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29 <h1 align="center">FAQ for grml</h1>
31 <p><strong>Up2date:</strong> 20081103 - applies to versions grml
32 1.1 / grml64 0.2 / grml[64]-medium 0.1 / grml-small 0.4</p>
34 <p><a name="toc"></a><strong>Index:</strong></p>
36 <p class="toc"><a href="#general">General:</a></p>
38 <li><a href="#whatis">What is grml?</a></li>
39 <li><a href="#get">Where do I get grml?</a></li>
40 <li><a href="#whatmeans">What does grml mean?</a></li>
41 <li><a href="#pronounce">How do you pronounce grml?</a></li>
42 <li><a href="#releasename">What about the release name?</a></li>
43 <li><a href="#requirements">Requirements for running grml</a></li>
44 <li><a href="#why">Why another Linux distribution?</a></li>
45 <li><a href="#license">What's the license of grml?</a></li>
46 <li><a href="#difference">What's the difference between grml and $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are your main goals?</a></li>
47 <li><a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></li>
48 <li><a href="#accessibility">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#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>
54 <p class="toc"><a href="#grml64">grml64</a></p>
56 <li><a href="#whatisgrml64">What is grml64?</a></li>
57 <li><a href="#grml64vsnormal">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></li>
60 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlmedium">grml-medium</a></p>
62 <li><a href="#whatismedium">What is grml-medium?</a></li>
63 <li><a href="#whatismedium64">What is grml64-medium?</a></li>
66 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlsmall">grml-small:</a></p>
68 <li><a href="#whatissmall">What is grml-small?</a></li>
69 <li><a href="#smallvsnormal">What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></li>
70 <li><a href="#grmlvsdsl">What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></li>
73 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
75 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
76 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
77 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
78 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
79 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
80 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
81 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
82 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
83 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
84 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
85 <li><a href="#nodma">Why does grml not use DMA mode?</a></li>
86 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
87 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#utf8">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#missingfiles">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#grml2hdhang">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#hardware">I have problems with my hardware!</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#boot">grml does not boot on my computer!</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">What version of $PACKAGE 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="#fdisk">fdisk/parted/... complains with something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk label'?!</a></li>
115 <li><a href="#setuid">setuid/SUID</a></li>
116 <li><a href="#bitchx">bitchx</a></li>
117 <li><a href="#ispell">ispell</a></li>
118 <li><a href="#latex">LaTeX</a></li>
119 <li><a href="#slapd">slapd</a></li>
122 <p class="toc"><a href="#release">Release related issues</a>:</p>
124 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></li>
125 <li><a href="#proc_usb">Why isn't /proc/bus/usb mounted anymore?</a></li>
128 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
130 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
131 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
132 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
135 <p class="toc"><a href="#framebuffer">Framebuffer</a></p>
137 <li><a href="#video">The boot option video does not work as expected anymore</a></li>
138 <li><a href="#fbprobs">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></li>
141 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Unanswered stuff</a></p>
143 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
144 <li><a href="#donate">You like grml? Make a donation to support our work!</a></li>
147 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
149 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
151 <p>grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) once based on <a
152 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> and nowadays based on <a
153 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml includes a collection of
154 GNU/Linux software especially for users of texttools and system
155 administrators. grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
156 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
157 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due to
158 on-the-fly decompression grml includes about 2.1 GB of software and
159 documentation on the CD.</p>
161 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
163 <p>You can download grml of course: take a look at <a
164 href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want
165 to get an original grml-CD including <a
166 href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>, need a
167 special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
168 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
169 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact
170 us</a>! Take a look at <a
171 href="http://solutions.grml.org/">grml-solutions</a> for more
172 information regarding our offers.</p>
174 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
176 <p>grml is short for 'grummel' and comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in English. People
177 use this when they want to express their dissatisfaction/discontentedness with software
178 (amongst other things):</p>
181 $ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
182 sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
185 <h3><a name="pronounce"></a><a href="#toc">How do you pronounce grml?</a></h3>
188 % flite -o play -t gremel</pre>
191 $ echo 'ghroummel' | festival \-\-tts
194 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
196 <p>Codename of grml 1.1 is Skunk. The decision
197 whether the Skunk is inside the gas mask or
198 outside the picture is up to you.</p>
200 <p>Codename of grml64 0.2 is Schwammerlklauber.
