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29 <h1 align="center">FAQ for release 2010.04</h1>
31 <p><a name="toc"></a><strong>Index:</strong></p>
33 <p class="toc"><a href="#general">General:</a></p>
35 <li><a href="#whatis">What is grml?</a></li>
36 <li><a href="#get">Where do I get grml?</a></li>
37 <li><a href="#whatmeans">What does grml mean?</a></li>
38 <li><a href="#pronounce">How do you pronounce grml?</a></li>
39 <li><a href="#releasename">What about the release name?</a></li>
40 <li><a href="#requirements">Requirements for running grml</a></li>
41 <li><a href="#why">Why another Linux distribution?</a></li>
42 <li><a href="#license">What's the license of grml?</a></li>
43 <li><a href="#difference">What's the difference between grml and $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?</a></li>
44 <li><a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></li>
45 <li><a href="#accessibility">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></li>
46 <li><a href="#bootoptions">Which bootoptions does grml support?</a></li>
47 <li><a href="#emulation">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></li>
48 <li><a href="#usbboot">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#store">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></li>
50 <li><a href="#persistency">Is a persistency feature available?</a></li>
53 <p class="toc"><a href="#grmlmedium">grml-medium</a> / <a
54 href="#grmlsmall">grml-small</a> / <a
55 href="#grml64">grml64</a>:</p>
57 <li><a href="#whatismedium">What is grml-medium?</a></li>
58 <li><a href="#whatissmall">What is grml-small?</a></li>
59 <li><a href="#whatisgrml64">What is grml64?</a></li>
60 <li><a href="#whatismedium64">What is grml64-medium?</a></li>
61 <li><a href="#whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></li>
62 <li><a href="#grml64vsnormal">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></li>
63 <li><a href="#smallvsnormal">What is the difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></li>
64 <li><a href="#grmlvsdsl">What is the difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></li>
67 <p class="toc"><a href="#problems">Problems</a>:</p>
69 <li><a href="#known_issues">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></li>
70 <li><a href="#hardware">I have problems with my hardware!</a></li>
71 <li><a href="#boot">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></li>
72 <li><a href="#fbprobs">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></li>
73 <li><a href="#utf8">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></li>
74 <li><a href="#grml2hdhang">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></li>
75 <li><a href="#missingfiles">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></li>
76 <li><a href="#bugreport">Bugreport</a></li>
79 <p class="toc"><a href="#system">System</a>:</p>
81 <li><a href="#isolinux">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></li>
82 <li><a href="#configure">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></li>
83 <li><a href="#password">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></li>
84 <li><a href="#version">How do I find out the version of grml</a></li>
85 <li><a href="#remove_cd">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></li>
86 <li><a href="#language">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></li>
87 <li><a href="#kde_and_foo">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></li>
88 <li><a href="#wms">Which window managers can I use?</a></li>
89 <li><a href="#usbmount">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></li>
90 <li><a href="#lvm">Where are my LVM devices?</a></li>
91 <li><a href="#swraid">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></li>
92 <li><a href="libata">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></li>
93 <li><a href="#booting">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></li>
94 <li><a href="#timezone">How do I configure timezone on my grml system?</a></li>
95 <li><a href="#hdinstall">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></li>
98 <p class="toc"><a href="#kernel">Kernel</a>:</p>
100 <li><a href="#kernelconfig">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
101 <li><a href="#kernelpatches">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel used on grml?</a></li>
102 <li><a href="#platform">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></li>
105 <p class="toc"><a href="#software">Software:</a></p>
107 <li><a href="#sw_general">General</a></li>
108 <li><a href="#sw_version">Which package(s) and which version is available?</a></li>
109 <li><a href="#init">Init-System</a></li>
110 <li><a href="#zsh">Why is zsh the default shell?</a></li>
111 <li><a href="#zsh_binsh">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></li>
112 <li><a href="#bash">Is a bash available?</a></li>
113 <li><a href="#configuration">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></li>
114 <li><a href="#truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></li>
115 <li><a href="#grub">grub does not work on my system?!</a></li>
118 <p class="toc"><a href="#xserver">X-Server</a></p>
120 <li><a href="#xstart">How do I start the X server?</a></li>
121 <li><a href="#xproblem">X does not start on my box?!</a></li>
122 <li><a href="#xresolution">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></li>
125 <p class="toc"><a href="#stuff">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></p>
127 <li><a href="#questions">Further questions?</a></li>
128 <li><a href="#support">Commercial Support</a></li>
131 <h2><a name="general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h2>
133 <h3><a name="whatis"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml?</a></h3>
135 <p>Grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on <a
136 href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. Grml includes a collection of
137 GNU/Linux software especially for system administrators and users of
138 texttools. Grml provides automatic hardware detection. You can use grml
139 as a rescue system, for analyzing systems/networks, or as a working
140 environment. It is not necessary to install anything to a harddisk. Due
141 to on-the-fly decompression grml includes more than 2GB of software and
142 documentation on the CD.</p>
144 <h3><a name="get"></a><a href="#toc">Where do I get grml?</a></h3>
