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

13 Jan '09

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

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

12 Jan '09

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

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problems with hardware autodetection has been resolved, but ow to install Gnome?
by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel 05 Jan '09

05 Jan '09

Dear core developers, I successfully solved problem with hardware autodetection, but how to install Gnome? Is it possible to install Gnome while installing GRML from A live Cd by using grml2hd script or some programmers limitations are included so Gnome will not be awailable for installation? While i tried to install gnome by using apt-get install gnome All packages were successfully downloaded from The Interne. But when system displaied retrieving bug reports, the progress came from 0 to 100 percent. But after this, system asked me if i wanted to upgrade somethink, i ansferred yes but after this, apt-get stopped to work, or this operation can take so many minutes? Because i forced terminated by using ctrl c key, i was not able to continue, because when retrieving bug reports appeared, zero percent progress has been displaied and system stopped to work, so i had to terminated apt-get by pressing ctrl c. So. How to install Gnome?

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serious problem with hardware autodetection while installing GRML by using grml2hd script
by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel 05 Jan '09

05 Jan '09

Dear core developers of GRML, I would like to inform You, that i experienced serious problem with hardware autodetection. When i finished installing grml by using grml2hd script, the system gives me varning, that sound mixer can not be set and all plug and play devices, such as USB compatible braille display can not be used. The main reason of this is, that special script for configuring xserver, which can be launched during installation could not finish it's work. Sudo displaied some error message and i had to terminate The algorithm of program for configuring xserver. Hardware and service configuration tool did not caused errors, so my pleasment is, if You could find the cause, why sudo could not work and tool for configuring hardware for xserver could not executed it's job successfully. Because xserver will be unfortunately probably executed by default, and i do not know, how to force kill it, if killall gdm will help me, how to activate console, CTRL altf1 do not work. When login window appear. And i do not know, how to remove xserver when booting from A live CD. Please, if You could enable option, install for visually impaired users to grml2hd script, so no xserver will be installed and user would have possibility to start swspeak Speakup screen reader and could install gnome for his need, everythink would be very good. I solved boot problems, i started to using smart boot manager and i would like to recommend this boot manager to all visually impaired users, because this boot manager can be installed to A floppy and after booting from this floppy, user can choose which operating system to boot and boot manager will not install on A hard drive. GAG will install on A floppy, but installation process must be perform in the mode, when gag is started from floppy disk. And installation can not be probably made to A floppy. so if You do not want to modifi Your first track of Your harddisk, I Am highly recommending You to use smart boot manager, the errors with hardware can not becaused by the fact, that i booted by using this boot manager. Smart boot manager is very little program, and installation can be made from running Windows operating system, but while using DOS prompt. But user has full control during installation, other boot managers must be installed very often from The boot media and screen readers are not able to work in those programs. So please, if core developers of grml2hd script could repair bug while xserver hardware configuration starts, it would be ok. GRML2script is recommending users to ansver yes to perform this task, from A live CD. It is paradox situation, that Grml autodetection algorithms are working ammazingly while booting it like A live Cd, but after installing it on A harddrive, hardware autodetection algorithms are not able to configure hardware so GRML can not use plug and play compatible devices. I will probably have to reinstall whole GRML without ansvering yes to a question related to autoconfigure of grmlx, because script for installing clean debian seems to me be more complicated that grml2hd script questions. And i would like to use grml, because there are some modifications and never modules and more admin tools. Even server related programs are included in The GRML package, so visually impaired user could theoretically work like a server administrator, if HTTP and FTP server tools are programmed to be usable from shell or console or atleast from Gnome. So only user knowledge will be limit, because speakup, even yasr is included in Grml package. Please, core developers of grml, do not think about me, that I Am only listing crytism, i want to constructively cooperate with You. But because i AM not so highly intelligent like core developers, it is complex for me to repair scripts and adjusting hardware configuration by other way, than by grml2hd script. Firstly, i will have to ban installation of xwindow. Because if i can not kill xwindow by altering console, i will not be able to work.