201 'Schwammerlklauber' is an austrian word for
202 someone who is collecting fungi.</p>
204 <p>Codename of grml-medium and grml64-medium
205 0.1 is Pfuh. 'Pfuh' is a german word for
206 something like calling 'Phew'.</p>
208 <p>Codename of grml-small 0.4 is Springinkerl. 'Springinkerl' is an
209 austrian word for an uneasy child.</p>
211 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
215 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
217 <li>at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with ramdisks for unionfs and udev
218 and running X window system we recommend at least 128MB)</li>
220 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
222 <li>bootable CD-ROM drive (or <a
223 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=tips">a boot floppy</a> and standard
224 CD-ROM [IDE/ATAPI or SCSI]) [or network - see <a
225 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>]</li>
229 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
231 <p>There already exist "<a
232 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We decided
233 to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
234 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> and <a
235 href="http://www.knoppix.net/">Knoppix</a> because we don't want to reinvent
236 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue-CD and Knoppix works but
237 does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of texttools
238 out of the box, so we decided to share our work with others.</p>
240 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
242 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
243 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>).
244 You don't have to pay anything for running grml. <a
245 href="/donations/">Donations</a> and <a href="/contact/">feedback</a> are
246 welcome of course. If you want a special LiveCD or need support, take a
247 look at <a href="http://solutions.grml.org/">grml-solutions</a>.</p>
249 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
250 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are your main goals?</a></h3>
252 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
253 users of texttools and sysadmins. grml includes many important
254 texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh, mutt[ng],
255 slrn, vim and many others) and useful programs for admin's
256 daily work. grml uses the existing infrastructure of <a
257 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. grml was once based on <a
258 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see '<a
259 href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and
260 Knoppix?</a>' for more details). We are also merging
261 useful things from other distributions/live-cds to provide a
262 perfect environment.</p>
264 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
266 <p>grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE
267 and OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800
268 packages which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. grml
269 boots a 2.6.x kernel but no X for faster startup. Knoppix is based
270 on Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is
271 basically based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current
272 versions of software and less painfull upgrades. grml was once
273 based on Knoppix but nowadays (except for a similar initial
274 ramdisk) has nothing in common with Knoppix:</p>
278 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
281 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and
282 provide most of Knoppix' features as well. grml uses (mostly) the
283 same cheatcodes for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra
284 ones. So if you are used to the basic Knoppix features you might
285 find them on the grml-system as well. Ripping out the Knoppix
286 stuff makes it possible to create a grml system out of a
287 Debian system and vice versa. Running 'apt-get install grml' on a
288 Debian box will be officially supported in an upcoming version of
291 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
293 <p>The grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
294 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml blind
295 brltty=type,port,tbl'), emacspeak and flite.</p>
297 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
299 <p><a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a> should work without any
300 problems. It's also possible to run grml with <a
301 href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>, an emulator for various
302 CPUs which works on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and Mac OS X. Running grml with
303 QEMU has been tested successfully on Windows and Linux. Take a look at <a
304 href="/qemu/">the QEMU-grml-webpage</a>.</p>
306 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
308 <p>Take a look at the script <a
309 href="/scripts/grml2usb">grml2usb</a>. For more
310 details, take a look at the <a
311 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb-webpage in the
314 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
316 <p>Yes. grml provides a powerful config framework. See <a
317 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
318 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
319 and 'man save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
322 <h2><a name="grml64"></a><a href="#toc">grml64?</a></h2>
324 <h3><a name="whatisgrml64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64?</a></h3>
326 <p>grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on <a
327 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/">the amd64 port of
330 <h3><a name="grml64vsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></h3>
332 <p>The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version
333 whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel
334 which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides
335 libc6-i386, libc6-dev-i386, several lib32* packages and ia32-libs. Due
336 to space reasons and because some packages aren't available for amd64
337 yet some packages are missing on grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit)
338 grml. For more details please take a look at <a
339 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64">the grml64 webpage in the
342 <h2><a name="grmlmedium"></a><a href="#toc">grml-medium?</a></h2>
344 <h3><a name="whatismedium"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-medium?</a></h3>
346 <p>grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between <a
347 href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a> and <a href="#whatis">normal/large/full
348 version of grml</a>. grml-medium is an ISO with a maximum size of ~200MB
349 providing the most important packages a sysadmin usually needs. It
350 provides the same <a href="/kernel/">kernel version</a> as normal grml
351 does so you can easily integrate and use some further existing external
352 modules as well. The X.org server is shipped as well as the window
354 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
355 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported (currently) on
356 grml-medium though.</p>
358 <h3><a name="whatismedium64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64-medium?</a></h3>
360 <p>grml64-medium is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatismedium">grml-medium</a>.</p>
362 <h2><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a href="#toc">grml-small?</a></h2>