146 <p>Grml is open source, you can download it from the mirrors listed at
147 <a href="/download">grml.org/download/</a>. If you want to get an
148 original grml-CD including <a href="/files/#covers">the grml-cover</a>,
149 need a special amount of CDs or want your own special grml-CD (including
150 your logo, your software and/or special settings) <a
151 href="/contact/">please don't hesitate to contact us</a>. Take a look at
152 <a href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a> if you're
153 interested in commercial support.</p>
155 <h3><a name="whatmeans"></a><a href="#toc">What does grml mean?</a></h3>
157 <p>Grml is short for 'grummel' and comes close to 'argl' or 'grrr' in
158 English. People use this when they want to express their
159 dissatisfaction/discontentedness with software (amongst other
163 $ grep -ch grml .centericq/**/history | xargs echo | \
164 sed 's/[0-9]*/& + /g' | sed 's/+ $//g' | bc -l
167 <h3><a name="pronounce"></a><a href="#toc">How do you pronounce grml?</a></h3>
170 % flite -o play -t gremel</pre>
172 $ echo 'ghroummel' | festival \-\-tts
175 <h3><a name="releasename"></a><a href="#toc">What about the release name?</a></h3>
177 <p>Codename of Grml 2010.04 is Grmlmonster. Take a look look at the <a
178 href="/screenshots/#grml1004">release screenshot</a> and
179 think of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street">Sesame
180 Street's Cookie Monster</a> (in german known as <a
181 href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krümelmonster#Kr.C3.BCmelmonster">Krümelmonster</a>).
184 <h3><a name="requirements"></a><a href="#toc">Requirements for running grml</a></h3>
188 <li>Intel-compatible CPU (i586 or later, preferably Pentium class or higher)</li>
190 <li>grml/grml-medium: at least 64MB of RAM (for stable use with
191 ramdisks for aufs and udev and when running X window system we
192 recommend at least 128MB)</li>
194 <li>grml-small: at least 32MB RAM should be available</li>
196 <li>either a bootable CD-ROM drive or <a href="#usbboot">USB-boot
197 capabable system</a> (for booting via network/PXE check out <a
198 href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a>)</li>
202 <h3><a name="why"></a><a href="#toc">Why another Linux distribution?</a></h3>
204 <p>There already exist "<a
205 href="http://www.distrowatch.com/">some</a>" distributions. We
206 decided to base our work on the existing infrastructure of <a
207 href="http://debian.org/">Debian</a> because we don't want to reinvent
208 the wheel. Some admins already use their own rescue CD, Knoppix works
209 but does not bring that many important tools for admins and users of
210 texttools out of the box. Therefor we decided to share our work with
211 others and provide the swiss army knife for sysadmins and texttool
214 <h3><a name="license"></a><a href="#toc">What's the license of grml?</a></h3>
216 <p>Anything written by the grml team is published under the GPL (<a
217 href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public
218 License</a>). You don't have to pay anything for using grml. If you want
219 a special Live-CD or need commercial support, take a look at <a
220 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">Grml Solutions</a>.</p>
222 <h3><a name="difference"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and
223 $OTHER-DISTRIBUTION? What are the main goals?</a></h3>
225 <p>The main goal of grml is to be a distribution well suited for
226 sysadmins and users of texttools. Grml includes all the tools for
227 admin's daily work (lvm, mdadm, dd/ddrescue,...) as well as many
228 important texttools (of course awk, sed, grep, ... but also zsh,
229 mutt[ng], slrn, vim and many others). Grml uses the existing
230 infrastructure of <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>. Grml was
231 once based on <a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/">Knoppix</a> (see
232 '<a href="#knoppix">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a>'
233 for more details). We are also merging useful things from other
234 distributions/live-cds to provide a perfect environment.</p>
236 <h3><a name="knoppix"></a><a href="#toc">What's the difference between grml and Knoppix?</a></h3>
238 <p>Grml comes with a vastly different set of software. Missing KDE and
239 OpenOffice provides the opportunity of shipping more than 800 packages
240 which Knoppix does not provide on its CD version. Grml boots a recent
241 2.6 kernel but no X by default for faster startup. Knoppix is based on
242 Debian/testing-experimental (using apt-pinning), but grml is basically
243 based on plain Debian/unstable providing more current versions of
244 software. Grml was once based on Knoppix but nowadays has nothing in
245 common with Knoppix:</p>
249 # find / -iname \*knoppix\*
252 <p>We consider Knoppix as a brand name for live-cds nowadays and provide
253 most of Knoppix' features as well. Grml uses (mostly) the same <a
254 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">cheatcodes</a>
255 for booting as Knoppix and even provides some extra ones. So if you are
256 used to the basic Knoppix features you usually find them on the
257 grml system as well.</p>
259 <h3><a name="accessibility"></a><a href="#toc">What does accessibility at grml mean?</a></h3>
261 <p>The Grml kernel includes <a href="/kernel/#speakup">support for
262 speakup</a> and provides software like brltty (using bootoption 'grml
263 blind brltty=type,port,tbl') and flite.</p>
265 <h3><a name="bootoptions"></a><a href="#toc">Which bootoptions does Grml support?</a></h3>
268 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">grml-cheatcodes
269 file</a> (also available via <a href="http://grml.org/cheatcodes/">grml.org/cheatcodes/</a>). Of
271 href="http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt">kernel-parameters.txt</a>
272 of the Linux kernel applies to Grml as well.</p>
274 <h3><a name="emulation"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run grml with $EMULATOR?</a></h3>
276 <p>Sure, Grml works with(in) several emulators and virtual environments,
278 <a href="http://www.linux-kvm.org/">KVM</a>,
279 <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/">MS Virtual PC</a>,
280 <a href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">QEMU</a>
281 <a href="http://www.virtualbox.org/">Virtualbox</a> and
282 <a href="http://www.vmware.com/">VMware</a>.
