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28 <h1 align="center">FAQ for release 2010.04</h1>
30 <p><a name="toc"></a><strong>Index:</strong></p>
32 <p class="toc"><a href="#general">General:</a></p>
34 <li><a href="#whatis">What is grml?</a></li>
35 <li><a href="#get">Where do I get grml?</a></li>
36 <li><a href="#whatmeans">What does grml mean?</a></li>
37 <li><a href="#pronounce">How do you pronounce grml?</a></li>
38 <li><a href="#releasename">What about the release name?</a></li>
39 <li><a href="#requirements">Requirements for running grml</a></li>
40 <li><a href="#why">Why another Linux distribution?</a></li>
41 <li><a href="#license">What's the license of grml?</a></li>
42 <li><a href="#difference">What's the difference between grml and $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?</a></li>
43 <li><a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></li>
44 <li><a href="#accessibility">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></li>
45 <li><a href="#bootoptions">Which bootoptions does grml support?</a></li>
46 <li><a href="#emulation">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></li>
47 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
48 <li><a href="#store">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#persistency">Is a persistency feature available?</a></li>
52 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlmedium">grml-medium</a> / <a
53 href="#grmlsmall">grml-small</a> / <a
54 href="#grml64">grml64</a>:</p>
56 <li><a href="#whatismedium">What is grml-medium?</a></li>
57 <li><a href="#whatissmall">What is grml-small?</a></li>
58 <li><a href="#whatisgrml64">What is grml64?</a></li>
59 <li><a href="#whatismedium64">What is grml64-medium?</a></li>
60 <li><a href="#whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></li>
61 <li><a href="#grml64vsnormal">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></li>
62 <li><a href="#smallvsnormal">What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></li>
63 <li><a href="#grmlvsdsl">What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></li>
66 <p class="toc"><a href="#problems">Problems</a>:</p>
68 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></li>
69 <li><a href="#hardware">I have problems with my hardware!</a></li>
70 <li><a href="#boot">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></li>
71 <li><a href="#fbprobs">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></li>
72 <li><a href="#utf8">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></li>
73 <li><a href="#grml2hdhang">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></li>
74 <li><a href="#missingfiles">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></li>
75 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
78 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
80 <li><a href="#isolinux">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></li>
81 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
82 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
83 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
84 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
85 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
86 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
87 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
91 <li><a href="libata">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
97 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
99 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
100 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
101 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
104 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
106 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
107 <li><a href="#sw_version">Which package(s) and which version is available?</a></li>
108 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
109 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
110 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
111 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
112 <li><a href="#configuration">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></li>
113 <li><a href="#truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></li>
114 <li><a href="#grub">grub does not work on my system?!</a></li>
117 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
119 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
120 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
121 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
124 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></p>
126 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
127 <li><a href="#support">Commercial Support</a></li>
130 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
132 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
134 <p>Grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on <a
135 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. Grml includes a collection of
136 GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of
137 texttools. Grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
138 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
139 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due
140 to on-the-fly decompression grml includes more than 2GB of software and
141 documentation on the CD.</p>
143 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
145 <p>Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors listed at
146 <a href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want to get an
147 original grml-CD including <a href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>,
148 need a special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
149 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
150 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact us</a>. Take a look at
151 <a href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a> if you're
152 interested in commercial support.</p>
154 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
156 <p>Grml is short for 'grummel' and comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in
157 English. People use this when they want to express their
158 dissatisfaction/discontentedness with software (amongst other
162 $ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
163 sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
166 <h3><a name="pronounce"></a><a href="#toc">How do you pronounce grml?</a></h3>
169 % flite -o play -t gremel</pre>
171 $ echo 'ghroummel' | festival \-\-tts
174 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
176 <p>Codename of Grml 2010.04 is Grmlmonster. Take a look look at the <a
177 href="/screenshots/#grml1004">release screenshot</a> and
178 think of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street">Sesame
179 Street's Cookie Monster</a> (in german known as <a
180 href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krümelmonster#Kr.C3.BCmelmonster">Krümelmonster</a>).
