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29 <h1 align="center">FAQ for grml</h1>
31 <p><strong>Up2date:</strong> 2011-05-28 - applies to Grml releases version 2011.05</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 $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="#cifsshare">Booting grml-small via PXE using a CIFS share fails</a></li>
77 <li><a href="#missingfiles">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></li>
78 <li><a href="#aptgethangs">'apt-get install foo' seems to freeze after a while</a></li>
79 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
82 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
84 <li><a href="#isolinux">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></li>
85 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
86 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
87 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
95 <li><a href="#libata">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></li>
96 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
97 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
98 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
101 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
103 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
104 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
105 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
108 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
110 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
111 <li><a href="#sw_version">Which package(s) and which version is available?</a></li>
112 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
113 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
114 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
115 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
116 <li><a href="#configuration">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></li>
117 <li><a href="#truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></li>
118 <li><a href="#grub">grub does not work on my system?!</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> if you're
156 interested in commercial support.</p>
158 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
160 <p>Grml comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People use this when
161 they want to express their dissatisfaction/discontentedness with
162 software (amongst other things):</p>
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 2011.05 is "Just Mari". It's a dedication to someone special.
182 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
186 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
188 <li>grml/grml-medium: at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with
189 ramdisks for aufs and udev and when running X window system we
190 recommend at least 128MB)</li>
192 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
194 <li>either a bootable CD-ROM drive or <a href="#usbboot">USB-boot
195 capable system</a> (for booting via network/PXE check out <a
196 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>)</li>
200 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
202 <p>There already exist "<a
203 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We
204 decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
205 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> because we don't want to reinvent
206 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works
207 but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of
208 texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with
209 others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool
212 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
214 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
215 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public
216 License</a>). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want
217 a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at <a
218 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a>.</p>
220 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
221 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?</a></h3>
223 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
224 sysadmins and users of texttools. Grml includes all the tools for
225 admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many
226 important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh,
227 mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). Grml uses the existing
228 infrastructure of <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. Grml was
229 once based on <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see
230 '<a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a>'
231 for more details). We are also merging useful things from other
232 distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.</p>
234 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
236 <p>Grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and
237 OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages
238 which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. Grml boots a recent
239 2.6 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on
240 Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically
241 based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of
242 software. Grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in
243 common with Knoppix:</p>
247 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
250 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide
251 most of Knoppix' features as well. Grml uses (mostly) the same <a
252 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">cheatcodes</a>
253 for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are
254 used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the
255 grml system as well.</p>
257 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
259 <p>The Grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
260 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml
261 blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.</p>
263 <h3><a name="bootoptions"></a><a href="#toc">Which bootoptions does Grml support?</a></h3>
266 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">grml-cheatcodes
267 file</a> (also available via <a href="http://grml.org/cheatcodes/">grml.org/cheatcodes/</a>). Of
269 href="http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt">kernel-parameters.txt</a>
270 of the Linux kernel applies to Grml as well.</p>
272 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run Grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
274 <p>Sure, Grml works with(in) several emulators and virtual environments,
276 <a href="http://www.linux-kvm.org/">KVM</a>,
277 <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/">MS Virtual PC</a>,
278 <a href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>
279 <a href="http://www.virtualbox.org/">Virtualbox</a> and
280 <a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a>.
