X-Git-Url: http://git.grml.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=faq%2F2010.12.html.tt2;fp=faq%2F2010.12.html.tt2;h=a7bbac5379d9cbe0246e26d42be9d803cf7bb937;hb=1fce34f10ff6bdb0dc2bf3500c5f50a94e611bbd;hp=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000;hpb=51357e6c021cf74cb97be5638e9ddab429d0b186;p=grml.org.git diff --git a/faq/2010.12.html.tt2 b/faq/2010.12.html.tt2 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7bbac5 --- /dev/null +++ b/faq/2010.12.html.tt2 @@ -0,0 +1,984 @@ + + +grml.org - FAQ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +[% INCLUDE static.inc %] + +
+ +

*

+ +

FAQ for grml

+ +

Up2date: 2010-12-31 - applies to Grml releases version 2010.12

+ +

Index:

+ +

General:

+
    +
  1. What is grml?
  2. +
  3. Where do I get grml?
  4. +
  5. What does grml mean?
  6. +
  7. How do you pronounce grml?
  8. +
  9. What about the release name?
  10. +
  11. Requirements for running grml
  12. +
  13. Why another Linux distribution?
  14. +
  15. What's the license of grml?
  16. +
  17. What's the difference between grml and $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?
  18. +
  19. What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?
  20. +
  21. What does accessibility at grml mean?
  22. +
  23. Which bootoptions does grml support?
  24. +
  25. Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?
  26. +
  27. How do I boot grml from a USB stick?
  28. +
  29. Is it possible to store my settings?
  30. +
  31. Is a persistency feature available?
  32. +
+ +

grml-medium / grml-small / grml64:

+
    +
  1. What is grml-medium?
  2. +
  3. What is grml-small?
  4. +
  5. What is grml64?
  6. +
  7. What is grml64-medium?
  8. +
  9. What is grml64-small?
  10. +
  11. What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?
  12. +
  13. What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?
  14. +
  15. What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?
  16. +
+ +

Problems:

+
    +
  1. Are there any known issues with this release?
  2. +
  3. I have problems with my hardware!
  4. +
  5. grml does not boot on my computer!
  6. +
  7. I don't see anything when booting grml?!
  8. +
  9. I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode
  10. +
  11. grml2hd seems to hang?!
  12. +
  13. Booting grml-small via PXE using a CIFS share fails
  14. +
  15. I noticed some files are missing on grml
  16. +
  17. Bugreport
  18. +
+ +

System:

+
    +
  1. Where's the old bootsplash?
  2. +
  3. Which tools exist to configure grml?
  4. +
  5. What are the passwords of users on grml?
  6. +
  7. How do I find out the version of grml
  8. +
  9. Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?
  10. +
  11. How do I change the language/keyboard settings?
  12. +
  13. KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR
  14. +
  15. Which window managers can I use?
  16. +
  17. How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?
  18. +
  19. Where are my LVM devices?
  20. +
  21. Where are my Software-RAID devices?
  22. +
  23. Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?
  24. +
  25. Which ways exist to boot grml?
  26. +
  27. How do I configure timezone on my grml system?
  28. +
  29. Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?
  30. +
+ +

Kernel:

+
    +
  1. Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?
  2. +
  3. Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?
  4. +
  5. For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?
  6. +
+ +

Software:

+
    +
  1. General
  2. +
  3. Which package(s) and which version is available?
  4. +
  5. Init-System
  6. +
  7. Why is zsh the default shell?
  8. +
  9. Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?
  10. +
  11. Is a bash available?
  12. +
  13. Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?
  14. +
  15. Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?
  16. +
  17. grub does not work on my system?!
  18. +
+ +

X-Server

+
    +
  1. How do I start the X server?
  2. +
  3. X does not start on my box?!
  4. +
  5. I don't like the resolution of X!
  6. +
+ +

Support / Unanswered stuff

+
    +
  1. Further questions?
  2. +
  3. Commercial Support
  4. +
+ +

General

+ +

What is grml?

+ +

Grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on Debian. Grml includes a collection of + GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of + texttools. Grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml + as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working + environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due + to on-the-fly decompression grml includes more than 2GB of software and + documentation on the CD.

+ +

Where do I get grml?

+ +

Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors listed at + grml.org/download/. If you want to get an + original grml-CD including the grml-cover, + need a special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including + your logo, your software and/or special settings) please don't hesitate to contact us. Take a look at + Grml Solutions if you're + interested in commercial support.

+ +

What does grml mean?

+ +

Grml comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People use this when + they want to express their dissatisfaction/discontentedness with + software (amongst other things):

+ +
+$ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
+  sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
+3746
+ +

How do you pronounce grml?

+ +
+% flite -o play -t gremel
+ + +

What about the release name?

+ +

Codename of Grml 2010.12 is Gebrüder Grml. It's a german wordplay + on Brothers Grimm.