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2008.11 & Acer Aspire One A110L
by Michael Weber 04 Jan '09

04 Jan '09

Hi, ich hab hier folgendes Szenario, Acer Aspire One A110L Netbook (8GB SSD, 512MB), die Installation der letzten grml-Version über USB gebootet und mit grml2hd installiert: lief einwandfrei. Soweit so gut. Mit 2008.11 kann ich per USB ohne Probleme booten, d.h. der Stick und die Installation da drauf sind OK, wenn ich aber die 2008.11 vom Stick boote und mit grml2hd auf das Netbook installiere funktioniert das auch erstmal problemlos, aber beim nächsten boot paniced der Kernel. Wenn ich mit lilo installiere ist der MBR wenigstens installiert und das ganze steigt erst im Kernel aus, wenn ich die Installation mit grub mache muss ich von USB booten, auf die installierte Version chrooten und den MBR neu schreiben, sonst gibts einen "Error 2". Aus den Meldungen des Kernels beim panic werde ich nicht wirklich schlau, ich tippe aber gerne den Hex-Tracecode ab bei Bedarf. Letzte Meldung ist "Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!". Ich bin kein Kernel-Hacker und bevor ich da jetzt stundenlang rumsuche und google frage ich hier lieber nach. Jemand eine Idee? Ich mach auch gerne den Testdödel fürs Acer Aspire One allgemein, ihr müsst mir nur reinwerfen, was ihr braucht ... Gruß Michael 'Bytewurm' Weber -- Michael Weber, CEO, http://www.rising-systems.de/, weber(a)rising-systems.de rising systems networks GmbH, Elisabethstraße 44, 40217 Düsseldorf fon +49 211 903294-0, direct -121, fax +49 211 903294-444 VAT DE 192305838 * DUNS 315108956 * TAX 5 106/5723/2489 * REG HRB 35549

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Re: [Grml] Grml is mmazing Linux distribution
by Maurice McCarthy 04 Jan '09

04 Jan '09

There is something wrong here. If you cannot boot your grml installation on the hard disk then you have been trying to install gnome into a running liveCD. Then you will have used up all the RAM. Have I not understood properly? Moss PS Janusz, your replies have been coming to me personally and so I've been quoting you in full in order that others at grml(a)mur.at may understand. ================== Janusz wrote: I have founded, that Grml is the best linux operating system distro with many administrative applications. In the past, approximately before 10 years or sooner, visually impaired users were not able to use such applications like standalone .bootable .iso images for rescue partitions. Those tools are very often standalone .iso images which are containing applications and those applications are even shareware applications. Thanks to Grml, which is containing The latest awailable opensource and high quality administrative tools, and brltty, yasr and speakup are included, visually impaired user can have The maximum control on their linux installation Unfortunately, i can not finish installation of Gnome by using apt-get install gnome After downloading, when retreiving bug reports appears, it stop at The 0 percent and it halts. Very interesting think. It is probably because there somethink wronk with my installation. ============

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Re: [Grml] How to install GRML to one harddrive with Windows XP installed on this harddrive?]
by Maurice McCarthy 04 Jan '09

04 Jan '09

Janusz wrote: Thank You for ammazing cheatcodes. I Am having troubles. i can not boot, probably it is because my EXT2 partition with Grlinux installation is number like partition 5, it is because i had to create logical partition and inside this i had to create EXT2 partition. I checked, if EXT2 file system is readable by using other Linux distros, and yes, there are normal folders and files. MM: That's right Janusz. The first logical partition is /dev/sda5 by convention. Ntldrl will probably not able to boot bootsect.sda3 file, there are two errors. Firstly, computer halts and when i Am pressing keys, internal sound speakers beeps, so keyboard buffer is full, it is a known signal, that computer halted. And when i replaced c:\ by \bootsect.dat, computer halts and when i press enter, it starts to reboot. My bootsect.sda is having size 4,5 KB, and there are machine instructions, so i think, that i copied right boot data file to NTFS. MM: This is difficult without being able to see the errors. I'll have a think about it. Grub can not boot to Grml, and while i using live Cd and mounting SDA\5, there are files, apt-get is working, but i can not log as my user name specified during grml2hd installation process. And it is probably inpossible to boot from live CD, mounting SDA5 device and then triing to install somethink. MM: I don't understand why you cannot log in as a normal user. There is a file in /etc/grml/ where the configuration is stored for using grml2hd in a non-interactive way. This file can be edited in at your leisure and then grml2hd can be done something like this (except I'm not sure about the exact capitalised words): # GRML2HD-NONINTERACTIVE grml2hd partition=/dev/sdsa5 mbr=/dev/sda5 filesystem=ext3 user=janusz MM: This ought to install OK - but I've said that before. No,It's seems to me, that i will have to delete my logical and extended partition and resize my primari NTFS partition to original size and i will have to give it up. I have done my best. Grml2hd script is little confusing, it gaves me several questions and unfortunately, asked me twice, where to install boot loader and for my user name and password. Eventhough i answerred for those question for twice time with a same answer, somethink probably gone wronk. That i can not switch users. MM: I'm wondering if swspeak can only have a single user. I'll investigate and ask the developers if I cannot find out. You have tried very hard and it seems that there might be some possible improvement in clarity for blind users in the grml2hd script. Best Wishes Moss