283 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot Grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
286 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb#grml2usb">grml2usb</a> at the
287 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb webpage in the
290 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
292 <p>Yes. Grml provides a config framework, check out <a
293 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
294 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
295 and 'man grml-autoconfig save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
296 details. Starting with release 2009.05 a <a
297 href="#persistency">persistency option</a> is
300 <h3><a name="persistency"></a><a href="#doc">Is a persistency feature available?</a></h3>
302 <p>Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use
304 href="http://grml.org/online-docs/live-snapshot.en.1.html">live-snapshot</a>
305 (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling
308 <a name="grmlmedium"></a><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a name="grml64"></a>
309 <h2></a><a href="#toc">grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?</a></h2>
311 <h3><a name="whatismedium"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-medium?</a></h3>
313 <p>grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between <a
314 href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a> and <a
315 href="#whatis">normal/large/full version of grml</a>. grml-medium is an
316 ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a
317 sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same <a href="/kernel/">kernel
318 version</a> as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some
319 further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped
320 as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the <a
321 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
323 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
324 features</a> are <strong>NOT</strong> available/supported on grml-medium
327 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
329 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO,
330 grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB
331 uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no
332 X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue
333 system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the
334 Debian package management system to install software on the fly
335 (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the
336 same <a href="/kernel/">kernel version</a> as normal grml does so you
337 can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as
338 well. Take a look at the <a
339 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
340 the package list.</p>
342 <h3><a name="whatisgrml64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64?</a></h3>
344 <p>grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on <a
345 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/">the amd64 port of
348 <h3><a name="whatismedium64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64-medium?</a></h3>
350 <p>grml64-medium is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatismedium">grml-medium</a>.</p>
352 <h3><a name="whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></h3>
354 <p>grml64-small is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a>.</p>
356 <h3><a name="grml64vsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></h3>
358 <p>The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version
359 whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel
360 which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides
361 libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some
362 packages aren't available for amd64 (yet) some few packages are missing on
363 grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml.</p>
365 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
366 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
368 <p>The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small
369 includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages
370 on the ISO. <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a> and <a
371 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
372 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported on
375 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
376 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
378 <p>DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target
379 audiences. <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a>
380 (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent
381 version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which
382 grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most
383 important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package
384 management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with
385 no modifications.</p>
387 <h2><a name="problems"></a><a href="#toc">Problems</a></h2>
389 <a name="release"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
390 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
392 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
393 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
397 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_2011.05">issues regarding
398 grml 2011.05</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a></li>
399 <li><a href="http://bts.grml.org/">Grml bug tracking system</a></li>
403 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
404 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please report it</a>.</p>
406 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
408 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file
409 named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your
410 hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and <a
411 href="/contact/">send us the file</a> with additional, relevant
412 information regarding your problem.</p>
414 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
416 <p>Please take a look at <a
417 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">the
418 available bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which
419 ways exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
420 noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal
421 hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot
422 with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot
423 commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to
424 be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you
425 don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken
426 (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using <a
427 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a> then for booting your
428 system. Also check out the <a
429 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=problems">problems webpage</a> in
430 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. You still have
431 problems? Feel free to <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
433 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
435 <p>Likely, this is a problem with the vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
436 with the 'Disable Framebuffer' menuentry (available behind the submenu
437 'Boot options for ...') or manually ad 'vga=normal' to the kernel
438 command line (press TAB to edit a menu entry and add 'vga=normal'
441 <h3><a name="utf8"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></h3>
444 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=utf8">UTF8-webpage in the
447 <h3><a name="cifsshare"></a><a href="#toc">Booting grml-small via PXE using a CIFS share fails</a></h3>
449 <p>When trying to boot grml-small[64] via PXE (network boot) using a
450 CIFS share this will fail because grml-small[64] lacks cifs-utils.
451 cifs-utils would consume >14MB of additional disk space - that's why
452 it isn't part of the release. But there's a simple workaround: you can
453 take the initrd and kernel from the regular grml flavour and use just
454 the squashfs from grml-small[64].</p>
456 <h3><a name="missingfiles"></a><a href="#toc">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></h3>
458 <p>Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some
459 failures. The reason is pretty simple: some few modification have been
460 done either because they are required for the provided environment or
461 because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to
462 really care about, but as we don't hide anything we thought it might be
463 worth mentioning.</p>
465 <h3><a name="aptgethangs"></a><a href="#toc">'apt-get install foo' seems to freeze after a while</a></h3>
467 <p>It seems you are running out of RAM - see 'free' while running 'apt-get…'. UnionFS and the debian packetmanagement require some more RAM for the ramdisk. Some tests showed that at least 164 MB RAM should be present for live-installation, otherwise you might run into a freeze.</p>
469 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
471 <p>Searching for a bug? Want to report a bug? Take a look at the <a
472 href="/bugs/">bugs webpage</a>.</p>
474 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
476 <h3><a name="isolinux"></a><a href="#toc">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></h3>
478 <p>Starting with release 2009.10 Grml provides a menu based bootsplash.
