- Grml - lists.mur.at

Problem with make mrproper
by Charles Hewson 23 Jul '07

23 Jul '07

I did install of kernel source tree (linux-source-2.6.20-grml) and make mrproper still can not find parts of the amos1100 driver. Console output is attached. What am I missing? Charles ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/

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noon initrd question
by martin yazdzik 16 Jul '07

16 Jul '07

Dear Friends, On my explerimental partition, just for fun, and to test drivers, &c, I sometimes do things either adventursome or stupid, depending upon one's point of view. I should like to install the grml 2.6.22 kernel, but, having installed the image, sources, some modules I use, &c, after mkinitrdramfs while the package is built and installed, lilo is correct, upon boot everything fails because, at least according to the running text, it does not find /lib/modules...? Now, lib modules 2.6.22 is there, but very sparsely populated. Could someone, forgiving my inexperience and inadequacy, tell me, step by step, how to make this kernel work, as I am either failing to install something necessary, or failing to create the proper initrd image? I apologise for the inconvenience. All good wishes, martin In caecus terrae, luscus rex est.

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nfs - impossible to mount a remote nfs-share
by Frank Eisenblaetter 16 Jul '07

16 Jul '07

I have a Ubuntu-Server with a configured NFS-Share. It's possible to mount this share on an other host which run's kubuntu. If I try to mount the share with my grml hd installation with # mount -t nfs server:/share /mnt/server I get the following error: mount.nfs: rpc.statd is not running but is required for remote locking Either use "-o nolocks" to keep locks local, or start statd. If I try to start rpc.statd with # /etc/init.d/nfs-common it takes about 1 minute to finish "Starting NFS common utilities: statd.", but id doesn't change anything. # ps ax | grep statd gives no output # rpcinfo -p localhost rpcinfo: can't contact portmapper: RPC: Remote system error - Connection timed out # ps ax | grep portmap 4410 ? Ss 0:00 /sbin/portmap -i 127.0.0.1 Installed versions: - portmap 6.0-2 - nfs-common 1:1.1.0-6 Any Ideas why I cannot start nfs-common? Regards, Frank

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how to turn off / control the usb led display?
by Andri Handoko 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

Hi, I'm using the grml small 0.4. I created a hotplug event that automatically copy files to the USB stick when it's plugin. The stick is Sandisk micro cruzer 2G USB stick. Here is the dilema: I don't know when the copy will be completed without looking at the monitor, and I'm planning not to use any monitor. Is there a way to control the led; make it blinks every second when files are being copy to the stick, and/or (the most importance part) to turn OFF the led when the device is unmounted? (the "other" popular OS turns off the led when the "Safely remove hardware" is selected). Can Grml do the same action? Another question, since I need to recompile the kernel to support more than 4 serial ports (haven't have a big success yet, newbie :) ), is there a default date configuration that I can modify to make the kernel date start from Jan 1, 2007? so it will keep running for 50+ years from now :P Thanks and Cheers Andri ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. http://videogames.yahoo.com/platform?platform=120121

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Re: [Grml] how to turn off / control the usb led display?
by Andri Handoko 13 Jul '07

13 Jul '07

Hi Moritz, What is the brand and model of the USB stick that you use? Mine doesn't work with the eject command. I was able to switch usb sandisk cruzer stick led off by "rmmod usb_storage". See my previous post for detail. Cheers Andri --- Moritz Augsburger <grml(a)moritz.augsburger.name> wrote: > On Thu, Jul 05, 2007 at 05:45:07PM -0700, Andri Handoko wrote: > > Hi, > > I'm using the grml small 0.4. I created a hotplug event that > automatically > > copy files to the USB stick when it's plugin. The stick is Sandisk micro > > cruzer 2G USB stick. Here is the dilema: I don't know when the copy will > be > > completed without looking at the monitor, and I'm planning not to use > any > > monitor. Is there a way to control the led; make it blinks every second > when > > files are being copy to the stick, and/or (the most importance part) to > turn > > OFF the led when the device is unmounted? (the "other" popular OS turns > off > > the led when the "Safely remove hardware" is selected). Can Grml do the > same > > action? > > With my USB stick, I can use "eject /dev/whatevermystickis" and then the > LED turns off. > > Greets > momo > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get the free Yahoo! toolbar and rest assured with the added security of spyware protection. http://new.toolbar.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/norton/index.php

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Help needed for OLPC-Austria - School on a Stick
by Andreas.Trawoeger＠wgkk.at 06 Jul '07

06 Jul '07

Hi to everybody! Is anybody from the grml community interested to help the 'school on a stick' project from OLPC-Austria ( http://olpcaustria.org/mediawiki/index.php/School_on_a_stick)? The idea is to provide every pupil in a class with its own bootable usb-stick running Linux. Currently we have: - A school in Vienna for testing - 18 brand new PCs which will be delivered next week. - A bunch of kids who will return from hiding on 3.Sep.2007. So everything that is left to do is buying a couple of usb-sticks and finding a Linux distribution that is able to boot from an usb-stick :-)) cu andreas

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adp94xx driver
by David Koski 28 Jun '07

28 Jun '07

I thought that grml has the adp94xx driver so I downloaded version 1.0, burned the iso to CD and mounted it. I noticed there is no driver adp94* in /lib/modules/2.6.20-grml/* recursive. Is it supported or not? The README for version 0.9 shows it should be there: http://grml.org/files/README-0.9.php Has adp94xx been dropped? If so, where can I get it? I am looking for a way to install generic Debian on hardware that requires adp94xx and grml seemed to be a good path. Best Regards, David Koski david(a)kosmosisland.com

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Anyone using maple on grml 1.0?
by Lars Schimmer 25 Jun '07

25 Jun '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi! Is there anyone out there who is using maple on grml 1.0 (HD install) ? MfG, Lars Schimmer - -- - ------------------------------------------------------------- TU Graz, Institut für ComputerGraphik & WissensVisualisierung Tel: +43 316 873-5405 E-Mail: l.schimmer(a)cgv.tugraz.at Fax: +43 316 873-5402 PGP-Key-ID: 0x4A9B1723 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGeTOAmWhuE0qbFyMRAkUwAJ4lq+9qRmJt7Tdh2L63QEU0jevV1ACfdKq4 NKQR1ngnF7f6mLdk4WA2jHY= =UFam -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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grml 1.0 grml2hd issues
by Lars Schimmer 24 Jun '07

24 Jun '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi! I just installed grml 1.0 to 5 PCs with grml2hd. I let it run, added root pwd, username,userpwd, deleted the apache server, added hal, choosed grub in mbr and waited til it was done and rebooted. After reboot, it couldn´t mount /root, because "device not found or busy". I tried it with UUID and with /dev/sda3 in grub.... MfG, Lars Schimmer - -- - ------------------------------------------------------------- TU Graz, Institut für ComputerGraphik & WissensVisualisierung Tel: +43 316 873-5405 E-Mail: l.schimmer(a)cgv.tugraz.at Fax: +43 316 873-5402 PGP-Key-ID: 0x4A9B1723 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGfS54mWhuE0qbFyMRAsKNAJ98AESKr3xYMPoyKu9KYHf64C2QpACghBM7 CBF2dEXYcj8BnNMEHNFcUv4= =afXW -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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REMASTER with modified squashfs
by Charles A. Hewson 22 Jun '07

22 Jun '07

Hi All, I am new to GRML but, have been linux admin for years. I have attempted remaster example from V1.0 both live and installed. When I try "make menuconfig" in /lib/modules/2.6.20/build it gives many errors mostly undefined variables. This happens even without a patch on clean install. Is some cheetcode required? I have copied config from /boot and attemped "make oldconfig" that does same. I would attach specific messages but, we keep machines off net until security modules are installed and configered. If you have suggestions please post to mail list as I am in Seattle. Thanks, Charles

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technical information website http://grml.org
by stappers＠stappers.nl 22 Jun '07

22 Jun '07

Hello, The website http://grml.org is a nice looking one. My intension is to use the same skeleton. But does it has a skeleton? Or other framework? In other words: Could someone provide technical information about the GRML website? Cheers Geert Stappers

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Keyboard does not work in 1.0
by Alexander Skwar 21 Jun '07

21 Jun '07

Good evening! I burned grml 1.0 to a CD and booted my Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro V2010 notebook (a 32bit system) with it. When boot was finished, I was not able to type anything at all. Not even Alt+F1... worked - not even ctrl+alt+del worked! In isolinux, ie. at the "boot prompt", keyboard still works. I booted grml also without "modifying" anything with the help of the isolinux prompt. Ie. just defaults. With the help of the mouse, I selected "x" at the menu presented when grml finished booting. I started fvwm-crystal. Even in X, keyboard does not work. Keyboard worked just fine in previous releases of grml. It worked for sure in 0.8. Keyboard also works just fine right now; I'm typing this message on the same computer (booted into Mandriva). Best regards, Alexander Skwar -- We are using Linux daily to UP our productivity - so UP yours! (Adapted from Pat Paulsen by Joe Sloan)

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Grml Beta Test Coordination
by Mark 21 Jun '07

21 Jun '07

> I really appreciate your feedback but you seem to prefer writing > mails instead of trying what I wrote. [Mika] Because 2.6.21 is not going to help us even if it works; I need more data; it's not the only test; and Linux ++ fixes anything but is not a distro. My users need grml repos, 0.9 or 1.0. They can't function with 2.6.21. Communication & research is all that's possible anyway. Memorial Day vacation - I'm packing now. (Incidentally: verified as kernel regression under Ubuntu 7.04; same problems.) During beta I would have done as requested to improve 1.0 final. Grml gave me no task, no suspect kernel config flags to isolate, etc. Radio silence made me hungry for info-crumbs... But a broken (from our standpoint) final release makes me ask how grml beta cycles are supposed to work. I just need to know what grml does/thinks so I can work with, or around the philosophy & constraints involved. Beta cycles are meant to catch bugs before release. Kernel regression is just another bug category. A kernel regression which, for instance, broke your laptop, would prevent a grml release. And that is how it should be. Re bisect: Other people do that coordinated by -stable. My job is sysadmin, not kernel dev. The whole point of Linux for us, rather than BSD or Open Solaris or Nexenta or whatever, is hardware support. If we have to become kernel devs too, supporting/debugging our own hardware, then we would consider other kernels to develop, with possibly more rational code. Note about USB in Linux, "the in-kernel USB interfaces have undergone at least three different reworks over the lifetime of this subsystem" (Greg Kroah-Hartman). Anyway it's not my call. The last thing my boss will allow is debugging Linux hardware drivers. What I'm asking is, do you inspect a grml bug report, and then talk to -stable to see if they have anything related in their pipeline, and then decide whether grml should wait for a patch? Looking at -stable patch-2.6.20.12, I see USB fixes relating to mutexes, IRQs, etc. - the big stuff. What -stable version is 2.6.20-grml in grml 1.0 final? Next, how does Debian fit into all this? Grml tracks Debian unstable. But grml releases are tied to Linus's kernel releases, not Debian kernel work, right? Correct me on anything. Does grml kernel customization include the possibility of using a -stable release that is not yet incorporated into Debian? Or is Debian a limiting factor? Dumb question maybe, but if I compile my own 2.6.20-x using grml source and patched from -stable, will it work with grml 2.6.20-grml repos? I'm willing to compile a kernel but if I start having to build repos too, I've already become a custom distro, and I'd rather not. Thanks - see you a week from now. Mark

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sambastart
by gareth 18 Jun '07