285 <h3><a name="usbboot"></a><a href="#toc">How do I boot grml from a USB stick?</a></h3>
288 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb#grml2usb">grml2usb</a> at the
289 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">usb webpage in the
292 <h3><a name="store"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to store my settings?</a></h3>
294 <p>Yes. Grml provides a config framework, check out <a
295 href="/config/">grml.org/config/</a>, <a
296 href="file:///usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html">/usr/share/doc/grml-saveconfig/grml-config.html</a>
297 and 'man grml-autoconfig save-config restore-config mkpersistenthome' for more
298 details. Starting with release 2009.05 a <a
299 href="#persistency">persistency option</a> is
302 <h3><a name="persistency"></a><a href="#doc">Is a persistency feature available?</a></h3>
304 <p>Starting with release 2009.05 a persistency feature is available. Use
306 href="http://grml.org/online-docs/live-snapshot.en.1.html">live-snapshot</a>
307 (man live-snapshot) and the bootoption 'persistent' for enabling
310 <a name="grmlmedium"></a><a name="grmlsmall"></a><a name="grml64"></a>
311 <h2></a><a href="#toc">grml-medium / grml-small / grml64?</a></h2>
313 <h3><a name="whatismedium"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-medium?</a></h3>
315 <p>grml-medium is a grml-flavour which tries to close the gap between <a
316 href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a> and <a
317 href="#whatis">normal/large/full version of grml</a>. grml-medium is an
318 ISO with a size of ~200MB providing the most important packages a
319 sysadmin usually needs. It provides the same <a href="/kernel/">kernel
320 version</a> as normal grml does so you can easily integrate and use some
321 further existing external modules as well. The X.org server is shipped
322 as well as the window manager fluxbox. Take a look at the <a
323 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
325 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
326 features</a> are <strong>NOT</strong> available/supported on grml-medium
329 <h3><a name="whatissmall"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml-small?</a></h3>
331 <p>Whereas grml provides about 2.3GB of software on a 700 MB ISO,
332 grml-small is a flavor with about 100 MB ISO-size (~275 MB
333 uncompressed). It does not provide a lot of software (for example no
334 X.org and no man pages) but the essential stuff for being a rescue
335 system on a business card CD-ROM or a small USB device. You can use the
336 Debian package management system to install software on the fly
337 (assuming you have network access to a Debian mirror). It provides the
338 same <a href="/kernel/">kernel version</a> as normal grml does so you
339 can easily integrate and use some further existing external modules as
340 well. Take a look at the <a
341 href="/files/">'Debian-Information'-section</a> if you are searching for
342 the package list.</p>
344 <h3><a name="whatisgrml64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64?</a></h3>
346 <p>grml64 is a 64bit-version of grml, based on <a
347 href="http://www.debian.org/ports/amd64/">the amd64 port of
350 <h3><a name="whatismedium64"></a><a href="#toc">What is grml64-medium?</a></h3>
352 <p>grml64-medium is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatismedium">grml-medium</a>.</p>
354 <h3><a name="whatissmall64">What is grml64-small?</a></h3>
356 <p>grml64-small is the 64bit version of <a href="#whatissmall">grml-small</a>.</p>
358 <h3><a name="grml64vsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the difference between 32 bit grml and 64 bit grml?</a></h3>
360 <p>The main difference of course is that grml64 is a 64bit-version
361 whereas (normal) grml is 32bit-only. grml64 provides a 64bit kernel
362 which supports 32bit userspace applications. grml64 also provides
363 libc6-i386 and libc6-dev-i386. Due to space reasons and because some
364 packages aren't available for amd64 (yet) some few packages are missing on
365 grml64 compared to (normal, 32bit) grml.</p>
367 <h3><a name="smallvsnormal"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
368 difference between 'normal' grml and grml-small?</a></h3>
370 <p>The 700MB-grml brings more than 2500 software packages. grml-small
371 includes about 300 software packages, lacks documentation and manpages
372 on the ISO. <a href="#terminalserver">grml-terminalserver</a> and <a
373 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=accessibility">accessibility
374 features</a> are <strong>not</strong> available/supported on
377 <h3><a name="grmlvsdsl"></a><a href="#toc">What is the
378 difference between grml-small and DSL?</a></h3>
380 <p>DSL (Damns Small Linux) and grml-small have different target
381 audiences. <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small Linux</a>
382 (DSL) uses kernel version 2.4 whereas grml-small provides a recent
383 version of kernel version 2.6. DSL provides the X window system which
384 grml-small does not. grml-small on the other hand provides the most
385 important packages for sysadmins and ships the original Debian package
386 management which allows you to install packages of the Debian pool with
387 no modifications.</p>
389 <h2><a name="problems"></a><a href="#toc">Problems</a></h2>
391 <a name="release"></a> <!-- old anchor -->
