1 CHEATCODES AND HINTS FOR GRML V0.5
2 ==============================================================================
4 These options (can be combined) work from the isolinux bootprompt:
6 grml USe default settings (same as just pressing return)
7 memtest Run memtest86 instead of Linux
8 expert [options...] Interactive setup for experts
9 fb1280x1024 Use fixed framebuffer graphics and X resolution (1)
10 fb1024x768 Use fixed framebuffer graphics and X resolution (2)
11 fb800x600 Use fixed framebuffer graphics and X resolution (3)
12 nofb Disable framebuffer
13 floppy Boot from floppydisk
14 hd Boot from (local) primary harddisk
15 failsafe Boot with (almost) no HW-detection
16 debug get shells during process of booting
17 bootchart Create chart of booting sequence in /var/log/bootchart.tgz
18 serial Activate ttyS0 and start mgetty
20 Important: if you notice any problems with one of the
21 following options please report it to the grml-team -> http://grml.org/bugs/
25 grml lang=at|de|cn|da|es|fr|it specify language/keyboard
26 grml lang=nl|pl|ru|sk|tr|tw|us specify language/keyboard
27 grml gmt Use GMT-based time
28 grml tz=Europe/Vienna Use this timezone for TZ
29 grml keyboard=us xkeyboard=us Use different keyboard (text/X)
31 Configuration settings:
32 -----------------------
33 grml myconfig=/dev/fd0 Execute "grml.sh" and extract config.tbz from a partition:
34 /dev/fd0 for floppy disk
35 /dev/sda1 for USB-stick/first SCSI-device
36 grml netconfig=server/config.tbz Download file and extract configuration archive
37 grml partconf=/dev/hda2 Copy files specified in /etc/grml/partconf from /dev/hda2
38 to booting grml system
39 grml file=foobar.tbz Use specified file as name for configuration archive
40 instead of the default one (config.tbz)
41 grml extract=/etc Extract only /etc from configuration archive,
42 use it in combination with myconfig or netconfig
43 grml home=/dev/hda2 mount specified partition as grml homedir
44 grml home=/dev/sda1/grml.img Mount loopback file as /home/grml
45 grml home=scan Automatic search for grml homedir (using file grml.img)
46 grml toram Copy CD to RAM and run from there
47 grml tohd=/dev/hda1 Copy CD to HD partition and run from there
48 grml fromhd Skip checking for grml on CD-ROM
49 grml fromhd=/dev/hda1 Boot from previously copied CD-Image
50 grml bootfrom=/dev/hda1 Access Image then boot from previously
51 copied CD-Image (enables booting from
53 grml bootfrom=/dev/hda1/GRML.iso Access image, boot from ISO-Image. ***)
54 grml grml_dir=GRML Directory to search for on the CD.
55 grml grml_name=GRML Cloop-File to search for on the CD.
57 Debugging related settings:
58 ---------------------------
59 debug get shells during process of booting
60 grml nocolor disable colorized output while booting
61 grml log log error messages while booting and
62 grml testcd Check CD data integrity and md5sums
64 Service related settings:
65 -------------------------
66 grml nosyslog Do not start syslog-ng
67 grml nogpm Disable GPM daemon
68 grml small do not start that many consoles
69 grml wondershaper=eth0,1000,500 set up basic traffic shaping
70 grml services={postfix,mysql,...} start service(s) which have an init-script
71 grml welcome welcome message via soundoutput
72 grml blind Start Braille-Terminal (no X)
73 grml brltty=type,port,table Parameters for Braille device
74 grml noeject Do NOT eject CD after halt
75 grml noprompt Do NOT prompt to remove the CD
77 Hardware related settings:
78 --------------------------
79 grml xmodule=ati|fbdev|i810|mga Use specified X.org-Module (1)
80 grml xmodule=nv|radeon|savage|s3 Use specified X.org-Module (2)
81 grml xmodule=radeon|svga|i810 Use specified X.org-Module (3)
82 grml no{acpi,agp,apm,cpu,dhcp} Skip parts of HW-detection (1)
83 grml no{disc,dma,fstab,hotplug} Skip parts of HW-detection (2)
84 grml no{modem,pcmcia} Skip parts of HW-detection (3)
85 grml no{scsi,swap,usb} Skip parts of HW-detection (4)
86 grml noagent={ide,ieee1394} Disable specific hotplug(-light) agent (1)
87 grml noagent={modalias,multiseat} Disable specific hotplug(-light) agent (2)
88 grml noagent={pnp,scsi,serio} Disable specific hotplug(-light) agent (3)
89 grml black=modulename Add module to blacklist of hotplug(-light)
90 grml nosound Mute sound devices
91 grml pnpbios=off No PnP Bios initialization
92 grml acpi=off Disable ACPI Bios completely