18 Jun '07

Hi people. Can anyone tell me if there is an equivalent for the script 'sambastart' in knoppix. It's one of the things I use all the time to automatically share drives and then copy data off from another machine. Thanks. -- Gareth ----------- Randomly Generated Fortune: "Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?" Microsoft spel chekar vor sail, worgs grate !! -- Felix von Leitner, leitner(a)inf.fu-berlin.de

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building elinks with javascript support
by Doug Smith 17 Jun '07

17 Jun '07

Ok, I hate to do this. I really don't like to ask questions before finding the answer, but this one seems to be limited by information that does not seem to be true. It's probably outdated. I need to build elinks with javascript support. I am one of your blind grmlers. I heard that it wasn't built into the stock Debian binary so I went testing. I went to: http://www.rfbd.org This is a library from which I get a lot of the textbooks I do my research out of. Well, sure enough, the information I had received was true. I received a page with a header about scripts needed for data processing. Well, I went googling. First of all, I found a mail message at the speakup mailing list archives from a year or two ago about installing a spidermonkey and spidermonkey-dev package. Neither of these existed when I tried to install them. Well, I went hunting again. Out comes the weapon, the google site. Well, no big game this time neither. However, I found a manual at the elinks site. It appears to be incomplete and possibly unmaintained. It said to do the following, so I did it. First of all install libmozjs-dev, so that this install would pull in the library packages that go with this package. This was successful. Next, when finished doing this, you were supposed to do an apt-build install elinks. The program wєnt to the source site at the Debian archives and pulled down the package and built the binary. It successfully installed it, but there was still no javascript support. I tried it again, rebuilding the elinks package so that I might have a clean, new install incase I had done something wrong. Still no javascript support. Well, I tried reconfiguring the elinks package: dpkg-reconfigure elinks after the binary was built. Nothing yet. I would appreciate any info I can get. I guess I will go googling again, plowing through the mass of data to try to ┴unt it up and apply the correct procedure. Any help would be appreciated. -- Doug Smith: C.S.F.C. Computer Scientist For CHRIST

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JFYI: results of grml user survey available
by Michael Prokop 10 Jun '07

10 Jun '07

Hi, I just wanted to inform you that the results of the grml user survey are available now. Find the details in the grml wiki: http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=survey07 Thanks to everyone who participated! 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: screenreader and grml
by cbrannon＠itlnet.net.net 06 Jun '07

06 Jun '07

Hi, The screenreader that you get when booting with swspeak is called speakup. The homepage is http://linux-speakup.org. There is a user's guide on that site. If you cannot find it, I'll be more than glad to send a copy via email. PS. there have been a couple of new blind grml'ers in the last week or so; very cool.

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screenreader and grml
by Adam Thompson 03 Jun '07

03 Jun '07

Hi all, My name is adam and I am completely blind. I am extremely interested in using grml and have had a go all ready. I don't own a hardware synth and so have had to use swspeak, however I am not intirely sure how to use the screenreader (and indeed, not entirely sure what screenreader it is), so I was just wondering if anyone can help me with the basics (for example is there an equivalent to the "JAWS cursor" in this screenreader?). Also I was wondering how you use the screenreader with anything which has a gui. Please can someone point me in the direction of a manual, or give some basic keystroke information? Thanks in advance, from Adam.

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grml on USB flash drive or CF through cardbus adaptor.
by gary ng 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

Hi, I am wondering if there anyone has experience with this kind of usage, both in terms of performance and possibility to boot(in the case of cardbus) In the case of USB(most newer machine with 2.0 can boot without any problem), I believe it would be slower to boot comparing with USB HD(throughput difference but would still be much faster than CD) but would it be faster to use once boot as ReadyBoost on Vista relies on the much faster seek time ? As for the cardbus mode, if it cannot be boot from there, is there any support in grml boot mode where I can boot from a CD(which is slow) yet with the real meat pull from another device say USB drive or cardbus ? This can be quite useful for some older notebook/machine where the boot option is very limited(just CD or IDE). thanks for any pointer in advance. regards, gary PS. please CC if possible as I am not on the list but do read it from the archive. ____________________________________________________________________________________Luggage? GPS? Comic books? Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=graduation+gifts&cs=bz

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DBUS <--> FILE-RC
by v.klemt＠online.de 31 Mai '07

31 Mai '07

Hi everybody! Is DBUS compatible with FILE-RC? On my system, originally generated with grml2hd (grml 0.9), kernel 2.6.18-grml, I got: root@acergrml: apt-get install dbus Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done The following extra packages will be installed: dbus-x11 The following NEW packages will be installed: dbus dbus-x11 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded. Need to get 0B/535kB of archives. After unpacking 983kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Reading package fields... Done Reading package status... Done Retrieving bug reports... Done Parsing Found/Fixed information... Done Selecting previously deselected package dbus-x11. (Reading database ... 173918 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking dbus-x11 (from .../dbus-x11_1.0.2-5_i386.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package dbus. Unpacking dbus (from .../archives/dbus_1.0.2-5_i386.deb) ... Setting up dbus-x11 (1.0.2-5) ... Setting up dbus (1.0.2-5) ... Starting system message bus: dbus. grep: /etc/rc2.d/S??*: No such file or directory root@acergrml: Adding the missing softlink in /etc/rc2.d, ln -s ../init.d/dbus S20dbus by hand solved the problem for me (for the time being), but certainly can't be the appropriate solution. Best regards, Vilmar Klemt v.klemt(a)online.de

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grml 1.0: grml-network hickups
by Werner Flamme 30 Mai '07

30 Mai '07

Hi all, I installed grml i386 via grml2hd onto my laptop that ran with grml 0.9 before. It is a IBM ThinkPad T23. After booting from harddisk, I used grml-network to set up a static IP address for the on-board eth card. Now I can access the laptop via ssh, everything works fine. Several hours later, my ssh connection is down, the laptop does not respond to pings. I use the console and - much to my astonishment - the static IP address was exchanged with an address from the DHCP range of my router! I used grml-network again to enter the static IP address - and next morning, it again was away and a dynamic IP address was used! Well, since that first surprise this happens all few hours. I always chose "enable at boot" at the last prompt. What can I do do have my system remember the static IP address assigned via grml-network instead of looking for a DHCP address? Regards, Werner

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followup to boot-hang
by yazdzik 30 Mai '07

30 Mai '07

Dear M and friends, So, I did the quick and ugly, violent and disgusting solution: I changed fstab first line to plain old /dev/sda4 and got rid of the uuid stuff in the lilo append. Now, I am writing from the new fangled grml 1.0. However, having done this, aside from the schuldgefuehl, I would like to know what went wrong with mounting via the uuid, why we do so in the first place, and so on. Since there are stupid things that do not work on my .9 box, like axiom(really!) and everything works here, for now, I would like to move all production laptops to grml 1, but need to know that everything will work. So, the question is: what changed to disable the mounting via uuid? I suspect it is something I disabled in the runlevel.conf to speed booting along. Also, while on that topic, there has to be a way to complete disable and remove all raid like things from boot-up for laptops, no? Warm regards to all, Martin

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boot hangs
by martin yazdzik 29 Mai '07

29 Mai '07

Dear M and friends, Can anyone think of a reason why boot hangs at: "begin searching for root file system" It worked yesteday, not today. Obviously, without being able to mount /, there is no log. Other than installing k3b, there were no changes. Best, m

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TTYS 4 and 5
by Andri Handoko 26 Mai '07

26 Mai '07

Hi, I'm using the grml-small 0.3. There are only 4 serials, ttyS0 - ttyS3, in /dev folder, and I'm trying to use /dev/ttyS4 and /dev/ttyS5. I created the ttyS4 and ttyS5 manually in /etc/init.d/bootlocal.last. Use the mknod to create the device and setserial to assign the port and interrupt channel. Please see the list of commands below: mknod -m 660 /dev/ttyS4 c 4 68 chown root.dialout /dev/ttyS4 mknod -m 660 /dev/ttyS5 c 4 69 chown root.dialout /dev/ttyS5 setserial /dev/ttyS4 irq 5 port 0x1c0 ^fourport autoconfigure baud_base 115200 -v low_latency setserial /dev/ttyS5 irq 0 port 0x1c8 ^fourport autoconfigure baud_base 115200 -v low_latency The setserial command returns "/dev/ttyS#: No such file or directory" for both devices where # is 4 and 5. Is this because the kernel only support up to 4 serial devices? if this is the case, is CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_NR_UARTS is the variable that I have to change, "CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_NR_UARTS=4" to "CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_NR_UARTS=6" in the grml-small kernel configuration? Thanks a bunch.. Cheers Andri ____________________________________________________________________________________ The fish are biting. Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search Marketing. http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/arp/sponsoredsearch_v2.php

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new member intro and questions.
by Allison Mervis 26 Mai '07

26 Mai '07

Hi all! My name is Allison, and I am totally blind. I understand that grml includes some degree of screen reader support, but here is what I need to be able to do. Right now, I'm using an Acer Laptop running Windows XP home SP2. I would like to burn an image of GRML to a CD, insert it into my drive, restart the computer, and have it boot up talking in Linux. I would like to later restart the computer, and have it boot back up in windows. I don't own a hardware synthesizer, and I've been led to understand that this limits my options somewhat. Is the scenario I've just descried even possible? Thanks! Allison

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Suspend resume bugs
by Mark 26 Mai '07

26 Mai '07

Linus Torvalds : "For example, look at suspend/resume bugs. Do you realize that 99% of them are device driver issues, but how the heck do you connect a "my laptop does't resume" to the _right_ device driver maintainer?" http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/4/28/438 (So USB_CONFIG_SUSPEND may cause issues with hardware devices, which kernel upgrades alone won't fix, only driver upgrades, one per device.)

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2.6.21 IDE change
by Mark 21 Mai '07

21 Mai '07

Is this change in Debian too, or just RedHat? https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2007-April/msg01252.html The 2.6.21 kernel uses new IDE drivers which use the same 'libata' subsystem as the SATA drivers. As a side-effect, IDE devices previously named /dev/hdX will now be named /dev/sdX. This may cause problems with anything that mentions devices by name instead of by filesystem label. Anaconda should be able to detect most of these problems and help you fix them.

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grml-halt on usb disk, for writing on unionfs
by pat 21 Mai '07

21 Mai '07

hi there i have installed grml successfully on my cf card. i'm searching a way how to write my new configurations and files on the disk. i've found a way how to sync an unionfs with the originaly readonly mounted directory... but i'm a bit confused. i don't now how it should look like in the grml debian derivate. here is the original debian wrap script: #!/bin/bash # halt-wrap mount -o remount rw /OLD_ROOT/real_root rsync --delete -abRvz --exclude "/sys" --exclude "/proc" --exclude "/dev" --exclude "/OLD_ROOT" / /OLD_ROOT/real_root/ halt should i copy this script in /usr/sbin or put it in /etc/init.d/ and modifier the /etc/rc.conf ( or something i don't remember anymore... because i'm using the symlinking stuff )??