+ +

Requirements for running grml

+ + + +

Why another Linux distribution?

+ +

There already exist "some" distributions. We + decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of Debian because we don't want to reinvent + the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works + but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of + texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with + others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool + fans.

+ +

What's the license of grml?

+ +

Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (GNU General Public + License). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want + a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at Grml Solutions.

+ +

What's the difference between grml and + $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?

+ +

The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for + sysadmins and users of texttools. Grml includes all the tools for + admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many + important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh, + mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). Grml uses the existing + infrastructure of Debian. Grml was + once based on Knoppix (see + 'What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?' + for more details). We are also merging useful things from other + distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.

+ +

What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?

+ +

Grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and + OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages + which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. Grml boots a recent + 2.6 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on + Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically + based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of + software. Grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in + common with Knoppix:

+ +
+# locate knoppix
+# find / -iname \*knoppix\*
+#
+ +

We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide + most of Knoppix' features as well. Grml uses (mostly) the same cheatcodes + for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are + used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the + grml system as well.

+ +

What does accessibility at grml mean?

+ +

The Grml kernel includes support for + speakup and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml + blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.

+ +

Which bootoptions does Grml support?

+ +

Check out the grml-cheatcodes + file (also available via grml.org/cheatcodes/). Of + course kernel-parameters.txt + of the Linux kernel applies to Grml as well.

+ +

Is it possible to run Grml with $EMULATOR?

+ +

Sure, Grml works with(in) several emulators and virtual environments, + like e.g. + KVM, + MS Virtual PC, + QEMU + Virtualbox and + VMware. +

+ +

How do I boot Grml from a USB stick?

+ +

Check out grml2usb at the + usb webpage in the + grml-wiki.

+ +

Is it possible to store my settings?

+ +

Yes. Grml provides a config framework, check out grml.org/config/, /usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html + and 'man grml-autoconfig save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more + details. Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency option is + available.

+ +

Is a persistency feature available?

+ +

Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use + live-snapshot + (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling + persistency.

+ + +

grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?

+ +

What is grml-medium?

+ +

grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between grml-small and normal/large/full version of grml. grml-medium is an + ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a + sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same kernel + version as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some + further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped + as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the 'Debian-Information'-section if you are searching for + the package list. accessibility + features are NOT available/supported on grml-medium + though.

+ +

What is grml-small?

+ +

Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO, + grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB + uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no + X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue + system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the + Debian package management system to install software on the fly + (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the + same kernel version as normal grml does so you + can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as + well. Take a look at the 'Debian-Information'-section if you are searching for + the package list.

+ +

What is grml64?

+ +

grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on the amd64 port of + Debian.

+ +

What is grml64-medium?

+ +

grml64-medium is the 64bit version of grml-medium.

+ +

What is grml64-small?

+ +

grml64-small is the 64bit version of grml-small.

+ +

What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?

+ +

The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version + whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel + which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides + libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some + packages aren't available for amd64 (yet) some few packages are missing on + grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml.

+ +

What is the + difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?

+ +

The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small + includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages + on the ISO. grml-terminalserver and accessibility + features are not available/supported on + grml-small.

+ +

What is the + difference between grml-small and DSL?

+ +

DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target + audiences. Damn Small Linux + (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent + version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which + grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most + important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package + management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with + no modifications.

+ +

Problems

+ + +

Are there any known issues with this release?

+ +

We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known + issues/bugs publicly available: issues regarding + grml 2010.12 in the + grml-wiki.

+ +

If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet + mentioned please it.

+ +

I have problems with my hardware!

+ +

Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file + named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your + hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and send us the file with additional, relevant + information regarding your problem.

+ +

grml does not boot on my computer!

+ +

Please take a look at the + available bootparamters and cheatcodes and 'Which + ways exist to boot grml?'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm + noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal + hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot + with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot + commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to + be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you + don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken + (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using btmgr then for booting your + system. Also check out the problems webpage in + the grml-wiki. You still have + problems? Feel free to contact us.

+ +

I don't see anything when booting grml?!

+ +

Likely, this is a problem with the vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot + with the 'Disable Framebuffer' menuentry (available behind the submenu + 'Boot options for ...') or manually ad 'vga=normal' to the kernel + command line (press TAB to edit a menu entry and add 'vga=normal' + to it then).

+ +

I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode

+ +

Check out UTF8-webpage in the + grml-wiki.

+ +

grml2hd seems to hang?!

+ +

grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output. + If you see something like:

+ +
+SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
+SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
+SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]
+ +

your ISO/CD-ROM very probably is NOT ok. Verify it via + booting with grml testcd if that works, or even better check your CD + low-level via running:

+ +
+# readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom
+ +

If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with + DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma libata.dma=0' at the bootprompt.