479 To adjust boot options just press the TAB-key. To directly switch to the
480 old-style isolinux cmdline just press the escape key within 30 seconds. If you
481 still need access to the old bootsplash layout (including the f2, f3,...
482 pages with further information regarding available bootoptions)
483 select the entry 'Isolinux prompt' in the menu based bootsplash (just
484 press 'i' and ENTER for direct access to it). The timeout until either
485 the selected entry is booted (if specified) or until the system will
486 restore from the cmdline to the menu based bootsplash is 30 seconds.</p>
488 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
490 <p>Grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
491 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
492 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
493 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
494 get a completion menu in the shell.</p>
496 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
498 <p>There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default
499 for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set
500 a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid
501 passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
504 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
506 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
509 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
511 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
514 % sudo umount -l /live/image
515 % sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs unless you booted using 'toram'
516 % mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed
519 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
521 <p>By default grml uses english settings. But it is possible to
522 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
523 keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is
524 already running. Usage examples:</p>
527 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
528 # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
530 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
531 # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
533 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
534 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
537 <p>Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
538 /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
539 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
541 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
543 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a
544 distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to
545 run KDE with Debian use e.g. <a href="http://sidux.com/">Sidux</a> or <a
546 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
547 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like
548 to see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
549 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
551 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
553 <p>Grml is shipped with a few selected window managers which are
554 lightweight and fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment,
555 Grml provides the following window managers:</p>
558 <li><a href="http://awesome.naquadah.org/">awesome</a>
559 <li><a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>
560 <li><a href="http://i3.zekjur.net/">i3</a>
561 <li><a href="http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Main_Page">openbox</a>
562 <li><a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>
563 <li><a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>
568 <li><a href="http://awesome.naquadah.org/">awesome</a>
569 <li><a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>
570 <li><a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>
571 <li><a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>
572 <li><a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>
573 <li><a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>
574 <li><a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>
575 <li><a href="http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Main_Page">openbox</a>
576 <li><a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>
577 <li><a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>
578 <li><a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>
579 <li><a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a>
580 <li><a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>
584 <p>Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
585 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
587 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
589 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
590 Udev on Grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
591 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
593 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
595 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
596 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
597 devices just execute:</p>
600 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
602 or use the shorter version:
607 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
608 bootoption which automatically enables LVM.</p>
610 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
612 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
613 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
614 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
617 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
619 or use the shorter version:
624 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid'
625 bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.</p>
627 <h3><a name="libata"></a><a href="#toc">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></h3>
629 <p>Starting with release 2008.11 grml uses <a
630 href="http://linux-ata.org/faq.html">libata</a> exclusively (so no
631 longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems
632 don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a
633 system please provide output of 'lspci' <a href="/contact/">to
636 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
637 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
639 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
640 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
642 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
643 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box;
644 you don't need to modify anything. Check out <a
645 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">the usb webpage in the
646 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
648 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
649 disk? Take a look at <a
650 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a
651 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
652 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
653 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
655 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network
657 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment">PXE</a>
658 (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide
659 support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the
660 provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy
661 drive) or using <a href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php">gPXE</a>.
662 For more information, refer to the <a
663 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver webpage</a>.</p>
665 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
666 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
668 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
671 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
672 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
673 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
677 <h4>Further information:</h4>
679 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
680 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
681 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
682 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
685 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
687 <p>Short anwer: No.</p>
689 <p><strong>ProTip</strong>: If you want to get a plain Debian system take
690 a look at <a href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
692 <p>Longer answer: you can get a copy of the live system installed to your
693 hard disk by running a tool called <a href="/grml2hd/">grml2hd</a>.