2 1

kernel to support powertop ?
by gary ng 20 Mai '07

20 Mai '07

Hi, I am wondering if it is possible in newer version that features in the kernel to support powertop be enabled ? ____________________________________________________________________________________Get the free Yahoo! toolbar and rest assured with the added security of spyware protection. http://new.toolbar.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/norton/index.php

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Please test 1.0rc2 usb
by Mark 19 Mai '07

19 Mai '07

Anyone with access to external USB disks should test grml 1.0rc2. At our site USB has worked fine with all previous grmls but rc2 USB seems broken. A bug report #203 has been filed. File your own if you discover problems. Mika's close to a final release. Please perform tests with rc2 if you have time, both of us would appreciate it very much. Mark

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grml 1.0, grml64 0.1 and grml-small 0.4 released
by Michael Prokop 19 Mai '07

19 Mai '07

Hi grml users and developers, grml 1.0 with codename Meilenschwein, grml64 0.1 with codename LiveShell and grml-small 0.4 with codename Springinkerl have been released and are hitting the mirrors. The official release announcements providing all the relevant news are available at: grml 1.0 => http://grml.org/files/README-grml-1.0.php grml64 0.1 => http://grml.org/files/README-grml64-0.1.php grml-small 0.4 => http://grml.org/files/README-grml-small-0.4.php Issues regarding the release can be found in the grml-wiki at http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml_1.0 and http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml64_0.1 and http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=grml-small_0.4 As usual you can get the ISO(s) via bittorrent, http and/or ftp from the mirrors listed at http://grml.org/download/ Have fun and enjoy the new release! As usual feedback your is welcome. 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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rc1
by martin yazdzik 14 Mai '07

14 Mai '07

Dear Mika and friends, What does work for me, ignorant noob that I am? everything, basically - getting a complete gnome desktop is a matter of really knowing deps, but otherwise, cool. All serious issues, drivers, sound, ndiswrapper, xorg config worked otob. note - one can no longer set time or services via gnome apps because gnome is convinced that the distro is not debian 3d accel works with my ancient ati x600 card with ati as driver in xorg, which is fantastic....wow .... note one must install gl dri libs by hand! there is no reason to leave out such a small package, and if the mesa dri were included and the xorg conf for ati drivers set to ati, this would happen by itself. for some reason, one still needs "ide1-noprobe" to get the atapi drivers for a sata dvd drive - I am not sure why this does not happen with feisty or sabayon... the directories to mount the fstab or mtab entries are no longer created automatically - silly this, as that was default behaviour on 0.9, and saved unnecessary typing. the time zone thing is a disaster - after install grml is convinced that the hw clock is set to cest, so booting in and out of it requires a reset of the bios clock.There has to be a way to set this ab initio. Either issue a warning that, before installing, the system should be rebooted and the parameter TZ= set, or better yet, script the questions:' a. is the hw clock set to utc? if no, then b. to what time zone is the clock set. Thus, in my case, no, and America/New_York. Now, if I had remembered to set the parameter at the original boot of the live cd, this probably would not have happened, but that is not something one considers, thus the warning or scripted questions would save a failed install or two. While almost all grml users are in europe, this is a simple matter to remedy. Although hardly necessary, since the distro is not designed to be a consumer desktop, it would be nice if the entire gnome were available somewhere, a la ubuntu. for kde, this is unnecessary, as the versions in either unstable or experimental all match, and most always do. gnome is a mess over two or three versions. There is still no subsitute for runlevel.conf anywhere - this is the best thing anyone has ever invented for the end user. All in all, grml 1 is nigh on perfect. Gratefully, Martin

2 2

GNOME in grml rc1
by Mark 11 Mai '07

11 Mai '07

Martin, Do you use apt-get install gnome-desktop-environment or some other method? Simplicity appeals, but the above command causes problems. Later, apt wants to uninstall the whole gnome-desktop-environment when asked to remove just one tiny piece. I haven't tested grml rc1 yet. Can you elaborate on the GNOME issues you encountered? Thanks, M

3 4

Re: [Grml] Unmet dependencies ?
by Hubert Gabler 10 Mai '07

10 Mai '07

Am Donnerstag, den 10.05.2007, 09:06 -0400 schrieb martin yazdzik: > > What version of grml, and what sources do you have enabled - Hello Martin, I used grml 0.9 and changed sources as you suggested but no effect - same error messages. The problem was solved however after upgrading to grml 1.0 and reistalling grml2hd. Regards, Hubert

1 0

Unmet dependencies ?
by Hubert Gabler 10 Mai '07

10 Mai '07

After installing grml on HD using grml2hd I ran apt-get update and apt-get upgrade. This resulted in a) downloading some 300 MB of data and b) this message: "The following packages have unmet dependencies:" followed by some 20 lines like this: "xserver-xorg: Depends: xserver-xorg-core (>=2:1.3.0.0) but 2:1.1.1.1.-11 is installed" ...... ...... The suggested workaround "try using -f" did not change the situation. How can I install the right dependencies? Hubert

2 1

grml release candidates: grml 1.0-rc1, grml64 0.1-rc1 and grml-small 0.4-rc1
by Michael Prokop 08 Mai '07

08 Mai '07

Hi! I'm proud to be able to present new grml release candidates. New features? Tons of new features! Including a 64bit version of grml. grml 1.0 - release candidate 1 Codename Meilenschwein: http://grml.org/files/README-grml-1.0-rc1.php grml64 0.1 - release candidate 1 Codename LiveShell: http://grml.org/files/README-grml64-0.1-rc1.php grml-small 0.4 - release candidate 1 Codename Springinkerl: http://grml.org/files/README-grml-small-0.4-rc1.php Please consider using bittorrent for downloading the ISOs: http://grml.gwendoline.at/devel/grml_1.0-rc1.iso.torrent http://grml.gwendoline.at/devel/grml64_0.1-rc1.iso.torrent http://grml.gwendoline.at/devel/grml_small_0.4-rc1.iso.torrent If you can't use bittorrent check out the http/ftp URLs (not all available mirrors are in sync yet - but the listed ones are OK): http://grml.org/download/ Known issues can be found at: http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=release_candidate Please report any bug you notice so we can provide stable releases soon! http://grml.org/bugs/ Enjoy grml! 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

1 0

grml bug reporting
by Tong Sun 04 Mai '07

04 Mai '07

> Tong, please don't use the grml-user mailinglist as bug report > medium, please use http://bts.grml.org/grml/ instead. Does submit bugs by email still supported in new BTS? As you have noticed, I was using the old grml bug reporting way, sending to: submit(a)bugs.grml.org and only Cc: grml(a)mur.at I hope when the new BTS is fully setup, I can still submit bugs by email while cc grml-user mailinglist. The reason is that, I only use this email address for tons of mailinglists that I'm on, and will not check this email (personally), but via corresponding gmane news. If you need further clarrification of the bug, normally I won't get it. Now things is different because my own confort system has not setup yet, and have to rely on yahoo email... Further, cc grml-user mailinglist might stur up some disscusion from other grml users. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

3 2

The bootfrom=xxx.iso doesn't work
by Tong Sun 03 Mai '07

03 Mai '07

Package: grml Version: 0.9-stable2 Severity: important Hi, I found that the bootfrom=xxx.iso cheatcode does not work as expected. I notice the following grub boot menu, title GRML 0.9 from .ISO on sda2 root (hd0,2) kernel /boot.grml/isolinux/linux26 welcome noeject noprompt ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off vga=791 nomce bootfrom=/dev/sda2/Grml/grml_0.9.iso initrd /boot.grml/isolinux/minirt26.gz savedefault boot only works as long as my USB key was plugged in. If not, it won't work. Having Looked into the issue, I realized that, grml search for grml image in all patitions first before doing the bootfrom= cheatcode. When my USB key is plugged in, it can continue on, mounting the .iso as root the second time, though it report missing /lib/.../modeprobe.dep beforehand. When my USB key is not plugged in, i.e., the image scan doesn't find anything, grml will panic before doing the bootfrom=xxx.iso. Test environment: grml 0.9 -- System Information: Debian Release: 4.0 Architecture: i386 (i686) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /UNIONFS/bin/bash Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-grml Locale: LANG=en_US.iso885915, LC_CTYPE=en_US.iso885915 (charmap=ISO-8859-15) Versions of packages grml depends on: ii grml-autoconfig 0.6-8 main bootup process of a grml syst ii grml-docs 0.9-5 documentation for grml (grml.org) ii grml-etc 0.9-4 ecetera files for the grml system ii grml-files 0.9-1 some misc files for grml ii grml-hwinfo 0.3-2 collect hardware information ii grml-scripts 0.9.5 some small scripts which should ma ii grml-tips 0.3-14 search for tips and hints via a ke grml recommends no packages. -- no debconf information __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

2 1

The misbehaving emacs spell check language setting
by Tong Sun 03 Mai '07

03 Mai '07

Package: emacs Version: 21.4a+1-2 Severity: important I boot grml with 'lang=us', and I get the following as my locale: LANG=en_US.iso885915, LC_CTYPE=en_US.iso885915 (charmap=ISO-8859-15) Yet, when I enable flyspell-mode, I get: Loading flyspell...done (Next local Ispell command will use german-new8 dictionary) [2 times] I.e., the spell check language is german, instead of en_US. Test environment: grml 0.9 -- System Information: Debian Release: 4.0 Architecture: i386 (i686) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /UNIONFS/bin/bash Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-grml Locale: LANG=en_US.iso885915, LC_CTYPE=en_US.iso885915 (charmap=ISO-8859-15) Versions of packages emacs depends on: ii emacs21 21.4a+1-2 The GNU Emacs editor emacs recommends no packages. -- no debconf information __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

2 1

config.d & scripts.d cheatcodes
by Tong Sun 03 Mai '07

03 Mai '07

Hi mika, I'm going to implement the config.d & scripts.d functionality in /cdrom/scripts/grml.sh for now. I'm thinking, to make it easy for you to adopt my code into future grml, please write a skeloton code for me, especially, how you'd like to name variable and functions. I'll implement the details, test them, and sent them back to you. PS. The doc is not clear where exactly should the script be put, is it under /scripts/ or /cdrom/scripts/ on the disk (CD/USB)? Ref: From: Michael Prokop <mika <at> grml.org> Subject: Re: Re: [grml-bugs] bug#25: Wish lists for enhancing the grml configuration system Newsgroups: gmane.linux.distributions.grml.user Date: 2007-04-23 12:28:26 GMT > >> - Boot-Options config.d, i.e., please define a grml configuration > >> directory. On booting all the .tbz files from within the defined > >> directory or from the config.d option, will be restored, in the > >> order by their names. > > You mean like the config bootoption which does: > > | restore configuration using file config.tbz from directory /cdrom/config/ > > (see http://grml.org/config/grml-config.html for more details) but > > not only use *one* config.tbz but *all* the available tbz files from > > the directory? > > So it would become: > > | config.d => restore all tbz. files from directory /cdrom/config.d/ > > That's what you want? > Exactly! restore them in the order of their names. Ok. > >> The save-config generated configuration, the plain bzip2 > >> compressed tar archives is a good thing. But I don't like the fact > >> that all related or unrelated files are all stuffed into this same > >> file. I hope that I can group related files into different .tbz > >> files. It is much more easy to manage than a single file. > > You can name your config.tbz like you want (even when generating it > > with save-config), see the config=config_foobar.tbz stuff at > > http://grml.org/config/grml-config.html > > AFAICS all that has to be done for this feature is the config.d > > stuff, right? > Exactly. Ok. I'll add the above stuff to our TODO list and will work on it post grml 1.0. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