+ +

Booting grml-small via PXE using a CIFS share fails

+ +

When trying to boot grml-small[64] via PXE (network boot) using a + CIFS share this will fail because grml-small[64] lacks cifs-utils. + cifs-utils would consume >14MB of additional disk space - that's why + it isn't part of the release. But there's a simple workaround: you can + take the initrd and kernel from the regular grml flavour and use just + the squashfs from grml-small[64].

+ +

I noticed some files are missing on grml

+ +

Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some + failures. The reason is pretty simple: some few modification have been + done either because they are required for the provided environment or + because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to + really care about, but as we don't hide anything we thought it might be + worth mentioning.

+ +

Bugreport

+ +

Searching for a bug? Want to report a bug? Take a look at the bugs webpage.

+ +

System

+ +

Where's the old bootsplash?

+ +

Starting with release 2009.10 Grml provides a menu based bootsplash. + To adjust boot options just press the TAB-key. To directly switch to the + old-style isolinux cmdline just press the escape key within 30 seconds. If you + still need access to the old bootsplash layout (including the f2, f3,... + pages with further information regarding available bootoptions) + select the entry 'Isolinux prompt' in the menu based bootsplash (just + press 'i' and ENTER for direct access to it). The timeout until either + the selected entry is booted (if specified) or until the system will + restore from the cmdline to the menu based bootsplash is 30 seconds.

+ +

Which tools exist to configure grml?

+ +

Grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life + easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main + scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most + important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to + get a completion menu in the shell.

+ +

What are the passwords of users on grml?

+ +

There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default + for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set + a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid + passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell + individually.

+ +

How do I find out the version of grml

+ +

Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:

+ +
+$ cat /etc/grml_version
+ +

Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?

+ +
+% sudo umount -l /live/image
+% sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs unless you booted using 'toram'
+% mount /dev/cdrom      # mount it again if needed
+
+ +

How do I change the language/keyboard settings?

+ +

By default grml uses english settings. But it is possible to + change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang, + keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is + already running. Usage examples:

+ +
+grml lang=de      # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
+                  # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
+                  # $LANGUAGE...
+grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
+                  # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
+                  # language variables
+% grml-lang de    # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
+                  # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
+
+ +

If you are running grml from harddisk (using grml2hd) you have several options how to set + language options:

+ + + +

Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for + /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend + for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.

+ +

KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR

+ +

Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a + distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to + run KDE with Debian use e.g. Sidux or Kubuntu. Gnome users might find Ubuntu useful. If you would like + to see a specific (software) package added to grml please report it to us!

+ +

Which window managers can I use?

+ +

Grml is shipped with a few selected window managers which are + lightweight and fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment, + Grml provides the following window managers:

+ + + + + +

Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x + wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.

+ +

How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?

+ +

Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1. + Udev on Grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1 + (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.

+ +

Where are my LVM devices?

+ +

LVM (Logival Volumes) is not started by default to + avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM + devices just execute:

+ +
+# /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
+
+or use the shorter version:
+
+# Start lvm2
+
+ +

If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm' + bootoption which automatically enables LVM.

+ +

Where are my Software-RAID devices?

+ +

Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is + not started by default to avoid any possible damage to + your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:

+ +
+# /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
+
+or use the shorter version:
+
+# Start mdadm-raid
+
+ +

If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid' + bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.

+ +

Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?

+ +

Since release 2008.11 grml uses libata exclusively (so no + longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems + don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a + system please provide output of 'lspci' to + us.

+ + +

Which ways exist to boot grml?

+ +

The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from + CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:

+ +

It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk), + firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box; + you don't need to modify anything. Check out the usb webpage in the + grml-wiki for more details.

+ +

Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy + disk? Take a look at btmgr, ubcd4win or sbm. They provide + support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.

+ +

grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network + using PXE + (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide + support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the + provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy + drive) or using gPXE. + For more information, refer to the grml-terminalserver webpage.

+ +

How do I configure + timezone on my grml system?

+ +

Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:

+ + + +

Configuration options relevant on harddisk installation:

+ +

Run: + +

+# dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
+
+ +

to adjust /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to the + provided information.

+ +

/etc/default/rcS: set variable UTC according + to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC + (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')

+ +

/etc/localtime: adjust zoneinfo according to + your needs:

+ +
+# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
+
+ +

The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were + compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules + about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into + appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to + print current time and date (in the specified time zone).

+ +

/etc/adjtime: This file is used e.g. by the + adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while + the system runs.

+ +

If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...) + it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct + time:

+ +
+# hwclock --systohc [--utc]
+
+ +

Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is set to + UTC!

+ +

Still problems?

