March 2009 - Grml - lists.mur.at

GRMLCFG working on 2008.11?
by Johannes Kastl 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

Hello, I started the grml 2008.11 ISO image in a virtual machine (VirtualBox 2.1.12 on OSX 10.5), which had a 5 GB hard disk. I partitioned the hard disk, and labelled one partition GRMLCFG (obviously after formatting it ;-) ). After restarting I mounted the image, and used save-config -all to created a file called config.tbz on that partition. It seems to me that when booting something from that partition is copied (long list of files), but neither the language setting nor the network settings are restored. Is this normal? Should those settings be stored, or are they excluded? As far as I understood the docu the whole /etc should be saved. During saving the config, I get errors the first time I run save-config, saying that file xyz changed during reading. Disappears the second time you run save-config. Any hints? Tricks? Bugs? Regards, OJ P.S.: If this message appears twice, then posting via gmane *does* work... -- | Yes, I know. But there are even conjobs running as user games? Sometimes when cron is bored he starts playing games, didn't you know? ;-) (Aschwin Marsman and Robert Schiele on the opensuse-Mailinglist)

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Speech-Dispatcher and SMP (again)
by Keith Hinton 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

Hi, I have previously in the last year or so posted on this subject of Speech-Dispatcher and SMP. I had previously back when testing my friend Shaun's system thought that it was only to AMD Athlon X2 3800 plus dual-core processors. I found out, that I was wrong. About four weeks ago, I tested the latest stable GRML using the grml swspeak speechd boot option at the Isolinux boot prompt on my Intel laptop. My Fujitsu laptop is pretty new. Well, shortly there after, speech crashed, again. So, I did this: Speechd-up -v Grml uses Speechd-up 0.1, wich is extremely old and out-of-date. Even the last stable release contains severe bugs. The CVS builds contain latest bug fixes. In edition to this, I discovered that GRML was using an RC version (not stable!) version of Speech-Dispatcher! Why is this? The issues seem to be caused when using Espeak-generic, and speechd-up 0.1, and Speech-Dispatcher. whether it is Speech-Dispatcher itself though, or simply Speechd-up, I don't know. In any case, I strongly suggest the espeakup interface over the Speechd-up interface (to the point of you folks ripping it completely out) It is odd though, because I thought that at least Speech-Dispatcher would contain some improvements? They were fixing SMP bugs last time I checked. Although if it is an RC version, I am not surprised. Although it may very well be an old version of Speechd-up itself. I will perform another test, on March 20, when I have some time. This time, I'll attempt to execute an instance of the Speechd-up software by typing speechd-up again, to see if it is the Dispatcher process crashing. I will also find out if there are any speech-dispatcher log levels generated through output of log contents (if any). Because Speech-Dispatcher is an interface wich uses the TCP/IP protocol, and is a client/server model, if it was Speechd-up crashing, and not Speech-Dispatcher, then it will probably generate some form of client/module disconnection in the log files. I will report back hear with more test results. Regards, --Keith

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Questions for new grml2usb
by T o n g 15 Mar '09

15 Mar '09

Hi, 1st of all, congratulations on the freshly-written grml2usb! Now my most important question, does grml2usb wipe the existing content of the installation device? Further, - can grml2usb install to a partition instead of a device? - can grml2usb make active the installation partition? - can grml2usb make an existing active partition bootable? Thanks -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sourceforge.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sourceforge.net/tools/

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Kernel configuration PREEMPT
by Lars-Erik Helander 12 Mar '09

12 Mar '09

I have been using grml for a couple of days and I am very happy with it so far. The reason I started to use grml was that I discovered that the grml kernel was configured with the PREEMPT option. This makes it suitable for audio applications and even if the preempt characteristics you get with an RT-kernel is "better" the PREEMPT option of the vanilla kernel seems to be "good enough". With grml I get both a system that is easy to configure to me needs, boots off a USB stick and has a PREEMPT kernel :). I have looked at most distros out there and it is very rare to find ones that comes with a PREEMPT kernel as standard, so this makes me wonder why the grml team choosed to provide PREEMPT as a standard configuration. Anyone that knows this and wants to share why grml is using a PREEMPT kernel? Going forward, will the PREEMPT configuration option remain as standard in grml or might that just suddenly change? Kind Regards /Lars

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Adding packages
by Lars-Erik Helander 11 Mar '09