364 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
366 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.1 GB of software on a 700 MB ISO, grml-small
367 is a flavor with online ~58 MB ISO-size (~200 MB uncompressed). It does not
368 provide a lot of software but the essential stuff for being a rescue system
369 on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the Debian
370 package management system to install software on the fly (assuming you have
371 network access to a Debian mirror). Take a look at the <a
372 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are
373 searching for the package list.</p>
375 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
376 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
378 <p>The 700 MB-grml brings more than 2500 packages of software and a <a
379 href="/kernel/">full-featured kernel</a>. grml-small
380 includes about 215 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages
381 on the ISO and has a stripped-down <a
382 href="/kernel/">kernel</a> (but still provides hardware
383 detection of course). <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>
385 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
386 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported on
389 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
390 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
392 <p>DSL and grml-small have different target audiences. <a
393 href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a> (DSL) uses
394 kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent version of
395 kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which grml-small
396 does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most important
397 packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package management
398 which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with no
401 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
403 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
405 <p>grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
406 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
407 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
408 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
409 get a completion menu.</p>
411 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
413 <p>There are no default passwords. All accounts are locked by
414 default. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set a
415 password or create new user accounts as root). You can create
416 valid passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
419 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
421 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
424 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
426 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
429 $ sudo umount -l /cdrom
430 $ sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs ;)
431 $ mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed ;)
434 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
436 <p>By default grml uses English settings. But it is possible to
437 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
438 keyboard and xkeyboard or via running grml-lang when grml is
439 already running. Usage examples:</p>
442 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
443 # German keyboard layout and German $LANG, $LC_ALL,
445 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
446 # and you will get German keyboard and Austrian
448 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
449 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
452 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
453 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
454 language options:</p>
458 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
459 environment settings</li>
461 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
462 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
463 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
464 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
466 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
467 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
469 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
470 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
471 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
475 <p>Notice: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
476 /etc/default/locale and grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
477 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
479 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
481 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a
482 distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to
483 run KDE with Debian use e.g. <a href="http://sidux.com/">Sidux</a>, <a
484 href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> or <a
485 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
486 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like
487 to see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
488 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
490 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
492 <p>grml is shipped only with window managers which are lightweight and
493 fast - so well suited for a live-CD. At the moment, grml provides the
494 following window managers:
495 <a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>,
496 <a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>,
497 <a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>,
498 <a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>,
499 <a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>,
500 <a href="http://modeemi.cs.tut.fi/~tuomov/ion/">ion3</a>,
501 <a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>,
502 <a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>,
503 <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>,
504 <a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>,
505 <a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>,
506 <a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a> and
507 <a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>.</p>
509 <p>If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
510 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
512 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
514 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
515 udev on grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
516 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
518 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
520 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
521 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
522 devices just execute:</p>
525 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
527 or use the shorter version:
532 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
533 bootoption which automatically activates LVM.</p>
535 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
537 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
538 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
539 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
542 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
544 or use the shorter version:
549 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid'
550 bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.</p>
552 <h3><a name="nodma"></a><a href="#toc">Why does grml not use DMA mode?</a></h3>
