper/lackdoseallergie.jpg">Lackdose-Allergie
184 wallpaper</a> to get the idea.</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>grml/grml-medium: at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with
193 ramdisks for aufs and udev and when running X window system we
194 recommend at least 128MB)</li>
196 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
198 <li>either a bootable CD-ROM drive or <a href="#usbboot">USB-boot
199 capabable system</a> (for booting via network/PXE check out <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
208 decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
209 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> because we don't want to reinvent
210 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works
211 but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of
212 texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with
213 others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool
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
220 License</a>). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want
221 a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at <a
222 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">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 the main goals?</a></h3>
227 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
228 sysadmins and users of texttools. grml includes all the tools for
229 admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many
230 important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh,
231 mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). grml uses the existing
232 infrastructure of <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml was
233 once based on <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see
234 '<a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a>'
235 for more details). We are also merging useful things from other
236 distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.</p>
238 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
240 <p>grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and
241 OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages
242 which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. grml boots a 2.6.x
243 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on
244 Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically
245 based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of
246 software. grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in
247 common with Knoppix:</p>
251 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
254 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide
255 most of Knoppix' features as well. grml uses (mostly) the same <a
256 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">cheatcodes</a>
257 for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are
258 used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the
259 grml system as well.</p>
261 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
263 <p>The grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
264 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml
265 blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.</p>
267 <h3><a name="bootoptions"></a><a href="#toc#">Which bootoptions does grml support?</a></h3>
270 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">grml-cheatcodes
271 file</a> (available through the link titled 'grml-cheatcodes.txt' in the
272 <a href="/files/#debian">Debian section on the files webpage</a>). Of
274 href="http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt">kernel-parameters.txt</a>
275 of the Linux kernel applies to grml as well.</p>
277 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
279 <p>Syre, grml works with <a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a>, <a
280 href="http://www.virtualbox.org/">Virtualbox</a>, <a
281 href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/">MS Virtual
282 PC</a>,... It's also possible to run grml with <a
283 href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>, an emulator for
284 various CPUs which works on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and Mac OS X. Take a
285 look at <a href="/qemu/">grml's QEMU webpage</a>.</p>
287 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
290 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb#grml2usb">grml2usb</a> at the
291 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb webpage in the
294 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
296 <p>Yes. grml provides a config framework, check out <a
297 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
298 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
299 and 'man save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
300 details. Starting with release 2009.05 a <a
301 href="#persistency">persistency option</a> is
304 <h3><a name="persistency"></a><a href="#doc">Is a persistency feature available?</a></h3>
306 <p>Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use
308 href="http://grml.org/online-docs/live-snapshot.en.1.html">live-snapshot</a>
309 (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling
312 <a name="grmlmedium"></a><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a name="grml64"></a>
313 <h2></a><a href="#toc">grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?</a></h2>
315 <h3><a name="whatismedium"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-medium?</a></h3>
317 <p>grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between <a
318 href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a> and <a
319 href="#whatis">normal/large/full version of grml</a>. grml-medium is an
320 ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a
321 sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same <a href="/kernel/">kernel
322 version</a> as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some
323 further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped
324 as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the <a
325 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
327 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
328 features</a> are <strong>NOT</strong> available/supported on grml-medium
331 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
333 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO,
334 grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB
335 uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no
336 X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue
337 system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the
338 Debian package management system to install software on the fly
339 (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the
340 same <a href="/kernel/">kernel version</a> as normal grml does so you
341 can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as
342 well. Take a look at the <a
343 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
344 the package list.</p>
346 <h3><a name="whatisgrml64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64?</a></h3>
348 <p>grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on <a
349 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/">the amd64 port of
352 <h3><a name="whatismedium64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64-medium?</a></h3>
354 <p>grml64-medium is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatismedium">grml-medium</a>.</p>
356 <h3><a name="whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></h3>
358 <p>grml64-small is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a>.</p>
360 <h3><a name="grml64vsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></h3>
362 <p>The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version
363 whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel
364 which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides
365 libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some
366 packages aren't available for amd64 yet some packages are missing on
367 grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml. For more details please take a
368 look at <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64">the grml64
369 webpage in the grml-wiki</a>.</p>
371 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
372 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
374 <p>The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small
375 includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages
376 on the ISO. <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a> and <a
377 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
378 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported on
381 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
382 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
384 <p>DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target
385 audiences. <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a>
386 (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent
387 version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which
388 grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most
389 important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package
390 management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with
391 no modifications.</p>
393 <h2><a name="problems"></a><a href="#toc">Problems</a></h2>
395 <a name="release"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
396 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
398 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
399 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
403 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_2009.05">issues regarding
404 grml 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a></li>
406 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64_2009.05">issues
407 regarding grml64 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
410 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-medium_2009.05">issues
411 regarding grml-medium 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
414 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-medium_2009.05">issues
415 regarding grml64-medium 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
418 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_2009.05">issues
419 regarding grml-small 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
422 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-small_2009.05">issues
423 regarding grml64-small 2009.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
428 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
429 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please it</a>.</p>
431 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
433 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file
434 named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your
435 hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and <a
436 href="/contact/">send us the file</a> with additional, relevant
437 information regarding your problem.</p>
439 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
441 <p>Please take a look at <a
442 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">the
443 available bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which
444 ways exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
445 noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal
446 hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot
447 with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot
448 commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to
449 be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you
450 don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken
451 (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using <a
452 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a> then for booting your
453 system. Also check out the <a
454 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=problems">problems webpage</a> in
455 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. You still have
456 problems? Feel free to <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
458 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
460 <p>Likely, this is a problem with vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
461 with bootoption 'nofb' or 'grml vga=normal'.</p>
463 <h3><a name="utf8"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></h3>
466 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=utf8">UTF8-webpage in the
469 <h3><a name="grml2hdhang"></a><a href="#toc">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></h3>
471 <p>grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output.
