1 CHEATCODES AND HINTS FOR GRML
2 ==============================================================================
4 These options (can be combined) work from the (isolinux/grub) bootprompt:
6 grml Use default settings (same as just pressing return)
7 memtest Run Memtest86+ instead of Linux
8 fb1280x1024 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (1)
9 fb1024x768 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (2) [notice: grml's default]
10 fb800x600 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (3)
11 nofb Disable framebuffer
12 floppy Boot from floppydisk
13 hd / hd1 / hd2 / hd3 Boot from (local) primary / secondary /... harddisk
14 failsafe Boot with (almost) no HW-detection
15 debug Get shells during process of booting for debugging
16 bootchart Create chart of booting sequence in /var/log/bootchart.tgz
17 forensic Do not touch any harddisks during hardware recognition
18 splash Text based bootsplash
19 serial Activate ttyS0 and start mgetty
21 grub Boot into the Grub bootloader
22 qemu Boot with special options for use in Qemu
23 vmware Boot with special options for use in VMware
25 Important: if you notice any problems with one of the
26 following options please report it to the grml-team:
29 Notice: not all of the following cheatcodes are available on all the grml flavours.
30 For example the X window system is not part of grml-small.
34 grml lang=at|de|cn|da|es|fr|it Specify language ($LANG, $LC_ALL, $LANGUAGE - utf8) + keyboard
35 grml lang=nl|pl|ru|sk|tr|tw|us Specify language ($LANG, $LC_ALL, $LANGUAGE - utf8) + keyboard
36 grml lang=$LANG-iso Activate $LANG (use like in lines above) with iso-mode instead of utf8
37 grml gmt Use GMT-based time
38 grml tz=Europe/Vienna Use this timezone for TZ
39 grml keyboard=us xkeyboard=us Use different keyboard layout (text-console/X)
40 grml setkeycodes Set some special function keys for MS/HP keyboards
42 Configuration settings:
43 -----------------------
44 grml myconfig=/dev/fd0 Execute "grml.sh" and extract config.tbz from a partition:
45 /dev/fd0 for floppy disk
46 /dev/sda1 for USB-stick/first SCSI-device
47 grml netconfig=server/config.tbz Download file and extract configuration archive
48 grml partconf=/dev/hda2 Copy files specified in /etc/grml/partconf from /dev/hda2
49 to booting grml system
50 grml file=foobar.tbz Use specified file as name for configuration archive
51 instead of the default one (config.tbz)
52 grml extract=/etc Extract only /etc from configuration archive,
53 use it in combination with myconfig or netconfig
54 grml home=/dev/hda2 Mount specified partition as grml homedir
55 grml home=/dev/sda1/grml.img Mount loopback file as /home/grml
56 grml home=scan Automatic search for grml homedir (using file grml.img)
57 grml hostname=... Set hostname
58 grml debnet Search through local partitions for file /etc/network/interfaces,
59 copy /etc/network to local system and restart networking then
60 grml distri=... Set distribution name to given argument. If a jpg file named like the
61 given distri name can be found in directory desktop on the ISO
62 (/cdrom/desktop/"$DISTRI") it will be taken as wallpaper for grml
63 grml unionfs Use unionfs instead of aufs as overlay filesystem
65 Notice: Take a look at http://grml.org/config/ and
66 /usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html
67 for more information regarding the configuration
70 Booting related options:
71 ------------------------
72 grml toram Copy CD to RAM and run from there
73 grml tohd=/dev/hda1 Copy CD to HD partition and run from there
74 grml fromhd Skip checking for grml on CD-ROM
75 grml fromhd=/dev/hda1 Boot from previously copied CD-Image
76 grml bootfrom=/dev/hda1 Access Image then boot from previously
78 grml bootfrom=/dev/hda1/GRML.iso Access image, boot from ISO-Image
79 grml grml_dir=GRML Directory to search for on the CD
80 grml grml_name=GRML SquashFS-File to search for on the CD
82 Debugging related settings:
83 ---------------------------