183 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
187 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
189 <li>grml/grml-medium: at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with
190 ramdisks for aufs and udev and when running X window system we
191 recommend at least 128MB)</li>
193 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
195 <li>either a bootable CD-ROM drive or <a href="#usbboot">USB-boot
196 capabable system</a> (for booting via network/PXE check out <a
197 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>)</li>
201 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
203 <p>There already exist "<a
204 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We
205 decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
206 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> because we don't want to reinvent
207 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works
208 but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of
209 texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with
210 others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool
213 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
215 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
216 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public
217 License</a>). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want
218 a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at <a
219 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a>.</p>
221 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
222 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?</a></h3>
224 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
225 sysadmins and users of texttools. Grml includes all the tools for
226 admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many
227 important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh,
228 mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). Grml uses the existing
229 infrastructure of <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. Grml was
230 once based on <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see
231 '<a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a>'
232 for more details). We are also merging useful things from other
233 distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.</p>
235 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
237 <p>Grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and
238 OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages
239 which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. Grml boots a recent
240 2.6 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on
241 Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically
242 based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of
243 software. Grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in
244 common with Knoppix:</p>
248 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
251 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide
252 most of Knoppix' features as well. Grml uses (mostly) the same <a
253 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">cheatcodes</a>
254 for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are
255 used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the
256 grml system as well.</p>
258 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
260 <p>The Grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
261 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml
262 blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.</p>
264 <h3><a name="bootoptions"></a><a href="#toc">Which bootoptions does Grml support?</a></h3>
267 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">grml-cheatcodes
268 file</a> (also available via <a href="http://grml.org/cheatcodes/">grml.org/cheatcodes/</a>). Of
270 href="http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt">kernel-parameters.txt</a>
271 of the Linux kernel applies to Grml as well.</p>
273 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
275 <p>Sure, Grml works with(in) several emulators and virtual environments,
277 <a href="http://www.linux-kvm.org/">KVM</a>,
278 <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/">MS Virtual PC</a>,
279 <a href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>
280 <a href="http://www.virtualbox.org/">Virtualbox</a> and
281 <a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a>.
284 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
287 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb#grml2usb">grml2usb</a> at the
288 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb webpage in the
291 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
293 <p>Yes. Grml provides a config framework, check out <a
294 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
295 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
296 and 'man grml-autoconfig save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
297 details. Starting with release 2009.05 a <a
298 href="#persistency">persistency option</a> is
301 <h3><a name="persistency"></a><a href="#doc">Is a persistency feature available?</a></h3>
303 <p>Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use
305 href="http://grml.org/online-docs/live-snapshot.en.1.html">live-snapshot</a>
306 (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling
309 <a name="grmlmedium"></a><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a name="grml64"></a>
310 <h2></a><a href="#toc">grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?</a></h2>
312 <h3><a name="whatismedium"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-medium?</a></h3>
314 <p>grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between <a
315 href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a> and <a
316 href="#whatis">normal/large/full version of grml</a>. grml-medium is an
317 ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a
318 sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same <a href="/kernel/">kernel
319 version</a> as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some
320 further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped
321 as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the <a
322 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
324 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
325 features</a> are <strong>NOT</strong> available/supported on grml-medium
328 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
330 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO,
331 grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB
332 uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no
333 X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue
334 system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the
335 Debian package management system to install software on the fly
336 (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the
337 same <a href="/kernel/">kernel version</a> as normal grml does so you
338 can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as
339 well. Take a look at the <a
340 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
341 the package list.</p>
343 <h3><a name="whatisgrml64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64?</a></h3>
345 <p>grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on <a
346 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/">the amd64 port of
349 <h3><a name="whatismedium64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64-medium?</a></h3>
351 <p>grml64-medium is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatismedium">grml-medium</a>.</p>
353 <h3><a name="whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></h3>
355 <p>grml64-small is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a>.</p>
357 <h3><a name="grml64vsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></h3>
359 <p>The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version
360 whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel
361 which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides
362 libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some
363 packages aren't available for amd64 (yet) some few packages are missing on
364 grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml.</p>
366 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
367 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
369 <p>The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small
370 includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages
371 on the ISO. <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a> and <a
372 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
373 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported on
376 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
377 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
379 <p>DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target
380 audiences. <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a>
381 (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent
382 version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which
383 grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most
384 important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package
385 management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with
386 no modifications.</p>
388 <h2><a name="problems"></a><a href="#toc">Problems</a></h2>
390 <a name="release"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
391 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
393 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
394 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
398 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_2010.04">issues regarding
399 grml 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a></li>
401 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64_2010.04">issues
402 regarding grml64 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
405 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-medium_2010.04">issues
406 regarding grml-medium 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
409 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-medium_2010.04">issues
410 regarding grml64-medium 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
413 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_2010.04">issues
414 regarding grml-small 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
417 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-small_2010.04">issues
418 regarding grml64-small 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
423 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
424 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please it</a>.</p>
426 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
428 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file
429 named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your
430 hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and <a
431 href="/contact/">send us the file</a> with additional, relevant
432 information regarding your problem.</p>
434 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
436 <p>Please take a look at <a
437 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">the
438 available bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which
439 ways exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
440 noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal
441 hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot
442 with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot
443 commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to
444 be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you
445 don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken
446 (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using <a
447 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a> then for booting your
448 system. Also check out the <a
449 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=problems">problems webpage</a> in
450 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. You still have
451 problems? Feel free to <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
453 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
455 <p>Likely, this is a problem with the vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
456 with the 'Disable Framebuffer' menuentry (available behind the submenu
457 'Boot options for ...') or manually ad 'vga=normal' to the kernel
458 command line (press TAB to edit a menu entry and add 'vga=normal'
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="isolinux"></a><a href="#toc">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></h3>
506 <p>Starting with release 2009.10 Grml provides a menu based bootsplash.
