February 2006 - Grml - lists.mur.at

using pendrives
by Kevin Jones 24 Feb '06

24 Feb '06

Hello again, I am currently running grml from a pendrive but even though the drive is mounted as sda1 and I can change to the folder, I can't see any of the files outside of the grml image. I admit I store extra files in a folder separate from grml. How do I get access to the pendrive as a drive.

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more praise and encourgement and suggestions
by Kevin Jones 24 Feb '06

24 Feb '06

I'm in a computer forensics class and they're using the helix cd. However, it's heavily gui oriented, so not the best choice for screen reader users. I think forensics can be added to the description of grml as being for text tools and network administrators. I found another forensic specific linux cd called "the penguin sleuthkit" put together by Ernest Baca Ernest has a list of 38 tools he felt were esential for a linux cd to be acceptable for forensic use. Grml has 34 out of 38 of these tools; very nice. the entire list of tools can be found at http://luge.cc.emory.edu/psl.html The list of 4 tools not currently in grml is 4. glimpse - Command line data indexing and searching tool. Need external storage to run properly - www.webglimpse.net 8. fenris - Multipurpose tracer - razor.bindview.com/tools/fenris/ 20. TCPtraceroute - Command line traceroute TCP packages - michael.toren.net/code/tcptraceroute/ 37. dig - Command line tool for querying domain name servers - read man page (man dig) Have these tools been considered as additions? I'm still increasingly impressed the longer I've been playing with grml, and have been telling my friends. One question I have is does grml have many sighted users considering that it doesn't have much of a gui interface? Kevin

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Request for contribution: SW-RAID
by Michael Prokop 23 Feb '06

23 Feb '06

Hoi! We are working on improving software (SW) RAID support within grml and would appreciate your help and opion about it. Please contribute! As you maybe know, partitions of type 0xfd (Linux raid autodetect) are scanned and automatically assembled into RAID arrays by the kernel. We noticed a strange behaviour on automatic assembling (nothing serious but a little bit confusing) and try to figure out what's the reason for it. First of all some questions to the ones of you using SW-RAID: * If you boot grml on a box using SW-RAID: do you expect to get a running SW-RAID setup (using the /dev/md? devices) or do you prefer to set it up and start on your own (so neither grml nor kernel touches it)? * Say you have /dev/hda1 and /dev/hdb1 as part of SW-RAID /dev/md0. Do you expect to get entries for /dev/hda1, /dev/hdb1 and /dev/md0 in your /etc/fstab? Which entries do you expect to get? Next step: If you have a SW-RAID setup and can boot grml on the box please try to contribute via running the following steps and save output of all commands in a file. Send the file via mail to me. This would help us in debugging a lot! ############################################################################# Boot grml and check, whether the SW-RAID is running [via 'cat /proc/mdstat']. If yes (SW-RAID is running automatically after booting grml): # cat /proc/mdstat # mdadm --detail /dev/md? # fdisk -l /dev/md? /dev/hd? /dev/sd? # run this for all your raid-devices and harddisk partitions # cat /etc/fstab If no (SW-RAID is not running automatically after booting grml): # cat /etc/fstab # mdrun # rebuildfstab -r -u grml -g grml # cat /etc/fstab Is the SW-RAID running now? If yes please start again at the beginning. ############################################################################# And finally: please join the #grml channel on irc.freenode.org if you have any feedback regarding SW-RAID so we can talk to you. If you want to reply via mail please send it either to me or to grml(a)mur.at (as suggested via Reply-To:). thx && regards, -mika- -- http://grml.org/ # Linux for texttool-users and sysadmins http://wiki.grml.org/ # share your knowledge http://grml.supersized.org/ # the grml development weblog #grml @ irc.freenode.org # meet us on irc

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RE: Grml Digest, Vol 10, Issue 14
by Kevin Jones 21 Feb '06