392 <h3><a name="known_issues"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any known issues with this release?</a></h3>
394 <p>We won't hide anything. Therefore, we do provide all known
395 issues/bugs publicly available:</p>
399 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_2010.04">issues regarding
400 grml 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a></li>
402 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64_2010.04">issues
403 regarding grml64 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
406 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-medium_2010.04">issues
407 regarding grml-medium 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
410 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-medium_2010.04">issues
411 regarding grml64-medium 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
414 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_2010.04">issues
415 regarding grml-small 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
418 <li><a href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64-small_2010.04">issues
419 regarding grml64-small 2010.04</a> in <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
424 <p>If you find another bug, or consider something a problem not yet
425 mentioned <a href="#bugreport">please it</a>.</p>
427 <h3><a name="hardware"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with my hardware!</a></h3>
429 <p>Take a look at the script grml-hwinfo. This script generates a file
430 named info.tar.bz2 which contains important information about your
431 hardware. If you think we might help, please run grml-hwinfo and <a
432 href="/contact/">send us the file</a> with additional, relevant
433 information regarding your problem.</p>
435 <h3><a name="boot"></a><a href="#toc">grml does not boot on my computer!</a></h3>
437 <p>Please take a look at <a
438 href="http://git.grml.org/?p=grml-live.git;a=blob_plain;f=templates/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt;hb=HEAD">the
439 available bootparamters and cheatcodes</a> and '<a href="#booting">Which
440 ways exist to boot grml?</a>'. Especially booting with 'acpi=off noapm
441 noapic' might help. The bootparameter 'failsafe' provides minimal
442 hardware detection using some special bootoptions (please do NOT boot
443 with 'grml failsafe' but with 'failsafe' as first word of the boot
444 commandline) . If booting hangs during stage "Waiting for /dev to
445 be fully populated" please try booting with 'grml noudev'. If you
446 don't even see the bootsplash of the grml-ISO your BIOS might be broken
447 (pretty common especially on old hardware). Please consider using <a
448 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a> then for booting your
449 system. Also check out the <a
450 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=problems">problems webpage</a> in
451 <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the grml-wiki</a>. You still have
452 problems? Feel free to <a href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
454 <h3><a name="fbprobs"></a><a href="#toc">I don't see anything when booting grml?!</a></h3>
456 <p>Likely, this is a problem with the vesafb framebuffer. Try to boot
457 with the 'Disable Framebuffer' menuentry (available behind the submenu
458 'Boot options for ...') or manually ad 'vga=normal' to the kernel
459 command line (press TAB to edit a menu entry and add 'vga=normal'
462 <h3><a name="utf8"></a><a href="#toc">I have problems with UTF-8 / Unicode</a></h3>
465 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=utf8">UTF8-webpage in the
468 <h3><a name="grml2hdhang"></a><a href="#toc">grml2hd seems to hang?!</a></h3>
470 <p>grml2hd seems to hang? Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog output.
471 If you see something like:</p>
474 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
475 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
476 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]</pre>
478 <p>your ISO/CD-ROM <em>very</em> probably is NOT ok. Verify it via
479 booting with grml testcd if that works, or even better check your CD
480 low-level via running:</p>
483 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom</pre>
485 <p>If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with
486 DMA deactivated via 'grml nodma ide=nodma libata.dma=0' at the bootprompt.</p>
489 <h3><a name="missingfiles"></a><a href="#toc">I noticed some files are missing on grml</a></h3>
491 <p>Yes, output of 'debsums -a 1>/dev/null' might output some
492 failures. The reason is pretty simple: some few modification have been
493 done either because they are required for the provided environment or
494 because of space limitiations on the ISO. The failures are nothing to
495 really care about, but as we don't hide anything we thought it might be
496 worth mentioning.</p>
498 <h3><a name="bugreport"></a><a href="#toc">Bugreport</a></h3>
500 <p>Searching for a bug? Want to report a bug? Take a look at the <a
501 href="/bugs/">bugs webpage</a>.</p>
503 <h2><a name="system"></a><a href="#toc">System</a></h2>
505 <h3><a name="isolinux"></a><a href="#toc">Where's the old bootsplash?</a></h3>
507 <p>Starting with release 2009.10 Grml provides a menu based bootsplash.
508 To adjust boot options just press the TAB-key. To directly switch to the
509 old-style isolinux cmdline just press the escape key within 30 seconds. If you
510 still need access to the old bootsplash layout (including the f2, f3,...