84 debug Get shells during process of booting
85 grml nocolor Disable colorized output while booting
86 grml log Log error messages while booting and
87 grml testcd Check CD data integrity and md5sums
89 Service related settings:
90 -------------------------
91 grml ssh=password Set password for user grml and start ssh-server
92 grml startup=script Start $script instead of grml-quickconfig on startup
93 grml nosyslog Do not start syslog-ng
94 grml nogpm Disable GPM daemon
95 grml noblank Disable console blanking
96 grml small Do not start that many consoles
97 grml wondershaper=eth0,1000,500 Set up basic traffic shaping
98 grml services={postfix,mysql,...} Start service(s) which have an init-script (/etc/init.d/)
99 grml welcome Welcome message via soundoutput
100 grml noeject Do NOT eject CD after halt/reboot
101 grml noprompt Do NOT prompt to remove the CD when halting/rebooting the system
102 grml distcc=$NETWORK,$INTERFACE Activate distcc-daemon to listen on specified network
103 and interface, usage example:
104 distcc=192.168.0.1/24,eth0
105 grml gcc=3.4 gpp=3.4 Link /usr/bin/gcc, /usr/bin/cpp and /usr/bin/c++ to specified version
106 grml startx{=windowmanager} Start X window system automatically
107 Default window manager (if not provided): wm-ng (wrapper around fluxbox)
109 Accessibility related settings:
110 -------------------------------
111 grml blind Start Braille-Terminal (no X)
112 grml swspeak Prepare system for use with software synthesizer through speakup
113 Run 'swspeak' after booting up to activate sound output
114 grml brltty=type,port,table Parameters for Braille device (e.g.: brltty=al,/dev/ttyS0,text.de.tbl)
115 grml speakup_synth=... Use speakup kernel module with given hardware type
117 Hardware related settings:
118 --------------------------
119 grml swap Activate present/detected swap partitions
120 grml noswraid Disable scanning for software raid arrays (creates /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf)
121 grml swraid Enable automatic assembling of software raid arrays
122 grml nolvm Disable scanning for Logical Volumes (LVM)
123 grml lvm Automatically activate Logival Volumes (LVM) during boot
124 grml scandelay[=seconds] Delay accessing ISO-device (useful for booting via usb/firewire)
125 grml cdrom=/dev/... Use specifed device as CD-ROM device (used for mounting the grml-ISO)
126 grml xmodule=ati|fbdev|i810|mga Use specified X.org-Module (1)
127 grml xmodule=nv|radeon|savage|s3 Use specified X.org-Module (2)
128 grml xmodule=radeon|svga|i810 Use specified X.org-Module (3)
129 grml no{acpi,agp,apm,cpu,dhcp} Skip parts of HW-detection (1)
130 grml no{dma,fstab,modem} Skip parts of HW-detection (2)
131 grml no{pcmcia,scsi,swap,usb} Skip parts of HW-detection (3)
132 grml 915resolution=... Start resolution modify tool for Intel graphic chipset
133 usage: $MODE,$XRESO,$YRESO
134 grml blacklist=modulename Completely disable loading of specified module via
135 blacklisting through /etc/modprobe.d/grml
136 grml fwtimeout=50 Set firmware timeout via /sys/class/firmware/timeout to specified value
137 grml nosound Mute sound devices (notice: this does not deactivate loading of sound drivers!)
138 grml vol=number Set mixer volumes to level $number
139 grml pnpbios=off No PnP Bios initialization
140 grml acpi=off Disable ACPI Bios completely
141 grml nousb2 Disable initialization of USB 2.x controller(s)
142 grml nousb Disable initialization of USB in booting sequence
143 grml nofirewire Disable initialization of firewire devices in booting sequence
144 grml pci=irqmask=0x0e98 Try this, if PS/2 mouse doesn't work *)
145 grml pci=bios Workaround for bad PCI controllers
146 grml ide2=0x180 nopcmcia Boot from PCMCIA-CD-ROM (some notebooks)
147 grml mem=128M Specify Memory size in MByte
148 grml dma Enable DMA accelleration for ALL IDE-Drives
149 grml nodma ide=nodma Disable DMA accelleration for ALL IDE-Drives
150 grml vga=normal [video=ofonly] No-framebuffer mode (does not influence X)
