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Kernel

The kernel 2.6 provided by the grml system is based on the latest stable(!) vanilla kernel (taken from kernel.org) we consider as 'useful and working'. The grml-kernel includes several patches and modules. If you experience any problems please don't hesitate to contact us!

grml 1.0

Release 1.0 provides kernel 2.6.20:

grml@grml ~ % uname -a
Linux grml 2.6.20-grml #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu May 3 20:20:41 CEST 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

The kernel configuration of 2.6.20-grml is available online.

grml-small 0.4

Release grml-small 0.4 provides kernel 2.6.20:

grml@grml ~ % uname -a
Linux grml 2.6.20-grml-small #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri May 4 00:07:07 CEST 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

The kernel configuration of 2.6.20-grml-small is available online.

Notice: grml-small does not ship any further extra kernel packages besides the core kernel packages and lacks speakup support.

grml64 0.1

Release grml64 0.1 provides kernel 2.6.20:

grml@grml ~ % uname -a
Linux grml64 2.6.20-grml64 #2 SMP PREEMPT Thu May 3 23:21:21 CEST 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux

The kernel configuration of 2.6.20-grml64 is available online.

Notice: grml64 does not ship any further extra kernel packages besides the core kernel packages plus ipw3945 packages and does not provide speakup support.

Kernel Patches of 2.6.20-grml

Notice: more information about the patches used in the grml-kernel is available in the grml-kernel repository.

Speakup

Speakup is a screen reader/speech access system for the GNU/Linux Operating System, used by people who are blind.

Squashfs

Squashfs is a compressed read-only filesystem for Linux. Squashfs is intended for general read-only filesystem use, for archival use (i.e. in cases where a .tar.gz file may be used), and in constrained block device/memory systems (e.g. embedded systems) where low overhead is needed.
Via using the module loop it is possible to mount a filesystem file. squashfs is a "loop" with (de)compression (Compressed Loopback Device) and it is possible to mount a compressed filesystem like a block device and seamlessly decompress its data while accessing it.
Whereas Knoppix uses the cloop mechanism, grml is based on the newer mechanism squashfs. The filesystem has been compressed into the file "/GRML/GRML" and is mounted by the initial init process using squashfs.

Modules shipped with grml 1.0

Additionally to the patched kernel you'll find some extra modules on your grml-system.

Package grml-kerneladdons

This package contains release specific kernel modules where no extra debian package exists yet. The following drivers are included:

drbd8

RAID 1 over TCP/IP for Linux. Drbd is a block device which is designed to build high availability clusters by providing a virtual shared device which keeps disks in nodes synchronised using TCP/IP. This simulates RAID 1 but avoiding the use of uncommon hardware (shared SCSI buses or Fibre Channel). It is currently limited to fail-over HA clusters.

exmap

Exmap is a memory analysis tool which allows you to accurately determine how much physical memory and swap is used by individual processes and shared libraries on a running system. In particular, it accounts for the sharing of memory and swap between different processes.

Notice: exmap isn't shipped by the grml 0.7 Live-CD because it requires too much space. Run 'apt-get update; apt-get install exmap' to install it.

iscsitarget

The aim of the project is to develop an open source iSCSI target with professional features, that works well in enterprise environment under real workload, and is scalable and versatile enough to meet the challenge of future storage needs and developements. We provide this kernel module for backwards compability, you might want to use the iscsi driver named stgt of 2.6.20 as well.

ipw3945

The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection driver. grml ships ipw3945d (Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Daemon) and ipw3945-ucode (microcode for Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection Adapter) as well. (Notice: the driver is not an extra module package but has been patched into the grml-kernel itself.)

ivtv

The primary goal of the IvyTV Project is to create a kernel driver for the iTVC15 familiy of MPEG codecs. The iTVC15 family includes the iTVC15 (CX24315) and iTVC16 (CX24316). These chips are commonly found on Hauppauge's WinTV PVR-250 and PVR-350 TV capture cards. (Take a look at 'Hauppauge PVR250' in the grml-wiki.)

loop-aes

Using loop-aes with >=2.6.13 fails with 'register_blkdev: cannot get major 7 for loop'. grml requires a stable loopback device interface (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y) but loop-aes has different requirements so loop-aes is not part of grml. :-/

madwifi(-ng)

Driver for Atheros-based Wireless LAN devices - the Multiband Atheros Driver for WiFi (madwifi). (The madwifi drivers are the ones known as madwifi-ng)

misdn

The modular ISDN drivers are the bleeding edge implementation of ISDN support in the Linux kernel. The most prominent new feature is support for ISDN cards in NT mode, so you can connect an ISDN telephone to your computer.

ndiswrapper

Some vendors do not release specifications of the hardware or provide a linux driver for their wireless network cards. ndiswrapper provides a linux kernel module that loads and runs Ndis (Windows network driver API) drivers supplied by the vendors.

nozomi

kernel driver for the GlobeTrotter 3G EDGE PC Card (HSDPA-prepared). Serial Numbers can be used to identify this model. Look for SNR: NZ. Driver and PC Card are provided by Option Wireless Technology.

openafs

The AFS distributed filesystem. AFS is a distributed filesystem allowing cross-platform sharing of files among multiple computers. Facilities are provided for access control, authentication, backup and administrative management.

Notice: the module is named libafs.ko on grml 0.7. Running 'modprobe openafs' works because of a symlink, but the loaded module is named libafs anyway so run 'rmmod libafs' to remove it.

qc-usb-modules

The qc-usb-modules package contains a kernel module to drive Logitech's USB-based QuickCam Express webcam and other cameras with similar chipsets.

realtime-lsm

Scripts for handling the realtime Linux security module. It sets up the system to grant realtime permissions to applications in the realtime group.

rt2x00

Linux driver for wireless 802.11b and 802.11g cards that are based on the Ralink rt2400 and rt2500 chipsets. grml provides drivers for rt2x00, rt2400, rt2500 and rt2570.

Notice: to avoid conflicts with the other rt2x00-drivers the package rt2x00 (which includes beta-version drivers) is not installed by default. If you want to use the kernel modules rt2400pci, rt2500pci, rt2500usb, rt61pci and/or rt73usb please install the package manually running 'dpkg -i /usr/src/rt2*.deb'.

sl-modem

Low-level drivers for the software modems produced by Smart Link Ltd. It supports PCI and USB models.

spca5xx

Kernel modules for the spca5xx video for linux (v4l) driver (SPCA5XX USB Camera).

sysprof

Sysprof is a sampling CPU profiler that uses a Linux kernel module to profile the entire system, not just a single application. Sysprof handles shared libraries and applications do not need to be recompiled. In fact they don't even have to be restarted.

tidev

This driver will be useful to you if you own a Texas Instruments calculator and want to use one of the following link cables:

Notice: You'll also need a linking software such as TiLP to communicate with your calculator (not part of the live-cd, run 'apt-get install tilp').

truecrypt

TrueCrypt manages encrypted TrueCrypt volumes, which can be mapped as virtual block devices and used as any other standard block device. All data being read from a mapped TrueCrypt volume is transparently decrypted and all data being written to it is transparently encrpyted.

unionfs

Unionfs is a stackable unification file system, which can appear to merge the contents of several directories (branches), while keeping their physical content separate. Unionfs is useful for unified source tree management, merged contents of split CD-ROM, merged separate software package directories, data grids, and more. Unionfs allows any mix of read-only and read-write branches, as well as insertion and deletion of branches anywhere in the fan-out. To maintain unix semantics, Unionfs handles elimination of duplicates, partial-error conditions, and more.

Any further wishes, feedback, bug reports? Please contact us!