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[Fwd: Re: How to install GRML to one harddrive with Windows XP installed on this harddrive?]
by Maurice McCarthy 03 Jan '09

03 Jan '09

Dear Janusz, Yes from the LiveCD if you do hd it will boot from the hard disk. Similarly hd1 or hd2 if you have two hard disks. I am glad it worked out OK in the end. I attach a file with all of the booting options. Don't know why they call it cheat codes since it is not cheating. If you can negotiate your way around it is possible to boot sda2 from the cd using grub. I'll will try to work out the recipe for you to try. you have to get to a grub commandline (so a grub boot floppy would do it) and then do grub>configfile (hd0,1)/boot/menu.lst (hd0,1) is grub talk for sda2. This will bring up the grub menu and you just press enter to boot grml. There is a good method to make a copy of your XP partition with ntfsclone. You need a back up medium such as a usb hard drive to save the disk image on. It compresses all empty space. It is better than partimage but you still need to back up the mbr separately with a dd command. Thank you Moss PS Try moving the timeout command to the top of boot.ini You should then have 30 seconds to see the choice of what to boot grml or XP. Perhaps it needs to be longer. ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Re: [Grml] How to install GRML to one harddrive with Windows XP installed on this harddrive? From: "Mgr. Janusz Chmiel" <chmiel(a)phil.muni.cz> Date: Sat, January 3, 2009 5:40 pm To: "Maurice McCarthy" <moss(a)mythic-beasts.com> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear syr, Do not be sad, i have installed GRML successfully, but unfortunately, ntldr can not boot to this system. I was not able to use the parameters for using parted to create logical partition, i had to create extended partition first, then to create ext2 file system inside this partition, inside logical partition. Copy process during installation has no problems, everythink is stored on Ext2 file system, but because i did not want to corrupt my Windows XP installation, i installed lilo to SDA2. I will try to use external boot manager to try to boot to The grml. But i will probably had to use other linux kernel from Cd to mount Ext2 partition and i will try to use system from this kernel, but it is not probably good idea. Please, has GRML official live Cd option to boot from hard disk? I do not have problems with sound cart, i can type grml swspeak, but only from live CD. My sound cart has been automatically detected. So thank You for Your help. Yours instructions have been very nice tutorial for me, i was able to successfully create partition for GRML and i was also able to copy bootsect.sda3. So i will try to find out, if Ext2 partition is containing readable installation or if i only created non functional havoc. Windows XP is intouched and can be normally used without crashes. So thank You again for Your detailed instructions about parted.

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Re: [Grml] How to install GRML to one harddrive with Windows XP installed on this harddrive?
by Maurice McCarthy 02 Jan '09

02 Jan '09

Janusz Sorry, I did not read your email too well. I think I am tired. Do you managed to format the whole hard drive to ext3. grml also has rescue tools for such a case, though you will have lost data. If there is something precious to you lost then look at the documentation for ddr-help, ddrescue, gddrescue and testdisk. Sorry not to be of more help just now. Testdisk can see lost partitions are try to restore them. It can read the files on lost partions if they are not too badly damaged. I do not have a lot of experience with these tools. Moss

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Re: [Grml] How to install GRML to one harddrive with Windows XP installed on this harddrive?
by Maurice McCarthy 02 Jan '09

02 Jan '09

> So if script GRML2hd will ask me, i can press g letter to install Group. > If > i can be openheart to You, Grml2hd script is good, but if ok and cancel > choices are awailable and user do not know, when press which letter, g for > group, or other letter for lilo, it is confusing, atleast for me. > It will be letter l for lilo, I think Moss

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