- Grml - lists.mur.at

Upgrade scenarios and GRML versions
by Mark 27 Nov '05

27 Nov '05

A new theme now, user upgrades. This note is not about grml2hd, just how to keep my users current over time. Suppose that, for my users, I execute grml2hd to install GRML; and then, on top of GRML, Debian desktop packages (mostly GNOME, maybe Ubuntu if it will work). This is my current plan. The question I have is what problems/issues you foresee in terms of upgrading users over time where GRML is the underlying Debian system. I need to avoid full system re-installs (grml2hd all over again). I believe this job is easy. I just thought I would ask. Experience teaches me that others often think of things that I do not foresee. The main items I want to keep upgraded are (1) kernel and (2) GRML h/w autodetection. These are the critical ones. Both affect driver/hardware support. Mark (p.s. I signed up as a beta tester and would be willing to use beta versions as necessary - since I only have 0.5 right now assume that as baseline)

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USB boot success: grml-big-0.5 + grml2hd-0.5.5
by Mark 27 Nov '05

27 Nov '05

Good news: grml2hd 0.5.5 worked on my test user's USB hard drive. The USB drive booted a system from power up to GRML user login prompt with full hardware autodetection. Here are some observations. In general I'm very happy, I just want to offer some thoughts on room for improvement in grml2hd. GRML is beautiful, don't get me wrong. * The yaird install dialog box mentions SCSI, but not USB or Firewire. It should mention all three explicitly. I know they are all SCSI to Linux, but please help the user. It's an easy string change. * The installer undoes its own work. It spends lots of time copying, as it must, but some of what it copies it later deletes - services like apache, mysql. Note that I kept all the default selections. * I got lots of error and warning messages during this stage - can't stop process, can't delete file, permission denied, things like that; several pages of it; very worrisome and confusing. * A better way (?) is to copy only what the user wants, rather than asking what to delete after it has all been copied over. Show the menu before the copy, not after. Should save lots of time and errors. * The chroot jail question is weird and I didn't know how to answer it. There was another question about MySQL that probably shouldn't be there. If the user doesn't want MySQL, just get rid of everything associated. * The video came out bad. Video for booting from CD-ROM was fine, my font and video scale just what I would expect (without any cheatcodes, just default CD boot). However the USB boot produced an ugly (larger) font size and/or video scale that was also painfully mashed to the left (leftmost character columns not even visible). This was on the same monitor. I don't understand why the difference. CD-ROM video defaults would have been fine for the USB install. We're not talking X here, just text GRML. I did create the X config at the install dialog prompt, but the ugliness lies in the basic GRML screen, not X per se. * I used ReiserFS 3.x and it worked fine, though there seemed to be some miscellany error messages at boot time about accessing this or that (can't remember what). * Just before install, I did a full apt-upgrade on the CD-ROM boot system. It seems there are lots of patches since grml-big-0.5. I mention this only so you know what I actually intalled to the hard drive. * The USB bootup process flashed the screen a few times more than the CD-ROM boot. This flashing must have to do with initrd and all that. It was a little bothersome, that's all. If you can minimize the flashing and jumping, it would be nice. Just keep scrolling the boot text, don't flash around so much. * Some of our older PCs don't have USB boot support in BIOS. They need "helper boot floppies." It would be nice if the installer could create one as an optional step. I'm eagerly awaiting grml-big 0.6. I will hold off configuring my user systems until 0.6 is released. How close is it? Last I heard a few more days... Thanks for this excellent distro and USB support. Regards, Mark

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Fragen nach einer hd Installation
by Andreas Kalex 26 Nov '05

26 Nov '05

Hallo, 1. wie kann ich nach einer grml2hd Installation den Tastenstandard auf das deutsche Layout setzen? Bei den bootoptionen gebe ich es per grml lang=de an aber nach der grml2hd Installation wird bereits beim booten gemeldte dass das us layout benutzt wird. TemporÃ¤r kann ich es mit grml-lang de Ã¤ndern. Doch wie dauerhaft? dpkg-reconfigure console-data hat nicht den gewÃ¼nschten Effekt 1.a Nach der temporÃ¤ren Ã„nderung ist die Ã„nderung nur auf der Konsole aktiv nicht unter X. In der xorg.conf ist dies:"XkbLayout" "de" enthalten. 2. ich mÃ¶chte die AuflÃ¶sung unter X auf 1024x768 setzen. Der Aufruf grml-x -mode 1024x768 fluxbox funktioniert nur wenn die Live-CD lÃ¤uft, nicht von der HD-Installation. Wo kann ich das Ã¤ndern? 3. Ich will eine feste IP Adresse vergeben aber beim Start wird immer der dhcp benutzt; wenn ich den Ã¼ber die autoconfig nicht starten lasse, wird Ã¼berhaupt keine IP Adresse gesetzt. Nutze ich dann netcardconfig so stehen die schon mal benutzten Werte bereits als Vorgabe drin. hmm? Gruss Andreas