2 1

The fromhd cheatcode does not work for NTFS partitions
by Tong Sun 03 Mai '07

03 Mai '07

Package: grml Version: 0.9-stable2 Severity: important Hi, I found that the fromhd cheatcode does not work for NTFS partitions. Of the following grub boot menu, title GRML 0.9 root (hd0,2) kernel /boot.grml/isolinux/linux26 welcome noeject noprompt ramdisk_size=1000 00 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off vga=791\ nomce fromhd=/dev/sda2 initrd /boot.grml/isolinux/minirt26.gz savedefault boot the fromhd=/dev/sda2 won't work -- can't find grml image, while the fromhd=/dev/sda8 works fine. Both /dev/sda2 & /dev/sda8 have identical /GRML root directory. The only difference is that my sda2 is NTFS and sda8 is FAT. Test environment: grml 0.9. -- System Information: Debian Release: 4.0 Architecture: i386 (i686) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /UNIONFS/bin/bash Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-grml Locale: LANG=en_US.iso885915, LC_CTYPE=en_US.iso885915 (charmap=ISO-8859-15) Versions of packages grml depends on: ii grml-autoconfig 0.6-8 main bootup process of a grml syst ii grml-docs 0.9-5 documentation for grml (grml.org) ii grml-etc 0.9-4 ecetera files for the grml system ii grml-files 0.9-1 some misc files for grml ii grml-hwinfo 0.3-2 collect hardware information ii grml-scripts 0.9.5 some small scripts which should ma ii grml-tips 0.3-14 search for tips and hints via a ke grml recommends no packages. -- no debconf information __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

2 1

Boot grml iso using grml-small
by Tong Sun 02 Mai '07

02 Mai '07

Re: The bootfrom=xxx.iso doesn't work --- Tong wrote: > I found that the bootfrom=xxx.iso cheatcode does not work as expected. > > I notice the following grub boot menu, > > title GRML 0.9 from .ISO on sda2 > root (hd0,2) > kernel /boot.grml/isolinux/linux26 welcome noeject noprompt > ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off vga=791 nomce > bootfrom=/dev/sda2/Grml/grml_0.9.iso > initrd /boot.grml/isolinux/minirt26.gz > savedefault > boot > > only works as long as my USB key was plugged in. If not, it won't work. Using the equvalient syslinux.cfg entry, I was able to boot grml iso from HD using grml-small from USB, but there is a problem, > Having Looked into the issue, I realized that, > > grml search for grml image in all patitions first before doing the bootfrom= > cheatcode. When my USB key is plugged in, it can continue on, mounting the > .iso > as root the second time, though it report missing /lib/.../modeprobe.dep > beforehand. The problem may related to this (unable to load modules). Thy symptom is that the ifconfig -a only shows lo device, not eth0. If I specified 'ifup eth0', the respond was no such device or similar. Duplicated the result each time when tested. Booting grml-small or grml directly won't have such problem. eth0 works fine. Test environment: grml 0.9/grml-small 0.3 tong __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

1 0

NTOP not working -- segfault
by Peter Eberl 01 Mai '07

01 Mai '07

OK, just want to let you know: the current grml setting (0.9) + related libraries draw a bogus ntop version. when you try to run it, you receive a segfault :-( OK, that was my approach for a fast and easy network monitoring ..... anyone an idea on how I can fix pretty fast this "bogus" ntop version and get back a working one? regards peb

2 1

[OT] Setup grml sshd
by Tong Sun 01 Mai '07

01 Mai '07

Hi, I'm trying to setup grml to accept my remote ssh login. No problem with that, but I'm facing a configuration problem: How to allow the sshd to verify ssh1 signature before verifying ssh2's, just like what sourceforge.net is doing? I've done the following changes to /etc/ssh/sshd_config: $ diff1 /etc/ssh/sshd_config~ /etc/ssh/sshd_config @@ -8,3 +8,3 @@ Port 22 -Protocol 2,1 +Protocol 1,2 #ListenAddress 0.0.0.0 but that didn't work [1]. Please help. thanks a lot. Tong [1] Correct log to ssh into sourceforge.net: debug1: ssh_rsa_verify: signature correct [...] debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password debug1: Next authentication method: publickey debug1: Offering public key: /home/dsl/.ssh/id_rsa debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg ssh-rsa blen 149 My own sshd server: debug1: ssh_rsa_verify: signature correct [...] debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password,keyboard-interactive debug1: Next authentication method: publickey debug1: Offering public key: /home/dsl/.ssh/id_rsa debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password,keyboard-interactive __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

1 0

Re: Boot grml-small 0.3 from usb-stick
by Tong Sun 01 Mai '07

01 Mai '07

> > Missing parameter in syslinux.cfg. > > > after hitting enter after boot: > > > I got: > > > Could not find kernel image: grml > > Looks like syslinux.cfg contains keywords which your syslinux > version does not like. Yes, that was exactly the reason. The syslinux that I used was too old for grml. Problem solved after using the right version. > > * Get the grml iso (and verifed the md5sum) > > * Mount the iso loopback (e.g. mount -o loop > [...] > > JFYI: grml2usb automates all those steps for you. ;) Hmm, would grml2usb still works running from USB? it was meant to run from CD originally I believe, just checking. thanks __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

2 1

Wish lists for enhancing the grml configuration system
by Tong Sun 28 Apr '07

28 Apr '07

Package: restore-config Severity: wishlist Hi, Mika: First of all, thanks for your hard works that releases grml 0.9-7, and grml-small 0.3-2 recently. I hope the following minor enhancements to the grml configuration system can make into the 1.0 release. - support reading configuration files from NTFS partitions. Don't know if it already possible, just list it here first. - myconfig=scan. I know by default the booting process tries to mount a device labeled GRMLCFG, and do configuration from there. The problem is that, in nowadays window$ world, the cooperate policy will most often prevent me from change my own disk label. You won't believe it, nowadays window$ world is so dummy-proof that in many places I can't even change my window$ desktop settings. So I need another automatic way to specify the grml configuration device. - Boot-Options config.d, i.e., please define a grml configuration directory. On booting all the .tbz files from within the defined directory or from the config.d option, will be restored, in the order by their names. The save-config generated configuration, the plain bzip2 compressed tar archives is a good thing. But I don't like the fact that all related or unrelated files are all stuffed into this same file. I hope that I can group related files into different .tbz files. It is much more easy to manage than a single file. - Boot-Options scripts.d, same concept as config.d, for scripts. - persistentroot. I don't know how comfortable you are about the union fs now, but I still think that a partition or a loopback device as a persistent root, i.e., not only persistent home, is a good idea. To tell the truth, ever since installing grml 0.7 onto my HD, I didn't use/test the new grml iso files any more. Because I've put so much time & effort configuring the installed grml, that I don't want to waste my time again for a new iso versions. With persistentroot, the journey migrating to newer versions of grml can be a bit smoother. Moreover, having a persistentroot can put the automatic installation of debian packages (from directory named debs) into real use, because I think the amount of debian packages that can be automatic installed is limited by ram space. These are all small changes that will have big impacts. Much more flexibilities can be achieved by doing so. Thanks Tong -- System Information: Debian Release: 4.0 APT prefers unstable APT policy: (50, 'unstable'), (30, 'stable') Architecture: i386 (i686) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash Kernel: Linux 2.6.17-grml Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)

3 8

Boot grml-small 0.3 from usb-stick
by Tong Sun 27 Apr '07

27 Apr '07

Hi, Is there anything special to boot grml-small 0.3 from usb-stick, other than what is said in the wiki. I followed the wiki, http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb ie, * Get the grml iso (and verifed the md5sum) * Mount the iso loopback (e.g. mount -o loop grml_0.4.iso /mnt/grml-iso) * Make FAT16 filesystem on the usbstick (e.g. mkfs.vfat -F 16 -v /dev/sda1) * Mount the usbstick (e.g. mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/external1) * Copy everything to the usbstick (e.g. cp -a /mnt/grml-iso/* /mnt/external1) * Move all files from /mnt/external1/boot/isolinux/ to root of usb-stick (mv /mnt/external1/boot/isolinux/* /mnt/external1) * Umount the usbstick and the grml-iso * Run syslinux on the usbstick (e.g. syslinux /dev/sda1) * Check if the usbstick has an valid mbr, else dd if=mbr.bin of=/dev/sda bs=304 count=1 (mbr.bin is in the syslinux package) However, when I boot my usb, I got: Many lines saying: Unknown keyword in syslinux.cfg. And the last line is: Missing parameter in syslinux.cfg. after hitting enter after boot: I got: Could not find kernel image: grml Please help. thanks __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

2 1

JFYI: apt-get upgrade: grml-scripts <-> xserver-xorg-core
by Michael Prokop 24 Apr '07

24 Apr '07

Hi, Preface ======= I noticed that several users are still using the old, deprecated grml-repository (http://grml.org/repos/) instead of the new one (http://deb.grml.org/). Please check whether you are using http://deb.grml.org/ already - if not adjust your sources.list according to the documentation on http://deb.grml.org/ Problem ======= If you stumble upon the following problem: ,---- [ upgrade-log ] | Preparing to replace xserver-xorg-core 2:1.1.1-21 (using .../xserver-xorg-core_2%3a1.3.0.0.dfsg-2_i386.deb) ... | Unpacking replacement xserver-xorg-core ... | dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/xserver-xorg-core_2%3a1.3.0.0.dfsg-2_i386.deb (--unpack): | trying to overwrite `/usr/share/man/man1/gtf.1.gz', which is also in package grml-scripts | dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe) | Errors were encountered while processing: | /var/cache/apt/archives/xserver-xorg-core_2%3a1.3.0.0.dfsg-2_i386.deb | E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) `---- then please read on for details: Reason ====== Starting with version 2:1.2.99.905-2 the xserver-xorg-core package ships an utility named gtf which was part of grml-scripts already. The grml-scripts package does not ship the binary any longer of course, but installation of new xserver-xorg-core package fails if the grml-scripts package is not yet up2date. Solution ======== Just upgrade the grml-scripts package before upgrading the xserver-xorg-core package. Just execute: # apt-get update # apt-get install grml-scripts # apt-get upgrade [...] or the faster version using the zsh aliases of grml ;) -> # au ; agi grml-scripts ; ag JFYI && 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

1 0

Wish grml scripts honor/use debconf method
by Tong Sun 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Package: mkpersistenthome Severity: wishlist Hi, Mika: Is it possible for grml scripts to use the debconf's method to interact with the user? I mean, debconf allows us to define the frontend that we feel most comfortable to use, be it readline, dialog or xdialog, etc. Seems currently all grml scripts uses dialog. It looks nice, but I have to say I really hate dialog. I prefer readline, nice and simple. And most importantly, it leave a clear trace of what questions were asked and what choice/answers I've made. Just hoping that all grml scripts can interact with the user using their most preferred way. Thanks Tong -- System Information: Debian Release: 4.0 APT prefers unstable APT policy: (50, 'unstable'), (30, 'stable') Architecture: i386 (i686) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash Kernel: Linux 2.6.17-grml Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)

3 2

Chat o.ä von einem Rechner zum anderen im LAN
by Andreas Kalex 13 Apr '07

13 Apr '07

Hallo, wie kann ich in einem einfachen Netz (192.168.0.x) am einfachsten von einem Rechner zu einem anderen chatten bzw. Nachrichten senden/empfangen. Z.B wenn man jmd. anweisen möchte welche Tasten, Menus etc er aufrufen soll. Benötige ich einen chat-server oder irc-server? -- Gruss Andreas

3 3

JFYI: Debian Etch released - consequences for grml hd-installation
by Michael Prokop 08 Apr '07

