* Mark or2uvma02@sneakemail.com [20051118 22:58]:

GRML is very nice work, my new favorite distro. I'm not a heavy sysadmin; but GRML almost matches some needs here. Since you ask for feedback and wishes...mine relates to grml2hd and the user scenario.

The grml-small release is great for USB flash sticks. Thank you for providing that.

:)

Consider another scenario with grml-big. Think of a "mobile Linux desktop" on this type of device,

http://mobilemag.com/content/100/334/C3401/ http://castle.pricewatch.com/s/search.asp?s=WD+passport&srt=t&his=0&...

These drives have lots of room for less money than flash, without lifespan problems. They sell around US$120 and get cheaper all the time. They allow a mobile user to carry his entire desktop and data between home, work, school, friends, hotel. Let other people carry laptops around, you can boot them too.

Nice. :)

GRML doesn't load down heavy stuff in advance, which I like. After GRML installs, I can add GNOME or KDE per user requests.

So, I ran grml2hd to a drive and rebooted...but got a kernel panic. No SCSI, I guess. Next I followed verbatim FAQ instructions, to test the FAQ. Nothing worked.

Kernel panic sounds like access to root-partition is not possible. Usually this happens on /dev/sd* devices (so USB as well), but I'm currently working on initrd-support for grml2hd (works already, needs just some more tests before going public within the next few days). So this issue should be fixed with upcoming release.

grml2hd makes the same assumption of all installers: if the OS is going to hard disk, it can ditch drivers and keep only the running system. For example even yaird boasts of doing "a better job of deciding which modules are needed for your system, so it produces smaller images." Culling is evil for the mobile scenario. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but...

Yes, that's wrong. ;)

Basically you get all the hardware recognition even on your harddisk installation (if you don't deactivate it via grml-autoconfig). Feature! :) Only the original initrd (the one used on the live-ISO) gets dropped.

I plan to support initird via yaird within grml2hd (that's what works so far in my current develrelease), but I'm observing http://wiki.debian.org/InitrdReplacementOptions to stay as far as possible on the debian way of life.

Ideally a mobile user boots like the CD-ROM (same ramdisk-based autodetection?), but without compressed CD images, ISOLINUX, or loopback tricks. The mobile user just needs Debian with full hardware auto-detection and all hardware modules.

I would prefer h/w autodetection even on IDE drives inside tower PC cases. That way I can swap boards, memory, ethernet, etc. without breaking configs.

Well, this works already. :)

I can drop the IDE drive into a USB enclosure for instant mobility.

Ok, that's the initrd-problem. ;-) But what I'd like to prevent is to invent "Yet Another Initrd Generator". ;-)

To be more verbose:

If yaird once supports booting from USB device, firewire and so on I don't see any arguments against using yaird within grml2hd. As soon as access to the root-device is possible, hardware detection is possible and done via grml-autoconfig. *If* yaird won't support booting from usb, firewire,... I'll investigate some time into an initrd mechanism which provides the flexibility of grml's initrd. (Basically I'd rewrite grml's initrd.)

Conclusio: The mechanism for accessing the USB device (as you would like to use it) through initrd will be possible with grml in an upcoming version. It's just a matter of time how development of initramfs-tools and yaird at Debian is going on. Stay tuned. :)

A few other other ideas:

• the status line at bottom of screen shows date/time *twice* (?!?)

'cause I like it that way. ;)

• show IP on the status line (w/ flag for DHCP or static)

Hmmm, I'll think about it. (Whether it's possible to implement it reasonable.)

• grml2hd could offer multi-partition features, e.g. a separate boot

partition

It's on our todolist, we are not yet sure how we will implement it. Basically it's just lack of time... And in the meanwhile: grml's target audience should know how to edit fstab entries. ;)

• grml2hd could set up secure partitions --

http://mareichelt.de/pub/texts.cryptoloop.php -- optional choice for all top-levels /home /var and such, except /boot

Support for cryptsetup-luks enabled partition might follow in an upcoming release. (See http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=todo for our todolist.)

• grml2hd's X question for the mobile scenario is puzzling; yes the user

needs X, but not for a specific PC

Well, just rerun grml-x on the "new" computer as user root:

grml-x -force -nostart

The integration of grml-x within grml2hd just ensures that the user can start X on hard disk installation without root permissions, even if he hasn't used X yet.

• grml-big won't fit on CD-RW media or older (650 MB) CD-R; would be

nice to fit on CD-RW, could trim a little to fit

It's not true for CD-RW medias, I'm burning grml on 700MB CD-RWs. ;-) Trimming the ISO is absolutely no option, it's already an awful hard job to keep all the package wishes within 700MB. ;-(

Thanks...GRML is super and I like it.

Great to hear. :) Thanks for your feedback!

regards, -mika-