21 Feb '06

Hello and thank you to the grml team. With the help of a friend here I have grml running nicely on a pendrive, I was even fortunate enough to have a laptop that had 1 of 3 supported wireless cards, just have to tpe dhclient and speechd-up after bootup How much like a normal linux install is grml now that I have it running on a pendrive. Have any users tried installing extra packages? Maybe we could consider a larger image specifically for pendrive users with more programs installed. Have a question though, How can I change the keyboard to Dvorak. Keep up the good work maybe after I learn linux I might have more constructive things to say. Kevin -----Original Message----- From: grml-bounces(a)mur.at [mailto:grml-bounces@mur.at] On Behalf Of grml-request(a)mur.at Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 5:00 AM To: grml(a)mur.at Subject: Grml Digest, Vol 10, Issue 14 Send Grml mailing list submissions to grml(a)mur.at To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.mur.at/mailman/listinfo/grml or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to grml-request(a)mur.at You can reach the person managing the list at grml-owner(a)mur.at When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Grml digest..." Today's Topics: 1. new on grlm; questions about version 0.6 (william windels) 2. Re: new on grlm; questions about version 0.6 (Michael Prokop) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 22:38:20 +0100 From: "william windels" <william.windels(a)telenet.be> Subject: [Grml] new on grlm; questions about version 0.6 To: <grml(a)mur.at> Message-ID: <051701c6359c$cdf9ac60$0264a8c0@LifebookS7010> Hello, I am new on the grml distribution but I work already 2 years with linux. I am completely blind and I use brltty as screenreader. 1: at the moment I have running the grml distribution 0.6 with mutt 1.5.11 , sendmail, procmail and postfix as mta. Before , I was working with exim (version 3) as mta on a other distribution. Is it not possible to configure mutt to work alone for the following things: - send and receive mail (without external mta) - sort the mail in different mailboxes conform the filters? - each user with his own <;muttrc-file? For example, you can do this with outlook express on ms windows: to send and receive mail, you need only your login with pasword from your provider to receive your mail and the smtp-server from the provider. You can also create filters to sort the incomming mails. But, I love linux much more than windows :) There are also such programs on the x-windows-system I think but I am completely blind and I can not work with x-windows because of that. I can only work with console-programs. 2: perhaps it should be a good idea to add some new function(s) to the user-configuration: - a way to create new users for root: - a way to update the security packages available - perhaps a way to (re)compile the kernel on a user-friendly based system? 3: mounting devices automatically from fstab: As Michael prokop said already , I can not change mountpoints of found devices during hd_install. This is explained with the following lines: # Warning! Please do *not* change any lines below #because they are auto-generated by rebuildfstab! How can I simply change mount-points of found devices so that they are automatically mounted in the new mountpoints after next reboot? If I do rebuildfstab after changing the mountpoints , I receive no message but the devices are not launched automatically. 4: text-packages: Is it not possible to add a configuration-option to the hd_install so that only text-related packages are installed? Perhaps, the packages could be stored in 2 compressed parts on the cd: one for the consolestuff and one for the x-windows system. ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 23:07:35 +0100 From: Michael Prokop <mika(a)grml.org> Subject: Re: [Grml] new on grlm; questions about version 0.6 To: grml(a)mur.at Message-ID: <2006-02-19T22-47-38(a)devnull.michael-prokop.at> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii * william windels <william.windels(a)telenet.be> [20060219 22:45]: > I am new on the grml distribution but I work already 2 years with linux. > I am completely blind and I use brltty as screenreader. > 1: at the moment I have running the grml distribution 0.6 with mutt 1.5.11 , > sendmail, procmail and postfix as mta. > Before , I was working with exim (version 3) as mta on a other distribution. > Is it not possible to configure mutt to work alone for the following things: > - send and receive mail (without external mta) > - sort the mail in different mailboxes conform the filters? > - each user with his own <;muttrc-file? > For example, you can do this with outlook express on ms windows: to send and > receive mail, you need only your login with pasword from your provider to > receive your mail and the smtp-server from the provider. > You can also create filters to sort the incomming mails. > But, I love linux much more than windows :) First of all take a look at grml-mutt or grml-muttng to configure some basics of mutt or mutt-ng. (Backup your ~/.muttrc first to make sure you don't overwrite anything.) To send mail take a look at msmtp, a sample configuration file is shipped with grml: ~/.msmtprc Filter your mail using procmail. Take a look at http://michael-prokop.at/computer/config/.procmailrc http://michael-prokop.at/computer/config/.procmail/sort-rc to get an idea how to use it. > 2: perhaps it should be a good idea to add some new function(s) to the > user-configuration: > - a way to create new users Just run 'adduser mynewuser'. > for root: > - a way to update the security packages available Take a look at debsecan. It requires some scripting work to get only security related packages in Debian unstable, that's difficult by design. > - perhaps a way to (re)compile the kernel on a user-friendly based system? Don't compile the kernel on your own unless you have a *really* good reason to do that. That's the work of the distributor, not really an end-user task with kernel 2.6. Anyway, getting kernel sources and using 'make menuconfig' *is* user-friendly. :) Also take a look at make-kpkg. > 3: mounting devices automatically from fstab: > As Michael prokop said already , I can not change mountpoints of found > devices during hd_install. > This is explained with the following lines: > # Warning! Please do *not* change any lines below > #because they are auto-generated by rebuildfstab! > How can I simply change mount-points of found devices > so that they are automatically mounted in the new mountpoints after next > reboot? > If I do rebuildfstab after changing the mountpoints , I receive no message > but the devices are not launched automatically. As the manpage of rebuildfstab says: rebuildfstab uses the tool scanpartition to scan for devices located in /dev and adds entries for devices / partitions which are not available in /etc/fstab yet. It does not mount any partitions automatically. If you want to use /dev/hda2 as your home partition, take the entry for /dev/hda2 from /etc/fstab and move it to the top of the /etc/fstab. *Everything* below the "warning-line" will be deleted by next run of rebuildfstab. If you don't want the rebuildfstab feature set CONFIG_FSTAB='no' in /etc/grml/autoconfig. Example how to use /dev/hda2 with filesystem ext3 as /home would be: /dev/hda2 /home ext3 defaults 0 0 > 4: text-packages: > Is it not possible to add a configuration-option to the hd_install so that > only text-related packages are installed? No chance, as the installation is nothing else than copying the whole system to the disk and do some other adjustments. > Perhaps, the packages could be stored in 2 compressed parts on the cd: one > for the consolestuff and one for the x-windows system. Sorry, that's not an option for me. Just run 'apt-get remove xserver-xorg' to remove the X-window system on your installation. Catching the other x-related stuff should be possible via using the magic of debtags. regards, -mika- -- You like grml? Help us! http://grml.org/donations/ Already on the grml-user-map? http://www.frappr.com/grmlusers Grml Solutions http://solutions.grml.org/ ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Grml mailing list - Grml(a)mur.at http://lists.mur.at/mailman/listinfo/grml join #grml on irc.freenode.org grml-devel-blog: http://grml.supersized.org/ End of Grml Digest, Vol 10, Issue 14 ************************************