08 Apr '07

Hi, as you might have noticed Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (AKA Etch) has been released (http://www.us.debian.org/News/2007/20070408) today. What does this mean for grml? As grml is based on Debian/unstable and stuff has been delayed (either uploaded to experimental or not uploaded at all yet) the unstable pool *might* become less stable than it was within the last months/years. So if you are one of the "I update my box(es) once every few month" users it's probably a good idea to do this right now (or within the next few days). If you do not want or can't upgrade in those days please make sure you at least use stuff like apt-listchanges + apt-listbugs on your system (shipped and enabled by default on grml) when upgrading your system. (Of course using apt-listchanges + apt-listbugs can/should be used all the time, but when upgrading in the next few weeks you should be aware of possible implications more than usual. ;-)) BTW: grml-debootstrap supported Etch as target since I wrote it ;) and of course will continue to do so. Reminder: the grml-user survey is running until 15th of april. If you did not take part in it yet please contribute and help improving grml! => http://grml.org/user-survey/grml.txt JFYI && 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

1 0

version-.h and characters
by martin yazdzik 06 Apr '07

06 Apr '07

cat: /lib/modules/2.6.18-grml/build/include/linux/version-*.h: No such file or directory make.sh: line 525: [: =: unary operator expected cleaning... patching 'highmem.h'... assuming new VMA API since we do have kernel 2.6.x... Assuming default VMAP API Assuming default munmap API doing Makefile based build for kernel 2.6.x and higher Makefile:51: *** mixed implicit and normal rules. Stop. build failed with return value 2 Dear Friends, I know the "mixed..." means there is either a space or missing something, such as & or $ but how can I fix this.... why is there no version.h - I also forgot how to fix this, and used to know... old age is not fun. best to all, m

2 4

booting from external disk
by August C. Quint 04 Apr '07

04 Apr '07

Hi, sorry for the delay but I had some work to do. I've played a bit around and made the following observations: - booting from external hard-disk does not work as described before - boot Windows XP I can boot Windows XP (included with the notebook) from the internal disk, connect the external disk with grml on it via USB and then tell Windows to reboot: voila, it works, after some time I can login. - boot grml from CD I can boot grml from the CD, connect the external disk via USB, login to grml and enter reboot. After removing the CD the system reboots from the external disk - boot Knoppix from CD I can boot Knoppix from the CD, connect the external disk via USB, and tell Knoppix to reboot. After removing the CD the system now boots grml from the external hard-disk. OK, for me this looks like a problem with the notebook. I will contact Medion but I guess they will not be able to answer my questions. Or is there any way to 'work around' this problem? Thanks AugustQ

1 0

How to disable the SMP support in GRML
by Keith Hinton 27 Mär '07

27 Mär '07

I am trying to have a friend of mine with software speech on GRML have SMP shut off on his system. Why is this? Speechd-up and Speech-Dispatcher, have some issues with the threading support in SMP or something, that makes them crash at random, (and only when SMP) is used in the kernel. This bug has existed for a long time, and only some machines are effected while other similar dual-core processers are not. So far, we have tryed the following ordering of options: grml nosmp swspeak, grml swspeak nosmp, swspeak nosmp (without GRML) nosmp swspeak (Again without typing grml first) His box seems to boot fine if you only pass "GRML sswspeak" to it, but if he uses nosmp, the machine seems to freze at the loading of theLinux kernel. Is that chete code broken on GRML0.8 (The version being used)? Have there been any spisific issues that anyone has had with grml and the nosmp option? I could manually shut off SMP support in GRML's kernel, grab the kernel sources, disable SMP, try to figure out how to define "Broken_on_SMP=yes, or whatever, (wich would work fine) But I really do not wish to begin manually compiling the kernel. I can, you understand. But I find it an annoyance to have to spend time downloading the sources for 2.6.17-grml, turning off SMP support, (I am not eaven sure) if the kernel could be recompiled from the CD. Would that work, Mika? Or, would I, (most likely) encounter kernel compilation errors because the CD is being used. Would there eaven be enough space in the LiveCD environment (what get's loaded onto the system) to eaven extract the deb file? Or, would I encounter an error? Probably, I would. That is just my idea on that. Could anyone send me an email about these questions? I have asked multiple questions today, and need more then one answer. I know this started out as an "NoSMP" issue, but I need to also get my questions about the recompilation of the kernel in LivecCD mode being possible or not. I was going to have my friend do the following: rsync to get the deb file from my Gentoo Linux server, then do the following: DPKG -I linux-source-2.6.17-grml_grml.06_all.deb Then, assuming that worked, cd /usr/src/linux cp /boot/config-2.6.17-grml .config make oldconfig && make menuconfig Then finally: make && make modules_install Once the kernel is recompiled, coppy the changed config file back to the /boot folder, erase the deb file, install GRML to the hard-drive, and reboot. This would be better Mika then me making a deb file already, I'd just use the kernel sources long enough to recompile everything. What I am afraid of is that my wonderful idea will fail because I'll be trying to do all this on a running LiveCD. Could you kindly please try to get back to me with any information on the questions about nosmp and kernel compilation, CD-space (when the environment has been uncompressed from squashfs) into memory, etc? Regards, --Keith, KeithNet Network Administrator. Website http://www.KeithNet.DynDNS.0org (If you do not wish to try typing that out) then visit it at: http://www.KeithNet.HomeLinux.com Please feel free to comment in english to me off list, as I rote this by hand. (Is the site accessible with a non WIndows browser?) Can it be visited fine under other systems like Windows? Does the site look visually organized?

1 0

error when using aptitude for upgrade
by Andreas Kalex 26 Mär '07

26 Mär '07

Hi, since 2 days I get an error when upgrading packages via aptitude Reading package fields... Done Reading package status... Done Retrieving bug reports... 0% Error retrieving bug reports Retry downloading bug information?[Y/n]? Answering yes will not work. What/Where is the problem? Andreas

2 1

GRML boot logo.16
by Ing. Diego Cueva 23 Mär '07

23 Mär '07

2 1

Re: booting from external disk
by August C. Quint 23 Mär '07

23 Mär '07

Hi, and thanks Michael for your reply. >> Maybe using Grub instead is worth a try. I think we should first try to solve problem #2. >> Sorry no idea yet. Can you please provide me a screenshot of the >> booting process where it hangs? Sorry, I don't know how to make a screenshot in this stage of booting. And I don't have a digital camera (yet). So I try to write down the lines visible: the last lines before the problem happesn are related to raidx, so here it goes: Success: loaded module raid456 Success: loaded module raid5 Success: loaded module raid6 Modprobe: FATAL: Module raid10 not found Done. Begin: Assemblying all MD arrays ... Now I get 6x the lines: usb 2-2: reset high speed USB device running ehci_hcd and address 2 followed by sd: 0:0:0:0: SCSI error: return code = 0x00050000 And this will continue. It looks like it accessed the disk successfully but it tries to access the single disk as a raid-disk in this stage (but I'm no expert here). What can I do? Which information do you need? >> Oh, and you might want to try to use root=UUID=... instead of >> root=/dev/sd[a-z]... so you can make sure your system uses the >> correct device for booting. where do I have to put these modifications (I'm no expert here) ? I guess: I can use Knoppix to boot the machine and look for the file lio.conf (or so) on this external harddisk. Right? AugustQ

2 1

booting from external disk
by August C. Quint 22 Mär '07

22 Mär '07

Hi, I'm looing for a Linux-system that can boot from an USB-hard-disk. Via a Google I found Grml. But I have some problems with this. So please allow me to describe the system, the problems etc. My system: Aldi offered a notebook in may 2006 and I bought one. This is my system, if you need more information about it let me know. What I did: I downloaded the grml.iso-file via grml.gwendoline.at, burned a Cd and started the notebook: works, fine. I added my external hard-disk via USB ( I removed the internal hard-disk for safety, I want to keep the installed XP) and installed the software via grml2hd: works, fine. For a test I stopped the machine, removed the CD and started it again. In the BIOS I've checked 'boot from USB-device' already and voila: it worked. The next day I wanted to do this again: problems. So please allow me to describe my problems. problem #1: the inital screen comes up with the 3 choices. By doing nothing the choice 'grml' was started. Next was a scrren with the text: loading 2.6.18-grml, followed by approx. 180 dots (takes 10 minutes or so). What's this? At the end of this a message was displayed: BIOS data check succesfull (or something similar). Now we come to the booting-process. This works, a lot of lines are running on the screen. But we come to problem #2: a message appears: usb 2-2: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2 This will be repeated multiple times, some other messages are appearing and these messages appear over and over again. One of the messages between is: SCSI-error, return-code = 0x00050000 What's this? Can you please give me a hint. Thanks. AugustQ PS: on my desktop-machine I can easily switch operating system by removing the hard-disk (power off). I'm looking for a similar solution for my notebook. Opening a bay and swapping the disk is possible but I don't want it this way.

2 1

chroot again
by martin yazdzik 21 Mär '07

21 Mär '07

Dear M and friends, Just for information, and please realise I am not complaining: root@grmllap1 ~ # chroot /mnt/sda4 root@grmllap1 / # apt-get update Err http://www.debian-multimedia.org sid Release.gpg Could not resolve 'www.debian-multimedia.org' Err http://ftp.de.debian.org stable Release.gpg Could not resolve 'ftp.de.debian.org' Note that, when my experimental partition(/mnt/sda4) is plain old debian, I do the same thing and can do all package management or upgrades, install drives, and so on, from my working workhorse grml install, but, as now, when the /mnt/sda4 is a grml install, something stops me from using my internet connexion to fetch things. I think it may be a bind issue, or not? At any rate, this means I cannot work on one OS while in the other, which is silly. It obviously has nothing to do with the working grml, because every other one day install, zb, debian, SuSE, Sabayon, lets me use my running connexion to work. All other chrooted commands work, as long as, obviously, they are not x server dependent. Best, martin

3 3

time
by coscell＠mail.batol.net 19 Mär '07

19 Mär '07

Hello, After reboot, the system time is always incorrect. How to adjust it? Thank you!

4 6

Third question
by coscell＠mail.batol.net 15 Mär '07

15 Mär '07

Hello, After startx, the screen disappeared (all black). Why and how to fix it? Thank you! Coscell

2 1

Second question
by coscell＠mail.batol.net 15 Mär '07

15 Mär '07

Hello, After installed gnome-desktop-environment, my computer booted direct into gui. How can I still boot at text mode? Thank you! Coscell

2 2

First question
by coscell＠mail.batol.net 15 Mär '07

15 Mär '07

Hello I'm a new user of grml. I've installed grml into hard disk. First question is: How to set sound volume? Thank you! Coscell

2 1

grml2hd with a preexisting partition
by cmbrannon＠cox.net 11 Mär '07

11 Mär '07

Hi list, I just discovered Grml recently. I want to install it on my laptop's hard drive, using grml2hd. The laptop already runs Slackware 11.0. I chose a really lousy partitioning scheme when I installed Slackware: /dev/hda1, /boot, approx 40Mb /dev/hda2, swap, approx 512 Mb /dev/hda3, /, the remaining 19.5 Gb I don't want to get rid of /home when I install Grml, because it holds several gigabytes of assorted files. Is it possible to make grml2hd install to /dev/hda3 without destroying /home? PS, this is a good argument for having separate / and /home partitions; wish I had done that on the laptop! -- Chris

3 3

time zone configuration, minor problem.
by Doug Smith 09 Mär '07

09 Mär '07

Ok, I am sorry I am writing about this again. However, here's whyu. I pulled in my mail today, and I had 104 messages, most of them absolute and total first order junk. Well, mailfilter to the rescue, and, as far as I know now, I am getting only the messages I want. Well, I need to know how to solve this: I have runb tzconfig as root, and set the time zone to the proper us-eastern. Tzconfig says, on repeated runs that this is what I am set to. However, I still, when running date, get results in CET. My TZ invironmental variable didn't change when I ran the configuration program. Shœuld I just change this variable's value, then run ntpdate on the time server? Thanks. -- Doug Smith: C.S.F.C. Computer Scientist For CHRIST