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Grml-0.5
by Ishwar Rattan 22 Nov '05

22 Nov '05

Two queries: 1. Is there a way to reconfigure ispell for us_english dictionary? 2. Is thre a music CD palyer (need not be gui)? Thanks, -ishwar

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Vshnu (Mix out of shell, perl and mc) maybe for an upcimong release of grml?
by Michael Cracauer 22 Nov '05

22 Nov '05

In the current Linux-Magazine is a report about Vshnu. Vshnu exist now for several years, but was anknown for me and many others. Have a look: http://www.linux-mag.com/content/view/2332/ ItÂ´s a nice program, maybe it can be added to grml, as an alternative to zsh and mc. Would really like it. --------------------------------- Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - Jetzt mit 1GB kostenlosem Speicher

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grml-user map
by Michael Prokop 22 Nov '05

22 Nov '05

Hoi! I just stumbled upon frappr.com and added a map for grml-users: http://www.frappr.com/grmlusers Join us and add yourself! :) regards, -mika- -- ((lambda (foo) (bar foo)) (baz))

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yaird failure in grml-small-0.1y + grml2hd 0.5.5
by Mark 22 Nov '05

22 Nov '05

I've been testing USB hard drive boot with grml-small-0.1y, and Michael has helped - thanks. It's close to solved, but not quite yet. The last thing I tried was a grml2hd 0.5.5 from http://grml.org/tmp/grml2hd_0.5.5_i386.deb which includes the initrd step. It failed as follows: "There was an error running yaird for creating an initrd: create_initrd: 21: command not found: yaird. Sorry" I begin to think grml-small is the wrong test platform. It lacks too many packages and documentation. (I need docs when all I have is a command prompt.) It gets frustrating to constantly wget and apt-get before I can run a script. I wish to stop using grml-small. The only version of grml-big that I have is 0.5. I can install grml2hd 0.5.5 on that, presumably. Someone send email if you have any better thoughts. I am open to suggestions. Thanks- Mark

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Post HD-install again..
by Ishwar Rattan 21 Nov '05

21 Nov '05

The grml version is 0.5 Release Codename Tokolytika [2005-10-24] What should be the contents of /etc/modules file? I just now added autofs4 es1371 parport usb-storage to see if things will change. Syslog does not write anything to /var/log/messages till I start /etc/init.s/syslog-ng start The entries in /etc/runlevel.conf are 20 0,1,6 - /etc/init.d/cupsys 20 0,1,6 - /etc/init.d/autofs and none for hotplug-light and syslog-ng so far I start them by hand. -ishwar

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Re: [Grml] Post HD-install (fwd)
by Ishwar Rattan 20 Nov '05

20 Nov '05

It is looks like that I missed the reply to this post.. Thanks, -ishwar ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 18:13:23 -0500 (EST) From: Ishwar Rattan <ishwar(a)pali.cps.cmich.edu> To: Michael Prokop <mika(a)grml.org> Cc: grml(a)mur.at Subject: Re: [Grml] Post HD-install On Sat, 19 Nov 2005, Michael Prokop wrote: > * Ishwar Rattan <ishwar(a)pali.cps.cmich.edu> [20051119 14:50]: > > > Last night I did a grml2hd install at my home box. It is an > > old Dron based PC with ensoniq-1370 sound card. > > > It comes out that the install different from live-cd. > > The usb storage hotplug does not work any more, it > > was operational in live-cd usage (the usb stick was > > detected at /dev/sda1 and mounted automatically). > > > So, how do I get the functionality back? > > What does "usb storage hotplug does not work any more" mean exactly? > Mounting of usb-stick does not work anymore? The usb-modules aren't > loaded? Which version of grml did you install? Does running 'Restart > hotplug-light' as user root solve the problem? > > JFYI: USB sticks are available through /dev/external1 -> /mnt/external1 > I might have a buggy HD-install. Should I reinstall? I think that usb-modules are not loaded even after starting hotplug-light. It comes out that usb-storage module is not loaded at system boot. Modprobe usb-storage, followed by hotplug-light start works fine. Also, I am confused about entries in /etc/runlevel.conf, the third column has '-' in most of the entries. How is the runlevel (3rd col entry) determined for a service? For services: autofs, cupsys, hotplug-light, syslog-ng as in update-rc.d cupsys defaults 20 does not specify the runlevel of cupsys... My guess for runlevels would be: autofs/3, cupsys/3, hotplug-light/3, syslog-ng/2?? For stopping these services I would guess runlevel 6. Is there a rule of thumb for this decision? Regards, -ishwar

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Post HD-install
by Ishwar Rattan 20 Nov '05

20 Nov '05

Last night I did a grml2hd install at my home box. It is an old Dron based PC with ensoniq-1370 sound card. It comes out that the install different from live-cd. The usb storage hotplug does not work any more, it was operational in live-cd usage (the usb stick was detected at /dev/sda1 and mounted automatically). So, how do I get the functionality back? -ishwar

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