January 2009 - Grml - lists.mur.at

the linux cookbook
by Josh 28 Oct '09

28 Oct '09

Hi, wow I did not know I could read the linux cookbook online until I did a google search for it and found it online. But here's a problem I need to overcome, and if anyone has already overcome this being blind, can you share how you did it? Ok, so for me to practically use this cookbook, I will need to: *be able to somehow read the book and then go to my computer and follow the directions. so I would need two computers? one to read the book on, and another to have grml Linux on. or *have a braille copy of the Linux cookbook so I therefore only need one computer and can read the braille copy to refer back to. Josh email: jkenn337(a)gmail.com msn: kenn6498ku(a)hotmail.com

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how to disable antialias font in x window
by Chaitat Piriyastit 23 Feb '09

23 Feb '09

Hi, I have tried several things such as: $ rxvt -fn 'xft:antialias=false,-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-12-140-*-*-c-*-iso8859-15' or create: /etc/fonts/local.conf and place: <match target="font"> <edit name="antialias" mode="assign"> <bool>false</bool> </edit> </match> inside the file. It still does not work. Is there other workaround? Chaitat Piriyasatit ... waking up to pee and see whats up online

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Booting 2008.11 takes 4 minutes!
by Hubert Gabler 03 Feb '09

03 Feb '09

I use grml 1.1 but wanted to test the new 2008.11 version. I noticed 2 very annoying features: When it reads "Searching for grml file, this might take a few seconds" in reality it takes 3:30 minutes before the program continues. But only to stop again at "Waiting for /dev to be fully populated" for about 30 seconds. How can I avoid these stops in execution? I tried all the no....options (noautoconfig, nodhcp, noquick) but without any success. Any ideas? Hubert

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X11 forwarding
by Maurice McCarthy 29 Jan '09

29 Jan '09

Right so Mika sorted my wlan and I've cured a sound defect myself. There is no urgency whatsoever in this, but I'll ask out of curiosity. The last nuisance puzzling me is X11 forwarding inside my simple home lan. Sounds silly perhaps but I'm just learning how to network for myself. I can X11 forward from my secure shell account based in London: Thus user@laptop$ ssh -fX moss(a)mythic-beasts.com xclock gives me an xclock. This tells me that at least my Xserver and ssh on the laptop must be configured right for X11 forwarding. The home lan is simply the laptop a wireless router BTVOYAGER2110 and my trusty old Pentium II PC. The PII is wired into the router so communication between the laptop and the PII is through the router. There is no longer a monitor connected to the PII. user@laptop$ ssh -fX user@PII xclock gives "Error: Can't open display:" followed by a blank line. ssh has failed to set the environmental variable $DISPLAY. It is exactly the same if I put a wire directly between PII and the laptop and configure a static network. The laptop is running grml-2008.11 with apt pointed at Lenny but the PII run grml-1.0 pointed at Etch. user@laptop$ ssh -Xvvv user@PII gives this output after accepting the password debug2: x11_get_proto: /usr/bin/X11/xauth list :0.0 2>/dev/null debug1: Requesting X11 forwarding with authentication spoofing. debug2: channel 0: request x11-req confirm 0 debug2: client_session2_setup: id 0 debug2: channel 0: request pty-req confirm 1 debug3: tty_make_modes: ospeed 38400 debug3: tty_make_modes: ispeed 38400 debug1: Sending environment. There is then a long list of env ignored including the display user@PII$ echo $DISPLAY Gives a blank output. user@PII$ export DISPLAY=:10 # This is poor practice as it can obviate # encryption but I tried it anyhow as # I'm only at home. user@PII$ xclock & and the xclock shows up in htop but it does not display on the laptop. So the basic problem is that ssh is not setting the display though it ought to. I must have a misconfiguration somewhere on the PII. .ssh/config reads thus Host * # I know this in not secure. ForwardAgent yes ForwardX11 yes AllowTcpForwarding yes -- Once again, thanks for any help Moss

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intel iwl3945
by Maurice McCarthy 27 Jan '09