11 Mar '09

I am new to grml and I hope someone would be able to help me on this topic. I am running grml off a USB stick with a persistent home. I am using a number of packages not available in grml so I put these in a "debs" directory on the root of my live partition (showing up under /live/image/debs) and use the debs boot option. This works fine and all these packages gets installed when I boot. Problem 1: Adding another package to the "debs" directory Since the /live/image tree is mounted read-only I cannot add/remove any .deb files in the "debs" directory. What I do now is that I boot some other system than by USB booted grml system; mounts the USB stick and copy/remove files to/from the "debs" directory; boot from the USB stick. I would like to be able to do this without having to start some other system, but do this in the system booted from the USB stick. Is there a method that would allow me to do that. Problem 2: Avoid installation at boot The above method (putting .deb files in the "debs" directory) is very useful for finding out the packages you need to have. Once you know what packages you would need than you would be better off with a method that would not require you to install the packages on each boot, but that these packages came pre-installed. A natural way would be to either add these packages to the live system package set somehow. As I can see the live system consist of a squashfs file and a file that points out the name of this file. Is there a way to either extend the existing squashfs file or to add some additional squashfs (or other fs-type) file that will be mounted along the original squashfs file? Kind Regards /Lars

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packages with grml?
by Josh 11 Mar '09

11 Mar '09

Hi, I successfully got grml1.1 installed and working with a doubleTalk synthesizer. can you tell me what packages are installed and howw to set up networking? Also what text based word processors spreadsheets and audio editors internet browsers and email clients are there for grml? Josh

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One extra thing about obtaining kernel
by Keith Hinton 08 Mar '09

08 Mar '09

I forgot, In my last post I didn't mention: What I want to do is get the kernel installed without too much configuration or compilation in the plain Debian system. I also hope that I won't have to go configuring netowrks/interfaces manually, I'm not sure just how powerful grml-debootstrap is. What suggestions do you have? I'll probably just edit the configuration file, and get everything in place and then run whatever. Should I go with the linux-image, or linux-source deb files (what's easyer?) Whatever advice on this process specifically other than just editing grml-debootstrap's configuration file would be helpful. Installing a stable lenny would be good, so that I can receive Debain security patches, etc. I'd like to get a plain-debian installed, but have all of the accessibility of grml like Speakup, and other necesary things installed. Whatever I can do, I'd like to know. Installing a plain Debian system sounds fun! Can't wait. Regards, --Keith

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how to obtain working grml kernel packages
by Keith Hinton 08 Mar '09

08 Mar '09

Mika, Thanks for the messages on the digest of GRML. i have decided to use debootstrap to install a plain Debian system. You mentioned I could take a known to-work grml kernel. How would I do this for use in the plain Debian system? It would make things pretty easy then, because Speakup is already part of the kernel. You mentioned on iRC as well that you use Debian packages? I assume an aptitude update; aptitude install speakup; espeak; espeakup, etc? Thanks. Regards, --Keith

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Re: [Grml] Using VMware Workstation on GRML Linux
by Keith Hinton 08 Mar '09

08 Mar '09

> On 3/2/09 12:27 AM Keith Hinton wrote: > >> The problem is, how will I instruct it to boot the necessary VMware >> services on boot of GRML itself? > > You unpack the tar (to /opt/vmware), and then run vmware-install.pl, > which copies the files to the right places /usr/lib/vmware/, > /etc/vmware/, /etc/init.d/...). > > So basically I would say the procedure is the same as with any other > linux distribution. Okay, but is the vmware-install.pl script part of the origenal vmware.com workstation tarball hear? Or is this some Debian-specific package? > >> I also hope, that I will be able to simply do an grml-x gnome and have >> gnome launch directly and then run VMware workstation. > > Gnome should have any kind of autostart. You have to spesify a window manager to grml-x, correct prior to useing it? As in grml-x Gnome? Regards, --Keith > > Regards, > OJ > -- > The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is probably the day > they start making vacuum cleaners. LOL, that will be fun. I'm sure you'll be the first to get a microsoft cleaner.> > >> Regards, >> OJ

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daily.grml.org questions
by Keith Hinton 08 Mar '09

08 Mar '09

I have a question or so about the grml.org daily snapshots: I know that bugs can occur majorly, and all of that. But Has anyone thought of making full grml releases that are based off of Debian stable so that people can successfully run servers with grml if they choose, without being forced to install Debian?Just curious! Another question: Do the daily snapshots of GRML contain Speakup? Or, does only the GRML devel releases etc contain accessibility support? The daily grml page does not mention specifically if the visually impaired access is vailable in those builds. Regards, --Keith

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