554 <p>The harddisk is very slow and not using DMA mode? Check out whether
555 your S-ATA drive is detected as /dev/hda (this is a common problem with
556 ICH7 chipsets for example) and you can't set DMA mode:</p>
559 # hdparm -d1 /dev/hda
562 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
563 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
567 <p>Workaround: boot with the bootoptions 'hda=noprobe hda=none'. The
568 drive should be handled by the libata driver then (ata_piix for ICH7 for
569 example) and should show up as /dev/sda. (grml supports the old IDE
570 drivers as well as libata currently; this issue should be fixed with an
571 upcoming version of grml where libata is used more exclusively.)</p>
573 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
574 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
576 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
577 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
579 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
580 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the
581 box; you don't need to modify anything. If accessing the device
582 fails, use the 'scandelay' cheatcode on bootprompt. So, boot with
583 'grml scandelay'. If the timeout is still not long enough add the
584 time to wait in seconds as parameter: 'grml scandelay=15'. See <a
585 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb-webpage in the
586 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
588 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
589 disk? Take a look at <a
590 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a
591 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
592 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
593 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
595 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via
596 network. If you have a floppy drive, you can even boot your system over
597 network when your network card does not provide PXE-support! For more
598 information, refer to the <a
599 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver-webpage</a>.</p>
601 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
602 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
604 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
607 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
608 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
609 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
613 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk installation:</h4>
618 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
621 <p>to adjust /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to the
622 provided information.</p>
624 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
625 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
626 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
628 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
632 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
635 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
636 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
637 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
638 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
639 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
641 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
642 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
645 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
646 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
650 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
653 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is set to
656 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
658 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
665 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
666 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
669 <h4>Further information:</h4>
671 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
672 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
673 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
674 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
677 <h3><a name="utf8"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></h3>
680 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=utf8">UTF8-webpage in the
683 <h3><a name="missingfiles"></a><a href="#toc">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></h3>
685 <p>Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some
686 failures. The reason is pretty simple: some modification have been done
687 because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to
688 really care about, but as we don't hide anything we document them of
691 <p>On <strong>grml</strong> the following modifications have been done:
695 <li>linux-headers-2.6.20-grml: include files
696 (/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-grml/include/) of foreign (!x86)
697 architectures have been removed
699 <li>texlive-base-bin: documentation directory
700 /usr/share/doc/texlive-base-bin/pdftex/thanh/ has been removed
702 <li>texlive-latex-base: documentation directories
703 /usr/share/doc/texlive-latex-base/latex/base/,
704 /usr/share/doc/texlive-latex-base/latex/hyperref/ and
705 /usr/share/doc/texlive-latex-base/generic/babel/ have been removed
707 <li>texlive-latex-recommended: documentation directory
708 /usr/share/doc/texlive-latex-recommended/latex/koma-script/ has been
713 <p>On <strong>grml64</strong> the following modifications have been done:</p>
717 <li>some files of valgrind (/usr/lib/valgrind/x86-linux/*) have been stripped
719 <li>.so files of ion3 (/usr/lib/ion3/*.so) have been stripped
724 <p>On <strong>grml-small</strong> nearly all the documentation has been
725 removed to be able to provide a ~60MB iso with kernel 2.6 and all the
726 provided software.</p>
728 <p>Please notice that grml ships a script named
729 <strong>grml2hd-fix</strong> as part of package grml2hd-utils which
730 should fix the relevant of the above errors if you <a
731 href="#hdinstall">use grml as a harddisk installation</a>.</p>
733 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
735 <p>Take a look at the <a href="/bugs/">bugs-webpage</a>.</p>
737 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
739 <p>Yes. grml provides a tool called grml2hd (see '<a
740 href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is
741 developed on a box running the grml-system itself, and we - the
742 grml-developers - especially like grml2hd because it gives us a working
743 Linux box within 10 to 30 minutes. grml2hd is perfect for prototyping:
744 test hardware support of Linux, test a specific setup, ... You can even
745 use grml2hd in a fully automatic mode without any further interaction.
746 More information is available on <a
747 href="/grml2hd/">grml.org/grml2hd/</a> and <a
748 href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>. Notice: If
749 you are using grml in a production environment and/or use a grml2hd
750 installation, we strongly recommend you subscribe to <a
751 href="/mailinglist/">the grml user mailinglist</a>! Note
752 that grml is based on Debian unstable, so you should be familiar with
753 Debian unstable if you plan to use grml as a harddisk system. If you
754 want to get a plain Debian system take a look at <a
755 href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
757 <h3><a name="grml2hdhang"></a><a href="#toc">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></h3>
759 <p>grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output.