472 If you see something like:</p>
475 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
476 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
477 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]</pre>
479 <p>your ISO/CD-ROM <em>very</em> probably is NOT ok. Verify it via
480 booting with grml testcd if that works, or even better check your CD
481 low-level via running:</p>
484 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom</pre>
486 <p>If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with
487 DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma libata.dma=0' at the bootprompt.</p>
490 <h3><a name="missingfiles"></a><a href="#toc">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></h3>
492 <p>Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some
493 failures. The reason is pretty simple: some few modification have been
494 done either because they are required for the provided environment or
495 because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to
496 really care about, but as we don't hide anything we thought it might be
497 worth mentioning.</p>
499 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
501 <p>Searching for a bug? Want to report a bug? Take a look at the <a
502 href="/bugs/">bugs webpage</a>.</p>
504 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
506 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
508 <p>grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
509 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
510 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
511 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
512 get a completion menu in the shell.</p>
514 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
516 <p>There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default
517 for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set
518 a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid
519 passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
522 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
524 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
527 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
529 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
532 % sudo umount -l /live/image
533 % sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs unless you booted using 'toram'
534 % mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed
537 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
539 <p>By default grml uses english settings. But it is possible to
540 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
541 keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is
542 already running. Usage examples:</p>
545 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
546 # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
548 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
549 # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
551 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
552 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
555 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
556 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
557 language options:</p>
561 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
562 environment settings</li>
564 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
565 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
566 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
567 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
569 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
570 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
572 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
573 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
574 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
578 <p>Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
579 /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
580 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
582 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
584 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a
585 distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to
586 run KDE with Debian use e.g. <a href="http://sidux.com/">Sidux</a> or <a
587 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
588 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like
589 to see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
590 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
592 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
594 <p>grml is shipped only with window managers which are lightweight and
595 fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment, grml provides the
596 following window managers:</p>
598 <li><a href="http://awesome.naquadah.org/">awesome</a>
599 <li><a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>
600 <li><a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>
601 <li><a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>
602 <li><a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>
603 <li><a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>
604 <li><a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>
605 <li><a href="http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Main_Page">openbox</a>
606 <li><a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>
607 <li><a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>
608 <li><a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>
609 <li><a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>
610 <li><a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a>
611 <li><a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>
614 <p>Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
615 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
617 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
619 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
620 udev on grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
621 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
623 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
625 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
626 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
627 devices just execute:</p>
630 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
632 or use the shorter version:
637 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
638 bootoption which automatically enables LVM.</p>
640 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
642 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
643 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
644 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
647 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
649 or use the shorter version:
654 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid'
655 bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.</p>
657 <h3><a name="libata"></a><a href="#toc">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></h3>
659 <p>Since release 2008.11 grml uses <a
660 href="http://linux-ata.org/faq.html">libata</a> exclusively (so no
661 longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems
662 don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a
663 system please provide output of 'lspci' <a href="/contact/">to
666 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
667 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
669 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
670 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
672 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
673 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box;
674 you don't need to modify anything. Check out <a
675 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">the usb webpage in the
676 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
678 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
679 disk? Take a look at <a
680 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a
681 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
682 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
683 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
685 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network
687 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment">PXE</a>
688 (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide
689 support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the
690 provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy
691 drive) or using <a href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php">gPXE</a>.
692 For more information, refer to the <a
693 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver webpage</a>.</p>
695 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
696 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
698 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
701 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
702 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
703 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
707 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk installation:</h4>
712 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
715 <p>to adjust /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to the
716 provided information.</p>
718 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
719 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
720 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
722 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
726 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
729 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
730 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
731 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
732 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
733 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
735 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
736 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
739 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
740 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
744 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
747 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is set to
750 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
752 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
759 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
760 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
763 <h4>Further information:</h4>
765 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
766 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
767 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
768 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
771 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
773 <p>Yes. grml provides a tool called <a href="/grml2hd/">grml2hd</a> (see
774 '<a href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is developed
775 on a box running the grml-system itself, and we - the grml-developers -
776 especially like grml2hd because it gives us a working Linux box within
777 10 to 30 minutes. grml2hd is perfect for prototyping: test hardware
778 support of Linux, test a specific setup, ... You can even use grml2hd in
779 a fully automatic mode without any further interaction.</p>
781 <p>But <strong>please note</strong>: grml2hd does <strong>NOT</strong>
782 provide a Linux distribution for newbies and should be installed to hard
783 disk only if really know what you are doing (or don't care about
784 maintainability, seriously). Please install grml using grml2hd only if
785 can answer all of the following questions with 'sure, YES':</p>
788 <li>Are you used to work with Debian/unstable?