511 pages with further information regarding available bootoptions)
512 select the entry 'Isolinux prompt' in the menu based bootsplash (just
513 press 'i' and ENTER for direct access to it). The timeout until either
514 the selected entry is booted (if specified) or until the system will
515 restore from the cmdline to the menu based bootsplash is 30 seconds.</p>
517 <h3><a name="configure"></a><a href="#toc">Which tools exist to configure grml?</a></h3>
519 <p>Grml provides several scripts and tools which should make life
520 easier. See 'dpkg -L grml-scripts' to get an overview of some main
521 scripts. Run 'grml-config' to get a dialog interface for the most
522 important scripts and tasks. Or just type 'grml-' and press tab-key to
523 get a completion menu in the shell.</p>
525 <h3><a name="password"></a><a href="#toc">What are the passwords of users on grml?</a></h3>
527 <p>There are no default passwords - all accounts are locked by default
528 for security reasons. Even local logins are not possible (unless you set
529 a password or create new user accounts as root). You can create valid
530 passwords using "sudo passwd [username]" from the shell
533 <h3><a name="version"></a><a href="#toc">How do I find out the version of grml</a></h3>
535 <p>Run 'grml-version' or use the following command:</p>
538 $ cat /etc/grml_version</pre>
540 <h3><a name="remove_cd"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to run LiveCD and eject CD-ROM?</a></h3>
543 % sudo umount -l /live/image
544 % sudo eject /dev/cdrom # now don't run any new programs unless you booted using 'toram'
545 % mount /dev/cdrom # mount it again if needed
548 <h3><a name="language"></a><a href="#toc">How do I change the language/keyboard settings?</a></h3>
550 <p>By default grml uses english settings. But it is possible to
551 change the settings via using either the bootparam(s) lang,
552 keyboard and xkeyboard or via executing grml-lang when grml is
553 already running. Usage examples:</p>
556 grml lang=de # enter this at the bootprompt and you will get
557 # german keyboard layout and german $LANG, $LC_ALL,
559 grml keyboard=de xkeyboard=de lang=at # enter this at the bootprompt
560 # and you will get german keyboard and austrian
562 % grml-lang de # enter this in the shell to switch keyboard layout
563 # and $LANG settings in a running grml-system
566 <p>If you are running grml from harddisk (using <a
567 href="#hdinstall">grml2hd</a>) you have several options how to set
568 language options:</p>
572 <li>adjust /etc/default/locale to configure global language and
573 environment settings</li>
575 <li>set environment variables like $LC_ALL, $LANG, $LANGUAGE in your
576 personal configuration files (like ~/.zshrc.local, see <a
577 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> for details)
578 if you do not want to use them system wide/global</li>
580 <li>adjust /etc/sysconfig/keyboard to configure keyboard layout
581 on console, or run 'loadkeys $KEYTABLE' manually</li>
583 <li>add "setxkbmap $LANGUAGE" to the keybindings section in
584 your ~/.xinitrc to configure keyboard setup for the X window system
585 (deactivate the xmodmap lines if necessary)</li>
589 <p>Note: run grml-setlang to get a dialog based frontend for
590 /etc/default/locale. Run grml-setkeyboard to get a dialog based frontend
591 for /etc/sysconfig/keyboard.</p>
593 <h3><a name="kde_and_foo"></a><a href="#toc">KDE, Gnome, $FOO and $BAR</a></h3>
595 <p>Why isn't KDE, Gnome, $FOO or $BAR part of grml? grml is a
596 distribution for users of texttools and sysadmins. If you would like to
597 run KDE with Debian use e.g. <a href="http://sidux.com/">Sidux</a> or <a
598 href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a>. Gnome users might find <a
599 href="http://www.ubuntulinux.org/">Ubuntu</a> useful. If you would like
600 to see a specific (software) package added to grml please <a
601 href="/report/">report it to us</a>!</p>
603 <h3><a name="wms"></a><a href="#toc">Which window managers can I use?</a></h3>
605 <p>Grml is shipped only with window managers which are lightweight and
606 fast - so well suited for a live system. At the moment, grml provides the
607 following window managers:</p>
609 <li><a href="http://awesome.naquadah.org/">awesome</a>
610 <li><a href="http://wmii.de/dwm/">dwm</a>
611 <li><a href="http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/">evilwm</a>
612 <li><a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">fluxbox</a>
613 <li><a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">fvwm</a>
614 <li><a href="http://fvwm-crystal.org/">fvwm-crystal</a>
615 <li><a href="http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/index.shtml">jwm</a>
616 <li><a href="http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Main_Page">openbox</a>
617 <li><a href="http://pekwm.org/">pekwm</a>
618 <li><a href="http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/">ratpoison</a>
619 <li><a href="http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html">twm</a>
620 <li><a href="http://www.grassouille.org/code/w9wm/README">w9wm</a>
621 <li><a href="http://www.nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/">windowlab</a>
622 <li><a href="http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii">wmii</a>
625 <p>Tip: If you are new to grml and/or prefer an easy-to-use-desktop run 'grml-x
626 wm-ng' for starting fluxbox with idesk and gkrellm.</p>
628 <h3><a name="usbmount"></a><a href="#toc">How do I mount a USB device / USB stick?</a></h3>
630 <p>Run 'mount /mnt/usb-sda1' for example if you want to mount /dev/sda1.
