November 2006 - Grml - lists.mur.at

05 Jan '07

Hi Since more and more people are using pen drives, I think in such case it is desirable to disable updating inode access time for each access to limit the wear and tear. So I hope that the generated /etc/fstab can have noatime for the mount points, at least an option to enable so. thanks -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/

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Unlocking CD drive
by Michael Schierl 13 Dec '06

13 Dec '06

Hi, sometimes I booted grml, started a job there (like using dd to zero a partition) and then have to leave (but let it try continuing the zeroing). So I want to remove the CD (and risk a panic later when a file from it is accessed). But that is no problem since I do not run anything new after the CD is removed, so everything needed is already in cache. For these cases I have a perl script on my USB pendrive: #!/usr/bin/perl -w open(H, "</dev/cdrom") or die("Can't open: $!"); ioctl(H, 0x5329 , 0) or die("Can't ioctl: $!"); close(H) or die("Can't close: $!"); That one works well - if I have my pendrive with me. My question: Is there a way inside grml to do the same thing (without memorizing the whole script or the ioctl number)? Something in /proc or /sys? Or a script? (Using the hardware eject "hole" of the CD drive does not count, since it requires a paper clip ;-) ) TIA, Michael

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Re: grml-tips sarge
by Erich Minderlein 30 Nov '06

30 Nov '06

Hi > Message: 3 locatedb > Hm? That's just timestamp based and we won't release a new stable > release every 8 days just to supress the warning. ;) :-) > Seriously: it's just a warning message, nothing to care about on the > live-cd - everything ok. On your hd-installation run 'updatedb' to > update the locate database, but don't care about it on the live-cd. :-) what could be done on the new union fs, where you can actually overwrite a file originally located on the cdrom as I understand, when the install is done on RAM then do a nice -10 updatedb & ; /bin/zsh should not be a RAM-memory problem , locatedb is 1.5 MByte or so just service > > > > there is an output of mkfs.ext3 : > > Dateisystem wird geprft alle .., je nachdem ..., > > veraenderbar mit tune2fs -c oder -t > > must be > > veraenderbar mit tune2fs -c oder -i > > ==================================^ > > lots of downloads going on, install is fine. > > mkfs.ext3 is nothing which is controlled by grml. > You mean the output of mkfs.ext3 regarding tune2fs contains errors?! jes, just one letter -t should be -i (-c=count, -i = interval) > Just set $TERM to something like 'linux' when chrooting... thks > > perl continued to complain LANGUAGE unset, > [...] > > Just install 'locales'. > thanks, will do > > ls /dev/sd* does not show > > /dev/sda4, /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6 ! > > > I cannot mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda5/ dev/sda6 ! > > no devices. > > /dev/sda4 cannot be found not as p-partition, nor > > /dev/sda5 and /dev/sda6 as l-partition. > > For sure, because something is still accessing your disk so the > partition table can not be reread using the BLKRRPART ioctl(). Very > probably its an enabled swap partition. Take a look at output of > 'swapon -s' no output > and disable swap partitions via 'swapoff -a'. done the next time > > Message: 4 > Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 20:33:15 +0100 > From: Michael Prokop <mika(a)grml.org> > Subject: Re: [Grml] grml-tips sarge, addendum > To: grml(a)mur.at > Message-ID: <2006-11-29T20-29-38(a)devnull.michael-prokop.at> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > * Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> [20061129 20:15]: > > [...] > > but what remains is the perl complaint: > > perl: warning: setting locale failed: > > falling back to default "C". > > apt-get install locales > > wget http://dufo.tugraz.at/~prokop/grml-kernel/2.6.17-grml/linux-image-2.6.17-gr… > dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.17-grml_grml.06_i386.deb will do > > BTW: You should definitely take a look at grml-debootstrap: > > http://grml.supersized.org/archives/202-grml-debootstrap-wrapper-around-deb… > will do here comes the preference file , as I have it in sarge plain, the only thing not from sarge is dokuwiki, not essential Package: * Pin: release a=stable Pin-Priority: 1001 Package: * Pin: release a=testing Pin-Priority: 101 Package: * Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 99 Package: * Pin: release a=experimental Pin-Priority: 9 // main grml-repository: Package: * Pin: origin grml.org Pin-Priority: 993 // fallback grml-repository: Package: * Pin: origin dufo.tugraz.at Pin-Priority: 992 The first part is from sarge The second from grml > "p.i.t.r.e."? pain in the rear end best regards, now reading and Continuation on Friday. -- Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> MARC Mannheim Rail Commerce GmbH

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PXE-Boot and cheatcodes
by Ralf Moll 30 Nov '06