2 1

minor problem with time zone configuration
by Doug Smith 08 Mär '07

08 Mär '07

--n Tine. I need to correct this before the change to daylight saving time here in the Eastern Us on Saturday night. What do I still need to change. Should I reconfigure locales or what? Thanks. Doug Smith: C.S.F.C. Computer Scientist For CHRIST

2 1

grml2hd: more files not found (was initrd.img not found)
by Hubert Gabler 07 Mär '07

07 Mär '07

Thank you for the hint (initrd), it works now! Another problem occured, here is the genesis: boot greml on hd user: hubert startx working on the graphical destop - ok exit Now, on the console again, I find a dozen error messages like this: Can't load /home/grml/.idesktop/icons/xxxx.png bailing --aterm (or--amix or ... --xterm) Check to see if the image and path to image is valid What can I do to make grml find the directory containig the *.png files? Thank you! hubert

2 4

grml2hd: initrd.img not found
by Hubert Gabler 06 Mär '07

06 Mär '07

I installed grml 0.9 on a free partition and copied the essential lines from grml /boot/grub/menu.lst to my standard menu.lst. It reads now: title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-3-486 root (hd0,2) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-486 root=/dev/sda3 vga=792 ro initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-3-486 savedefault title 2.6.18-grml root (hd1,3) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-grml root=/dev/hdd4 vga=0x0317 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-grml savedefault # boot title Windows XP Home root (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1 Booting grml does not work because the system cannot find initrd.img-2.6.18-grml. In fact it does not exist in grml's boot file. Where does it hide ?? (I tried to use initrd.img -2.6.18-3-486, grml starts but I get a lot of error messages) Please give me a hint! Hubert

3 4

Re: [Grml] Grub on USB Stick
by Patrick 26 Feb '07

26 Feb '07

Hi Mika On Fri, 2007-02-23 at 21:18 +0100, Michael Prokop wrote: > * Patrick <patritsch(a)gmx.ch> [20070223 17:15]: > > > I'm trying to boot from my USB-Stick. I have an CF-USB adapter 512MB and > > a 4GB Stick. Both have the same problem. After an grml2usb my > > Genode-System won't boot. So I mad it with Grub. > > What does "won't boot" mean? Your box(es) can't boot using > isolinux/syslinux but grub works? Exectly. Syslinux doesn't work. And grub is doing the job.. My laptop have also problems with syslinux... but that's an other story. > Try dropping the 'root (hd0,0)' line and the root=/dev/sda1 > kernel-option of the 'Grml minitrd' section in your menu.lst, AFAICS > your system tries to boot from /dev/sda1 currently. :) Sorry, I don't understand that. Should I remove the 'root (hd0,0)' section and the 'root=/dev/sda1' ?? How should this look like?? Sorry, everything that I emagine, couldn't work. Thanx Pat

2 2

grml2hd / 0.9-3
by Tube 26 Feb '07

26 Feb '07

hi mikap, i miss the option to select the swap partition when installing grml to harddisk. when there is a preformatted swap partition then the auto-fstab-mechanism will surely detect that but when there is not, you have to mkswap manually afterwards. that is a little bit uncomfortable. cheers tube

2 1

virtual x windows server, possible or not?
by Doug Smith 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

This is a really strange question, but I feel that it must be answered, either in the positive or negative in order that I might know if I will be able to continue to compute for the forseeable future. What is the possibility of building a kind of x windows server that is really not a window system at all? What I mean is this: For the past 21 years, as of August 18, 2006, I have used computers, and have done so successfully. I have done it all with text-only systems, on which I have been able to run any program that I have wanted to run. Now, we have a problem, and I mean a big one. It is called the graphical user interface. I do not mean to put anyone down, or show disrespect, for the ways in which other people choose to use computers. What I need is a way to make the programs written for the graphical user interface work on the console so that I will not have to make that change in the future to an interface which I really do not like. Is it possible to take those programs and make them work as I want them to, without losing anymore of their functionality, than the graphical part? For example, a javascript-enabled browser such as mozilla or firefox should be able to render its output as text, while still able to perform all of its functionality with the exception of that which directly involves images. Is this possible? What if I want to use an office application, or some kind of video-intensive program, but I only need the messages and other text stuff they put out? What I am asking is this: Since the x-windows libraries, support applications, and other components are on grml, is it possible to use these to make a kind of virtual x server that will render things on the console so that I can continue to use speakup? Speakup is the best speech interface I have used in all the time I have been using computers, and I like it. If there are any takers on the list, that is, sighted people who want to work with me so that we can get this project going, please feel free to contact me. Most sincerely: -- I use grml (http://grml.org/)

3 2

problem with swspeak on amd 64 X 2 dual core.
by Doug Smith 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

Ok, here we go again. I have a question to ask you before my wife buys me a new system. She told me that she would get me a new AMD 64 X 2 dual core, and that I can get it in any configuration I want. Of course, I want the media center edition with the radio/tv tuner card, the a/v in and out, and the big drive and boat-loads of memory, but I need to ask you about this: Ok, when I go into any store, this has happened two times in the last couple or three weeks. When I put the disk into the drive on one of the display models and start it back up, right there, in front of everyone in the store, and I am supposed to know what to do with a computer, the swspeak fails. Here's what happens, to the best of my understanding. First of all, my wife along with the store employee are watching to see if the thing will work. Neither of them knows jack swish about a talking computer. Well, everything, as far as the hardware is detected, and it tells me to just run swspeak when the boot sequence is finished, though I never hear this. Well, I just run swspeak when everything is finished. I get a message about having "failed to write 128 samples." Does this have to do with the kind of on-board sound hardware on the machine, or not?:"Should I have this disabled in the bios when I buy the machine, and just put my soundblaster live ls in it or what? Should I run a sound configuration program in GRML to detect this new sound hardware? I just want to know. I hope that there is nothing totally fatal in the system that makes GRML not boot on one of these machines. I really like GRML and plan to use it. Should I not get a system like this, or is there sopme simple fix? Thank you very much. -- I use grml (http://grml.org/)

1 0

Grub on USB Stick
by Patrick 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

Hi Together I'm trying to boot from my USB-Stick. I have an CF-USB adapter 512MB and a 4GB Stick. Both have the same problem. After an grml2usb my Genode-System won't boot. So I mad it with Grub. My /boot/grub/menue.lst: title Grml minirt root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinu root=/dev/sda1 ro acpi=off ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us usb apm=power-off vga=791 nomce BOOT_IMAGE=grml initrd /boot/minirt.img boot I had to make an initrd.img and I made it like wirtten in the wiki: #update-initramfs -u -t -k $(uname -r) I got: Could not stat the resume device file.... /scripts/init-bottom |no such file or directory /root/sys |no such file or directory /proc |no such file or directory so I tried it again with the original minirt26.gz. after a #gzip -d minirt26.gz and renamed as minirt26.img i can boot with grub but I got now only: Could not stat the resume device file.... /scripts/local-bottom |done Begin: Running /scripts/init-bottom... mount: Mounting /root/dev on /dev/.static/dev faild: No such file or directory

2 1

Pondering a mid-size grml...
by Juergen Fiedler 20 Feb '07

20 Feb '07

Wouldn't it be nice to have a grml that would fit on an 8cm CD? I'm playing around with adding things to grml_small (being that stipping the big one down seems rather intimidating), but having an official release in the 200M size range would be even nicer. I'm envisioning something that still has the man pages and some basic X tools. The big hurdle for me right now are actually the man pages, being that reinstalling everything just to get the accompanying man pages is a pretty big project - but then again, remastering a Live CD is pretty much supposed to be big. Is there any chance of there being an official release somewhere between grml_small and grml (regular)? Even just a version of small without stuff being stripped post install would be a mightily cool thing. Thanks for a cool distribution :) --j

2 2

Why does the speech system like to spell instead of read words?
by Doug Smith 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Hello, once more, and probably for the last time for a while. I know I am really bothering people on here, so I will leave it alone after this one. I have to use the speech on here so I have to make sure that it is really working well. It is except for one minor thing. How do I keep the speech system from jumkping into this strange mode where it likes to spell everything letter by letter, and, rather slowly, at that, rather than just read the words. Is there a way to correct this? I will get it done. Thank you. -- I use grml (http://grml.org/)

3 2

remastering a live cd, Can someone explain it to me?
by Doug Smith 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

I knownow this is a real strange one. I am, however, feeling more and more comfortable on this list, and I thought it might be possible to understand something that I have wondered about for a couple of years. What I want to know is how do you actually make a live cd? What I mean is this, and I will explain what I mean in more detail. Ok, starting from a running grml system on your development machine, all the programs are on there, the bugs are out, to the best of your knowledge, and you are ready to make a new release. What is done to get from that to the iso file system with its large compressed file system, and the other files that are with it. I know how to make an iso-9660 file system, at least, well enough to make a cd, but how do you make the thing bootable? How does the technology work that is used to compress the software and documentation down? How does the thing know which parts of this large file to use when accessing programs? Why I wonder this is, I like to add in a few packages that I use. I would like to have my own disk with config files, new packages and more so that I can just set up on any machine and rock and roll. If you don't have the time to explain this to me in full detail, do you know of a good reference where I can just read about it and get all the detæils? I really appreciate this, because the person who tried to explain this to me before, didn't put on a lievl where I could understand it. I am sorry to come on here with such strange questions, but I hope there is a simply-understood answer for this one. Thank you. -- I use grml (http://grml.org/)

4 3

txt2tags
by Mark 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

http://txt2tags.sourceforge.net/docs.html definitely a text tool..related, http://txt2tags.wordpress.com/2007/02/03/wixi-a-desktop-wiki-powered-by-txt…

1 0

vim, grml 0.9 on hd - strange characters after using backspace
by Frank Eisenblaetter 12 Feb '07

12 Feb '07

I have a strange problem with vim. When I use backspace to delete some characters while I am in instering mode, there appear blanks or other characters which I definitely not typed. example: [a], [backspace], [a] results in the folowing character å Maybe it has something to do with unicode. I use unicode_start in /etc/zsh/zlogin. Regards, Frank

3 5

One more question I have to ask, sorry.
by Doug Smith 12 Feb '07

12 Feb '07

- Ok, let's try this one again. This time, a little more careful with vim and it should be fine. Now, I believe I can get the vim problem solved here. I will just be careful with it. I have one more question, rather couple of questions to ask about the mkpersistenthome script. It appears to me, and I may be totally wrong, that the mkpersistenthome script does not work. When I try to make my persistent home directory on the usb device I have, I cannot get past the part of the script where it asks you for the partition to put the image file onto. How do I move and select the item in the menu for the partition /dev/sda1 and make it go on past that? Now, the only other question I have is this. I used to use a knoppix knock-off. This is what the Oralux distribution is based on. However, there appear to be many more packages here than in this version. The good thing I miss is this: On Oralux, and you can try it by downloading the file: http://oralux.rs.sr/Oralux_0.7.iso You have this program called knoppix-mkimage, which allows you to create this kind of virtual hard disk image of your entire system. Then, through the wonders of unionfs, you can have the usb device mounted, boot the cd, and you can have this image where you can install your favorite packages on the hard drive, and the unionfs will bring it all together and put the files into the right directories. Does grml do this with þhe mkpersistenthome script? Thank you for your information. I look forward to hearing from you about this. Thank you. - I use grml (http://grml.org/)