631 udev on grml does multiplexing for USB block devices, so /dev/usb-sda1
632 (device for mountpoint /mnt/usb-sda1) is a symlink to /dev/sda1.</p>
634 <h3><a name="lvm"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my LVM devices?</a></h3>
636 <p>LVM (Logival Volumes) is <strong>not</strong> started by default to
637 avoid any possible damage to your data. To get access to present LVM
638 devices just execute:</p>
641 # /etc/init.d/lvm2 start
643 or use the shorter version:
648 <p>If you want to enable LVM by default just boot using the 'lvm'
649 bootoption which automatically enables LVM.</p>
651 <h3><a name="swraid"></a><a href="#toc">Where are my Software-RAID devices?</a></h3>
653 <p>Software-RAID (usually known as the mdadm stuff) is
654 <strong>not</strong> started by default to avoid any possible damage to
655 your data. To get access to present SW-RAID devices just execute:</p>
658 # /etc/init.d/mdadm-raid start
660 or use the shorter version:
665 <p>If you want to enable SW-RAID by default just boot using the 'swraid'
666 bootoption which enables automatic assembling of software raid arrays.</p>
668 <h3><a name="libata"></a><a href="#toc">Why doesn't grml find my disks / doesn't boot?</a></h3>
670 <p>Since release 2008.11 grml uses <a
671 href="http://linux-ata.org/faq.html">libata</a> exclusively (so no
672 longer any old IDE code). Sadly some few (usually pretty old) systems
673 don't boot with libata-only kernels anymore. If you think you've such a
674 system please provide output of 'lspci' <a href="/contact/">to
677 <a name="terminalserver"></a>
678 <h3><a name="booting"></a><a href="#toc">Which ways exist to boot grml?</a></h3>
680 <p>The most common way to boot grml is, of course, running from
681 CD-ROM, but grml provides many more ways to boot grml:</p>
683 <p>It is possible to boot grml via USB (e.g. USB stick or harddisk),
684 firewire, or running from a Compact Flash disk. It works out of the box;
685 you don't need to modify anything. Check out <a
686 href="http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb">the usb webpage in the
687 grml-wiki</a> for more details.</p>
689 <p>Your computer can not boot from CD-ROM but provides a floppy
690 disk? Take a look at <a
691 href="http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/">btmgr</a>, <a
692 href="http://ubcd4win.com/faq.htm#floppy">ubcd4win</a> or <a
693 href="http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm">sbm</a>. They provide
694 support for booting from CD-ROM via a special floppy disk.</p>
696 <p>grml-terminalserver makes it possible to boot your system via network
698 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment">PXE</a>
699 (Preboot Execution Environment). If your network card does not provide
700 support for booting via PXE you can still boot it either using the
701 provided grub image by grml-terminalserver (for example via floppy
702 drive) or using <a href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php">gPXE</a>.
703 For more information, refer to the <a
704 href="/terminalserver/">grml-terminalserver webpage</a>.</p>
706 <h3><a name="timezone"></a><a href="#toc">How do I configure
707 timezone on my grml system?</a></h3>
709 <h4>Available bootoptions relevant in live-cd mode:</h4>
712 <li>utc: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
713 <li>gmt: set UTC, if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT) [like bootoption utc]
714 <li>tz=$option: set timezone to corresponding $option, usage example:
718 <h4>Configuration options relevant on harddisk installation:</h4>
723 # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
726 <p>to adjust /etc/timezone and /etc/localtime according to the
727 provided information.</p>
729 <p><strong>/etc/default/rcS:</strong> set variable UTC according
730 to your needs, whether your system clock is set to UTC
731 (UTC='yes') or not (UTC='no')</p>
733 <p><strong>/etc/localtime:</strong> adjust zoneinfo according to
737 # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$WHATEVER_YOU_WANT /etc/localtime
740 <p>The zoneinfo directory contains the time zone files that were
741 compiled by zic. The files contain information such as rules
742 about DST. They allow the kernel to convert UTC UNIX time into
743 appropriate local dates and times. Use the zdump utility to
744 print current time and date (in the specified time zone).</p>
746 <p><strong>/etc/adjtime:</strong> This file is used e.g. by the
747 adjtimex function, which can smoothly adjust system time while
750 <p>If you change the time (using 'date --set ...', ntpdate,...)