+ +

Check your current settings via:

+ +
+cat /etc/timezone
+zdump /etc/localtime
+echo $TZ
+hwclock --show
+grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
+grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
+
+ +

Further information:

+ +

Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); Debian + GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time and TimeZoneChanges in the + Debian-Wiki.

+ +

Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?

+ +

Yes. Grml provides a tool called grml2hd (see + 'man grml2hd'). grml is developed + on a box running the grml-system itself, and we - the grml-developers - + especially like grml2hd because it gives us a working Linux box within + 10 to 30 minutes. grml2hd is perfect for prototyping: test hardware + support of Linux, test a specific setup, ... You can even use grml2hd in + a fully automatic mode without any further interaction.

+ +

But please note: grml2hd does NOT + provide a Linux distribution for newbies and should be installed to hard + disk only if really know what you are doing (or don't care about + maintainability, seriously). Please install grml using grml2hd only if + can answer all of the following questions with 'sure, YES':

+ + + +

Tip: If you want to get a plain Debian system take + a look at grml-debootstrap.

+ +

Note: If you are using grml in a production + environment and/or use a grml2hd installation, we strongly recommend you + subscribe to the grml user mailinglist!

+ +

Kernel

+ +

Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on + grml?

+ +

See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on the kernel-webpage.

+ +

Are there any special components/patches in the kernel + used on grml?

+ +

Grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from www.kernel.org with some + additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is + available on the kernel-page.

+ +

For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?

+ +

Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it + works for uniprocessor systems as well)

+ +

Software

+ +

General

+ +

Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a + root-shell run "sudo -i".

+ +

Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo". + Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a bugreport.

+ +

Which package(s) and which + version is available?

+ +

If you want to get details about the provided packages and the + package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_... + files in the Debian-Information section on + grml.org/files/.

+ +

Init-System

+ +

Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the + textonly one' and it is Debian's default.

+ +

Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc + but file-rc. This + means you can configure the init system in one single file named + /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell + anymore.

+ +

Why is zsh the default shell?

+ +

Short answer: because Zsh rocks, really!

+ +

Longer answer taken from ZSH FAQ: 1.2: What is + it?:

+ + Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most + resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been + gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the + command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features + to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh + (another `custom' shell). + +

If you don't know zsh take a look at ZSH FAQ: How does zsh + differ from ...?, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the grml zsh reference card and 'man zsh-lovers'.

+ +

If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash + is largely a subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your + knowledge about shell stuff.

+ +

Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?

+ +

Yes, until Grml 0.6 zsh was the interpreter for /bin/sh. Starting + with release 0.7 Grml used /bin/bash as /bin/sh and nowadays /bin/dash + is used for /bin/sh (that's what Debian does as well). The reason? + Using zsh as default /bin/sh interpreter leads to some problems, + especially since Debian does not care to support zsh as /bin/sh overall. + Take a look at #329288 + and #340058 + for example.

+ +

Is a bash available?

+ +

Grml uses zsh as the default interactive shell + but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as + well) is provided by grml.

+ +

Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?

+ +

Check out 'Make + console work comfortable'.

+ +

Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?

+ +

Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named + 'TrueCrypt License' which doesn't permit us to distribute Truecrypt (since at least + license version 2.6). + See section VI/4 of the + license for details. The Ubuntu version from truecrypt.org/downloads is + known to work under Grml.

+ +

grub does not work on my system?!

+ +

Looks like you used mkfs.ext3 from grml but are using an old grub + version. Notice that older versions of grub do not support 256 byte + inodes on ext3, being the default in recent versions of mkfs/e2fsprogs. + More information is available at #463236 + in the Debian bug tracking system.

+ +

X-Server

+ +

How do I start the X server?

+ +

Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It + generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on + startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press + Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox + with idesk and gkrellm):

+ +
+grml-x wm-ng
+ +

If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of + grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.

+ +

X does not start on my box?!

+ +

grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options + please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x). Some usage examples:

+ +
+grml-x --module vesa fluxbox        # start fluxbox and use vesa module
+grml-x --mode '800x600' fluxbox     # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
+grml-x --display 8 fluxbox          # start fluxbox on display 8
+grml-x --force --nostart fluxbox     # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
+grml-x --hsync 60 fluxbox           # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
+grml-x --hsync 60 --vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
+
+ +

I don't like the resolution of X!

+ +

Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For + example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.

+ +

Support / Unanswered stuff

+ +

Further questions

+ +

Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the + provided documentation (execute + "grml-info" on your grml-system for offline documentation)? + Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at + the grml website and the + grml-wiki. A good place to become part of the community is the grml mailinglist. Please don't hesitate to contact us.

+ +

Commercial Support

+ +

You want to deploy Grml in your data center, use it as part of your + business or have an emergency case? You're happy with Grml but would + like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software + selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)? As part of + our business we do provide commercial support, feel free to contact us at Grml + Solutions.

+ +
+ +[% INCLUDE static_bottom.inc %]