760 If you see something like:</p>
763 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
764 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
765 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]</pre>
767 <p>your ISO/CD-ROM very probably is not ok. Verify it via booting with
768 grml testcd. Check your CD low-level via running:</p>
771 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom</pre>
773 <p>If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with
774 DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma' at the bootprompt.</p>
776 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
778 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a
779 file named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about
780 your hardware. If you think we might help, please run
781 grml-hwinfo and send us the file with additional, relevant
782 information regarding your problem.</p>
784 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
786 <p>Please take a look at <a
787 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">the
788 available bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which
789 ways exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
790 noapic' might help. Bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal hardware
791 detection using some special bootoptions. If booting hangs during stage
792 "Waiting for /dev to be fully populated" please try booting
793 with 'grml noudev'. If you don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO
794 your BIOS seems to be broken (pretty common especially on old hardware).
795 Please consider using <a href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>
796 then for booting your system. Also check out the <a
797 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=problems">problems webpage</a> in
798 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. You still have
799 problems? Please <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>!</p>
801 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
803 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
806 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
808 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
809 used on grml?</a></h3>
811 <p>grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
812 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
813 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
815 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
817 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
819 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Notice: this works
820 for uniprocessor systems as well, thanks to <a
821 href="http://lwn.net/Articles/164121/">SMP alternatives</a>.)</p>
823 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
825 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
827 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
828 root-shell run "sudo su".</p>
830 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
831 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
832 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>!</p>
834 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">What version of $PACKAGE is
837 <p>Take a look at the dpkg_... files in the <a
838 href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
839 grml.org/files/</a>. </p>
841 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
843 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
844 textonly one' and it's debian's default.</p>
846 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use
847 sysv-rc but file-rc. This means you can configure the init system
848 in one single file named /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite
849 editor. No symlink-hell anymore.</p>
851 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell (/bin/sh)?</a></h3>
853 <p>Short answer: because zsh rocks.</p>
855 <p>Longer answer taken from <a href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH
856 FAQ: 1.2: What is it?</a>:</p>
858 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
859 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
860 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
861 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
862 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
863 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
865 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
866 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
867 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
868 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
869 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
871 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash is largely a
872 subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
874 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
876 <p>Yes, until grml 0.6 zsh was the intepreter for /bin/sh. Starting
877 with release 0.7 grml uses /bin/bash as /bin/sh. The reason?
878 Debian does not support zsh as /bin/sh. Take a look at <a
879 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
881 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
884 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
886 <p>grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
887 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
888 well) is provided by grml.</p>
890 <h3><a name="configuration"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></h3>
893 href="http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/12/22/make-console-work-comfortable/">'Make
894 console work comfortable'</a>.</p>
896 <h3><a name="truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></h3>
898 <p>Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named 'TrueCrypt License 2.6'.</p>
900 <h3><a name="fdisk"></a><a href="#toc">fdisk/parted/... complains with
901 something like 'unable to open /dev/sda - unrecognised disk
904 <p>The 'disk label' is libparted's word for 'partition table'. It looks
905 like you installed gnu-fdisk on your system. To work around this problem
906 you might want to try one the following options:</p>
909 <li>use /sbin/fdisk.distrib from util-linux</li>
910 <li>switch to sfdisk, cfdisk,...</li>
911 <li>use parted's mklabel command (but please read the <a
912 href="http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/">parted manual</a>
913 before executing this command)</li>
916 <h3><a name="setuid"></a><a href="#toc">setuid/SUID</a></h3>
918 <p>If you set a programm SUID (setuid/mode 4755), unprivileged users on your system will
919 be able to run it. This <em>could</em> be a potentially security hole, so by default the
920 packages are configured not to install binaries with setuid. If you want to use the