27 Jan '09

Hi all Wonder if any one has a suggestion for me. I've wiped vista off my laptop, an Acer Aspire 5920. and installed Schlutenscheisser. I've got couple of problems but I'll just mention the wifi for now. On boot something odd is happening to the wifi. As soon as the firmware loads a hardware kill switch is activated. $ dmesg | grep iwl [ 16.656573] iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux, 1.2.26ks [ 16.656573] iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation [ 16.656573] iwl3945 0000:06:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002) [ 16.656573] iwl3945: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3945ABG [ 16.805680] iwl3945: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 23 802.11a channels [ 16.825420] phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-3945-rs' [ 34.238805] Modules linked in: loop vboxdrv fuse ipv6 uvcvideo compat_ioctl32 videodev joydev v4l1_compat evdev video output arc4 serio_raw ecb iwl3945 firmware_class mac80211 cfg80211 battery button ac snd_hda_intel snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_pcm acer_wmi led_class snd_seq_dummy wmi snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq i2c_i801 snd_timer snd_seq_device iTCO_wdt pcspkr i2c_core snd soundcore intel_agp rtc_cmos iTCO_vendor_support snd_page_alloc rtc_core rtc_lib usb_storage usbhid ff_memless libusual firewire_ohci firewire_core crc_itu_t sg sdhci ohci1394 mmc_core ricoh_mmc ieee1394 tg3 ehci_hcd uhci_hcd usbcore thermal processor fan squashfs sqlzma unlzma [ 39.148650] firmware: requesting iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode [ 39.273994] iwl3945: Radio disabled by HW RF Kill switch [ 46.197829] iwl3945: Radio disabled by HW RF Kill switch [ 50.178462] iwl3945: Radio disabled by HW RF Kill switch [ 54.187015] iwl3945: Radio disabled by HW RF Kill switch [ 235.037523] iwl3945: Radio disabled by HW RF Kill switch [ 237.703345] iwl3945: Radio disabled by HW RF Kill switch I have trawled the internet for help and have place a file called iwl3945 in /etc/modprobe.d The file contains these two lines alias wlan0 iwl3945 options iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1 This was supposed to prevent the hardware switch from operating but even if I unload and reload the module iwl3945 it gets HW killed again. :-( Any ideas, please? -- Thanks in advance Moss

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some questions.
by didi.segbert＠arcor.de 18 Jan '09

18 Jan '09

Hello, for a time i have installed the grml 1.1 on two harddisk and onto a usb- stick (GB). With the commands aptitude update and aptitude safe-upgrade i look for the newest program-updates. But now i have some questions: 1. What is the sudo password for the first User, i mean the user, that tehe grml2hd-script will create (i have changed the configfile for my needs). 2. How can i upgrade from grml 1.1 to grml 2008, especielly the kernel and scripts? 3. What can i do to become a better performance on my usb-stick, shall i create a fstab for my needs, so that the temoraryfiles are into the ram and so. Are there any examples. 4. After updating/upgrading with aptitude and the end of the procedur im become an error "update-initramfs can not create/update initrd ..., use -t switch". Shall i use the command update-initramfs -d -t to fix this or is there a configfile? 5. If i log in as user x and start lynx, surf with lynx to an audiostream (mp3/rm or so) or to an internetradiostream, the mplayer will start, but nothing is to hear, mplayer will stop and lynx is back. The sound works and if i start the mplayer with the directlink to the radiostream, that will work. Any ideas? 6. How can i addd old debian packages, especielly i want to use the aqmony 0.6.3, the openhbci and the libchipcard version, which works with the old aqmoney 0.6.3. I have tryied to compile the programs, but the gcc 4.3.x will produce a lot of errors and i am not so familiar with c an c++ to fix this errors. thanks for your help. Regards Dietmar

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How to create custom xorg.conf?
by glenn greenfield 15 Jan '09

15 Jan '09

Hi and thanks for creating such a great live cd! I have managed to build a custom grml using the fabulous grml-live scripts. I've included the Nvidia driver and b43 firmware and the LXDE desktop. This is all working perfectly. One thing I have not been able to accomplish however is setting SHMConfig to "on" automatically. I'm not using grml as an HDD installation but rather from live cd booted toram from a USB device. If I could figure out how to automatically edit xorg.conf that would be great. I need this because I use touchfreeze to stop the touchpad from accepting input as I type on my laptop. I do see that SHMConfig is already in xorg.conf but it is commented. Any ideas on how to accomplish this? Option "SHMConfig" "on" Thanks again. -- glenn greenfield

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new possible solution for blind grml users and x programs
by Doug Smith 15 Jan '09

15 Jan '09

To whom it may concern: \ I have found something that I think shows some promise for use by all the people who use speakup and do not wish to go to a graphical user environment in order just to get on line. The program is called twin. This stands for text mode windowing environment. It can be found at http://linuz.sns.it/~max/twin/ There is a detailed tutorial as well as a sample configuration file includєd with the program. However, it makes little sense to me as I have no experience configuring x displays. What I am trying to do with this programし is to get it to work in the following way: First of all, interact with x programs as it says it will, but with the result that it will: bring the output of those programs back to a reぐular tty display where speakup is active. However, with all the attaching, detaching, running on x servers, display numbers and the rest, I am totally lost. If some person here can help me in configuring this program to work as a text mode solution to a graphical problem, I will be most greatful. Thank you in advance. Doug Smith -- I use grml (http://grml.org/)