751 it is worth setting also the hardware clock to the correct
755 # hwclock --systohc [--utc]
758 <p>Remember to add the --utc -option if the hardware clock is set to
761 <h4>Still problems?</h4>
763 <p>Check your current settings via:</p>
770 grep hwclock /etc/runlevel.conf
771 grep '^UTC' /etc/default/rc
774 <h4>Further information:</h4>
776 <p>Manpages: hwclock(8) tzselect(1) tzconfig(8); <a
777 href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/system-administrator/ch-sysadmin-time.html">Debian
778 GNU/Linux System Administrator's Manual Chapter 16 - Time</a> and <a
779 href="http://wiki.debian.org/TimeZoneChanges">TimeZoneChanges in the
782 <h3><a name="hdinstall"></a><a href="#toc">Is it possible to install grml to harddisk?</a></h3>
784 <p>Yes. Grml provides a tool called <a href="/grml2hd/">grml2hd</a> (see
785 '<a href="/grml2hd/grml2hd.html">man grml2hd</a>'). grml is developed
786 on a box running the grml-system itself, and we - the grml-developers -
787 especially like grml2hd because it gives us a working Linux box within
788 10 to 30 minutes. grml2hd is perfect for prototyping: test hardware
789 support of Linux, test a specific setup, ... You can even use grml2hd in
790 a fully automatic mode without any further interaction.</p>
792 <p>But <strong>please note</strong>: grml2hd does <strong>NOT</strong>
793 provide a Linux distribution for newbies and should be installed to hard
794 disk only if really know what you are doing (or don't care about
795 maintainability, seriously). Please install grml using grml2hd only if
796 can answer all of the following questions with 'sure, YES':</p>
799 <li>Are you used to work with Debian/unstable?
800 <li>Do you know how to report bugs to Debian?
801 <li>Are you aware of the differences between plain Debian and grml?
804 <p><strong>Tip</strong>: If you want to get a plain Debian system take
805 a look at <a href="/grml-debootstrap/">grml-debootstrap</a>.</p>
807 <p><strong>Note:</strong> If you are using grml in a production
808 environment and/or use a grml2hd installation, we strongly recommend you
809 subscribe to <a href="/mailinglist/">the grml user mailinglist</a>!</p>
811 <h2><a name="kernel"></a><a href="#toc">Kernel</a></h2>
813 <h3><a name="kernelconfig"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration for the kernel used on
816 <p>See /boot/config-`uname -r` and on <a href="/kernel/">the kernel-webpage</a>.</p>
818 <h3><a name="kernelpatches"></a><a href="#toc">Are there any special components/patches in the kernel
819 used on grml?</a></h3>
821 <p>Grml uses the most current stable vanilla Linux kernel from <a
822 href="http://www.kernel.org/">www.kernel.org</a> with some
823 additional patches. More information and an all-in-one patch is
825 href="/kernel/">kernel-page</a>.</p>
827 <h3><a name="platform"></a><a href="#toc">For which platforms is the grml kernel optimized?</a></h3>
829 <p>Plain i586 compatibility-mode with SMP enabled. (Note: of course it
830 works for uniprocessor systems as well)</p>
832 <h2><a name="software"></a><a href="#toc">Software</a></h2>
834 <h3><a name="sw_general"></a><a href="#toc">General</a></h3>
836 <p>Want to run a program as root? Just use "sudo $PROGRAM". To get a
837 root-shell run "sudo -i".</p>
839 <p>Problems with a specific package? Please try "dpkg-reconfigure $foo".
840 Still encountering difficulties? Please send us a <a
841 href="/bugs/">bugreport</a>.</p>
843 <h3><a name="sw_version"></a><a href="#toc">Which package(s) and which
844 version is available?</a></h3>
846 <p>If you want to get details about the provided packages and the
847 package versions without booting the grml ISO check out the dpkg_...
848 files in the <a href="/files/#debian">Debian-Information section on
849 grml.org/files/</a>.</p>
851 <h3><a name="init"></a><a href="#toc">Init-System</a></h3>
853 <p>Why is grml using runlevel 2 as default? Because runlevel 2 is 'the
854 textonly one' and it is Debian's default.</p>
856 <p>Where are all the /etc/rc#.d-directories? grml doesn't use sysv-rc
857 but <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/file-rc">file-rc</a>. This
858 means you can configure the init system in one single file named
859 /etc/runlevel.conf with your favourite editor. No symlink-hell
862 <h3><a name="zsh"></a><a href="#toc">Why is zsh the default shell (/bin/sh)?</a></h3>
864 <p>Short answer: because <a href="/zsh/">Zsh rocks</a>, really!</p>
866 <p>Longer answer taken from <a
867 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq01.html#l3">ZSH FAQ: 1.2: What is
870 <cite> Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) which of the standard shells most
871 resembles the Korn shell (ksh); its compatibility with the 1988 Korn shell has been
872 gradually increasing. It includes enhancements of many types, notably in the
873 command-line editor, options for customising its behaviour, filename globbing, features
874 to make C-shell (csh) users feel more at home and extra features drawn from tcsh
875 (another `custom' shell).</cite>
877 <p>If you don't know zsh take a look at <a
878 href="http://zsh.sunsite.dk/FAQ/zshfaq02.html#l9">ZSH FAQ: How does zsh
879 differ from ...?</a>, 'man zsh | less -p COMPATIBILITY', the <a
880 href="/zsh/">grml zsh reference card</a> and '<a
881 href="/zsh/">man zsh-lovers</a>'.</p>
883 <p>If you are a bash user and don't know zsh yet, don't be afraid. bash
884 is largely a subset of zsh and you don't have to throw away your
885 knowledge about shell stuff.</p>
887 <h3><a name="zsh_binsh"></a><a href="#toc">Wasn't zsh the /bin/sh interpreter?</a></h3>
889 <p>Yes, until Grml 0.6 zsh was the interpreter for /bin/sh. Starting
890 with release 0.7 Grml used /bin/bash as /bin/sh and nowadays /bin/dash
891 is used for /bin/sh (that's what Debian does as well). The reason?