921 binaries with setuid please run 'dpkg-reconfigure $packagename' or 'chmod 4755
922 =programm'. The following packages are well known to have a programm with not set
935 <h3><a name="bitchx"></a><a href="#toc">bitchx</a></h3>
937 <p>Why isn't bitchx part of grml? <a
938 href="http://www.google.com/search?q=bitchx+sucks">bitchx
939 sucks</a>. Please use a better alternative like <a
940 href="http://irssi.org/">irssi</a> or <a
941 href="http://weechat.flashtux.org/index.php?lang=en">weechat</a>
942 which are part of grml.</p>
944 <h3><a name="ispell"></a><a href="#toc">ispell</a></h3>
946 <p>You don't want to use the preselected default for ispell? Run
947 'select-default-ispell' for changing it.</p>
949 <h3><a name="latex"></a><a href="#toc">LaTeX</a></h3>
951 <p>auctex and preview-latex are loaded by default in emacs. If you want to load
952 auctex based on your personal settings put the string "(require 'tex-site)" in your
953 ~/.emacs, for preview-latex use the string '(load "preview-latex")'.<br />
954 To change this run 'dpkg-reconfigure auctex' and/or 'dpkg-reconfigure
957 <h3><a name="slapd"></a><a href="#toc">slapd</a></h3>
959 <p>The password for the admin entry in the LDAP directory is 'grml'.</p>
961 <h2><a name="release"></a><a href="#toc">Release related issues</a></h2>
963 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
965 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
966 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
970 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_1.1">issues regarding
971 grml 1.1</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a></li>
973 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64_0.2">issues
974 regarding grml64 0.2</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
977 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-medium_0.1">issues
978 regarding grml-medium 0.1</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
981 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-medium_0.1">issues
982 regarding grml64-medium 0.1</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
985 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_0.4">issues
986 regarding grml-small 0.4</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
991 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
992 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please report it to us</a>!</p>
994 <h3><a name="proc_usb"></a><a href="#toc">Why isn't /proc/bus/usb mounted anymore?</a></h3>
996 <p>Starting with kernel 2.6.14, /dev/bus/usb replaces usbfs.
997 Current versions of libusb check for /dev/bus/usb's existence and
998 /proc/bus/usb is not necessary anymore (see <a
999 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=336596">#336596</a>).
1000 Of course 'mount /proc/bus/usb' still works; it is just not mounted
1001 by default anymore. If you see any problems please <a
1002 href="#bugreport">report them</a>.</p>
1004 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
1006 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
1008 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
1009 generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
1010 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
1011 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
1012 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
1014 <pre class="rahmen">
1017 <p>If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of
1018 grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
1020 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
1022 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
1023 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x)! Some usage examples:</p>
1025 <pre class="rahmen">
1026 grml-x -display 8 fluxbox # start fluxbox on display 8
1027 grml-x -force -nostart fluxbox # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
1028 grml-x -hsync 60 fluxbox # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
1029 grml-x -hsync 60 -vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
1030 grml-x -mode '800x600' fluxbox # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
1031 grml-x -module vesa fluxbox # start fluxbox and use vesa module
1034 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
1036 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
1037 example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.</p>
1039 <h2><a name="framebuffer"></a><a href="#toc">Framebuffer</a></h2>
1041 <h3><a name="video"></a><a href="#toc">The boot option video does not work as
1042 expected anymore</a></h3>
1044 <p>grml versions 0.4 and 0.5 provided <a
1045 href="/kernel/#vesafbtng">vesafb-tng</a> instead of
1046 normal vesafb. Starting with grml 0.6 and grml-small 0.2 vesafb-tng
1047 is not part of the grml-kernel anymore because it caused too many
1048 problems. Therefore, you can use the 'normal' vga=... option
1051 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
1053 <p>Likely, this is a problem with vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
1054 with bootoption 'nofb' or 'grml vga=normal'.</p>
1056 <h2><a name="question"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h2>
1058 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the
1059 provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (also run
1060 "grml-info" on your grml-system)? Run 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on
1061 your grml-system. Take a look at <a href="/">the
1062 grml-website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
1063 grml-wiki</a>. Please don't hesitate to <a
1064 href="/contact/">contact us</a>, a good place to start
1065 is the <a href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>.</p>
1067 <h3><a name="donate"></a><a href="#toc">You like grml? Make a donation
1068 to support our work!</a></h3>
1070 <p>grml is, as every other Open-Source project, driven by the many
1071 contributions made by many developers. The grml-team spends a great
1072 deal of their time and money toward this project.</p>
1074 <p>If you have been using grml you will come to remember how much money you
1075 or your company saves by using it and how you have been supported via
1076 the project mailing list, personal mail or irc.</p>
1078 <p>Now you can contribute by donating to grml. Your donation could either
1079 be money or hardware that one of the developers or the project as a whole
1080 needs. A donation would enable us to either support a specific
1081 hardware/software either at all or simply better.</p>
1083 <p>See <a href="/donations/">grml.org/donations/</a> for
1084 details. Thank you for helping us to work on grml!</p>
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