93 grml nousb2 Disable initialization of USB 2.x controller(s)
94 grml nousb Disable initialization of USB in booting sequence
95 grml nofirewire Disable initialization of firewire devices in booting sequence
96 grml pci=irqmask=0x0e98 Try this, if PS/2 mouse doesn't work *)
97 grml pci=bios Workaround for bad PCI controllers
98 grml ide2=0x180 nopcmcia Boot from PCMCIA-CD-ROM (some notebooks)
99 grml mem=128M Specify Memory size in MByte
100 grml dma Enable DMA accelleration for ALL IDE-Drives
101 grml nodma Disable DMA accelleration for ALL IDE-Drives
102 grml video=ofonly No-framebuffer mode (does not influence X)
105 *) Try "grml pci=irqmask=0x0e98" if (you have a notebook and) your
106 PS/2 mouse doesn't work. (Possibly caused by a BIOS-flaw on your board,
107 BIOS updates can help.) Sometimes, switching to the text console with
108 Control-Alt-F1 and back to the X-screen with Control-Alt-F7 solves the
109 problem without rebooting, since the X server reinitializes the mouse
110 driver during that procedure.
112 *) Bootfrom needs access to a running grml-System with the same Kernel
113 as the Bootkernel, before it is able to mount the partition / ISO-Image.
114 This should allow a poor mans install from NTFS-Partitions and makes it
115 also possible to boot an ISO-Image directly. You can also use wildcards
116 in the ISO-Filename, but it must be unique. So: If you have just one
117 GRML.iso on /dev/hda1 you can access it as: bootfrom=/dev/hda1/G*.iso,
118 but if there are several, you need to make clear, which one you want.
119 (Feature added by Fabian Franz.)
121 If your GRML CD makes strange noises during boot, or you see frequent
122 errors like "squashfs: read error", or programs are crashing randomly,
123 then your CD image is probably defective or incomplete, or your CD-burner
124 created a defective CD due to wrong writing speed or bad media. This is
125 the most common error reported. Please boot with "grml testcd" to check
126 if the CD is OK, and/or even better, verify the MD5 checksums that are
127 present on the mirrors before writing the CD. In some cases, defective
128 IDE controllers cause this error if you have DMA enabled. Also, please
131 In case of a failing hardware autodetection, try booting with any of
132 the "no-" options as shown in the table above, like in
133 grml nodisc nohotplug noagp noapm noapic acpi=off nodma nopcmcia
134 to skip some critical parts of the autodetection system.
136 The "noswap" option is useful for a forensic analysis without touching
137 existing swap partitions. Also use the 'noautoconfig' option to disable
138 automounting via label (using GRMLCFG).
140 Some Boards apparently don't pass the proper memory size to the
141 linux-kernel. It may cause the message "Panic: cannot mount root file
142 system" and the system hangs. Use "grml mem=128M" to solve that
143 problem if your system has 128MByte memory for example (caution:
144 you MUST use a capital "M" here).
146 The "expert" mode provides a very simple interface to loading additional
147 Kernel modules from floppy disks (ext2 or vfat), plus interactive
148 configuration of mouse/keyboard/xserver. "expert" mode supports
149 the same boot options as "grml".
151 The "myconfig=/dev/partition" options allow you to reconfigure the
152 system after autoconfiguration by running a bourne shell script called
153 "grml.sh" from the root directory on the given device (or floppy). The
154 shell script will also be executed at startup.
156 If you wish to remaster the CD, please don't forget to specify
157 -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
158 -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat
159 as option to mkisofs. Otherwise your CD won't be bootable. The
160 directory GRML, containig the compressed filesystem file "GRML",
161 must be located in the top level directory of the CD.
163 Caution: X-Screensaver: Don't start xlock or any screensaver that
164 requires a password. There are no default passwords on GRML,
165 i.e. all accounts are LOCKED unless you explicitly set a password.
166 See also README_Security.txt about this issue.
167 If you accidentially started a screensaver switch to one of the
168 textconsoles by Control-Alt-F1 and kill the screensaver (or just set a
169 password for the grml user). Take a look at the script grml-lock!