2 1

Well, blast, I'll have to try that one again.
by Doug Smith 11 Feb '07

11 Feb '07

To whom it may concern: My name is Doug Smith. I just want to let you know that I am really enjoying my new grml system. However, I have a few quick questions I need to ask you so that I can still get more out of it. First of all, I wish to thank you for including speech output in the system. This is the only way I have of using computers at all. I am blind, and, of course, a monitor will do me no good at all. You solved that one for me. I would also like to thank you for including brltty in here as well. This is very good for people who like to use computers by means of a braille monitor. This is the message I meant to send out last night, but, wow, I found myself trapped inside the editor with no way out. I discovered, much to my surprise, that the environment variable EDITOR is set to vim which is fine with me, except for the small problem I have of not knowing how to use vim. How, when using vim with mutt, the mail client I use, do you get into the menu which allows you to send the message. I wrote the last night's message with nano, which I can use, then tried to send it out and found myself trapped inside vim with no way to get back into mutt. Well, now that you know why you received a blank message last evening, let me continue. The next question concerns the install I did, with grml2hd, on a usb hard drive. When I did the install, I made the initrd as instructed. Now, there was something in a previous message about which file in the initrd needs to be edited to make the usb boot work as it should. Which file is that, and what needs to be changed. I have never done this before. Now, the third and final question I have has to do with the compression technology used to make the compressed GRML file. How does that work? How can so much data be put onto the cd and, then, the system know which parts to decompress to get the programs you want to use? This leads me to a new idea. Is it possible to make a new way to install software into the system? The way it would work is this: Just put the system onto the hard drive with grml tohd. Now, we need to boot with grml fromhd and we can get started. Ok, let's select a piece of software to install, for this example, the missing binary codecs for mplayer. Can this somehow be done? Why can't the image file on the hard drive have the relevant parts decompressed, just as in memory, written back to the drive, the new files introduced into these directories, then the compressed image file re-made just as it was before, except with the new files. Is this possible, using the same decompression scenario as is used with the decompression of needed programs in memory for use? Well, that's about it for now. I hope to get this one out with no problems. I appollogize for the messiness of this letter. Until I can use mutt with vim, I have to use the emulated mailx composition mode and try to press returnin the proper positions before running off the lines and losing data. Once more thank you for such a wonderful system. I am more than glad to have it. I just want to learn more about it to be able to use it better. Thank you. Doug Smith

3 4

Network devices - stop automatic connection
by Frank Eisenblaetter 09 Feb '07

09 Feb '07

I use grml on hd. 1) I have configured my networdevices at /etc/network/interfaces. There is no automatic ifup configured in it, but if I am connected to my router the networkconnection get's automatically established on startup of the system: * Network device eth0 detected, DHCP broadcasting for IP (Backgrounding) I think the connection get's established because an init script detects my networkdevice an runs a DHCP-client butI dont't know which script it is. How can i stop the autoconnection of my network device(s)? Or is there an other grml/debian way of configuring network devices? 2) On system startup I get the message: EXT3-fs warning: maximal mountcount The message tells me that I should run e2fsck. Why isn't this done automatical as it is on any other linux I uses before? Frank

2 2

Thank you for such a wonderful system, I just have a few questions
by Doug Smith 09 Feb '07

09 Feb '07

3 2

Sendmail hostname error
by ][ 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

Hi, I wasn't able to use sendmail recently. I've now track it down that the hostname that my Sendmail uses is wrong. How can I fix it? % /usr/sbin/sendmail -bi WARNING: local host name (;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached) is not qualified; see cf/README: WHO AM I? /etc/mail/aliases: 24 aliases, longest 10 bytes, 233 bytes total % grep 'WHO AM I' -r /etc/mail/* || echo no found no found Please help. FYI, this is the respond that I got explaining why it is happening. _________________________________________________________________ You seem to be a victim of the same broken "helpfulness" as described in the (apparently misthreaded by google) thread at http://groups.google.com/group/comp.mail.sendmail/browse_frm/thread/7095fe4… - i.e. some install script or whatever has "configured" your sendmail with a *host name* of literally ";; connection timed out; no servers could be reached"! This is actually an error message from the 'dig' command - i.e. the script probably tries to use 'dig' to get the fully-qualified host name, and blindly accepts any output from 'dig'. The slightly different greeting comes from the fact that sendmail inserts the "ESMTP" there as the second word, under the reasonable assumption that the host name is a single word... _________________________________________________________________ -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sf.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sf.net/tools/

3 2

Grml initrd
by ][ 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

Hi, I've been trying for several weeks to make my grml USB pen bootable. I think I finally found the problem, quite a simple one -- I need a initrd which has findfs to find the root device. However, I didn't find a initrd in my grml2hd disk, and neither the minirt26.gz borrowed from grml_small_0.3.iso works. So, is there anywhere I can get a grml initrd, or I have to build one myself? If so, any good source of info for the building? thanks PS. Here is what I get: Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) My grub menu.lst: title Debian Live root (hd0,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=UUID=b53f0a8b-deab-40b3-a84c-0779cb8b7772 ro initrd /boot/minirt26.gz boot title From grml.live root (hd0,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=LABEL=grml.live ro initrd /boot/minirt26.gz boot -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sf.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sf.net/tools/

2 1

Loop mount not automatically cleaned
by ][ 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

Hi, I noticed that loop mounts are not automatically cleaned in my system. Is there any way that I can fix it? Each time after I loop mount, the loop device number increased. When I do ps, I found that there are many loop process in execution: $ ps -eaf | grep loop root 5566 1 0 Jan05 ? 00:01:44 [loop0] root 5597 1 0 Jan05 ? 00:00:00 [loop1] root 5603 1 0 Jan05 ? 00:00:00 [loop2] root 10995 1 0 00:28 ? 00:01:41 [loop3] root 26656 1 0 11:42 ? 00:01:40 [loop4] root 6234 1 0 17:45 ? 00:00:00 [loop5] Previously, the loop process will be gone after I umount the loop mount. As the result, my disk space did not re-gain after deleting loop mounted iso files: sudo mount -o loop my-big.iso /mnt/tmp1 $ df /dev/sda14 79631676 52241640 27390036 66% /lfs/cache12 /dev/loop3 4571190 4571190 0 100% /mnt/tmp1 sudo umount /mnt/tmp1 $ lsof | grep my-big rm my-big.iso $ df /dev/sda14 79631676 52241640 27390036 66% /lfs/cache12 The my-big.iso is over 4G in size, but there is no space increase after it being deleted. I've checked with lsof that no one is using it. please help. thanks -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sf.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sf.net/tools/

3 5

interfaces
by harry meyers 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

My wireless interface is eth1 In /etc/network/interfaces the according lines are simply: ,---- | iface eth1 inet dhcp | wpa-passphrase waaskaaner | wpa-ssid irgdnwoos `---- Under debian I had no problems with this configuration. But under grml the interfaces are often changed, so eth0 comes up instead fo eth1, which of course doesn't work. As a workaround I wrote a small script which changes everything and restarts networking but gradually it became quit annoying. What can I do? harry

2 2

Boot by UUID or disk label
by ][ 03 Feb '07

03 Feb '07

Hi, Grml wiki indicates that grml can use disk labels/UUIDs as root= option for booting [1]. What's the correct syntax for that? [1] http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=usb&DokuWiki=88eb0d5110993c6c4d0ca5992abee… I searched hard and came up with the following, trying to boot my USB key: title GRML on 1st HD root (hd0,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/b53f0a8b-deab-40b3-a84c-0779cb8b7772 ro boot title GRML on 1st HD root (hd0,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-label/grml.boot ro boot title GRML on 2nd HD root (hd1,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/b53f0a8b-deab-40b3-a84c-0779cb8b7772 ro boot But all gave me root filesystem not found error (grub boot normally, just can't find root fs). I'm sure the uuid and disk label are correct. What else could be the problem? thanks -- Tong (remove underscore(s) to reply) http://xpt.sf.net/techdocs/ http://xpt.sf.net/tools/

2 3

nohwcap
by Erich Minderlein 31 Jan '07

31 Jan '07

Hello I refer to my posting http://www.mail-archive.com/grml@mur.at/msg00781.html in which a whole discussion thread deals with the subject. It had also been relayed to the maintainers of x-servers x.org IMHO the nohwcap issue shall be dealt with only by the kernel and / or any other hardware related software, which are currently the Xserver and the drivers only (in case of insertion / removal of hw). No application should try to find something out about hardware. Kernel shall do it once after booting, insertion or removal of hw only and then hold the data in its virtual filesystem. then such a weird device as /etc/ld.so.nohwcap is at best not existing or second best once read updated during system boot, insertion or removal of hw. best regards a system engineer -- Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> MARC Mannheim Rail Commerce GmbH

1 0

sarge and kernel 2.6.18-grml
by Erich Minderlein 30 Jan '07

30 Jan '07

Am Freitag, den 26.01.2007, 12:00 +0100 schrieb grml-request(a)mur.at: > sarge and kernel 2.6.18-grml (Erich Minderlein) Hello I repeat this mail _console and keyboard_ I did not post a question in this mail, so it has been overlooked. I removed console-terminus from the stable(sarge) package(250 kByte) and installed console-terminus from the testing(etch) package(565 kByte). Adding SCREEN_FONT=Lat15-Terminus16 in /etc/console-tools/config did not help; rebooting, prompt login as root, the normal font with serifs shows up, if I type unicode_start: answer : already in UTF8 mode after some fiddling around, I remove /etc/console-tools/config.d/fonty and /etc/console-tools/config.d/ and now it boots and changes to Terminus 16 for all consoles. This will probably not survive an update of package fonty! --Meanwhile fonty removed without negative consequences. Small Umlaut "ae,oe,ue" is properly printed on the console Capital Umlaut "Ae,Oe,Ue" and "scharf S"or (sz) like greek beta is not printed on the console, but results in circumflex accent ^^^^ dpkg-reconfigure console-common and dpkg-reconfigure console-data do not help, sometimes after testing these umlauts the console crashes and I get a new boot-prompt. regards I think the events described are severe: pressing Capital Umlauts Ae Oe Ue leads to console possibly exit or crash Is is a bug in the console-terminus package or is it a bug in the keyboard driver or is it a bug in the interfaces associated with these packages and the kernel ? Is it a bug between sarge and etch ? Is it a bug in front of the display ? All that is possible. I believe that I have exhausted all combinations of rebooting, installing fonts and keyboard drivers, .... Do I have to adapt /etc/console-tools/remap ? I add the result of showkey > somefile kb Modus war UNICODE Taste drücken (Programm beendet sich 10s nach dem letzten Tastendruck)...) 0x9c There are two funktion keys on the keyboard: Key Enveloppe press 0x00 0x81 0x9b release 0x80 0x81 0x9b key (i) Information symbol 0x00 0x81 0x96 0x80 0x81 0x96 kb Modus war UNICODE Taste drücken (Programm beendet sich 10s nach dem letzten Tastendruck)...) key "Ae" 0x28 0xa8 key "Oe" 0x27 0xa7 key "Ue" 0x1a 0x9a key Return 0x1c 0x9c Now from comparing the latter with the first, .. first UTF8 then UNICODE The latter was today immediately after a system boot. Small äöü (ae oe ue) work fine, capital Ae Oe Ue dont show on the console and result in three circumflex accent ^^^. Console specialists, what are the consequences ? Thanks -- Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> MARC Mannheim Rail Commerce GmbH

1 0

T2 Linux build harness
by Mark 29 Jan '07

29 Jan '07

OK, this tip might not be exactly right for grml, but still: since grml is working on new processor architectures like PPC and 64-bit x86 (and don't forget 64-bit PowerPC!). T2 Linux is all about re-targeting. It impressed us by booting obscure machines on which other "ported" distributions croak. It runs many OEM eval boards. There might be ideas here to help porting work. Just fyi. http://www.t2-project.org/about.html "T2 is highly portable. Adding new architectures is easy and can be done within a day!"