507 To adjust boot options just press the TAB-key. To directly switch to the
508 old-style isolinux cmdline just press the escape key within 30 seconds. If you
509 still need access to the old bootsplash layout (including the f2, f3,...
510 pages with further information regarding available bootoptions)
511 select the entry 'Isolinux prompt' in the menu based bootsplash (just
512 press 'i' and ENTER for direct access to it). The timeout until either
513 the selected entry is booted (if specified) or until the system will
514 restore from the cmdline to the menu based bootsplash is 30 seconds.</p>
516 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
518 <p>Grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
519 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
520 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
521 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
522 get a completion menu in the shell.</p>
524 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
526 <p>There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default
527 for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set
528 a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid
529 passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
532 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
534 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
537 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
539 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
542 % sudo umount -l /live/image
543 % sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs unless you booted using 'toram'
544 % mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed
547 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
549 <p>By default grml uses english settings. But it is possible to
550 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
551 keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is
552 already running. Usage examples:</p>
555 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
556 # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
558 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
559 # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
561 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
562 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
565 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
566 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
567 language options:</p>
571 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
572 environment settings</li>
574 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
575 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
576 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
577 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
579 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
580 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
582 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
583 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
584 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
588 <p>Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
589 /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
590 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
592 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
594 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a
595 distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to
596 run KDE with Debian use e.g. <a href="http://sidux.com/">Sidux</a> or <a
597 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
598 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like
599 to see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
600 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
602 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
604 <p>Grml is shipped only with window managers which are lightweight and
605 fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment, grml provides the
606 following window managers:</p>
608 <li><a href="http://awesome.naquadah.org/">awesome</a>
609 <li><a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>
610 <li><a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>
611 <li><a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>
612 <li><a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>
613 <li><a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>
614 <li><a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>
615 <li><a href="http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Main_Page">openbox</a>
616 <li><a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>
617 <li><a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>
618 <li><a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>
619 <li><a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>
620 <li><a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a>
621 <li><a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>
624 <p>Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
625 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
627 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
629 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
630 udev on grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
631 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
633 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
635 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
636 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
637 devices just execute:</p>
640 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
642 or use the shorter version:
647 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
648 bootoption which automatically enables LVM.</p>
650 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
652 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
653 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
654 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
657 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
659 or use the shorter version:
664 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid'
665 bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.</p>
667 <h3><a name="libata"></a><a href="#toc">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></h3>
669 <p>Since release 2008.11 grml uses <a
670 href="http://linux-ata.org/faq.html">libata</a> exclusively (so no
671 longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems
672 don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a
673 system please provide output of 'lspci' <a href="/contact/">to
676 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
677 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
679 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
680 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
682 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
683 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box;
684 you don't need to modify anything. Check out <a
685 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">the usb webpage in the
686 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
688 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
689 disk? Take a look at <a
690 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a
691 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
692 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
693 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
695 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network
697 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment">PXE</a>
698 (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide
699 support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the
700 provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy
701 drive) or using <a href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php">gPXE</a>.
702 For more information, refer to the <a
703 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver webpage</a>.</p>
705 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
706 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
708 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
711 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
712 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
713 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
717 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk installation:</h4>
722 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
725 <p>to adjust /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to the
726 provided information.</p>
728 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
729 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
730 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
732 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
736 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
739 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
740 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
741 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
742 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
743 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
745 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
746 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
749 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
750 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
754 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
757 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is set to
760 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
762 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
769 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
770 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
773 <h4>Further information:</h4>
775 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
776 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
777 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
778 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
781 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
783 <p>Yes. Grml provides a tool called <a href="/grml2hd/">grml2hd</a> (see
784 '<a href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is developed
785 on a box running the grml-system itself, and we - the grml-developers -
786 especially like grml2hd because it gives us a working Linux box within
787 10 to 30 minutes. grml2hd is perfect for prototyping: test hardware
788 support of Linux, test a specific setup, ... You can even use grml2hd in
789 a fully automatic mode without any further interaction.</p>
791 <p>But <strong>please note</strong>: grml2hd does <strong>NOT</strong>
792 provide a Linux distribution for newbies and should be installed to hard
793 disk only if really know what you are doing (or don't care about
794 maintainability, seriously). Please install grml using grml2hd only if
795 can answer all of the following questions with 'sure, YES':</p>
798 <li>Are you used to work with Debian/unstable?