30 Nov '06

Hi, how can I use the differnt boot-cheatcodes for pxe-boots? I want especially use the "forensic" parameter. For the while I use the parameter "noswap", which should be quite the same? Can I include networkshares (smb/nfs) by adding special boot-parameters or do I have to rebuild the grml-iso? The grml-Terminal-Server cannot be used, because I have already a dhcp / tftp server running and don't wanna burning energy with another pc running 24/7. cu, ramon

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grml - slow at the end of booting
by roland 30 Nov '06

30 Nov '06

Hello ! I often use grml on old machines and inside VMware virtual machines. works very well, but depending on the hardware, in the end of the boot there is a long delay between "Happy hacking!..." and a shell being opened. it´s between 5-15 seconds delay, maybe i have seen even longer delays, but didn`t stop. this is somewhat annoying if you boot into grml several times a day. what is causing this delay? can we speed this up somehow ? roland

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grml-tips sarge Addendum 2 preferences
by Erich Minderlein 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

Hello Something does not work as desired, when doing the install, apt* sees there is also testing available and starts downloading from the testing suite . Now I put /etc/apt/preferences in : sarge 1001 grml 993 grml-backup 992 testing 101 unstable 99 some files are downgraded, but libc6 is a p.i.t.r.e. preferences shall be added to the grml-tips sarge (etc) best regards -- Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> MARC Mannheim Rail Commerce GmbH

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WiFi Success Stories?
by Juergen Fiedler 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

Does anybody here have a good USB WiFi adapter they could recommend? I would much prefer one that works without ndiswrapper and at least supports WEP. Something that 'just works'. Right now, I have a DLink DWL-122, which works fine as long as I don't enable WEP -but even the attempt to set the WEP key for the adapter gives me an error (SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.). Many people out there seem to agree that it is just not a good and decent adapter. So, does anyone know of a better one that works OK with grml, I would appreciate any advice! Thanks, -juergen

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grml-tips sarge, addendum
by Erich Minderlein 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

Hello What remains on error after doing mount -t proc none /proc a number of errors have disapperead, (I did mount -t proc proc /proc) such as tab completion, PATH, . but what remains is the perl complaint: perl: warning: setting locale failed: falling back to default "C". What i see in the aptitude display is the new kernel 2.6.18-grml, but I prefer due to the current impossibility of having more than three partitions still to be capable of downloading the 2.6.17-grml. (if my cdrom goes apart.) >From this I know it works. Is that possible ? Developpers need development, customers need stability. Thanks -- Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> MARC Mannheim Rail Commerce GmbH

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Trial to install after the manual : grml-tips sarge
by Erich Minderlein 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