789 <li>Do you know how to report bugs to Debian?
790 <li>Are you aware of the differences between plain Debian and grml?
793 <p><strong>Tip</strong>: If you want to get a plain Debian system take
794 a look at <a href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
796 <p><strong>Note:</strong> If you are using grml in a production
797 environment and/or use a grml2hd installation, we strongly recommend you
798 subscribe to <a href="/mailinglist/">the grml user mailinglist</a>!</p>
800 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
802 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
805 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
807 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
808 used on grml?</a></h3>
810 <p>grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
811 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
812 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
814 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
816 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
818 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it
819 works for uniprocessor systems as well)</p>
821 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
823 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
825 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
826 root-shell run "sudo -i".</p>
828 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
829 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
830 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>.</p>
832 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">Which package(s) and which
833 version is available?</a></h3>
835 <p>If you want to get details about the provided packages and the
836 package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_...
837 files in the <a href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
838 grml.org/files/</a>.</p>
840 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
842 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
843 textonly one' and it is Debian's default.</p>
845 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc
846 but <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/file-rc">file-rc</a>. This
847 means you can configure the init system in one single file named
848 /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell
851 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell (/bin/sh)?</a></h3>
853 <p>Short answer: because <a href="/zsh/">Zsh rocks</a>, really!</p>
855 <p>Longer answer taken from <a
856 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH FAQ: 1.2: What is
859 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
860 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
861 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
862 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
863 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
864 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
866 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
867 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
868 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
869 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
870 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
872 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash
873 is largely a subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your
874 knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
876 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
878 <p>Yes, until grml 0.6 zsh was the interpreter for /bin/sh. Starting
879 with release 0.7 grml uses /bin/bash as /bin/sh. The reason? Using zsh
880 as default /bin/sh interpreter leads to some problems, especially since
881 Debian does not care to support zsh as /bin/sh overall. Take a look at
883 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
885 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
888 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
890 <p>grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
891 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
892 well) is provided by grml.</p>
894 <h3><a name="configuration"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></h3>
897 href="http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/12/22/make-console-work-comfortable/">'Make
898 console work comfortable'</a>.</p>
900 <h3><a name="truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></h3>
902 <p>Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named
903 'TrueCrypt License 2.6' which doesn't permit us to distribute Truecrypt.
904 See <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license">section VI/4 of the
905 license</a> for details. The Ubuntu version from <a
906 href="http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads">truecrypt.org/downloads</a> is
907 known to work under grml.</p>
909 <h3><a name="grub"></a><a href="#toc">grub does not work on my system?!</a></h3>
911 <p>Looks like you used mkfs.ext3 from grml but are using an old grub
912 version. Notice that older versions of grub do not support 256 byte
913 inodes on ext3, being the default in recent versions of mkfs/e2fsprogs.
914 More information is available at <a
915 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=463236">#463236</a>
916 in the Debian bug tracking system.</p>
918 <h3><a name="fdisk"></a><a href="#toc">fdisk/parted/... complains with
919 something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk
922 <p>The 'disk label' is libparted's word for 'partition table'. It looks
923 like you installed gnu-fdisk on your system. To work around this problem
924 you might want to try one the following options:</p>
927 <li>use /sbin/fdisk.distrib from util-linux</li>
928 <li>switch to sfdisk, cfdisk,...</li>
929 <li>use parted's mklabel command (but please read the <a
930 href="http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/">parted manual</a>
931 before executing this command)</li>
934 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
936 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
938 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
939 generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
940 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
941 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
942 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
947 <p>If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of
948 grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
950 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
952 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
953 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x). Some usage examples:</p>
956 grml-x -module vesa fluxbox # start fluxbox and use vesa module
957 grml-x -mode '800x600' fluxbox # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
958 grml-x -display 8 fluxbox # start fluxbox on display 8
959 grml-x -force -nostart fluxbox # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
960 grml-x -hsync 60 fluxbox # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
961 grml-x -hsync 60 -vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
964 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
966 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
967 example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.</p>
969 <h2><a name="stuff"></a><a href="#toc">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></h2>
971 <h3><a name="questions"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h3>
973 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the
974 provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (execute
975 "grml-info" on your grml-system for offline documentation)?
976 Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at
977 <a href="/">the grml website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
978 grml-wiki</a>. A good place to become part of the community is the <a
979 href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>. Please don't hesitate to <a
980 href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
982 <h3><a name="support"></a><a href="#toc">Commercial Support</a></h3>
984 <p>You want to deploy grml in your data center, use it as part of your
985 business or have an emergency case? You're happy with grml but would
986 like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software
987 selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)? As part of
988 our business we do provide commercial support, feel free to <a
989 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">contact us at Grml
994 <?php include '../static_bottom.inc'; ?>