799 <li>Do you know how to report bugs to Debian?
800 <li>Are you aware of the differences between plain Debian and grml?
803 <p><strong>Tip</strong>: If you want to get a plain Debian system take
804 a look at <a href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
806 <p><strong>Note:</strong> If you are using grml in a production
807 environment and/or use a grml2hd installation, we strongly recommend you
808 subscribe to <a href="/mailinglist/">the grml user mailinglist</a>!</p>
810 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
812 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
815 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
817 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
818 used on grml?</a></h3>
820 <p>Grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
821 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
822 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
824 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
826 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
828 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it
829 works for uniprocessor systems as well)</p>
831 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
833 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
835 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
836 root-shell run "sudo -i".</p>
838 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
839 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
840 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>.</p>
842 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">Which package(s) and which
843 version is available?</a></h3>
845 <p>If you want to get details about the provided packages and the
846 package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_...
847 files in the <a href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
848 grml.org/files/</a>.</p>
850 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
852 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
853 textonly one' and it is Debian's default.</p>
855 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc
856 but <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/file-rc">file-rc</a>. This
857 means you can configure the init system in one single file named
858 /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell
861 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell (/bin/sh)?</a></h3>
863 <p>Short answer: because <a href="/zsh/">Zsh rocks</a>, really!</p>
865 <p>Longer answer taken from <a
866 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH FAQ: 1.2: What is
869 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
870 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
871 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
872 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
873 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
874 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
876 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
877 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
878 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
879 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
880 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
882 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash
883 is largely a subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your
884 knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
886 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
888 <p>Yes, until Grml 0.6 zsh was the interpreter for /bin/sh. Starting
889 with release 0.7 Grml used /bin/bash as /bin/sh and nowadays /bin/dash
890 is used for /bin/sh (that's what Debian does as well). The reason?
891 Using zsh as default /bin/sh interpreter leads to some problems,
892 especially since Debian does not care to support zsh as /bin/sh overall.
894 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
896 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
899 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
901 <p>Grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
902 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
903 well) is provided by grml.</p>
905 <h3><a name="configuration"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></h3>
908 href="http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/12/22/make-console-work-comfortable/">'Make
909 console work comfortable'</a>.</p>
911 <h3><a name="truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></h3>
913 <p>Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named
914 'TrueCrypt License' which doesn't permit us to distribute Truecrypt (since at least
915 license version 2.6).
916 See <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license">section VI/4 of the
917 license</a> for details. The Ubuntu version from <a
918 href="http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads">truecrypt.org/downloads</a> is
919 known to work under grml.</p>
921 <h3><a name="grub"></a><a href="#toc">grub does not work on my system?!</a></h3>
923 <p>Looks like you used mkfs.ext3 from grml but are using an old grub
924 version. Notice that older versions of grub do not support 256 byte
925 inodes on ext3, being the default in recent versions of mkfs/e2fsprogs.
926 More information is available at <a
927 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=463236">#463236</a>
928 in the Debian bug tracking system.</p>
930 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
932 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
934 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
935 generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
936 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
937 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
938 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
943 <p>If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of
944 grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
946 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
948 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
949 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x). Some usage examples:</p>
952 grml-x -module vesa fluxbox # start fluxbox and use vesa module
953 grml-x -mode '800x600' fluxbox # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
954 grml-x -display 8 fluxbox # start fluxbox on display 8
955 grml-x -force -nostart fluxbox # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
956 grml-x -hsync 60 fluxbox # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
957 grml-x -hsync 60 -vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
960 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
962 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
963 example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.</p>
965 <h2><a name="stuff"></a><a href="#toc">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></h2>
967 <h3><a name="questions"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h3>
969 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the
970 provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (execute
971 "grml-info" on your grml-system for offline documentation)?
972 Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at
973 <a href="/">the grml website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
974 grml-wiki</a>. A good place to become part of the community is the <a
975 href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>. Please don't hesitate to <a
976 href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
978 <h3><a name="support"></a><a href="#toc">Commercial Support</a></h3>
980 <p>You want to deploy Grml in your data center, use it as part of your
981 business or have an emergency case? You're happy with Grml but would
982 like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software
983 selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)? As part of
984 our business we do provide commercial support, feel free to <a
985 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">contact us at Grml
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