1 0

Brittle init.d scripts - tmpfs ramfs
by Mark 28 Jan '07

28 Jan '07

I never thought Linux was so breakable. We're moving mount points into RAM for performance ( /var/log /var/run /var/lock etc. ). Tmpfs or ramfs can stop disk thrashing and speedup a system. (Flash USB needs it even more, to minimize writes.) Example fstab, http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/179 But....brittle /etc/init.d scripts fail without having their private subdirectories persist across boots, in certain places like /var/log and /var/run. If you write or test init.d scripts, please test with tmpfs and ramfs - do not assume pre-existence of application directories. (P.S. Ubuntu Dapper btw already defaults to tmpfs for such directories, though not /var/log. Dapper uses old style init, Edgy/Feisty have something new.) M

2 4

grml-quickconfig?
by Michael Schierl 28 Jan '07

28 Jan '07

Hi, when I use grml (the live cd), there are a few tasks that I do quite often directly after boot. For example, loading keyboard layout (always), configuring non-dhcp network (sometimes) or starting X or running grml-info for looking something up (rarely). Using cheatcodes for configuring it does not "help", since I have to type the kernel name first, and sometimes I am not even there when it boots (I give the CD to the friend/relative that has problems and tell him that he should boot from it until I am back, and just press Return when "an image of a huge keyboard" appears). So, I'd like to write a script (grml-quickconfig) started at bootup on console 1 that shows a nice screen (with highlighted letters) that allows to do things like that by pressing a single key; the Return key will exit it. Like: Welcome to GRML. Press one of the highlighted keys. Press Return to exit this menu. Configure keyboard language: [d]e [a]t [c]h Configure your [n]etwork card. Show [i]nformation Start [x] d: grml-lang de a: grml-lang at c: grml-lang ch n: netcardconfig i: grml-info x: grml-x (asking for the windowmanager) Windowmanager would be (taken from the completion menu): [d]wm [e]vilwm [f]luxbox f[v]wm fvwm[2] fvwm-[c]rystal ion[3] [j]wm pe[k]wm [p]wm3 [r]atpoison [t]wm w[9]wm [w]indowlab w[m]i wm[i]i wm-[n]g I guess even for people that type really fast this is an improvement (if not, it requires a single keystroke to get out) - and even better for those that cannot type that fast (typing »su grml -c 'grml-x fluxbox'« is a bit more than typing »xf«). The main question now is if something like that would be included into grml and if yes, what other things to add to it (there are still some keys "free"). Michael PS: Recently I tried the "soundtest" script (I wanted to test if a sound card is supported by Linux) and unfortunately it worked... Unfortunately because it got me into a discussion about bad pronunciation of English. I don't want to say that my English pronunciation is much better, but if any native English speaker could re-record the sample file, it would be great. In the meantime, I'm going to use the emacspeak intro sound for such tests...

4 9

grml user survey - please participate
by Michael Prokop 28 Jan '07

28 Jan '07

Hi, I am pleased to announce that I am running a grml user survey. The purpose of this is to help grml developers gain a better idea of what the grml user community is really doing and using, and what aspects people would most like to see improved. This user survey is heavily based on the survey done by Bryan O'Sullivan for the Mercurial Project: http://www.selenic.com/pipermail/mercurial/2006-April/007513.html Mercurial is a great distributed version control system used at grml, see http://grml.org/mercurial/ Please participate! If you know grml users who do not read the grml mailing list, please forward the survey to them and ask them to take part. The more people that respond, the more useful the survey will be! The user survey itself is available online at: http://grml.org/user-survey/grml.txt as well. Please send your responses directly to me (mika(a)grml.org), and do *not* CC the mailing list. Regarding privacy: I will not share your name or contact information with anyone else unless you explicitly allow me to, but I may quote you anonymously (unless you would prefer me not to). At the end of February 2007 I will post a detailed report to the grml mailing list and the grml wiki. Thanks again for taking part! regards, -mika- ---->8 cut here 8<---- About you 1. What country are you in? What is your preferred language? Getting started with grml 1. How did you hear about grml? 2. Did you encounter any problems with grml when starting to use it and if so which ones? 3. Since which release do you use grml? 4. Which version(s) of grml do you currently use? Your habits 1. Do you use grml for private use, work, unpaid projects, or even all of them? 2. How do you obtain grml? Internet (http, ftp, bittorent or rsync?), magazines (Linux-Magazin, Linux-User,...), CD from friends? 3. Do you use any other Live-CDs? * If yes: which ones and why? * If yes: how does grml compare to other Live-CDs you have used? 4. Which operating systems/distribution do you usually work with? 5. Do you use any platforms not x86 based? * If yes, which ones and how often? (daily, weekly,...) 6. Which languages do you speak and which ones do you use via lang=... bootoption with grml? What you think of grml 1. Overall, how happy are you with grml? 2. What do you like about using grml? 3. What would you most like to see improved about grml? (features, bugs, plugins, documentation, ... - whatever you think of) 4. If you want to see grml more widely used, what do you think we could do to make this happen? Documentation 1. Do you use the grml wiki? If yes, do you find it useful? 2. Do you find available documentation useful? 3. What is your favourite user documentation for any software projects or products you have used? Which tools do you use 1. Which tools do you use most frequently on grml? 2. Which scripts of the following ones do you use? [add yes/no] * grml-ap: * grml-bridge: * grml-crypt: * grml-debootstrap: * grml-network: * grml-router: * grml-vpn: * grml-x: 3. Do you use grml as harddisk installation (grml2hd)? * If yes: why? 4. Do you use grml on your usb device through grml2usb? 5. Do you use any special bootoption on regular base? Getting help, staying in touch 1. Have you tried to get grml help from other people? * If yes, did you get these problems resolved quickly and to your liking? 2. Have you used the bug database? * If yes, did you find it useful, easy to use? 3. Do you subscribe to the mailing list? * If yes, do you find it useful, and traffic levels OK? 4. Do you use the IRC channel (#grml on irc.freenode.net)? * If no, did you know that grml developers use IRC, and that there's almost 24-hour help available? Open forum 1. What other comments or suggestions do you have that are not covered by the questions above?

1 0

udev rule for usb boot device
by Mark 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

What is the best/approved udev rule for a usb hard drive to escape random drive letter variations /dev/sd[a|b|c|d]. The drives have ATTRS{serial} but I want to walk carefully amidst grml's built-in rules. For example, if sandwiched between other grml rules, what lexical filename to use. Second question: will the udev name work from /etc/fstab during boot, or should we stick to mount-by-label. (Idea for grml2hd - use hostname to auto-generate a related udev naming rule for the drive.)

1 1

sarge and kernel 2.6.18-grml
by Erich Minderlein 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

_console and keyboard_ Hallo , I removed console-terminus from the stable(sarge) package(250 kByte) and installed console-terminus from the testing(etch) package(565 kByte). Adding SCREEN_FONT=Lat15-Terminus16 in /etc/console-tools/config did not help; rebooting, prompt login as root, the normal font with serifs shows up, if I type unicode_start: answer : already in UTF8 mode after some fiddling around, I remove /etc/console-tools/config.d/fonty and /etc/console-tools/config.d/ and now it boots and changes to Terminus 16 for all consoles. This will probably not survive an update of package fonty! Small Umlaut äöü is properly printed on the console Capital Umlaut ÄÖÜ and "scharf S"~ß is not printed on the console, but results in ^^^^ dpkg-reconfigure console-common and dpkg-reconfigure console-data do not help, sometimes after testing these umlauts the console crashes and I get a new boot-prompt. regards -- Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> MARC Mannheim Rail Commerce GmbH

1 0

Write barriers for journaling filesystems
by Mark 22 Jan '07

22 Jan '07

Testing exercises with XFS, ext3, and power failure. I found advice to use write barriers. It appears that any journaling file system (XFS/Reiser/ext3) will benefit w.r.t. power failures. Almost all hard drives, IDE, SATA, USB, SCSI have a ~multimegabyte write cache nowadays. "OK, enough theory. Do this: mount all of your filesystems with I/O barrier turned on. Something like this (example line from my /etc/fstab): /dev/sda5 / ext3 defaults,barrier=1 1 1" http://kerneltrap.org/node/6173#comment-193357 "Fortunately, you can have your cake and eat it too. The trick is to implement IO barriers using the CACHE FLUSH and/or FUA commands. That way you can have the performance and MTBF benefits of write-back caching while still having a safe fsync() (safe as in doesn't return before data is on the platters)." http://lwn.net/Articles/181393/ It seems like maybe a good default setting for journaled filesystems, especially on USB (which users often yank out...). M P.S. Update on ZFS. Apple will include it in their next OS release (mika: not as default/boot, still HFS+ for that). Also, Sun may release ZFS under GPLv3 "eventually." http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/06/12/18/1155226.shtml http://www.itweek.co.uk/vnunet/news/2172823/sun-kills-gpl3-rumours

2 2

GRUB 2 & LILO delays
by Mark 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

The grml FAQ says LILO is used because it works. I have no problem with that and have been using LILO. The problem is that during grml boot, messages appear about sleeping for X seconds to fix problems with LILO. Boot delays I do not enjoy. Would grub be better? What about grub version 2, is anyone using that with grml? Thank you, M

2 1

sarge and kernel 2.6.18-grml: console and keyboard
by Erich Minderlein 19 Jan '07

19 Jan '07

console and keyboard: man zsh*(something) creates some unexpected special characters in the output instead of the foreseen text manipulations like e.g. underscore or ?? (bold works.) Keys Home (Pos1), End, Insert (Einfg) and Delete (Entf) dont work, but give a tilde on the console. Umlaute äöü ÄÖÜ dont work. Tried not very hard to find Lat15-Terminus16 in the repos-pool, did not succeed. where is it ? What is the fitting console font ? and where is it in repos? (booting with lang=de) Thanks -- Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> MARC Mannheim Rail Commerce GmbH

2 1

sarge and kernel 2.6.18-grml on amilopro : LAN , zsh
by Erich Minderlein 19 Jan '07

19 Jan '07

Hello _LAN a lot of the difficulty arose from not having known the new udev system. now with inserting a module list in /etc/modules, a consistent booting of network devices can be achieved. the udev solution is still in work. _zsh has been modified with the grml zshrc text hilighting is fine, (done also for vim) however there is a complaint when login : line 779 histring not found. also _console and keyboard_: man zsh* creates some unexpected special characters instead of the foreseen text manipulations like underscore?? Keys Home (Pos1), End, Insert (Einfg) and Delete (Entf) dont work, but give a tilde on the console. Tried not very hard to find Lat15-Terminus16 in the repos-pool, did not succeed. where is it ? What is the fitting console font ? and where is it in repos? Thanks for the patience in this forum. best regards -- Erich Minderlein <erminderlein(a)locoware.de> MARC Mannheim Rail Commerce GmbH

3 2

Limit tmpfs RAM across mount points
by Mark 18 Jan '07

18 Jan '07

What is the preferred grml way to limit total tmpfs RAM usage across all mount points. By default tmpfs takes 50% of RAM before swapout. We want a lower threshold of 20% RAM. With fstab syntax it's possible to limit one mount at a time, but is that the best one can do? It would be easier to limit the whole tmpfs subsystem and leave fstab entries "unlimited." Where is the 50% limit set, for example. M

2 2