151 grml vga=ask [video=ofonly] Display menu for framebuffer mode
153 Installation related settings:
154 ------------------------------
156 Caution: do *not* use the grml2hd and/or debian2hd bootoption if you do not know what you are doing!
158 Install plain Debian via debian2hd bootoption (which runs grml-debootstrap in non-interactive mode):
160 debian2hd <options> ... whereas valid options for debian2hd are:
162 target= target partition/directory of the new Debian system, e.g.: target=/dev/hda1
163 grub= where to install grub to? Use grub syntax for specifying, e.g.: grub=hd0
164 groot= specify root device for usage in grub (use grub syntax), e.g.: groot=hd0,0
165 release= specify release of new Debian system (default is stable), e.g.: release=sid
166 mirror= specify mirror for apt-get/aptitude, e,g.: mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian
167 password= set passwort of user root without prompting for it, e.g.: password=AiTh5ahn
169 Usage example for automatic installation:
170 debian2hd target=/dev/hda1 grub=hd0 groot=hd0,0 mirror=ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian password=foobar
172 See http://grml.org/grml-debootstrap/ for more information.
174 Install grml via grml2hd bootoption (which runs grml2hd in non-interactive mode):
176 grml2hd <options> ... whereas valid options for grml2hd are:
178 user= user name for user which should be used at hd-install
179 filesystem={ext2|ext3|reiserfs|reiser4|jfs|xfs} filesystem to be used
180 mbr=/dev/... partition where MBR should be installed (default:=partition)
181 partition=/dev/... partition where grml should be installed
183 Usage example for booting:
184 grml2hd partition=/dev/hda4 mbr=/dev/hda filesystem=ext3 user=mika
186 Passwords of user root and user are "grml" - please adjust after hd-install!
188 See http://grml.org/grml2hd/ for more information.
193 *) Try "grml pci=irqmask=0x0e98" if (you have a notebook and) your
194 PS/2 mouse doesn't work. (Possibly caused by a BIOS-flaw on your board,
195 BIOS updates can help.) Sometimes, switching to the text console with
196 Control-Alt-F1 and back to the X-screen with Control-Alt-F7 solves the
197 problem without rebooting, since the X server reinitializes the mouse
198 driver during that procedure.
200 *) Bootfrom needs access to a running grml-System with the same Kernel
201 as the Bootkernel, before it is able to mount the partition / ISO-Image.
202 This should allow a poor mans install from NTFS-Partitions and makes it
203 also possible to boot an ISO-Image directly. You can also use wildcards
204 in the ISO-Filename, but it must be unique. So: If you have just one
205 grml.iso on /dev/hda1 you can access it as: bootfrom=/dev/hda1/G*.iso,
206 but if there are several, you need to make clear, which one you want.
207 (Feature added by Fabian Franz.)
209 *) If your grml-CD makes strange noises during boot, or you see frequent
210 errors like "squashfs: read error", or programs are crashing randomly,
211 then your CD image is probably defective or incomplete, or your CD-burner
212 created a defective CD due to wrong writing speed or bad media. This is
213 the most common error reported. Please boot with "grml testcd" to check
214 if the CD is OK, and/or even better, verify the MD5 checksums that are
215 present on the mirrors before writing the CD. Check your CD low-level
216 via running 'readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom'. In some cases, defective
217 IDE controllers cause this error if you have DMA enabled. Also, please
220 *) In case of a failing hardware autodetection, try booting with any of
221 the "no-" options as shown in the table above, like in
222 grml noagp noapm noapic acpi=off nodma
223 to skip some critical parts of the autodetection system.
225 *) Some boards apparently don't pass the proper memory size to the
226 linux-kernel. It may cause the message "Panic: cannot mount root file
227 system" and the system hangs. Use "grml mem=128M" to solve that
228 problem if your system has 128MByte memory for example (caution:
229 you MUST use a capital "M" here).
231 *) The "myconfig=/dev/partition" option allows you to reconfigure the
232 system after autoconfiguration by running a bourne shell script called
233 "grml.sh" and/or extracting configuration files from a file named
234 config.tbz from the root directory on the given device (or floppy).
235 Take a look at http://grml.org/config/ for more information regarding
236 the configuration framework of grml.
238 *) If you wish to remaster the CD, please don't forget to specify
240 -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
241 -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat
243 as option to mkisofs. Otherwise your CD won't be bootable. The
244 directory GRML, containig the compressed filesystem file "GRML",
245 must be located in the top level directory of the CD.
247 *) Caution: screensavers: Don't start xlock/vlock or any other screensaver
248 that requires a password. There are no default passwords on grml,
249 i.e. all accounts are LOCKED unless you explicitly set a password.
250 See also README_Security.txt about this issue.
251 Hint: If you accidentially started a screensaver switch to one of the
252 textconsoles by Control-Alt-F1 and kill the screensaver (or just set a
253 password for the grml user). Take a look at the script grml-lock.