892 Using zsh as default /bin/sh interpreter leads to some problems,
893 especially since Debian does not care to support zsh as /bin/sh overall.
895 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329288">#329288</a>
897 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340058">#340058</a>
900 <h3><a name="bash"></a><a href="#toc">Is a bash available?</a></h3>
902 <p>Grml uses <a href="#zsh">zsh</a> as the default interactive shell
903 but, of course, a current version of bash (and many other shells as
904 well) is provided by grml.</p>
906 <h3><a name="configuration"></a><a href="#toc">Where can I find the configuration of zsh, GNU screen,...?</a></h3>
909 href="http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/12/22/make-console-work-comfortable/">'Make
910 console work comfortable'</a>.</p>
912 <h3><a name="truecrypt">Why isn't Truecrypt available within grml?</a></h3>
914 <p>Because Truecrypt is licensed under a specific license named
915 'TrueCrypt License' which doesn't permit us to distribute Truecrypt (since at least
916 license version 2.6).
917 See <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license">section VI/4 of the
918 license</a> for details. The Ubuntu version from <a
919 href="http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads">truecrypt.org/downloads</a> is
920 known to work under grml.</p>
922 <h3><a name="grub"></a><a href="#toc">grub does not work on my system?!</a></h3>
924 <p>Looks like you used mkfs.ext3 from grml but are using an old grub
925 version. Notice that older versions of grub do not support 256 byte
926 inodes on ext3, being the default in recent versions of mkfs/e2fsprogs.
927 More information is available at <a
928 href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=463236">#463236</a>
929 in the Debian bug tracking system.</p>
931 <h2><a name="xserver"></a><a href="#toc">X-Server</a></h2>
933 <h3><a name="xstart"></a><a href="#toc">How do I start the X server?</a></h3>
935 <p>Please use 'grml-x' as user grml for starting X on the live-cd. It
936 generates the config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and lets you start commands on
937 startup (see ~/.xinitrc). Use it, for example, via switching to TTY4 (press
938 Alt+F4) and run the following command to start wm-ng (window manager fluxbox
939 with idesk and gkrellm):</p>
944 <p>If you have /etc/X11/xorg.conf already you can use 'startx' instead of
945 grml-x of course. Adjust ~/.xinitrc to your needs.</p>
947 <h3><a name="xproblem"></a><a href="#toc">X does not start on my box?!</a></h3>
949 <p>grml-x supports several options. If you want to set some special options
950 please take a look at the grml-x manpage (man grml-x). Some usage examples:</p>
953 grml-x -module vesa fluxbox # start fluxbox and use vesa module
954 grml-x -mode '800x600' fluxbox # set resolution to 800x600 and start fluxbox
955 grml-x -display 8 fluxbox # start fluxbox on display 8
956 grml-x -force -nostart fluxbox # force creation of xconfig file and don't start X server
957 grml-x -hsync 60 fluxbox # set horizontal frequency and start fluxbox
958 grml-x -hsync 60 -vsync 40 fluxbox # set horizontal and vertical sync frequencies and start fluxbox
961 <h3><a name="xresolution"></a><a href="#toc">I don't like the resolution of X!</a></h3>
963 <p>Just run xrandr to switch the resolution during runtime of X. For
964 example: 'xrandr -s 1024x768'.</p>
966 <h2><a name="stuff"></a><a href="#toc">Support / Unanswered stuff</a></h2>
968 <h3><a name="questions"></a><a href="#toc">Further questions</a></h3>
970 <p>Do you have a question which is not answered in the FAQ or in the
971 provided <a href="/docs/">documentation</a> (execute
972 "grml-info" on your grml-system for offline documentation)?
973 Also check out 'grml-tips $KEYWORD' on your grml-system. Take a look at
974 <a href="/">the grml website</a> and <a href="http://wiki.grml.org/">the
975 grml-wiki</a>. A good place to become part of the community is the <a
976 href="/mailinglist/">grml mailinglist</a>. Please don't hesitate to <a
977 href="/contact/">contact us</a>.</p>
979 <h3><a name="support"></a><a href="#toc">Commercial Support</a></h3>
981 <p>You want to deploy Grml in your data center, use it as part of your
982 business or have an emergency case? You're happy with Grml but would
983 like to get your very own live cd (providing your favourite software
984 selection, special configuration, setup and your bootsplash)? As part of
985 our business we do provide commercial support, feel free to <a
986 href="http://grml-solutions.com/">contact us at Grml
991 <?php include '../static_bottom.inc'; ?>