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new on grlm; questions about version 0.6
by william windels 19 Feb '06

19 Feb '06

Hello, I am new on the grml distribution but I work already 2 years with linux. I am completely blind and I use brltty as screenreader. 1: at the moment I have running the grml distribution 0.6 with mutt 1.5.11 , sendmail, procmail and postfix as mta. Before , I was working with exim (version 3) as mta on a other distribution. Is it not possible to configure mutt to work alone for the following things: - send and receive mail (without external mta) - sort the mail in different mailboxes conform the filters? - each user with his own <;muttrc-file? For example, you can do this with outlook express on ms windows: to send and receive mail, you need only your login with pasword from your provider to receive your mail and the smtp-server from the provider. You can also create filters to sort the incomming mails. But, I love linux much more than windows :) There are also such programs on the x-windows-system I think but I am completely blind and I can not work with x-windows because of that. I can only work with console-programs. 2: perhaps it should be a good idea to add some new function(s) to the user-configuration: - a way to create new users for root: - a way to update the security packages available - perhaps a way to (re)compile the kernel on a user-friendly based system? 3: mounting devices automatically from fstab: As Michael prokop said already , I can not change mountpoints of found devices during hd_install. This is explained with the following lines: # Warning! Please do *not* change any lines below #because they are auto-generated by rebuildfstab! How can I simply change mount-points of found devices so that they are automatically mounted in the new mountpoints after next reboot? If I do rebuildfstab after changing the mountpoints , I receive no message but the devices are not launched automatically. 4: text-packages: Is it not possible to add a configuration-option to the hd_install so that only text-related packages are installed? Perhaps, the packages could be stored in 2 compressed parts on the cd: one for the consolestuff and one for the x-windows system.