Hello After a lot of fooling around with this one year old hardware amilopro I do not come to an end with getting a homogenous computer landscape, as all other systems at locoware.de have sarge, (with gnome, firefox, evolution except for the firewall) and a very low maintenance load. I would like to keep it that way. But this notebook does not like the old kernels of sarge. Installation is somewhat possible. I tried original sarge installation, It did not work because of kernel now with a DVD of sarge stable , sata_via cannot be loaded and this is needed for HDD. It did something other bad with an old cdrom from the times, when sarge was testing. some more info : floppy, via_sata (error) and generic ide support stalls the installation on this sarge stable DVD I tried then knoppix(4.01), which charged 240000 files on my HDD and is just a huge collection of lots of sources, started nicely as the DVD came with the notebook and recommendation by knoppix is anyhow to not install on a HDD. Then I tried grml with the known compatibility problems of xservers. So I tried `grml-tips sarge`. What is a general problem with CDROM Live systems : reply: 1. locatedb older than 8 days, very helpful, but I knew that before, I want to know if this-> or that-> file is there. going along the manual of grml-tips sarge installation was very helpful, also sda1 was found and a filesystem made with mkfs.ext3. there is an output of mkfs.ext3 : Dateisystem wird geprüft alle .., je nachdem ..., veränderbar mit tune2fs -c oder -t must be veränderbar mit tune2fs -c oder -i =================================^ lots of downloads going on, install is fine. but after the chroot TROUBLE vi : unkown terminal type screen.linux so lets use some other editors: pico, nano, nvi what there is in the same directory, all the same reply: unkown terminal type screen.linux As I did the chroot in a second console, I could continue to do the editing work in the first console with longer directory strings. in the chroot : no tab completion, but for a few commands okay, and no paths are found. apt-get, mount works and that is needed. horrible flashing of the whole screen when pressing cursor direction keys and backspace in position one after the prompt. perl continued to complain LANGUAGE unset, lots of messages also i have given lang=de at the grml boot and the keyboard understands german. LC_TYPE, LC_MESSAGES and LC_ALL are all de_DE , fine. mkinitrd.conf was not there, apt-get initrd-tools fixed it. I continued through the script, and probably made a mistake : installed kernel-image-2.6.8-2 from sarge edited lilo but did not edit the kernel line as vmlinu? in chroot: did /sbin/lilo added linux* looked okay. Surprise at the reboot kernel 2.6.17-grml shows up. a sarge like font, a grml like kernel. Actually this is what I wanted to have, but not in this completely uncontrolled manner. the kernel still sits somewhere on the HDD, not over written and I ask myself Did lilo content itself when finding this kernel ??????? (this happened actually twice.) BACK TO THE ROOTS ! 1. I need a working system as reference : grml2hd -untouched ! 2. I need a sarge stable business environment with adaptions to actual hardware : sarge + 2.6.17-grml + Xserver XFree86 VESA or VESAFB 3. maybe I install a testing environment for grml 0.9. erased all partitions : made 1 swap (sda1), one for grml 0.8 (sda2), one for sarge(sda3) just in time info that grml 0.9 is coming, erased sda3, and made sda3 and sda4 (all primary partitions) sda3 for grml 0.9 sda4 for sarge mkfs.ext3 does not read sda4 as primary partition!!! ls does not show it either , so I make a "Erweitere" partition and eliminate sda4, sda3. this is the typescript of the session: Script wurde gestartet: Mi 29 Nov 2006 18:47:12 CET root@amilopro #fdisk /dev/sda Die Anzahl der Zylinder für diese Platte ist auf 4864 gesetzt. Daran ist nichts verkehrt, aber das ist größer als 1024 und kann in bestimmten Konfigurationen Probleme hervorrufen mit: 1) Software, die zum Bootzeitpunkt läuft (z. B. ältere LILO-Versionen) 2) Boot- und Partitionierungssoftware anderer Betriebssysteme (z. B. DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK) Befehl (m für Hilfe): p Platte /dev/sda: 40.0 GByte, 40007761920 Byte 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spuren, 4864 Zylinder Einheiten = Zylinder von 16065 × 512 = 8225280 Bytes Gerät boot. Anfang Ende Blöcke Id System /dev/sda1 1 62 497983+ 82 Linux Swap / Solaris /dev/sda2 63 671 4891792+ 83 Linux /dev/sda3 672 4864 33680272+ 5 Erweiterte /dev/sda5 672 1280 4891761 83 Linux /dev/sda6 1281 4864 28788448+ 83 Linux Befehl (m für Hilfe): d Partitionsnummer (1-6): 6 Befehl (m für Hilfe): d Partitionsnummer (1-5): 5 Befehl (m für Hilfe): n Befehl Aktion l Logische Partition (5 oder größer) p Primäre Partition (1-4) l Erster Zylinder (672-4864, Vorgabe: 672): Benutze den Standardwert 672 Letzter Zylinder oder +Größe, +GrößeK oder +GrößeM (672-4864, Vorgabe: 4864): +5000M Befehl (m für Hilfe): n Befehl Aktion l Logische Partition (5 oder größer) p Primäre Partition (1-4) l Erster Zylinder (1281-4864, Vorgabe: 1281): Benutze den Standardwert 1281 Letzter Zylinder oder +Größe, +GrößeK oder +GrößeM (1281-4864, Vorgabe: 4864): Benutze den Standardwert 4864 Befehl (m für Hilfe): w Die Partitionstabelle wurde verändert! Rufe ioctl() um Partitionstabelle neu einzulesen. WARNUNG: Neueinlesen der Partitionstabelle führte zu Fehler 16: Das Gerät oder die Ressource ist belegt. Der Kernel benutzt noch die alte Tabelle. Die neue Tabelle wird beim nächsten Neustart verwendet. Synchronisiere Platten. root@amilopro # init 0 Script beendet: Mi 29 Nov 2006 18:48:24 CET ls /dev/sd* does not show /dev/sda4, /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6 ! I cannot mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda5/ dev/sda6 ! no devices. /dev/sda4 cannot be found not as p-partition, nor /dev/sda5 and /dev/sda6 as l-partition. This is Wednesday 19:08 Lots of backfeed regards -- Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> MARC Mannheim Rail Commerce GmbH

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PXE-Boot Parameter
by Ralf Moll 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

Hi, I'm using GRML via PXE on my debian sarge server. Everything runs perfect, but I noticed, that there is the cheatcode "nodhcp" in the PXE-Docu on http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=terminalserver#booting_grml_without_grml-t… ( LABEL grml KERNEL linux26 APPEND ramdisk_size=16384 root=/dev/ram0 rw init=/etc/init nfsdir=<YOUR IP>:/mnt/nfs/grml \ nodhcp noprompt noeject apm=power-off nomce initrd=minirt26.gz vga=791 ) If I remove the "nodhcp", the client gets an IP and the DNS-Server. With the standard config including "nodhcp", the client gets an IP and is booting, but it gets only manually a DNS-Server entry by running dhcp-client manually. So what is the reason for the nodhcp-entry? BTW: Knoppix uses this entry for pxe-booting, too! cu, ramon

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