694 This is <strong>TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED</strong>.</p>
696 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
698 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
701 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
703 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
704 used on grml?</a></h3>
706 <p>Grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
707 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
708 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
710 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
712 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
714 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it
715 works for uniprocessor systems as well)</p>
717 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
719 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
721 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
722 root-shell run "sudo -i".</p>
724 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
725 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
726 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>.</p>
728 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">Which package(s) and which
729 version is available?</a></h3>
731 <p>If you want to get details about the provided packages and the
732 package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_...
733 files in the <a href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
734 grml.org/files/</a>.</p>
736 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
738 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
739 textonly one' and it is Debian's default.</p>
741 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc
742 but <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/file-rc">file-rc</a>. This
743 means you can configure the init system in one single file named
744 /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell
747 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></h3>
749 <p>Short answer: because <a href="/zsh/">Zsh rocks</a>, really!</p>
751 <p>Longer answer taken from <a
752 href="http://zsh.sourceforge.net/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH FAQ: 1.2: What is
755 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
756 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
757 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
758 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
759 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
760 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
762 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
763 href="http://zsh.sourceforge.net/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
764 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
765 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
766 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
768 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash
769 is largely a subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your
770 knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
772 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
774 <p>Yes, until Grml 0.6 zsh was the interpreter for /bin/sh. Starting
775 with release 0.7 Grml used /bin/bash as /bin/sh and nowadays /bin/dash
776 is used for /bin/sh (that's what Debian does as well). The reason?
777 Using zsh as default /bin/sh interpreter leads to some problems,
778 especially since Debian does not care to support zsh as /bin/sh overall.
780 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
782 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
785 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
787 <p>Grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
788 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
789 well) is provided by grml.</p>
791 <h3><a name="configuration"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></h3>
794 href="http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/12/22/make-console-work-comfortable/">'Make
795 console work comfortable'</a>.</p>
797 <h3><a name="truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></h3>
799 <p>Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named
800 'TrueCrypt License' which doesn't permit us to distribute Truecrypt (since at least
801 license version 2.6).
802 See <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license">section VI/4 of the
803 license</a> for details. The Ubuntu version from <a
804 href="http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads">truecrypt.org/downloads</a> is
805 known to work under Grml.</p>
807 <h3><a name="grub"></a><a href="#toc">grub does not work on my system?!</a></h3>
809 <p>Looks like you used mkfs.ext3 from grml but are using an old grub
810 version. Notice that older versions of grub do not support 256 byte
811 inodes on ext3, being the default in recent versions of mkfs/e2fsprogs.
812 More information is available at <a
813 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=463236">#463236</a>
814 in the Debian bug tracking system.</p>
816 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
818 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
820 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
821 will, if necessary, generate the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
822 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
823 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
824 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
829 <p>If you have want to start X with the deault options you can use
830 'startx' instead of grml-x. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
832 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
834 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
835 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x). Some usage examples:</p>
838 grml-x --module vesa wm-ng # start wm-ng and use vesa module
839 grml-x --mode '800x600' wm-ng # set resolution to 800x600 and start wm-ng
840 grml-x --display 8 wm-ng # start wm-ng on display 8
841 grml-x --force --nostart wm-ng # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
842 grml-x --hsync 60 wm-ng # set horizontal frequency and start wm-ng
843 grml-x --hsync 60 --vsync 40 wm-ng # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start wm-ng
846 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
848 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
849 example: '<code>xrandr -s 1024x768</code>'.</p>
851 <h2><a name="stuff"></a><a href="#toc">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></h2>
853 <h3><a name="questions"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h3>
855 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the
856 provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (execute
857 "grml-info" on your grml-system for offline documentation)?
858 Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at
859 <a href="/">the grml website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
860 grml-wiki</a>. A good place to become part of the community is the <a
861 href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>. Please don't hesitate to <a
862 href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
864 <h3><a name="support"></a><a href="#toc">Commercial Support</a></h3>
866 <p>You want to deploy Grml in your data center, use it as part of your
867 business or have an emergency case? You're happy with Grml but would
868 like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software
869 selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)? As part of
870 our business we do provide commercial support, feel free to <a
871 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">contact us at Grml
876 <?php include '../static_bottom.inc'; ?>