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grml-0.6 kernel recompile qustion
by Ishwar Rattan 18 Feb '06

18 Feb '06

Finally took the plunge to compile SMP kernel. downloaded the vanilla linux-2.6.25 sources from ftp.kernel.org downloaded the all-in-one-patch from grml.org applied the patches (no failures seen) compiled the kernel with the commandi (in source directory): fakeroot make-kpkg clean fakeroot make-kpkg -append-to-version="-smp" kernel-image modules-image compiles with quite few warnings (too many to list) and creates .deb file installed the .deb file with dpkg -i (system does boot with -smp kernel..) I have a question on entries in /lib/modules/2.6.15-grml-smp some directory entries that exist in /lib/modules/2.6.15-grml (drivers, extra, net etc.) are not created in /lib/modules/2.6.15-grml-smp (only kernel directory is cerated) Is it normal? Is the -smp kernel using some modules from /lib/modules/2.6.15-grml or did I make the kernel/modules wrong? -ishwar

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JFYI: grml2hd - problems with debconf on upgrades
by Michael Prokop 14 Feb '06

14 Feb '06

Hoi! JFYI: If you are using a harddisk installation of grml and update your box(es) you'll notice problems with debconf, e.g.: | dpkg: error processing debconf (--configure): | subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1 The problem has been forwarded to upstream: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=351031 We are not yet sure what's the exact problem (have to investigate on it). To solve the problem please run: # ln -sf /bin/bash /bin/sh regards, -mika- -- You like grml? Help us! http://grml.org/donations/ Already on the grml-user-map? http://www.frappr.com/grmlusers Grml Solutions http://solutions.grml.org/

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Re: [Grml] print is too small
by Michael Prokop 10 Feb '06

10 Feb '06

* Scott Berry <electronicman1961(a)myfreedombox.com> [20060210 16:12]: > Hold on got the wrong impression. Sorry! What I need to know is how to make > the screen letters larger so that Dad can see them better. I apologize again. When using the X window system: xterm -name blind or just press ctrl-key and right mouse on running xterm. On plain console: Disable framebuffer so you get 80x25 instead of 1024x768-resolution using the kernel option 'vga=normal' (add it to lilo.conf on hd installations or boot live-cd using 'nofb' or 'grml vga=normal'). regards, -mika- -- You like grml? Help us! http://grml.org/donations/ Already on the grml-user-map? http://www.frappr.com/grmlusers Grml Solutions http://solutions.grml.org/

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print is too small
by Scott Berry 10 Feb '06

10 Feb '06

My father was helping me set up Grml and he told me that the print was too small. How is this enlarged? I haven't messed with this because since I use speech 3/4 of the time I don't need the screen. Can some one enlighten me here please? -- Scott Berry electronicman1961(a)myfreedombox.com Check out my lazy web doodle at: http://www.myfreedombox.com/users/electronicman1961/ Email services by FreedomBox. Surf the Net at the sound of your voice. www.freedombox.info

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grml-x glitches
by Mark 08 Feb '06

08 Feb '06

I tested the FAQ advice about grml-x and nvidia. The simple command was grml-x -nostart -module nvidia gdm If I run as root, I get a strong warning message that grml-x does not support root. (P.S. Why not?) If I run as a non-root user, I get error messages about the user lacking privileges to run certain binaries. Mark

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