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grml1.1 and the gnome desktop
by Josh zxc 13 Jan '09

13 Jan '09

Hi, Does grml1.1 come with the latest gnome desktop? if not, can gnome be set up with grml to run under grml and started automatically? Josh

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[PATCH] bootoption findiso
by Michael Schierl 12 Jan '09

12 Jan '09

Hi mika, Hi all, I liked it when I read in the announcement that grml-2008.11 supports a fromiso bootoption. I wanted to use it for my USB thumb drive, so that I can add the .iso file to it (so that I can burn a CD if I need one) and as well boot from it (without requiring twice the space). However, it did not work as I expected: - it does not search for the ISO, but require the exact device name - it does not expose the ISO partition to the booted system So I patched the initramfs so that it supports another bootoption, "findiso". When booting with findiso=/grml_2008.11.iso, it will look for that .iso file on all disks where it usually looks for the .squashfs file. When it is found, the disk containing the iso is read-only mounted as /live/findiso (and exposed there after boot completed). The squashfs file is searched inside that ISO file then. It worked well in my tests, but of course that does not guarantee it is bug-free. :) I attached both the patch and a script I used (in a CD-booted GRML) to apply the patch (and modify menu.lst), if anyone else wants to use it with the current stable GRML. regards, Michael diff -rup initramfs_orig/scripts/live initramfs/scripts/live --- initramfs_orig/scripts/live 2008-12-06 12:33:00.676619000 +0000 +++ initramfs/scripts/live 2008-12-06 12:52:05.938629568 +0000 @@ -92,6 +92,11 @@ Arguments () export HOSTNAME LIVECONF ;; + findiso=*) + FINDISO="${ARGUMENT#findiso=}" + export FINDISO + ;; + isofrom=*|fromiso=*) FROMISO="${ARGUMENT#*=}" export FROMISO @@ -1365,6 +1370,17 @@ check_dev () if is_supported_fs ${fstype} then mount -t ${fstype} -o ro,noatime "${devname}" ${mountpoint} || continue + if [ -n "${FINDISO}" ] + then + if [ -f ${mountpoint}${FINDISO} ]; then + umount ${mountpoint} + mkdir /live/findiso -p + mount -t ${fstype} -o ro,noatime "${devname}" /live/findiso + loopdevname=$(setup_loop "/live/findiso${FINDISO}" "loop" "/sys/block/loop*" "" '') + devname="${loopdevname}" + mount -t iso9660 -o ro,noatime "${devname}" ${mountpoint} + fi + fi if is_live_path ${mountpoint} && \ ([ "${skip_uuid_check}" ] || matches_uuid ${mountpoint}) diff -rup initramfs_orig/scripts/live-bottom/05mountpoints initramfs/scripts/live-bottom/05mountpoints --- initramfs_orig/scripts/live-bottom/05mountpoints 2008-12-06 14:30:05.486694000 +0000 +++ initramfs/scripts/live-bottom/05mountpoints 2008-12-06 14:41:26.346606201 +0000 @@ -38,4 +38,11 @@ if [ -n "$MOUNTED_ON" ] ; then echo " -> Mounted live system on $MOUNTED_ON">/dev/console fi +# Move findiso directory to the new root filesystem so that programs there can get at it. +if [ -d /live/findiso -a ! -d /root/live/findiso ] +then + mkdir -p /root/live/findiso + mount -n --move /live/findiso /root/live/findiso +fi + log_end_msg #!/bin/sh -e # Create an initramfs and a menu.lst that can be loaded from Grub on a USB # key, where the ISO file is stored in the root directory # (c) 2008 Michael Schierl [ -n "$1" ] cp findiso.patch /tmp rm -rf /tmp/initramfs /tmp/x || true mkdir /tmp/initramfs rm -rf $1/boot/grml_2008.11 || true mkdir -p $1/boot/grml_2008.11 cd /tmp/initramfs zcat /live/image/boot/grml/initrd.gz | cpio -i patch -p1 </tmp/findiso.patch find | cpio -H newc -o | gzip --best >$1/boot/grml_2008.11/initrd.gz sed s#boot/grml#boot/grml_2008.11# /live/image/boot/grub/menu.lst | \ sed "s#linux26#linux26 findiso=/grml_2008.11.iso#" | \ sed s#grub/splash#grml_2008.11/splash# | \ sed s#-rc1## | \ head -n 56 >$1/boot/grml_2008.11/menu.lst cp /live/image/boot/grml/linux26 /live/image/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz $1/boot/grml_2008.11 echo Done. Don"'"t forget to copy grml_2008.11.iso to $1.

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